Cities of God (Radical Orthodoxy) (Paperback)

~ Graham Ward (Author) "Faith in the City, the report of the Archbishop of Canterbury's Commission on Urban Priority Areas, was first published in 1985..." (more)
Key Phrases: ontological scandal, erotic community, trinitarian difference, Jesus Christ, Los Angeles, Las Vegas (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

...Cities of God provides a thoughtful and helpful approach to the treatment of gender and civic life within theology, and future theological discussions of the city will do well to work in conversation with Ward's approach..
–Journal of Religion, William W. Young III, Loyola College in Maryland

...Cities of God provides a thoughtful and helpful approach to the treatment of gender and civic life within theology, and future theological discussions of the city will do well to work in conversation with Wards approach..
–Journal of Religion, William W. Young III, Loyola College in Maryland

The book is worth reading... [T]here is a humility here which acknowledges that 'our dogmatisms speak more about our fears than our aspirations'.
–Church Times

The book is worth reading... [T]here is a humility here which acknowledges that our dogmatisms speak more about our fears than our aspirations.
–Church Times

This interesting...book will appeal to those interested not only in mysticism and process thought but also in the significance of religious experience in contemporary Christianity..
–Religious Studies Review, October 2001, volume 27 number 4

This is a very interesting book..
–William Cavanaugh, University of St. Thomas

Ward has... produced a profound diagnosis of the city and a viable theological remedy.
–The Expository Times

Product Description

Beginning with an account of how Christian theology is called upon to read the signs of the time, Cities of God traces the shift in urban culture in North America and Western Europe that took place in the 1970s. Such an approach responds to the insurgent social atomism and the celebration of virtual realities evident in late capitalist, post-modern civic living. Working through analyzes of contemporary film, architecture and literature, and drawing upon traditional theological resources in Augustine and Gregory of Nyssa, the book lays out a systematic theology which has the preparation and building of cities of God as its focus.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (January 10, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415202566
• ISBN-13: 978-0415202565
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #679,405 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars theology of the city or sign?, February 22, 2003

By	Tron Honto - See all my reviews

Ward unfortunately quickly moves from asking questions relevant to a great deal of Christian peoples like "What does it mean to be a Christian living in contempary urban settings" to entertaining flights of fancy revolving around questions of semiotics filled with post-modern jingoisms and pseudo-jargon without really making an compelling case for the connection between the two. The result is rather frustrating and makes much of writes unenlightening for practical theological concerns for Christian living. Ward obviously is more exhilirated about the idea of writing a theology of signification than of writing a theology of cities, for he spends much of his time addressing the former rather than the latter resulting in a seemingly endless discussion of irrelevant topics related merely to his own person theoretical interests such his much overplayed treatment of sexuality.

This, however, is not to berate the analyses that are present within work. It is clear that the relevancy of a theology of signs for the city arise for Ward from viewing the urban landscape as a type of text [an annoying tendency of bookish post-moderns who have read so many books that they start to think that the whole of existence is a text]. What is written about his theology of signs-or the ability to give a Christian reading of the [cultural] signs of the times-has a stimulating applicability to the notion of urbanity and Christian community and even newer concepts of modernized space such as those posed by our living much of our lives through the medium of cyberspace. His scholarship has wide-breadth and proves much more conversant in secular critical philosopher than many of more parochially minded theologian companions. Ward really does have a message to set forth upon the table for debate with many lucid observations worthy of consideration. In the end, his is a strong indictment of the cold, secularized universe that the decaying enlightenment tradition and its nihilistic detractors are shoving down our throats.

This work is eclectic drawing upon various sources ranging from obscure theology and philosophy to mass media [I was annoyed that he repeatedly misspelled the Wachowskis' name when discussing the Matrix-revealing he's not really so ultra-hip as he would like us to believe] and at times is very abstruse. It is hard to imagine it being of any value to anyone outside the academic or well-educated population. Nonetheless, it does provide a hearty alternative to the acquiescent and stale Christians portrayals of the city as one can find in the now defunct writings of Cox on secularity.