Public Theology Discussion

Discussion topics arising out of
Graham and Lowe, What Makes a Good City?

1. Take an actual or an imagined walk around Adelaide's CBD, focusing on what the built environment and the use of space -- in both its long-standing and its changing aspects -- says about our city's values and priorities.

• What has been the contribution of the churches, and especially of Pilgrim Church, to this environment?
• Does this contribution mesh with those values and priorities that we think of as christian?

2. Throughout the book, the authors stress "the importance of the local, as the context in which 'God takes place' ". (p.158)

• We call ourselves an 'urban church' because of our geographical location. But are we really an urban church? Is the CBD really our local context? Most of us live in the suburbs and are to some extent refugees from suburban congregations. What are the implications of this for being involved in 'public theology' in the city?
• Whether we consider Pilgrim Church to be genuinely 'urban' or something else, how well do we do in equipping Pilgrims "to exercise an 'everyday faithfulness' in their own [local] contexts, caught increasingly as they are between a religiously indifferent or illiterate public sphere and the introspective, individualised, parochial (in the worst sense) pattern of church involvement". (p.157)

3. The authors describe a high level of religious/theological illiteracy among governments and public authorities in Britain and a lack of understanding about what religion can offer to public life. Do you think this is the case in Australia? If so, what should we doing about it?

• Establishing a higher profile in community service provision?
• Seeking a greater voice in public debate, or greater representation on government reviews, inquiries, working parties etc?
• Concentrating on making our congregations cradles of alternative values/vision?
• Establishing networks and strategic endeavours with others engaged in building better cities/more humane public life?
• Taking it slowly and increasing our own theological literacy as a first step?

4. The authors write about building humane and sustainable cities, which provide opportunities for human flourishing, but are not always clear about what these terms mean.

• What is our understanding of these terms?
• Is 'human flourishing' the same as 'abundant life'?
• Are these goals (humane-ness, sustainability, human flourishing) central to the church's mission?
• Are we pursuing these goals now? If not, but we want to pursue them, what should we be doing that we are not doing now? And what are we doing now that we should not be doing?

5. The authors argue that church buildings - despite their problems and the burdens they can impose - can contribute to our capacity to enrich the life of the city. Pilgrim Church is in the process of planning a new building. What will be its contribution to the life of the city?

• Will it be "a sacred space in which, through creative activity and the works of dwelling, humanity can experience something of the transcendent"? (p.49)
• Will it contribute to social integration and inclusion or will it reinforce existing polarities of class, influence and material status?
• Will it allow us to pursue goals of sustainability and human flourishing?

Do the following ideas, cited in Graham and Lowe, help us clarify our thinking about what makes a good city and what Pilgrim's role might be in building such a city?

from Richard Rogers, Cities for a Small Planet, 1997

A sustainable city is:

A Just City, expressing social and economic equity; where justice, food, shelter, education, health care and other social goods are fairly distributed, and where people have freedom to determine their own futures, through fair and democratic governance.

A Beautiful City, where the built environment has the capacity to stir the soul and move the spirit -- where we are nourished and sustained aesthetically as well as materially.

A Creative City, where people are given scope to extend their potential, to be open-minded and innovative.

An Ecological City, which minimizes its environmental impact, with a balance between landscape and built environment and where buildings and infrastructure are resource-efficient and not exhausting basic stock of reserves of ecological capital.

A City of Easy Contact, with accessible public space which encourages social mixing, fosters community and mobility and invites contact and communication, both interpersonal and electronic.

A Compact and Polycentric City, which protects the countryside, integrates neighbourhoods and maximises proximity of communities.

A Diverse City, where difference is valued and public life is premised on new ideas and dynamic communities.

In addition, "the good city . . . must increasingly be organised around a recognition of its responsibility to the future as well as to current generations, its interdependence on wider natural habitat and the limits to growth".

Graham and Lowe, p.57

from Philip Sheldrake Spaces for the Sacred, 2000

Sheldrake reflects on the theological question that accompanies these ecological and environmental concerns. He asks what is the meaning and purpose of these cities? What role do they play in our understanding of what it means to be truly human, truly alive? What do they have to do with our apprehension of and striving after ultimacy (AKA God)?

"The city is where, for an increasing proportion of humanity, 'the practice of everyday life' takes place, either constructively or destructively. The growth of cities urgently requires that we give attention not merely to design and planning but also to deeper questions of meaning and purpose . . . the challenge is how to relate city-making to a vision of the human spirit and what enhances it".

Graham and Lowe, p.62

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This project provides an opportunity to explore theological insights on the topic, "Being a church for the city". The group draws on recent publications and their own reflections of mission and ministry as they share theological insights and experience.