Facing Leviathan
A theological and cultural examination of how Christians should respond to and engage with powerful systemic forces in modern society.
God does not only create: He holds back destruction.
Gustave Eiffel’s tower had changed Paris, but his creation of the Bon Marché, the very first department store, would change the world.
No longer was satisfaction to be found in duty, responsibility, strong relational ties, but instead in novelty and constant stimulation—an impossible task that creates an addictive downward spiral, generating ennui, a frustrated boredom. For
“His concern is not to fulfill … dreams and goals. … His purpose is to turn his people away from their self-centeredness and obsession with temporal, material concerns and to draw them into a relationship with himself so they are his instruments for accomplishing his purposes.”
“But Jesus refused to be a stunt man. He did not come to walk on hot coals, swallow fire, or put his hand in the lion’s mouth to demonstrate that he had something worthwhile to say.”5
In a society of the spectacle, which reduces everything and everyone to the superficial, the biblical leader cultivates an inner world, born out of a communion with the living God.
Around the world, within the church and outside of it, there is a grouping of people that remain largely unnamed. They are unnamed, ignored by the chattering classes because they quietly are getting on with the job. They are founding not-for-profits, planting churches, creating new ministries, starting new businesses, advocating for causes. Our culture of deconstruction no longer makes sense to them. The culture of deconstruction that has come to dominate the church no longer helps them. It hinders them. They are the rebuilders, partners with God in the rebuilding of His creational order.