The Debate Over Inerrancy: Comparing B.B. Warfield and Harold Lindsell – Part 1: Introduction

If you are an Evangelical Christian (or you know any) then you know how divisive the debate over the inerrancy of scripture can be. However you might not know that every generation this battle comes up over and over again. In this blog series we will be taking a look at to iterations of this debate, then we will be comparing them. Hopefully there is something to learn from the past…..

In this post I will introduce the issue.

________________________________________

Introduction

The Bible has always been central in evangelical thought and in the lives of evangelicals. In fact some people have sought to define evangelicalism as a movement that places the Bible at its center.[1]  Because the Bible has been central to the faith of evangelicals, it has often been the catalyst for many battles within the tradition. For instance In the early 18th century Jonathan Edwards fought against Arminian trends that were becoming popular in America due to the teachings of Englishmen like Samuel Clarke, John Tillotson, and Isaac Barrow. Participants on both sides of the debate argued by making biblical arguments, they showed that Scriptures supported their position. Specifically Edwards made use of Scriptures in his sermons like “Living Unconverted under Eminent Means of Grace” to show that the Bible taught that any type of theology that placed any aspect of salvation in the hands of humans was wrong. However towards the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century a new battle was brewing. Once again this battle was within the Evangelical family, but this time instead of being a battle about a doctrine or position taught in the Bible, it was a battle over the nature and authority of the Bible itself. This seemed to be foreign territory for Evangelicals to tread. Yes, evangelicals had been challenged about the veracity and authority of the Bible, but usually these challenges came from the outside; atheists, deists, and heretics brought up these challenges, but to have pious evangelicals question the nature and authority of the Bible was unprecedented.

It has been years since this battle was first waged, yet I some ways it still carries over today. Conservatives are quick to label schools like Fuller Seminary liberal because they hold a particular stance on scripture. And some liberals argue that conservatives are either intellectually dishonest or ignorant to hold their conservative position. But in reality the battle is more complex than the various sides tend to realize. Some inerrantists often hold nuanced definitions of inerrancy, and those evangelicals that don’t believe in inerrancy are often just as or even more pious than some inerrantists.

In this series of blog posts I hope to take a closer look at the debate over inerrancy by comparing two battles over the inerrancy of Scripture; the battle between B.B. Warfield and Charles Briggs and the battle between Harold Lindsell and Fuller Seminary.  By comparing these two battles hopefully we will be able to glean some insights as to how evangelicals should push forward with this issue. Let us begin by looking at the two main players in these debates: B.B. Warfield and Harold Lindsell.

[1] Mark A. Noll, The Rise of Evangelicalism: The Age of Edwards, Whitefield and the Wesleys (History of Evangelicalism) (Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic, 2010), 19.

Healthcare: Reframing the Question

About a month ago I took a look at The Gospel Coalition’s Blog: FAQ’s. Here they provide summaries about current events and answer frequently asked questions regarding these current events. Most of these blogs have to do with popular culture or politics. One article that really jumped out at me was their article regarding the Supreme Court Ruling on Obamacare.

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2012/06/28/the-faqs-the-supreme-court-ruling-on-obamacare/

Summary/Key Points

At one point in the article, the author says that “Obamacare’s vast expansions of the multi-trillion-dollar Medicaid program are arguably much more significant than the mandate. Medicaid is jointly funded between the federal government and the states, and already consumes an ever-increasing share of state spending…. They (Republicans) complained to the Court that this was a threat to independent state self-government.” Later on in the article the author frames this issue in such a way as though it seems as though it will rob religious organizations like the Catholic hospitals and Christian universities of their religious freedom. Thus for this author the key theological issue at hand is the relationship between church and state.

The Theological Issues at Hand…

The theological issues at hand are regarding the role of the government and anthropology. Romans 13 says that “there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God…. For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good.” Without a doubt there are governments that are not serving the good of the people, they oppress and kill their citizens. But in this case, we have the government trying to defend one good of the people, namely their healthcare. The claim that this healthcare program intrudes upon the rights of individuals is a claim regarding what the “good” of the people is. The theological issue at hand is “what is the better good of a person?” Are individual rights more important or is the access to healthcare more important? The first position doesn’t have high regard for the physical side of humans and elevates the non-physical attributes of humans (the will). The second position can be regarded as reductionist, humans are merely physical beings thus their physical well being is what matters most. Because these two theological issues are at hand in this one political issues, disagreements are bound to happen.

Reframing the Question

I am not arguing for or against this particular health care proposal. All I am doing is pointing out that the fundamental issue at hand has been presented as a disagreement between what the relationship between church and state should be. I am saying that this is not the fundamental disgreement. The fundamental disagreement between both sides is about what the ultimate good for a human being is. Thus in conducting these discussions we need to be clear about what we are arguing about (or what we should be arguing about), namely what is the ultimate good for a human. This is the real question that needs to be answered in the discussion about healthcare.

Calvin, College Students, and the Arts

I work with college students so a discussion regarding Christianity and the arts is a typical occurrence. About a month ago it came up in a different way that I was used to. I was used to being asked, what should Christian involvement in the arts look like? However this time I was asked a completely different question. One student asked me: “If God wants to meet me through the reading of scriptures, which is His word, then why would I ever want to read anything else especially fiction?” I was stumped for a second because I have never heard anyone say that we should not read anything else besides the Bible. The answer I gave him as to why we need to appreciate artistic endeavors like fiction, even though it is not explicitly Christian reminds me a lot of what Kuyper has to say about the arts.

 

Kuyper quotes Calvin saying that “all the arts come from God and are to be respected as divine intentions.” The creative impulse within humanity comes from God. Through his common grace God has given art to cultures across the world, even though the individuals in that culture might not be regenerate. In addition to being a gift of common grace, Christians have the ability to see art as a gift from God, thus they can glorify God because he is a gracious giver of gifts. In other words God’s gift of the arts points us towards him. God’s gift of Art shows us the wholeness and the beauty that is apparent in this world—especially that this beauty is a God-ordained beauty.” Calvin’s says that “art reveals to us a higher reality than is offer by this sinful world.” This higher reality that is revealed leaves us longing for something greater because we see that we live in a sinful world. The fact that there is something transcendental about art points us to the gospel. This reminds me of a sermon I once heard by Tim Keller, in which he was referring to something that C.S. Lewis said; namely that we love good stories because they remind us of the true story, the gospel. I think that this is one more reason to believe that art should be thought of as common grace, because it points all people to truth/reality even though they might be blind to see it.

 

Because art is a gift of common grace, this means that it is not limited to the religious sphere. Thus Christians are allowed, and even encouraged to make art which is not explicitly Christian. So when a piece of fiction that is not explicitly Christian is compared to a non-Christian’s work of fiction, it might seem that they are not completely different. This is fine and appropriate because a Christian’s life is not limited to merely the sacred, the line between secular and sacred does not exist for the Christian since all falls under Christ’s sovereignty. However, there will be some differences, differences in the author’s motives for writing, and differences in how their worldviews play out in their writings. A non-Christians writing will be idolatrous, because it is not done for the sake of God, and a Christian’s writing (hopefully) will not be idolatrous because it is done for the sake of God’s glory.

Missiology: Urban Mission Part 10 – Works Cited

For those of you who are interested in what I have been blogging about the last few days, here are the books/papers that I drew my info from. Some of these are a great place to being exploring God’s heart for urban ministry. I would also recomend Tim Keller’s upcoming book Center Church.

________________________________________

Works Cited

Branson, Mark Lau and Martinez, Juan F. Churches, Cultures and Leadership: A Practical Theology of Congregations and Ethnicities. Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 2011.

Butterworth, Douglas and Chance, John K. Latin American Urbanization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981.

Castles, Stephen and Miller, Mark J.. The Age of Migration. New York: Guilford Press, 2009.

Conn, Harvie and Ortiz, Manuel. Urban Ministry: The Kingdom, the City, and the People of God. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2001.

De La Torre, Miguel. Doing Christian Ethics from the Margins. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2004.

Fischer, Claude. The Urban Experience. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1984.

Flanagan, William G. Contemporary Urban Sociology. Cambridge: Cambridge Universtity Press, 1993.

Glasser, Arthur F. Announcing the Kingdom. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003.

Gornik, Mark R. To Live in Peace: Biblical Faith and the Changing Inner City. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2002.

Gudykunst, William. Bridging Differences: Effective Intergroup Communication. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publishers, 2004.

 

Hanciles, Jehu J.. Beyond Christendom: Globalization, African Migration, and the Transformation of the West. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2008.

Jenkins, Philip. God’s Continent: Christianity, Islam, and Europe’s Religious Crisis. New York: Oxford, 2007.

Jenkins, Philip. The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Keller, Timothy. Generous Justice: How God’s Grace Makes Us Just. New York: Dutton, 2010.

Little, Kenneth. Urbanization as a Social Process. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1974.

Palen, John. The Urban World. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1981.

Portes, Alejandro and Rumbaut, Rubén G.. Immigrant America: A Portrait. Berkeley: UC Press, 2006.

Stassen, Glen and Gushee, David. Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2003.

Tiersma, Jude. “What Does it Mean to be Incarnational When we are not the Messiah.” In God So Loves the City, eds. Charles Van Engen and Jude Tiersma, 7-25. Monrovia: MARC, 1994.

White, Randy. Journey to the Center of the City: Making a Difference in an Urban Neighborhood. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1996.

Wright, Christopher. The Mission of God. Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 2006.

Missiology: Urban Mission Part 9 – Retelling the Story: Looking to the Cross

Over the last few days I have been posting some thoughts on an issue facing the future of the church, namely the explosion of urban populations. I started by taking a look at some of the issues brought about by the urban explosion. Today, in our final entry, we will wrap up the story that we started with in the beginning. Also we will see how the gospel addresses the issues brought up in the paper.

________________________________________

VI-Retelling the Story: Looking to the Cross

Her church was known for it’s gigantic cross that overlooked the valley. In fact on a clear night when the cross was light up it was visible from miles away. One night after going to church she sat in the parking lot staring up at the cross. She pondered and prayed about the conversations she was having about the city. Had she been wrong? Was the city really a hellhole, and it needed rescuing? Or was it the place where God worked and dwelled? She looked up again at the cross, which stood at the edge of this city, and she remembered Hebrews 13:12-14 which says: “Therefore Jesus also suffered outside the city gate in order to sanctify the people by his own blood. Let us then go to him outside the camp and bear the abuse he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we are looking for the city to come.” As she sat there remembering what Christ had done for her on the cross, she was flooded with emotions. She realized that Christ’s work on the cross was the ultimate act of justice and solidarity. Christ bore our shame and punishment even when he didn’t deserve it. The only reasonable response to his sacrifice for her was to enact justice and live in solidarity with the poor and oppressed. She realized that the gospel leads her to doing justice, and doing justice opens the city up to receive the gospel. In other words her “justification by faith leads to doing justice, and doing justice can make many seek to be justified by faith.”[1]

She also remembered Revelation 22:1-2, where the water of life flowed through the city of God to the tree of life which produced leaves for the healing of the nations. She wondered about this tree and her mind went back to the tree on which Christ was crucified. On the cross he was slaughtered and by his blood he ransomed saints from every tribe and language and people and nation for God (Revelation 5:9). People from all different backgrounds were together worshiping Christ, there was unity in the midst of diversity!

The more she thought about the cross, the more she realized God’s heart for the city. It seems as though the future of the church is in fact in the city. Yes, the city has its challenges. The church in the city must deal with poverty and it must deal with cultural heterogeneity and the issues that come alongside of it, but the cross brings healing where there is injustice and it creates unity. She looked to the cross once again, and but this time she saw that God really loves the city. God loved the city so much that he gave his Son for it. Staring at that cross on that hill outside of the city she realized that we must participate “in what God is doing. We do not bring God’s reign to the city. God is already there. He invites us to join him in his activity. In humility we must realize that we will never have the answers. We cannot meet all the needs. We are not the answer.”[2] Christ is the answer for the city.

[1] Keller, Generous Justice: How God’s Grace Makes Us Just, 140.

[2] Jude Tiersma, “What Does it Mean to be Incarnational When We are not the Messiah?,” in God So Loves the City, eds. Charles Van Engen and Jude Tiersma, (Monrovia: MARC, 1994), 15.

Missiology: Urban Mission Part 8 – Addressing Cultural Heterogeneity

Over the next few days I will be posting some thoughts on an issue facing the future of the church, namely the explosion of urban populations. I will start by taking a look at some of the issues brought up by the urban explosion, and I will conclude by reflecting upon how the Gospel addresses these issues.

Today we will look look at how the Church might begin to address issues brought about by cultural heterogeneity.

________________________________________

V-Mission Action: Confronting Poverty and Cultural Heterogeneity

           B-Cultural Heterogeneity

            Earlier we noted that cities are a place of diversity, and that this diversity often has two results: 1) “super-tribalization” and/or 2) conflict between different groups. The church must address cultural diversity and bring healing between different groups so that diversity will not result in super-tribalization or conflict.

How will the church bring healing so that conflict may be avoided? First we must recognize that cultural conflicts (whether that be conflict between people of different ethnicities, cultures, religions, or socio economic standings) are usually rooted in injustice.[1] Thus the church must work to correct power imbalances that are based on differences in culture. Cultural conflicts are also based on a lack of knowledge. It is hard to hate someone when they are your friend. When people harbor hateful feelings toward any cultural group, it is usually because they do not truly know someone from that cultural group. In other words their knowledge of the other group is limited to stereotypes. “Social stereotypes are often used in media and we learn many of our stereotypes from the media.”[2] Breaking down stereotypes will involve creating opportunities for exposure to different cultures. By creating these opportunities and teaching on what God has to say about cultures and conflict, churches in urban settings will begin to break down conflict between these groups.

The church must also discourage super-tribalization, especially in churches. How will the church accomplish this? First, the church must play its prophetic role in pointing out the incorrect notion that there is such a thing as a normative culture. This will be especially important in American urban settings. The American church must dispel the notion that Western culture is the “standard” culture, and that all cultures within the United States should try to assimilate themselves into mainstream “American” culture[3]. The church must come to understand and teach that diversity rooted in unity under God was God’s intention all along.[4] If we as a church truly understand and believe these ideas, we cannot help but work on deconstructing super-tribalization and constructing authentic diversity within the Church.

Second, the church must work towards creating multi-cultural churches; “whenever possible churches should pursue cultural boundary crossing with neighbors and intercultural life within their congregations.”[5] Naturally there will be issues when one is trying to form a multi-cultural church. Many of these issues will be based on conflicting expectations and diversity in practice and method. The first step in overcoming these hurdles will be stepping back and recognizing one’s own cultural assumptions. Our expectations are culturally based, thus by stepping back and recognizing our own cultural assumptions, we will be in a better position to address these conflicting expectations. Also by naming our cultural assumptions, we will realize that our practices and methods are not normative. If we realize that they our methods and practices are not normative we will be able to let go of them when necessary.

In addressing both conflict and super-tribalization, the church must be a light to the world. It must show the world that the church is a “new humanity created by Christ-not broken humanity cowed and fractured by racism or division or castes.”[6] We must strive embrace the diversity we find in cities, while simultaneously rooting our diversity in our union with Christ. We must remember Paul’s words in Galatians 3:28-29, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for you are one in Christ Jesus.”

[1] Stassen and Gushee, Kingdom Ethics, 390.

[2] William B. Gudykunst, Bridging Differences: Effective Intergroup Communication, (Thousand Oaks: Sage Publication, 2004), 118.

[3] Jehu J. Hanciles, Beyond Christendom: Globalization, African Migration, and the Transformation of the West (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2008), 235.

[4] Arthur Glasser, Announcing the Kingdom: The Story of God’s Mission in the Bible, (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003), 52.

[5] Branson and Martinez, Churches, Cultures and Leadership: A Practical Theology of Congregations and Ethnicities, 89.

[6] Conn and Ortiz, Urban Ministry: The Kingdom, the City, and the People of God, 317.

 

Missiology: Urban Mission Part 7 – Confronting Poverty

Over the next few days I will be posting some thoughts on an issue facing the future of the church, namely the explosion of urban populations. I will start by taking a look at some of the issues brought up by the urban explosion, and I will conclude by reflecting upon how the Gospel addresses these issues.

Today we will look look at how the Church might begin to confront poverty.

________________________________________

V-Mission Action: Confronting Poverty and Cultural Heterogeneity

            A-Poverty

            The city has the capability of becoming “the land of the left behind-the poor, the underemployed, the ethnic outsider.”[1] How will the church address the issue of poverty? First we must begin by recognizing the cause of urban poverty. Conn points out the fact that the “cause of poverty is largely injustice…injustices, oppression and oppressive structures cause poverty.”[2] The fact that urban poverty is largely due to injustice means that the church must work to bring God’s justice.

According to Stassen and Gushee justice has four dimensions: 1) deliverance of the poor and powerless from the injustice that they regularly experience; 2) lifting the foot of domineering power off the neck of the dominated and oppressed; 3) stopping the violence and establishing peace; and 4) restoring the outcasts. [3] Bringing God’s justice to the city will involve enacting these four components. However to enact these four components of holistic justice the church must take several steps. First the church must be willing and able to recognize and name injustice when it sees it. In doing this the church will be fulfilling its prophetic role to the cities. Here we must look to the work of Jesus, who in “cleansing the temple” acted out a “prophetic and symbolic attack to the whole temple system for practicing a cover up of injustice.”[4] In the city, this will mean confronting companies who keep profit margins high by paying their workers low wages. When workers are reduced to objects or resources based upon their economic value, they end up being exploited.[5] The church must confront exploitative practices. How will churches do this? Usually it will involve bringing these practices out into the light. In the city of Dhaka the projected 9th largest city in the world in 2015,[6] there was a case involving unjust work practices. Lisa Rahman was a 19 year old girl working in a garment factory assembling “Whinnie the Pooh” shirts. She was paid an equivalent of five cents for shirts that were sold at approximately twenty dollars. In 2002 the workers complained publicly about their poor working conditions. Due to the complaints, Disney cancelled all future work orders, leaving Lisa without a job.[7] This true story hardly made a dent in western news sources. What if the church had brought this urban injustice to light? Could the church have prevented these poor working conditions or the loss of Lisa’s only source of survival?

In addition to bringing injustice to the light it must act to end injustice. This means that the church will seek to change oppressive social arrangements and institutions. This will take direct involvement among poor communities, individual development, community development, racial reconciliation, and social reform.[8]

In addition to bringing injustice to light the church must learn to partner with the poor. It must create partnership that recognizes and maintains the poor’s dignity. “Partnership with the poor will change the face of the city.”[9] Yet the church must be not merely be a partner to the poor, it must come alongside the poor and live in solidarity with them. The church must take Christ as its model of solidarity. Christ was beaten and oppressed by the unjust oppressive systems of his day. Yet he endured this injustice in order to bring about justice. If the church can learn to suffer alongside the poor, like Christ suffered for his people, then the Church’s efforts at bringing about justice will be effective and credible.

[1] Conn and Ortiz, Urban Ministry: The Kingdom, the City, and the People of God, 70.

[2] Conn and Ortiz, Urban Ministry: The Kingdom, the City, and the People of God, 327.

[3] Glen Stassen and David Gushee, Kingdom Ethics, (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2003),  349

[4] Stassen and Gushee, Kingdom Ethics, 348.

[5] Miguel De La Torre, Doing Christian Ethics from the Margins, (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2004), 84.

[6] Jenkins, Jenkins, The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity, 93.

[7] De La Torre, Doing Christian Ethics from the Margins, 98.

[8] Timothy Keller, Generous Justice: How God’s Grace Makes Us Just, (New York: Dutton, 2010), 130.

[9] Randy White, Journey to the Center of the City: Making a Difference in an Urban Neighborhood, (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 61.

 

Missiology: Urban Mission Part 6 – Cities as a Part of God’s Mission

Over the next few days I will be posting some thoughts on an issue facing the future of the church, namely the explosion of urban populations. I will start by taking a look at some of the issues brought up by the urban explosion, and I will conclude by reflecting upon how the Gospel addresses these issues.

Today we will look look at the Scriptures and try to pull out some insights as to how we should respond to the issue at hand.

________________________________________

IV-New Mission Insights: Cities as a Part of God’s Mission

            A foundational text for God’s mission to the city is Jeremiah 29. In this text we see “God’s enduring love expressed in initiatives to shape a people as a community for worship and mission.”[1] However, this text is based upon God’s covenantal promises to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3; the promise of land, progeny, and blessing to the nations. Wright argues that this text is the pivotal text for the whole Bible.[2] We can see why this is so, if in fact God’s ultimate purpose is to bless humanity, then the story of how God will bless the nations is the central focus of his word.[3] In Jeremiah 29 God tells the Israelites to inhabit the land, bear sons and daughters, and to seek the welfare of the city. It is clear that this passage parallels Genesis 12:1-3. Thus even when in exile, God’s people were to remain on God’s mission; they were to be God’s agents for the blessing of this city.[4]

Looking at this passage we are informed of God’s mission in the midst of the city. Our mission as Christians is founded upon Genesis 12:1-3. As God’s people we are to bring God’s blessings to wherever we dwell, even if it is an “enemy city.” What will this blessing look like in the midst of urban contexts? It means helping people flourish in the midst of their cities. Human flourishing will be based upon a holistic understanding of humanity’s needs. Humans are both physical and spiritual, they are also relational. Thus human flourishing will be physical and spiritual as well as well as relational. The church’s mission must be a holistic blessing. This means that the church must address humanity’s spiritual, physical, relational, and emotional needs. By doing this, the church will bring God’s Shalom, God’s sanctification that embraces all dimensions of life.[5]

How will the church address the holistic need of city dwellers? Earlier we had noted that two major issues the church will face in an urban setting is poverty and cultural heterogeneity. Thus these are the two issues that the church must confront if it is going to bless urban residents.

[1] Branson and Martinez, Churches, Cultures and Leadership: A Practical Theology of Congregations and Ethnicities, 34.

[2] Christopher Wright, The Mission of God, (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006), 194.

[3] Wright, The Mission of God, 194.

[4] Wright, The Mission of God, 99-100.

[5] Mark Gornik, To Live in Peace: Biblical Faith and the Changing Inner City, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2002), 101.

Missiology: Urban Mission Part 5 – A Biblical Theology of the City

Over the next few days I will be posting some thoughts on an issue facing the future of the church, namely the explosion of urban populations. I will start by taking a look at some of the issues brought up by the urban explosion, and I will conclude by reflecting upon how the Gospel addresses these issues.

Today we will look be taking a super brief look at what the Bible has to say about cities. This is a “mini-biblical theology of the city.”

________________________________________

III-Re-Reading the Scriptures: A Brief Biblical Study of the City

            So far we have looked at the rapid growth of cities and the factors contributing to that growth. Also, we have looked at the issues brought about due to the migratory nature of this growth in the cities, namely poverty and cultural heterogeneity. Now we turn to the scriptures. By turning to the scriptures we can reflect upon what God says regarding cities and their role in the life of the church.

The Bible’s attitude towards cities is rather ambivalent. Some cities in the Bible are seen as the embodiment of evil. For instance one may look at Babel, whose inhabitants tried to be equal with God.  In the New Testament, one can look to Rome as the city who persecuted Christians. When some Christians think of cities, they think of the immorality of cities like Sodom and Gomorrah. They think of the injustice and oppression caused by Babylon. They think of cities like Nineveh which is called a “city of bloodshed, utterly deceitful, full of booty, no end to the plunder” (Nahum 3:1) and are reminded that they enslave nations through their debauchery (Nahum 3:4). They point out the fact that God will destroy Nineveh and leave it in ruin. They point to the fact that humans were created and placed in a garden (Genesis 2:8), and that Israel experiences God in the wilderness (Hosea 2:14).

Others try to make the case that cities are God’s intention for humanity. They argue that cities are a place of security (Genesis 4:14, 17 and Psalm 46:1-5). They show that God has established his city forever (Psalm 48:8), and that he dwells in his city among the people (Psalm 87:1-3). They point out Revelation 21:2, the New Jerusalem of Revelation, where God dwells with his people forever. They show that God’s people are to seek out the shalom, or comprehensive well being of the city (Jeremiah 29).[1]

So the question is: are cities God’s intention or are they a corruption of human purposes? Conn notes that this is the wrong question to be asking. This question assumes a false dichotomy. He suggests that we se the city as a “center of integrative social power, capable of preserving, changing, and interpreting human culture both for and against God’s divine purpose.” [2] Understanding the city to be a formidable force for transformation as well as the location where God’s purposes can be fulfilled or challenged will result in Christians reexamining ministry to cities. Cities are where cultural transformation occurs, they are vital centers of cultures as well as the base for many movements. For instance, one can look to Paul’s missionary journeys. Paul focused on cities like Ephesus, Corinth, and Rome. He saw the great potential the cities had for fulfilling God’s missionary purposes. With the rapid process of urbanization occurring in our world today, we must come to see the city’s role in God’s missionary purposes.

[1] Mark Lau Branson and Juan F. Martinez, Churches, Cultures and Leadership: A Practical Theology of Congregations and Ethnicities, (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2011), 35.

[2] Conn and Ortiz, Urban Ministry: The Kingdom, the City, and the People of God, 233.