You Are Not Your Own: Belonging to God in an Inhuman World

by Alan Noble

Ellul sees the construction of cities as human efforts to belong to ourselves, to create an environment that denies the reality of God’s provision, a space where it grows easier and easier for humans to act without acknowledging their contingency upon God. The city walls keep them safe from animals and enemies. The shelters and collective living reduce the threat of natural disasters. The importation of food and other supplies frees city dwellers from the whims of the natural world. And the progress of the city, its laws and buildings and economy, gives hope for tomorrow. From the beginning cities have worked for this autonomy, but the modern world makes it even easier to refuse “the hand of God” in our lives: “It is only in an urban civilization that man has the metaphysical possibility of saying, ‘I killed God.’”10 Ellul uses the term “city” to refer to civilization broadly—both ancient walled cities and modern urban spaces, places where people live overwhelmingly surrounded by a humanly built environment.