A Theology of the Built Environment
A Theology of the Built Environment
In this 2002 book, Tim Gorringe reflects theologically on the built environment as a whole. Drawing on a wide range of both theological and social-scientific sources, Professor Gorringe explores Christianity in its urban settings, focussing on the use of space, design, architecture, and town planning to make a theological critique. After considering the divine grounding of constructed space, he looks at the ownership of land, the issues of housing, town and country, and the city, and then considers the built environment in terms of community and art. The book concludes with two chapters that set the whole within the framework of the environmental crisis and asks what directions the Church should be looking for in building for the future. This interesting book will challenge not only theologians, ethicists and sociologists of religion but also church teachers and professionals.
- There are many theological reflections on the city but none on the built environment as a whole
- Draws on a huge range of both theological and social scientific reading
- Attempts to address an urgent contemporary problem which has not yet been put in ethical focus
Reviews & endorsements
"This book is not only important to theologians but to other professionals as well." Religious Studies Review
"Gorringe is to be congratulated for assimilating such a diverse set of resources and maintaining what is, overall, a theoretically coherent and theologically compelling thesis. This book serves as an exemplary model of interdisciplinary practical theory.... I hope this book receives serious consideration not only from theologians but geographers, urban planners, environmentalists, economists, and policymakers, in order that dialogue about an issue of common concern can be carried forward." Theology Today
"Gorringe's well-researched work has brought to our attention an issue that we should address with demanding urgency, determination, and prophetic vision. His work shows the interdisciplinary nature of theology...This book is not only important to theologians but to other professionals as well." Religious Studies Review
"[Gorringe] calls the church to an urgent educational task." Choice
"Continuing in his tradition of historically rich, contextually superb and prophetically motivated scholarship, Timothy Gorringe offers a thorough work that brings the church's discourse into provocative juxtaposition with the old, yet pressing, issue of the built environment.... The individual chapters can be read as essays on their own, and the indices make A Theology of the Built Environment an excellent reference source.... Gorringe leaves the reader with a vision of a struggle grounded in theological values and an ultimate hope in a future built environment that is just. Consequently, this book should be read as part of that process of pedagogy that encourages us all to be prophets and to work toward a more just and empowering built environment." Research News and Opportunities in Science and Theology
Product details
August 2002Hardback
9780521814652
294 pages
237 × 158 × 23 mm
0.585kg
Available
Table of Contents
- Preface
- 1. The theology of the built environment
- 2. Constructed space and the presence of God
- 3. The land
- 4. The human dwelling
- 5. From Eden to Jerusalem: town and country in the economy of redemption
- 6. The meaning of the city
- 7. Constructing community
- 8. But is it art?
- 9. God, nature and the built environment
- 10. Towards Jerusalem?
- Select bibliography
- Index of names
- Index of subjects.
