Hate the City, Love the City by Jonathan Dodson (Acts 29 Church Planter | Austin, TX)
The first eleven chapters of Genesis appear to advocate a YHWH-against-the-city theology. The line of Cain, not the Sethite line of promise, is consistently associated with urban development and culture-making. Cain and his posterity are judged and rejected by God, whereas Seth and his posterity are described as righteous, as relatives of God in Christ (Lk 3:38). YHWH obviously hated Babel, Sodom, and Gomorrah enough to destroy them. Are we then to conclude that those who claim sonship of YHWH and discipleship to Jesus should also hate the city? Is this the biblical stance? Hate the city?
How then should we respond to the city? With most of humanity still in glorious ruin, how are we to live in the city? If the city is not inherently evil, what can we learn from it? If we are not called to hate the city exclusively, how then do we love it?