Ray Bakke, A Theology As Big As The City

Last week I finished reading through Ray Bakke's little paperback, A Theology As Big As The City. This was a great read for me. What Ray does in this book is lead us through the Bible, from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22, exposing God's redemptive love for the city. Ray shows that if one has an orthodox theology of God one will also have a theology that is for the city, for seeing urban centers transformed by the gospel.Ray's a good guide through these matters. What makes Ray a good guide in developing "a theology as big as the city" is not only his theological maturity, but also his pastoral sensitivity. Ray writes as a pastor, as a pastor who's spent decades serving in urban centers--namely, Chicago. Since Ray writes out of pastoral experience, his theological proposals and conclusions come with flesh on the bones. I hope to grow into a man who has both a heart and a theology for my city that's as big as what Ray articulates and demonstrates in this great book.

Here's a spattering of quotes that I appreciated from the book:"The gospel of Jesus Christ is not advice; it's news. A fundamental difference between Ann Landers and Jesus Christ is that Ann offers advice and Jesus offers news.""If we penetrate cities, the gospel will travel.""Yesterday, cities were in the nations; today all the nations are in our cities.""As our cities swell with immigrants and migrants, I'm reminded that Jesus was born in a borrowed barn in Asia and became an African refugee in Egypt. So the Christmas story is about an international migrant. Furthermore, a whole villageful of baby boys died for Jesus before he had the opportunity to die for them on the cross. Surely this Jesus understands the pain of children who die for the sins of adults in our cities.""Christians are the only people who can truly discuss the salvation of souls and the rebuilding of city sewer systems in the same sentence.""There is a relationship always between the presence of the godly and the preservation of urban communities.""Revival without discipleship is a dangerous thing.""...following Jesus is nothing less than switching kingdoms.""His [Nehemiah's] solution was audacious and creative. He went out to the small towns and suburbs where the people lived and asked for a human tithe, one out of every ten, to come and live in Jerusalem--the big, bad city."Referring to Paul's practice in Acts: "You reach Jews in synagogues and Greeks in theaters."Referring to the urbanization of our world: "...you have an urban future, whether you like it or not."