Getting Upstream to Transform the City

• Tim Keller
• Apr 2, 2009
• Series: Missional
• Categories: Church Planting Articles

Getting Upstream to Transform the City

Selections from Dr. Tim Keller & James Davidson Hunter

Understanding the City A city is marked by the two factors of density and diversity. Cities are also the places from which culture emanates. This is because in the cities the creative and gate keeping centers reside such as the universities, political infrastructure, transportation hubs, entertainment companies, and banking and real estate industries. Cities are in effect nations unto themselves that have much more in common with other cities across the world than suburban and rural areas in their geographic proximity.

Loving the City The Bible opens with a garden (Eden) and closes with a city (the new Jerusalem). In Revelation 21-22 the great city of heaven is marked by culture that includes visual arts, architecture, culinary arts, poetry, and music. Throughout Scripture God loves the city, and tells His people to love even the worst of cities such as Nineveh (Jonah) and Babylon (Jeremiah 29:3-7). The reason is that if Christians give up on the city they are in effect giving up on culture making and cultural transformation. This explains why Paul spent his time evangelizing the urban centers and largely ignored the suburban and rural areas. Because of this Christianity initially flourished in the cities while the rural areas were largely pagan, and the word pagan even referred to someone who lived on a farm. Today, the converse has happened where the pagans control the urban centers and Christians have fled to the rural areas.

A Working Theory of Culture

1. Rooted in faith commitments
Culture is at root a set of ‘Big Ideas’ that define reality. Each culture is based on faith commitments about human nature, what is ultimate/sacred, what is ‘the good’, etc.
2- Forged in cultural centers
Culture is forged from the ‘top down’, theorized as Big Ideas in leading cultural institutions in the cultural centers—major cities and academic communities. (see diagram A. below)
3- Driven by networks and institutions
It is not individuals but communities, networks, and institutions that ultimately shape our character and thought and change culture.
4- Not caused or changed by politics
Politics may temporarily put up a road-block to a cultural trend or support a cultural trend but it cannot ultimately cause culture. Politics rather follows culture.
5- Subject to God
God’s sovereignty extends to all spheres of life. We have no right confining it only to the ‘private’ life and not to our lives as citizens and in our vocational field.
6- Changed not so much by confronting but by co-opting cultural hopes
Christians revise culture by persuasively showing the resources of Christ for resolving baseline cultural problems and hopes. Common grace makes that possible.
7- Changed not by confronting but by serving the common good
Christians should enter the public arena not to leverage influence for their own group but rather to serve the common good.

The remainder of this article is attached as a PDF with diagrams.