Part 2 – Review of Culture Making by Andy Crouch
(Continued from Review – Part 1) The next section is a biblical survey of these aspects of creating and cultivating. Ending with the scene of the heavenly city in the book of Revelation, Crouch speculates that the city is furnished with human cultural goods – things humans have made. This is an insight I had never considered. The translucent gold “clear as glass” is not natural gold, but the work of a craftsman. The stones adorning the city are not raw minerals, but crafted jewels. The “kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it”, which refers to human goods made through the ages. Crouch relates this to Isaiah 60 “the ships of Tarshish bring your children” and “the nations shall bring You their wealth”. Crouch wonders if the ships of Tarshish might share the harbor with America’s Cup champion yachts. Crouch’s personal list of “the glory of the nations” includes music of Bach and Miles Davis, green-tea creme brulee, fish tacos, Homer’s Odyssey, the iPod and Mini Cooper automobile.
Perhaps Crouch is right in that some human goods will persevere for eternity. Our works will be tested by fire and those done for God’s glory will last, while others will be consumed. It’s interesting to consider what may stand the fire as a way to determine what goods are truly helpful and glorious now. The iPod enables me to hear glorious music or biblical texts. But it also cuts me off from sounds in nature and isolates me from my neighbor – who will start a conversation with someone with plugged ears? The Mini Cooper may be a fine car, but do cars themselves glorify God? They enable us to go a long way in a short time – but is that something God wants us to do? Should we be more willing to stay home and stay in our local neighborhood so we know our neighbors? If we stayed on our block more, we’d be forced to know our neighbor, depend on each other, and may even learn to love one another. Isn’t this the biblical command?
So I don’t doubt that some human goods will persist in the New Jerusalem, but my sense is it will be a fairly small pile. When the angels are crying “Holy, Holy, Holy”, will anyone really step away from that to plug their ears with Miles Davis on the iPod? I hope not. But will we and the angels join together in Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus”? I hope so.
to be continued in part 3…
See it at Amazon: Culture Making