Related Articles / Lectures / Interviews
Jacobsen Eric O., Receiving Community:
The Church and the Future of the New Urbanist Movement
(Markets and Morality, Spring 2003).
"New Urbanism has been, up to this point,
a decidedely secular movement and perhaps it should remain
that way. However, if the New Urbanist movement hopes to
have a deep and lasting impact in this country it will have
to figure out a way to bring those distinctively Christiann
voices back into the conversation that hs been initiated.
And the New Urban vision for new developments (such as Seaside)
will have to figure out a way to incorporate churches in
a more central way than they do so so now".
Jacobsen Eric O., Lawless Prophet: James Howard Kunstler
and the New Urbanist Critique of American Sprawlt
(Comment,June 2004).
"Kunstler's disappointment with the Christian community's
unconscious collusion in the suburban experiment may have prevented him from
discovering other more helpful strands within the biblical tradition. His lack
of religious foundation greatly weakens the force of his rhetoric for a fairly
religious populace. He criticizes the American public for their greed and short-
sightedness in terms that long for-if not assume-some kind of divine arbitrator
of justice: "I begin to come to the disquieting conclusion that we Americans are
these days a wicked people who deserve to be punished" ( Home From Nowhere, 297).
But his assessment of the wickedness of his fellow citizens is merely visceral and
lacks the force of moral imperative. By choosing not to identify with either his
Jewish or German Christian ancestors, Kunstler limits himself to the role of a self-
referential prophet with very limited authority in the American public realm.
".
Ken Meyers Interview with Eric Jacobsent
(Mars Hill Audio Journal, Issue 67).
"The way we design buildings and cities, the way we
configure roads and neighborhoods, can say a great deal about our understanding
of human nature and the shape of human wellbeing. But because they have viewed
the really important part of human nature to be spiritual and not bodily, most
Christians have been content to allow a kind of utilitarian commitment to efficiency
and individual comfort guide the development of suburbs and thus contribute to the
concomitant decay of cities.
".
Bess, Philip, Civic Art and the City of God:
Traditional Urban Design and Christian Evangelism. (Markets
and Morality, Spring 2003)
"I have been arguing here that good cities
are an essential component of the good life for human beings
and that urbanism is therefore not surprisingly a privileged
symbol of the historic Christian imagination. Post-World
War II suburban sprawl is the antitheses of good urbanism;
and, to the extent that Christian churches simply accept
the premises of suburban culture, we compromise both the
substance and the effectiveness of our evangelical efforts.
Christian churches can better contribute both to the good
of the City of Man and our witness to the City of God by
more conscientiously seeking within our means to promote
the physical forms of good traditiional urbanism."
Singh, Benita God's Green Earth: Christianity and the Environmental Movement (The Next
American City issue three / 2003).
"In the modern-day city, some Christians
see a New Jerusalem; others see a new Sodom. These divisions
reach the public arena in a growing religious debate on
sprawl"
Weiss, Anthony Commanded to Stay: Why the Lubavicher Jews Still Live in Crown Heights (The
Next American City issue three / 2003).
"Virtually every urban Jewish community
in America left when blacks began to move in. The Lubavitchers
of Crown Heights bucked the trend, and Jewish law was the
reason"
Rae, Murray Theology and the Built
Environment: Setting the Agenda (Paper Presented at the
first meeting of "Theology and the Built Environment: A Colloquium
of Theology Through the Arts in association with the Calvin
Institute of Christian Worship: Grand Rapids Sept. 4-6, 2002)
"It is noteworthy in the biblical examples
above that the space of salvation is not limitless open
space. It is defined rather as 'a secure dwelling', a 'quiet
resting place', an 'immovable tent'. The vision of the celestial
city in Revelation explains in detail the length and width
and height of the ciity. Its boundaries are generous, but
they are boundaries nevertheless. They give definition to
the space that is envisaged. The definition of space is
the task of architects and engineers, planners and sculptors
and so on. Through their efforts space is given shape and
form. It is appropriate then for theologians to consider,
in consultation with the shapers of space, how that shaping
may anticipate and bear witness to the coming kingdom of
God. It is of the utmost importance to emphasize, of course,
that in the biblical accounts we have referred to, the city
of God is not conceived as a work of human hands but rather
a work of God. The numerous efforts made by architects and
planners to construct utopia have been conspicuously unsuccessful.
One thinks, for instance, of Le Corbusier's master plan
for Chandigarh (1950) or Lucio Costa's plan for Brasilia
(1957). Among many lessons to be learned from such enterprises
is the folly of Babel-like inattention to human scale and
capacity. We envisage rather, the more modest and faithful
task of identifying the ways in which the construction and
habitation of our built enviroment, alongside all other
aspects of our human life together, may constitute, in attentiveness
to the Word of God spoken in Christ, a witness to the coming
kingdom of God."
Vander Giessen-Reitsma, Kirstin: Re-inventing the well : Considering design for healthy neighborhoods (Catapult volume 3, number 18 - 5.Nov.04 -- 18.Nov.04).
"Even as big boxes multiply, “neighborhood values” are becoming an important part of the national conversation"
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