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Book Review: Scorecard for the City of Man

November 13th, 2009 at 11:27am Albert McIlhenny

Five Cities that Ruled the World: How Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, London, and New York Shaped Global History – Douglas Wilson Thomas Nelson (November 2009) Topic: Christian Culture Summary: Reflection upon the influence of 5 cities in creating Western culture Rating:

Douglas Wilson builds his newest book 5 Cities that Ruled the World as a modern look at particular examples of what Augustine would call the city of man and compare them to the ideal of the City of God or New Jerusalem. For Wilson, this is both a look back and a look forward as perhaps other “cites of men” might rise before the New Jerusalem comes and might be seen as a scorecard for how each measures up to the ideal and has contributed to the history of ideas.

Jerusalem itself begins the quest and although this was certainly not a ruler in the same sense as other great cities, it certainly ruled in its influence and, given its importance to three of the world’s great religions, still exerts its influence to this day and stands front and center of the world’s affairs. Athens is the birthplace of democracy and while its idea of democracy may not have taken the form recognizable to us, it did give birth to the concept and exported its influences through its contributions to philosophy, literature, and the arts. Rome was the great imperial power that not only conquered a large part of the world but retained it over the centuries and its civil engineering projects were unmatched until the modern era. London would expand its influence throughout the world and would be the first truly global empire. Along with its language and culture, this would also set the stage for the planting of Christianity around the world as well as the idea of democratic rule – the latter aiding its empire in its disintegration. New York would see the building of a world empire not from military and political but economic conquest as it would become the center of trade for much of the world.

The first four cities would, as all cities of men, find themselves eclipsed and perhaps the recent economic troubles may be the sign of the same happening to New York but that is for the future. It is here that Wilson falters a bit. He seems to be of two minds and wishes to spare New York (and America) the same fate as other empires. He brings up that, unlike Rome, America is a monster a production. But is that really the case? Certainly there are lots of American companies but they are increasingly multinationals that do their actual production overseas. Should this be considered as American production? Such questions are admittedly unique in our history but perhaps we are becoming more like dying Rome than we would care to think.

The only other drawback is the presentation of issues is a little heavy handed in its bias towards both Anglo-American traditions and his own Calvinism. This is not to say they were not important or do not deserve praise but one would think at points that they were without fault. For example, he vigorously points out the abuses of “Bloody Mary” while whitewashing the tyranny of Oliver Cromwell. Moreover, his claim for Calvinism as almost the sole positive cultural influence in England is hardly accurate and his inference that Shakespeare was a Puritan is laughable. The question among Shakespeare scholars is not whether he might have been Puritan but whether he might have been Catholic.

I do not, however, wish to give the impression 5 Cities that Ruled the World is not an excellent read and a worthwhile book. It most certainly is and Douglas Wilson has tackled the question of the role of the city of man in relation to the City of God with intelligence and wit. This is an important book that should be read by serious Christians but done aware there is a bias. Given Wilson’s track record of quite vigorous defenses of Calvinism this is perhaps as it should be. Thus, with the aforementioned reservations about bias, the book is a highly recommended analysis of man’s attempts to build the pure and just society until the time that all such hopes will be fulfilled.

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