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The Enchanting City:
Theological Perspectives on
the City in Post-modern Dress
CLINTON E. STOCKWELL
JERUSALEM AND BABYLON: THE
TWO CITIES OF BIBLICAL HISTORY
Ancient cities were by definition religious
and theological. Almost all of them had
holy places, ziggurats, temples, or sacred
shrines in the central places of the city.
Cities such as Babylon or Jerusalem in
ancient times were actually rival holy
places. Babylon was the city of the towers,
the pillars, the holy places that reached
to the sky. It was also the city of pagan
religion, imperialism, materialism and
majestic splendor. For most of the Old
and New Testament, Babylon was the
city of consummate evil, the sinful city in
rebellion against God. In the Book of
Revelation, Babylon represented the evil
empire of the first century, Rome. Rome,
of course was known for its militarymight,
its road system, its architecture, and its
civil polity. Initially, the Apostle Paul was
proud to be a Roman citizen, as it seemed
to invite civic participation from all
citizens.
By the time of the Revelation, it
seemed rather clear that Rome was not
going to be the city to protect all its
citizens. Indeed, there were catches to
Citizenship. These included loyalty to
Rome, and worship of the spirit of the
empire, the image of the Caesar. In short,
Rome became like Old Testament
Babylon. It became the "oppressing city",
the evil and cruel city, that terrorized the
world, and prohibited freedom of
expression politically, and freedom of
religious practice. Like Babylon, this
Rome too would be destroyed, for it was
not the city built on the foundations of
the city of God. It was not the city of
justice, of righteousness, but a city of
bribery, idolatry, corruption, murder, and
vice.
Jerusalem in pUlpose was to be a city
of peace, a city of justice and
righteousness. It was to be a city where
all the nations might come to learn the
truth and words of Yahweh. It was to be
APRIIJJUNE : TRANSFORMATION
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Yahweh's city, a city whose builder and
maker is God. Jerusalem, the ideal city,
would be the place where the rulers
ruled justly, where peace and
righteousness reigned supreme. It would
be the city that protected the vulnerable,
the poor and the oppressed, the widow
and the orphans, the Levite and the
stranger. Jerusalem was to be "the light
unto the nations", aplace where the truth
of God would be proclaimed. Of course,
like Babylon, the sins of the city would
often show themselves, even in Jerusalem.
Even here, a place that was to be a city of
righteousness, had become a city
corruption, a city given over to idolatries.
In these two "urban
biographies", are all
the elements of an
urban theology
In these two "urban biographies", the
tale of the two most prominent biblical
cities, are all the elements of an urban
theology. What makes for a just city?
What kind of city is constructed by God?
What is the good city? And on the
contrary, what is the evil city, the
oppressing city? We are desperate for
constructive urban images in a world that
has become an urban world. We look for
a coming city, a city where the ideals of
the kingdom of God are realized, if only
in microcosm, if only in smaller
communities that point the way to greater
visions of what cities can be.
INTERPRETING THE BIBLICAL
CITY
Under Judgement: The Theology
of
the City According to Jacques Ellul
Three major perspectives on the cities of
Clinton Stockwell is Executive Director of
the Chicago Center for Public Ministry.
the bible have been in currency in the
past twenty five years. Jacques Ellul, in
his book,
The Meaning of the
City, has
written the most popular book on the city
in theological perspective. His view is
that the city is consummate evil, because
cities are by definition man-made. The
attempts to scale the heavens with the
towers, asherahs, pillars, zig"ourats, reflect
human attempts to scale the heavens.
Following Karl Barth, Ellul believes that
religion is always flawed, as it represents
the human attempt to climb to God,
reflecting an ideology of works, rather
than faith. For Barth. arid for Ellul,
religion is the opposite of revelation. In
revelation, it is God who discloses God's
self to man, and this God does in grace,
not in response to human achievement.
Hence, God's act in Christ is the
contradiction to human religion. It is the
repudiation of all human attempts to
image God, a repudiation of idolatry and
its accornpanv ing immoralities.
For Barth, and for
Ellul, religion is the
opposite of revelation
For Ellul. the citvstands in alienation,
in rebellion azainst God and God's self-
disclosure in
the
Law, the prophets, and
ultimatelv in [esus of Nazareth. Human
religion
i~
thu~ in opposition against God,
and is understood as hostile, at enmity, or
at war against God's purpose for the
world. Ellul points out that in Genesis,
cities like Babvlon, Sodom and
Gomorrah. and th~ cities of the empires
such as Xineveh or Tvre and Sidon, stand
under the judgeme'nt of Cod. Rather
than places of "true religion", or places
\,'here the demands of God are manifest
among a people, cities to Ellul seem to
only represent corruption, cruelty, evil,
and injustice.
For Ellul, the city
stands in rebellion
against God
For Ellul, cities are symbols of power
and conquest. Cities also have religious
significance for Ellul, as in the city, "man
conquers time, space, power" (p.14). For
Ellul, the city is a break with creation, and
is at enmitywith the church. City-building
was a sign of opposition to God. "The city
is cursed. She is condemned to death
because of everything she represents."
For Ellul, Babylon as a citysurns up human
civilization in hostility to God. Like all
cities, Babylon is under judgement, and .
her fate is waste and desolation.' "All the
merchants of the earth were made wealthy
by the greatness of her wealth." Hence,
when the city is destroyed, so also are the
merchants who weep, and share in the
destiny of the city. For Ellul, the city is the
symbol of wealth and pride, and pride
always results in a fall as a consequence of
the divine judgement.
Ellul overdoes
it
However, Ellul overdoes it.
":VI
the
inhabitants of the city are destined sooner
or later to become prostitutes and
members of the proletariat.":' Ellul
believes that wars are always between
cities: Cities frequently become the
targets, perhaps even the victims of
warfare. Remember the burning of
Dresden, or the bombing of Hiroshima.
However, wars in human history have
frequently been between tribes, between
clans, and between peoples over the land,
not just over the city.
Ellul believes also that unemployment
is a city problem. Unemployment is
"essentially an urban problem, found only
in the country only because of the
contagious and gangrenous growth of
the city.:" However, at least in the North
American experience the phenomenon
of unemployment is due to economic
realities, which influence city life, but
can not be simplistically reduced to the
city. The black migration to the cities was
due to the closing down ofthe plantations,
and the rise of scientific technology.
Similarly today, the loss of the "family
farm" is due to the rise of corporate
farming. If anything, it is the rise of
science, and changing economic realities
such as the rise of corporations, and the
1. Ellul,
TheMeaning of the City,
(Grand Rapids, Eerdmans,
1970), p.4S.
2. Ibid., 51.
3. Ibid., 55.
globalization of the economy that causes
unemployment. Capitalism, it may be
argued, requires a surplus labour force.
Cities are victims of an economic system,
but not the causes of unemployment.
The unemployed rush to the cities to find
work, when it can not be found anymore
in the rural south, or in the rural parts of
southern Europe.
Even for Ellul, the cities seem to be a
product of necessity:
"It is right and proper, is it not, when
one is chief of state, to build fortresses?
It is right and proper to cover the
principal access routes into the
country and to keep watch over them.
It is right and proper to establish
commercial centres at the main
crossroads and to put storehouses
there, just as it is proper to have an
army and equipment for war.
"6
For Ellul, the existence of cities seems
reasonable, even necessarv, but not
enough to escape the judgen{ent of God.
Ellul admits that cities are the product of
"good will", the efforts of the "well-
intentioned"! Cities have pUlposes. to
enable people to livebetter, to have access
to homes, leisure activities. for
community, for work and employment.
for protection, and "to ensure him more
comfort and what are called the joys of
life, with all the guarantees of science,
medicine, and pharmacology at his
doorstep."
But this is not enough, for it
isthe citybuilt without proper foundation.
It is the city built for itself, without
reference to God as judge or saviour.
THE FUNCTIONAL VIEW OF THE
CITY
Ellul's theology of the city is notthe only
view of the city. He reveals much that is
significant about the city, but his view is
skewed and partial. Pervasive also
throughout the Old Testament can be
found the functional city, or the city as
gifts of God's grace. Cities are not always
corrupt, and often have much more
positive imagery. Frank Frick, for
example, in his, The City in Ancient
Israel.' argues that the city is basically
morally neutral, but it depends on what
people do in the city as to whether the
city is a good or oppressing city. In this
-perspective, the city does not have
necessarily a positive-or negative value,
but it depends on the practice of
community in the place that determines
the character and reputation of the city.
4. Ibid., 51. 62.
5. Ibid, 61.
6. Ibid. 41.
7. Ibid .. 60.
Cities often have
much more positive
imagery
There are, for example, several
different kinds of cities in the Old
Testament. There were forty-eight
Levitical cities, for example. These were
cities that were designated as homes or
bases of operations for the Levites.
Further, it was the job of the Levites to
visit neighbouring cities to publish and
proclaim Yahweh's Law. It was their job
to instruct the children ofIsrael in all the
decrees, ordinances, rituals, commands,
and duties of the Torah, the oral and
written revelation of Yahweh to the
covenant people. Among the covenant
duties were to remain as a "peculiar
people", known by their fidelity to the
law of God, and their practice of the law
as revealed.
There were other cities ofimportance
in biblical times. There were also six
"cities of refuge". These were cities on
either side of the Jordan River where a
manslayer could flee for protection
against the avenger. It was a place where
a person could receive the judgement of
tl1e priest, and if not guilty, could stay in
the city for reasons of safety, until the
high priest of the city died. There were
also cities of military importance. King
Solomon, for example, built chariot cities
to protect his empire. These were in
cities like Gezer, Hazor, or Megiddo.
They were walled, and staffed with a
garrison, horses, and chariots. They were
situated on the edges of the empire to
protect it from invasion from enemy
countries.
STORE CITIES
There were also grain or storage cities.
These were cities where food and grain
were stored to avert famine and to enable
the country to survive economic
depressions, The great example iswith the
patriarch Joseph, who instructed all of
Egypt to bring a portion of their crops to
storage cities. When the depression
became even more severe, Joseph
relocated the people, including his own
people, near one of the cities, so that they
could survive the famine. Storage cities
made good sense economically, and were
also of major religious Significance. It was
a sign of faithfulness and obedience to
B.lbid.
9. FrankS. Frick,
TheCityinAncient/srae/(Missoula,
Monlana:
Scholars Press, 1977).
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bring a tenth of one's crops, and of one's
livestock to the storehouses of the city.
However, store cities could be corrupt.
It was the enslavement ofIsrael in Egypt
and their task of building store cities in
Pithom and Rameses that provided the
context for the Exodus. Also, under
Solomon, store cities were built, with the
assistance of slave labour.
'" ... And Solomon built Gezer, Lower
Beth-Heron, Baalath and Tamar in
the wilderness of the land, and all his
own store-cities, and the cities for his
chariots, and the cities for his
horsemen' (I Kings 9:15ff). But it is
here that Solomon's first
unfaithfulness may be noticed. He
founds the cities in slavery. And,
forgetful of what happened in Egypt,
forgetful of the Mosaic legislation for
slaves, he enslaved 'the foreigner who
iswithin ... (his) gates' for his purposes
of power: 'these Solomon made a
forced levy of slaves'.
"10
In Deuteronomy, tithing principles
are described, and the proceeds are to
benefit the Levites, as well as the
dependent poor in the city. Also, there is
the note of protection of the stranger,
because Israel was once a slave in Egypt.
"Youshall not forsake the Levite who is
within your gates, for he has no part in
the inheritance with you. At the end of
every third year you shall bring out the
tithe of your produce of that year and
store it up within your gates. And the
Levite, because he has no portion nor
inheritance with you, and the stranger
andthe fatherless and the widow who
are within your gates, may come and
eat and be satisfied, that the Lord your
God may bless you in all the work of
your hand which you do"."
The next chapter, Deuteronomy 15,
describes the responsibility of Israel for
the poor in the land. There might be poor
and dependent in Israel, but they would
have no needs. The tithing principle is
reiterated in Malachi. The command to
«bring all the tithes into the storehouse,
that they may be food in my house" (Mal.
3:15)
continues the theme oflaying aside
provisions for the vulnerable of society.
Just as there were storehouse cities, so the
Temple also became a place where food
and grain were stored, so as to provide
food for the hungry in their time of need.
There were other cities beyond these.
Certainly Bethel and Jerusalem among
others provided an important religious
function. It is there where shrines to
Yahweh were built, and there where
10. Ellul.
The Meaning of the
City,
31.
11.
Deut. 14:27-29.
APRIUJUNE : TRANSFORMATION
12
religious rituals occurred. Ultimate ~'.at
Jerusalem a Temple was built by David
and Solomon, noting that the capital of
the kingdom, indeed the kingdom itself
had religious Significance. Indeed, most
towns in ancient Israel were built on
"tells", small mountains, for reasons of
defense, as well as places of religious
Significance.
If
not temples. and shrines,
places of sacrifice and prayers were found
in the centre of the towns. Cities in the
Old Testament were Significant in other
ways. Cities like Tyre, Sidon, and Joppa
were port cities of significance. Cities
like Caza, Beersheba, or Damascus were
important caravan cities, cities of
commerce. The city of Ezion Geberwas
the only real industrial city, and was the
place where Solomon built his ships, and
may have also been a place of copper
smelting as well.
Cities have symbolic
significance
Similarly, cities today are important
in how they function. Cities have symbolic
Significance as places of government,
trade and commerce, leisure, religion,
industry, or shipping. Washington D.C.
for example is a capital city, noted for its
function for government and politics.
Chicago historically, was known as the
city of the broad shoulders, the industrial-
manufacturing city. Now it is becoming
the city of finance, the headquarters of
corporate giants like Amoco, Sears,
Wards, and several of the Fortune 500
companies in the suburbs to the West
and North. Jerusalem and Mecca
certainly function as religious centers,
just as Rome combines religious with
governmental significance. Some cities
like New Orleans or Alexandria, Egypt,
are known for shipping and ship building.
Others, such as Las Vegas or Miami are
known for leisure, gambling or resorts
for the wealthy. Cities differ also by
reputation. Just as Montreal, Seattle, or
Minneapolis are reputed to be good cities,
so cities like Houston, Atlanta, Los
Angeles or noted for crime and murder.
Cities like Chicago are noted for racial
antagonism, and strife between labour
and capital, whereas Tokyo is now the
city with the highest, and most costly,
standard of living on earth.
Just as Frick has noted the importance
of city function in the Old Testament, so
Wayne Meeks has noted the importance
of cityfunction in New'Testamenttimes."
For Meeks, Paul was very much a city
person, and the cities of the Roman world
12. Wayne A. Meeks, The First Urban Christians: The Social
World of the Apostle Paul
(New Haven: Yale University Press,
fom)
theccr:;:~\-::
=:-?
z:..
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=:»:_~
?..:'';':
established churches :::-.
".1::-. ~:-:::'= -::==5
ofthe Roman world, This was o:-st':;.tezic
significance, and early Christianity,
following the contours of Greco- Roman
civilization to the cities, became very
much an urban movement.
Paul established
churches in each of
the cities of the
Roman world
Paul and the apostles went to the
cities, not because cities represented
something either good or evil, but because
of their strategic importance. Paul
believed in the possibility that the pax
Christi could triumph over the pax
Romana. The assumption carried by Paul
seemed to be that if you captured the
city, you captured the province around it.
In the Greek city state system, built upon
by the Romans, the city controlled the
state, and in Rome the pro\ ince, around
it. Hence, in the first centurv urban world,
Paul planted churches in the cities, as a
strategy for the evangelization of the
world.
The miracle of earlv Christianity is
that among the man::ch~ices available, it
managed to become the choice of
Constantine. and the "Holy Roman
Empire". There were many other options,
including Greek philosophical schools,
mystery religions. the
civ
il
religion of the
Roman Caesar.
J
udaisrn, and by the sixth
century, Islam. Yet. Christianity, despite
persecution. became the religion of the
Roman Empire
bv
the fourth century
CE. Whv did this happen? In the early
part oftl~is centurv. the church historian,
Shirley Jackson Case
of
the University of
Chicago.
argued that there was a
functional relationship between the
triumph of earlv Christianity and the
empire. Despite the· numerous
persecutions under Caesars Nero,
Domitian.
De
cius, and Diocletian,
Christianitv
sun
'ived.
CHRISTIANITY'S TRIUMPH IN
ROME
For Case, tl1ere\\'ere three major reasons
why Christianity triumphed in the Roman
world. and the other options did not.
"Gentile Christianity gained its
foothold first in the cities and among
the lower strata of SOciety.Slaves were
1983).
conspicuous among its early
adherents, yet their contribution to
its economic success was in the nature
of the case rather limited.... But
converts from among manual laborers,
skilled artisans, and small traders, of
the freedman class, etc, were also
numerous at an early date; and their
earning ability was measurably
increased and stabilized as a result of
membership in the newassociation."!"
Case here points out three reasons for
the triumph of the early church. First,
earlyChristianitywas rooted in the cities.
By the fourth century, each of the major
cities had bishops, and the three
competing "schools of theology" were in
cities, notably Antioch, Alexandria, and
Rome. Constantine's conversion was as
much politically motivated as religious,
for the church had captured much of the
city among the artisan classes by the early
fourth century, making conversion to
Christianity politically expedient.
Early Christianity
triumphed, because
of its strategic
location in the cities
Second, the church practiced radical
inclusion. They included anyone and
everyone, Gentiles, slaves, prostitutes,
sinners, the outcasts of society, including
children abandoned in Greco-Roman
cities. Third, they showed compassion
for the poor. Their reputation is that the
church adopted the throwaway children
of SOCiety.They took care, not only of the
poor of the churches, but the poor of the
empire, noted Emperor Justinian. Thus,
early Christianity triumphed, because of
its strategic location in the cities.
It
spread
there, among the poor, the slaves, and
ultimately among people of social
standing. The result was a social force
that has been dominant for two millennia.
Early Christianity
achieved a universal
appeal that rival
religions envied
Because of the inclusiveness of the
gospel, early Christianity achieved a
universal appeal that rival religions
13. Shirley Jackson Case.
TheSOCialTriumph of the Ancient
Church
(New York: Allen and Unwin, 1934),69, See also,
Shirley Jackson Case,
The Social Origins of Christianity
envied. Rites of initiation were open to
anyone, not closed to a chosen few.
Christianity was not a religion of a race,
or for a particular class of people, such as
the appeal of Mithraism to Roman
soldiers. Christianity had a universal
appeal, to both Jews and Greeks, slaves
and freedmen. Because of this
inclusivism, one could be rich or poor,
male offemale, Jew or Gentile, or even a'
person of colour. It mattered little for the
gospel was perceived as breaking down
barriers between the classes, races, and
the nations, resulting in the creation of a
new people, the people of God.
Christianity succeeded in the Roman
world, because it captured the cities, and
because of its inclusive gospel and its
practice of community and compassion
for those who had need.
THE DIVINE CITY: CITIES AS
GIFTS OF GOD
Cities were often viewed with utmost
Significance, even as gifts of God. In
Genesis 4:17, the city was as mueh a safe
place for nomads in the time of trouble,
as they were symbols of human power
and dominance and the exclusion of the
divine. Cities had positive functions in
the Old Testament. They were places of
communitv and socialization, They were
places of protection and defense ~gainst
one's enemies. They were also places for
food, water and sustenance in a time of
need. Finally, cities had religious
Significance, as the place of a temple, or
religious shrine, or symbol of justice and
righteousness, as a model of a just
community to the nations. While
Jerusalem, in particular, did not always
live up to this purpose, it maintained this
function and purpose for most of biblical
history.
Cities were gifts of Yahweh to the
Covenant people as they came into the
land of Canaan. In the book of
Deuteronomy, the following is found.
"And when the Lord your God brings
you into the land which he swore to
your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac,
and to Jacob, to give you, with great
and goodly cities, which you did not
build, andhouses full of all good things,
which you did not fill, and cisterns
hewn out, which you did not hew, and
vineyards and olive trees, which you
did not plant, and when you eat and
are full, then take heed lest you forget
the Lord, who brought you out of the
land of Egypt, out of the house of
bondage."!'
(Chicago: University of Chicago, 1923).
14, Oeut.6:10-12,
15, Don C, Benjamin,
Deuteronomy and City Life: A Form
C!ea:-:~..
~:ror::
T~S~'..1:5S":';=.
-.:_-=
:=~-.:-
Canaan are portrayed as
s::s
c
:-y
~·:'e::'.
Also. it is clear
tll~t
the c;ties. and
i:-
',c;";
the goods found in cities necess21Y
io:-
life, such as water cisterns and food. are
regarded as "good things". The cities arc
called "great and goodly cities". not bad
or evil in themselves, but places of value
and Significance. Finally, just like all gifts
and graces of Yahweh, these are goods
that Israel did not build, but must receive
them as a gift. Symbolic of God's work of
grace in selecting Israel, cities are given
to a people, undeserving and unmerited.
Israel did not build or even merit these
good cities, they are rather given to her as
gifts of God.
Cities in the Book of Deuteronomy
were therefore symbols of Cod's grace.
Israel was chosen of God to be the people
of God, not because she was a mighty are
even arighteous people, but rather because
God chose Israel in fulfillment of the
promises made to early patriarchs. In the
same way, Israel was delivered from
captivity, given the Law, provided food to
eat in the wilderness, given the Shekinah
glory, the visible presence of God to be
with them on the trip, and given prophets
and leaders such as Moses to guide the
way. Similarly, Israel, because of the
promise to Abraham, VIasgiven apromised
land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
In this land was all the provisions of life,
including water and food. In this land was
also to be found feltile lands [or crops, and
cities to live in. These were all gifts of God,
unmerited favours to the covenant people.
Even the city of Jerusalem, prominent in
biblical history, was not built by Israel but
W:15 given to Israel, and in essence adopted
as the divine city in the process.
The prophets may have been rural,
and may have had prejudices against
wayward kings, false prophets, and priests
schooled to tell those in power what they
wanted to hear. However, the "true
prophets" were not anti-City, they were
against the evils of the city as practiced by
wicked and self-serving individuals. They
were against systems of injustice, as
evidenced by corruption and bribery,
They were against the lack of compassion
and lack of justice rendered towards the
poor, particularly the widows and the
orphans. "They did not condemn the
city, but self-sufficiency, misuse of power
and domineering economic systems as
rebellions against Yahweh. The sin was
not the city itself, nor its walls, nor its
towers, but the trust urbanites frequently
placed in these fortifications."!"
Israel's mistake was that she trusted
often in her kings, walls, armies, priests,
Criticism of Texts with the word CITY ('ir) in Deuteronomy
4:41-26:19 (New York: University Press of America, 1983),
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prophets, and diplomatic relationships.
These were considered by God to be a
betrayal of trust, and a misguided attempt
to fashion security in a world without God.
These efforts were made more abominable
because they were accompanied by trust
in other deities, and a tacit acceptance of
other cultural practices. Instead of trust in
Yahweh, Israel rebelled by trusting in her
military, or in her diplomacy. The result as
well was idolatry and immorality. Other
deities took the place of Yahweh,
threatening the gifts Yahweh had given
them, particularly their status as a chosen
people, and the gifts of the promised land
and the goods in the land, including the
cities.
Cities could be of
benefit, if Yahweh
was worshipped, and
if
the Law was taught
Cities could be of benefit, if Yahweh
was worshipped, and ifthe Lawwastaught
and practiced. The Psalmist mused,
"unless the Lord builds the house, those
who build it labour in vain. Unless the
Lord watches over the city the watchman
stays awake in vain."!" Other Psalms
describe the city as a fit place for the
people of God to dwell, and a fit symbol
for Yahweh in person. Yahweh is
identified with the foundations, the
bulwarks, the citadel. "A mighty fortress
is our God." If Israel acknowledged God
and the Law, then God could be identified
with her cities and her fortresses. In
Psalm 48, this identification is captured:
"Great is the Lord and greatly to be
praised, in tile city of our God, in his
Holy Mountain. Beautiful in elevation,
the joy of the whole
earth,
is Mount
Zion on the sides of the North, in the
city of the great King .... As we have
heard, So we have seen, In the cit)' of
the Lord of hosts, in the city of our
God. God will establish it forever ...
"17
APRIL/JUNE: TRANSFORMATION
14
The city is therefore the place where
God dwells, the place of sacrifice and
praise. It is the place of protection, a
refuge from invasion and marauding
tribes. It is the place of the temple, of the
sanctuaries, of the courts of law and
justice. The cities are the place where, in
tile gates, judgement is delivered, and
the law is instructed so that the people
can walk in observance of the Torah,
practicing what is just and right.
16.
Psalm
127:1.
17.
Psalm
48:1-2, 8.
18.
Donald
E.
Gowan.
Eschatology in the Old Testament
(Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986). 9.
In the Old Testament, a "Zion
theology" emerges with the King, David.
Zion is the name of the fortress city, the
city of Jerusalem. David is given
Jerusalem, and makes it the capital of his
kingdom. Jerusalem becomes, not just
the capital of David's empire, but also
the place where Yahweh dwells, the place
of the temple, and the centre of religious
ritual and the publication of theLaw of
Yahweh. Initially, Zion as Yahweh's
fortress was attached literally to the city
of Jerusalem. However, with the
destruction of [erusalem at hand, the
prophets of the exile spoke of a heavenly
Jerusalem, or a New Jerusalem, an
eschatological Jerusalem thatwouldcome
at the end of history. After the exile to
Babylon in 586 BC, Zion as the symbol of
God's presence was thus transferred from
literal Jerusalem, to the spiritual or final
Jerusalem at the end of history.
"The Zion theme is thus a remarkable
example of the persistence of ideas,
even when the), have been shown
beyond an)' doubt to be completely
wrong in one manifestation. Despite
the embarrassment of the fall of
Jerusalem, and with it the end of all
that Judeans trusted in; despite their
eventual acceptance of the tragedy as
fully merited judgement for their own
sins, they could not, it seems, abandon
that symbol of the city of God built on
his holy mountain in favorof something
better .... That continuing potency of
the concept of the city
of God
as an
eschatological symbol, throughout
history to our own day,isanother reason
for emphasizing Zion as the center of
Israel's hopes."!"
From the time of the prophets, Amos,
Hosea, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Isaiah and
onward, Israel looked for a restored and
redeemed Jerusalem, as the centre of
prophetic tradition, and the hope for the
future. In the Old Testament, Jerusalem
was always seen as an improved earthly
city, but never as supernatural and
heavenly.!"
Both Jesus and Paul
recognized the importance of Jerusalem
as the city of God, and both recognized
the city's shortcomings, and potential.
Jesus would weep over Jerusalem because
it was the place that stoned the prophets.
Paul himself would concede the authority
of the Jerusalem apostles, but not their
theology with respect to the Gentiles.
For Jerusalem was to be a "light unto the
nations", not a symbol for an exclusive
Judaized Christianity.
In both testaments, Jerusalem as the
city of God had a utopian and
19. H.Schmidt. "Jerusalem', in
NewlnlernalionalDiclionaryof
New Testament TheoJogyll
(1976), 326.
20. Matthew 23:39.
21. Hebrews 11:10; 12:22.
eschatological dimension. It was the place
where the ideal Messiah would reign,
and the place that would also be the hope
for the nations. Despite the city's rejection
of Jesus, the Messiah would still return to
Jerusalem to set things right.
20
In
Galatians, Paul distinguishes Jerusalem
"from below", and Jerusalem "from
above". The city from below was the
captive city, under the law. The city "from
above" was the free city, redeemed and
restored as the city of salvation, for Jews
and Gentiles, freedman and slaves. The
old Jerusalem represented slavery and
bondage, whereas the New Jerusalem
represented salvation and peace.
In the letter to the Hebrews, believers
are told that the patriarchs and the prophets
looked for a city "whose builder and maker
is Cod.'?' Of course, Abraham left Ur of
the Chaldees, the most prominent city of
the time, to look for another city. He did
not find one in Canaan, although Abraham
"waited for a city that has foundations".
The disciples are said to have approached
"Mount Zion, and to the
City
of the living
God, the heavenlv [erusalern.:"? The
theme of the heavenlv [erusalern is
reiterated in the book o'f Re\·elation. In
Revelation, the hopes for a new city are
realized, as the New [erusalem descends
to earth from above. The heavenly city
becomes once again the earthly city. The
Revelation depicts the final image of the
reign of God, and it is the image of a city.
In the new city. there would be no more
sorrow, death: pain. or weeping, "for the
former things are passed away"."
The final image of the
reign of God is the
image of a city
Rather, in the ideal city, the New
Jerusalem. there would be peace, joy,
beauty, and shared wealth. In the
foursquare citv. the hopes of humankind
are finally fulfilled. Justice and mercy
finally reign. for God is present in the
new citv, for the rule of God finally comes
to earth.
A.II
the hope of a coming ideal
city are finallv realized. and God reigns
on earth in the citv of God. The ideal city
was prominent in medieval thought, and
could be found in the ideas of the
Reformers, and in the beliefs of the
churches. Catholic and Reformed.
However,
with
the Renaissance and the
Enlightenment, the image of the city
progressivelv freed itself from established
religions, papal or protestant. The secular
city was the result .•
22.
Hebrews
12:22,
23.
Revelation
21:4.