If there’s one particular type of person that the world’s most important cities—New York, Washington, D.C., London—need more than any other it’s … the saint. Of course, we need saints everywhere, but the cruciality of our cities as centers of culture means we have a special need for virtuous Christians to be in cities—first to sanctify them but also to take advantage of the abundance of resources and learn from the innovations found there. We need Christians driven by a love for Christ to live in cities and skillfully navigate them, sanctify them, and contend with the other philosophies and religions in them.
In a recent interview with Bishop Robert Barron, Dr. Patrick Deneen expressed dismay at what he sees as our economic system’s tendency to take college graduates away from local and regional settings. Instead, graduates go to cities like Washington and New York to take jobs working for consulting firms, senators, and courts, where they have less of a positive impact on society. He called on young college graduates to shift their thinking and become valuable stewards of society and admired people within smaller, local settings. Dr. Deneen’s point is well taken: it is important to have good people in local settings to lead their communities. And it is indeed a wonderful vocation to spend one’s life bettering a small community, especially if that place is lacking human capital and strong church leaders. Further, he’s right to be concerned that many bright and ambitious college graduates take jobs that, while beneficial for their wallets and social status, may not be so morally beneficial to society. However, the notion that these graduates should shy away from the cosmopolitan corridors of power neglects the importance of these places for the faith and the world.
Cities like New York are characterized by diverse personalities with differing skill sets and ideas who meet up and create. Diversity begets more diversity. This phenomenon is what the late political philosopher Gerald Gaus called “autocatalytic diversity.” The high levels of diversity in cities strongly fuel cultural, social, and political innovation, and many of society’s most significant cultural currents are developed in them and flow from them. Because of the importance of cities as both cultural battlegrounds and cooperation zones, it is imperative for Christians to be active there. “Cosmopolitan Christians” will have the opportunity not only to sanctify the centers of our civilization but also sanctify their own souls by cultivating virtue. The late Presbyterian pastor Tim Keller elaborated on these themes frequently.
Cosmopolitan Christians have always been central to the Christian faith. Many of the most influential early Christians were skilled navigators of urban environments who spent the most important parts of their careers in these places. Think about how many of the Church Fathers lived out their vocations in the most important cities of the Roman Empire. Even St. Anthony the Great, the legendary monk credited for helping found Christian monasticism, twice left his isolated ascetical abode in the Egyptian desert to support persecuted Christians in Alexandria against the Romans and the Arians. St. Paul is the most obvious of the cosmopolitan saints, as he spent nearly all his time in cities, where he was in constant contention with both fellow Jews and Gentiles. Even Christ’s own ministry in Jerusalem can be characterized in a similar way. (After all, who is the hero in the parable of the “Good Samaritan”?)
The active, sanctifying presence of the ancient world’s Cosmopolitan Christians was essential to the faith’s success in the Roman Empire, not only in terms of evangelization but also in learning how better to solve the problems facing the faith. An example of this is the use of Greek philosophical language in solving the problem of how to articulate the Holy Trinity. Neoplatonism had a strong intellectual presence in third-century Alexandria, one of the largest, most diverse cities in the empire. This pagan philosophy had a huge influence on the Church Father Origen. He took the term hypostasis(often translated “person”) from Greek philosophy and was the first one to use it to refer to distinctions made between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. This term would also become essential to the formation of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed in the fourth century. Learning from people with different approaches to life means benefitting from their vocabulary, education, and differing perspective. They also do not have many of the same blind spots we do. Not to mention the many ways they can benefit and learn from us as well.
What might Cosmopolitan Christians navigating, sanctifying, contending, and learning in cities look like today? In addition to heroic, saintly vocations like that of Mother Cabrini, sanctification of the world by the laity could mean integrating faith with secular vocations such as joining and starting Young Catholic Professionals chapters. It could mean integrating faith with innovative forms of art found in cities—just take a look at gospel drill as one example. Cities are environments in which Christians can find myriad opportunities to meld faith with whatever their calling or special talent may be.
A cosmopolitan environment also allows for strong opportunities for Christians to develop Christian virtues. Biblical and patristic literature tell us that in these diverse environments, we ought to “maintain good conduct” (1 Pet. 2:12) and to be “prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence” (1 Pet. 3:15). We are also told to “contend for the faith” (Jude 1:3), which requires courage.
A couple of common conservative reasons for not wanting to live in a city are that it can be very unpleasant (crime, crowds, high cost of living) and that you (and, where applicable, your children) will be surrounded by impious values. There is obvious truth to both concerns. There is even data on how people in areas with greater diversity show lower levels of community participation and happiness. However, overcoming these things are an important part of cultivating virtue and can play up the importance of creating a community within a community by becoming an active member of a church, which could help mitigate some of these downsides. Also important to note is that the crucial factor in handing down the faith to children is a warm and fully faith-integrated family life—not necessarily a faith-friendly cultural environment.
So, young Christians, consider establishing your presence in New York or London (or, depending on your language skills, Rome, Paris, Berlin, or Tokyo)! They need you, the culture needs you, and you can benefit from what these cities have to offer. Take on the attitude that Tertullian had toward the cosmopolitan society of his time: “We sojourn with you in the world, abjuring neither forum, nor shambles, nor bath, nor booth, nor workshop, nor inn, nor weekly market, nor any other places of commerce.” Live out the Christian life, build a presence at the source of our culture, and sanctify the future of our civilization.
