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Cities
What Skyscrapers Tell Us...About Us
by
Jonathan Merritt
Architecture is the alphabet of giants; it is the largest set of symbols ever made to meet the eyes of men. A tower stands up like a sort of simplified statue, of much more than heroic size.
- G.K. Chesterton
I’ve always been fascinated with the gleaming sentinels that comprise America’s skylines. I still stoop to peer up at the skyscrapers when I drive through midtown Atlanta, and when I’m in New York, I must perpetually remind myself to stop gazing upward as I walk the streets.
Skyscrapers have always been storytellers. Draw up next to a historic building and you’ll hear tales of the time in which they were constructed. You’ll learn about architecture and innovation. But today’s skyscrapers speak about more than a bygone era. They tell us about a people, about ourselves.
On June 27, 2004, Barack Obama stood before the Democratic National Convention at the Boston Fleet Center to give the keynote address. “Tonight, we gather to affirm the greatness of our nation, not because of the height of our skyscrapers, or the power of our military, or the size of our economy,” he said. “Our pride is based on a very simple premise, summed up in a declaration made over two hundred years ago.”
The now-President’s reference to skyscrapers tapped into a sentiment prevalent in American culture for some time. It’s been called “American materialism” because as much as it is materialistic, it is American. As a people, our identity often sprouts from the soil of our “stuff.” We are because we have. Today, we’re obsessed with bigger, better, taller, shinier.
Have you ever wondered why on 9/11, the terrorists chose the World Trade Center towers as their bullseye? Why not a packed baseball stadium? Or a shopping mall on a Saturday afternoon? They chose skyscrapers because they symbolized something greater than concrete and windows. The towers symbolized American opulence and braggadocio, and taking them down was intended both to kill and to humiliate.
Mason Cooley stated it most succinctly: “A skyscraper is a boast in glass and steel.” As such, our city’s buildings have become a statement on our prosperity spoken through the megaphone of architecture. Someone has well said, if one wants to know what America thinks of herself, look at her skylines.
Of course, that boastful sword has two edges. Even though America has claimed the tallest building since the 1800s, it no longer does. In 1998, the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malasia stole bragging rights from Chicago’s Sears Tower. In 2004, the honor shifted once more, but remained in Asia. Taiwan’s Taipei 101 skyscraper remained the world’s tallest skyscraper at 1,670 feet until 2010 when the Burj Dubai was built. Eight of 10 of the world’s tallest skyscrapers are now in the East.
This shift speaks to America’s new place in the global pecking order. According to Robert Hormats, the U.S. State Department’s Undersecretary for Economics, “Asia is the fastest-growing area in the world.” Their populations are growing, their people are working, and their products are selling. China, Vietnam, Myanmar, Maldives, and South Korea each find themselves among the 10 fastest growing economies in the world. America does not currently make the list.
But skyscrapers tell us about more than the material realities we’re facing. Spiritually, they tell us about America’s changing religious landscape. City skylines were once filled with more than tall buildings. In America’s early years, churches broke the rhythm of banks and businesses. As Harvard Professor Edward Glasser has pointed out, early city planners in the West took note of the Bible’s “Tower of Babel” narrative, and as a result, the tallest buildings in city centers were almost always churches. They sprang up in skylines like the hand of a school child that knows the answer to the teacher’s question. Like that school child, churches were once able to give salient answers to the questions of culture.
[
See Edward Glasser’s Atlantic Monthly article, “How Skyscrapers Can Save the City.”
]
Today, however, most Americans are looking to science, psychology, or entertainers rather than the Christian church for the answers to their deepest questions. According to Gallup, the number of Americans who said religion was “very important” in their lives fell from 61% in 2003 to 54% in 2010. In the same time span, Christian affiliation of every kind declined and Americans who say religion is “losing its influence” swelled from 56% to 70%.
In New York City, Trinity Church was the tallest building until 1890 when a skyscraper was constructed to house Joseph Pullitzer’s New York World. In his book,
Triumph of the City
, Edward Glasser suggests perhaps that moment “should be seen as the true start of the irreligious 20th century.” Just as the height and placement of these giants tell us about our global standing and self-image, the buildings they now hide and overshadow tell us about new religious realities.
When I was a child, Charles Stanley’s First Baptist Church in Atlanta was the preeminent place of worship. A massive choir, concert-style orchestra, and renowned pastor combined for the best Sunday show in town. The church sat in downtown on 17 acres of land with 13 buildings. The sanctuary was affixed with a white steeple that felt like a “We’re #1” foam finger for area Christians.
But in 1990, the church sold its property in the city and moved to the suburbs. On top of the old location, the AT&T building now stands as one of Atlanta’s tallest skyscrapers. The new location? It’s a renovated warehouse, tucked away in an older town that rarely makes the news. What a powerful metaphor for Christianity in the late modern West.
Chesterton was right that skyscrapers are symbols. They stand for and speak about something else. Whether a statement of America’s current materialistic obsessions or about her place in the new global economy or the shrinking role religion is playing in her wider culture, skyscrapers are speaking. They’re telling us about us.
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Do you agree that our nation's skylines are revealing about us as a people? Is there something else that they tell you that isn't mentioned here?
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Editor’s Note:
The photograph above was taken by Christian Stoll
.
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Comments
Gerald Briar
Jonathan, this is really a brilliant piece! Most of the time we look for extraordinary material in extraordinary events or extraordinary people. But we need to be looking for extraordinary insights in the most ordinary things. I think that's what you've done here by showing how the placement, height, and prevalence of skyscrapers illustrates extraordinary things about us as people. Kudos to you, sir!
Martyn Mayfield
So glad! It seems this article describes one aspect of Christendom taking a tumble. Maybe now the church can work from the fringes to outrageously serve the least, lost, and left-behind of society. It can be from the power of humility and service and the world will understand the life, death and resurrection of the Jesus born in a manger and lived a life where he had no place to lay his head. Thanks for showing the fall, so we can become the incarnational missional church.
Bob Ingle
It appears we've been building spiritual & physical Towers of Babel, trying to reach God though the force of our religious traditions, hype and the result is confusion.
The content of the Gospel is perfect ...Jesus said "And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.we believe (John 12:32). Its apparent a growing group (even believers) aren't being attracted through traditional church environments because we're failing to lift Him up accurately. sadly your well thought article supports facts to the contrary, The traditional structure isn't doing very well these days. We all have a spiritual mandate to adopt new contexts when the Status quo isn't accomplishing the mission; its time we move forward. (
http://www.unheardwordz.com
)
John Mulholland
Interesting article, but there are other ways to engage the issues, dare I say even Christian ways. Thanks, for example, for including the link to Edward Glaeser's article, "How skyscrapers can save the city". Cities are good, and they are clearly the places where millions of people want to live. Tim Keller, for example, has demonstrated that there is nothing inherently evil about cities.
In addition, one should consider the Methodist Chicago Temple, a skyscraper built in 1922 in response to "changing conditions ..new adaptations in methods, and a larger, more varied ministry." One can read a brief history here
http://www.chicagotemple.org/history.php
and see photos of the building here.
http://chicagopc.info/methodist_churches.htm
Robin Chase, founder of Zipcars, argues that the only way to dramatically reduce our dependance on foreign oil is reduce our dependence on cars. The only way to do that is to encourage more people to live in urban areas. Chase and her family have chosen to live in Cambridge, Mass, so they all could travel by foot, bike and public transportation.
http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/2004/10.21/11-zipcar.html
King's College, New York, is located in the Empire State Building. Charles Stanley's church could have had a similar vision to those who built The Chicago Temple, and stayed in downtown Atlanta and continued their witness there.
The question is very simple - do Christians have imaginations for effective engagement with modern culture?
John Mulholland
Here are a couple more examples of Christians thinking in terms of Christian engagement with skyskrapers and the city. Engagement is always the challenge, finding ways to be salt and light, of making a contribution.
Makoto Fujimura, the Christian artist, has his studio in TriBeCa, a section of New York City very close to the former World Trade Towers. When the Towers went down, Fujimura was in position to minister to the arts coumminity in that area, as well carry on with his art.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TriBeCa
Campus Crusade for Christ bought the bankrupt King's College and promptly re-established it in The Empire State Building. Why not more such ventures?? Maybe even joint ventures with a church or churches, so that the classroom spaces could be used on Sundays for services, and during the week for other events in the evenings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King
's_College_(New_York)
What about small Christian liberal arts colleges, almost always located in suburbs or small towns, becoming partners and establishing college centers in the skyscrapers of Chicago, San Francisco, New York, Boston, and thereby provide many of their students semester study experience in the big cities, where at least some of them will soon be working.
Since the Methodist Church in Chicago back in the 1920's, no less, had visionary leadership and developed a joint venture for both an office building and space for their church, clearly there are many more joint venture possibilities to consider.
Yes, skyscrapers, like huge cities, can be seen as problems. On the other hand, they can also be seen as new opportunities for ministry, service, and engagement. Tim Keller has shown us all the possibilities. And Tony Carnes in his blog, Journey through NYC Religioins, is reporting daily on the religious renewal taking place in NYC, including among evangelicals.
http://www.nycreligion.info/
Sean Raker
Thanks for the links, John. I especially recommend the Makoto Fujimura piece.
Jen Manglos
I just returned from a trip to NYC and was thinking about the place of skyscrapers, especially around the World Trade Center. There are so many messages that can come from our re-building the towers. I think what struck me most significantly was the question of whether it is good to just re-build a taller building? As I visited the memorial, the most meaningful part was seeing the memorial tree - the only tree left standing after 9/11. For all the destruction that happened there, how interesting that the thing left standing was God's creation. Hmmm....
Jen Manglos
I just returned from a trip to NYC and was thinking about the place of skyscrapers, especially around the World Trade Center. There are so many messages that can come from our re-building the towers. I think what struck me most significantly was the question of whether it is good to just re-build a taller building? As I visited the memorial, the most meaningful part was seeing the memorial tree - the only tree left standing after 9/11. For all the destruction that happened there, how interesting that the thing left standing was God's creation. Hmmm....
Comments are now closed
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