Rhodes finds that the story of Babel helps us to understand the modern state of America, though:
…now, instead of just one walled city and one tower, there are many. Human beings are once again afraid of being scattered, so we are busily erecting our cities, our towers, our walls to prevent this scattering. To protect our linguistic, cultural and racial identities, we are sealing ourselves off and imposing a self-styled uniformity to ensure homogeneous purity. Once again we seek to speak the same language, but only within our tribal confines. As the T-shirt says: “It’s a Black [or Anglo, Latino, Asian] Thing. You Wouldn’t Understand” (33).
Also mirroring the Babel experience:
…we refuse to listen to one another. In fact, we no longer care whether others understand the idiosyncratic nature of our cultural and linguistic communities, just so long as the members of the tribe do. Much has been written about the perceived threat of the ‘balkanization’ of American life, but in actuality it is the ‘Babelization’ of our society that we must worry about: each group shouts more and more loudly, seeking to make a name for itself. This chorus of angry, defensive voices has no harmony, much less melody. The only sound to be heard is babble. There is speaking, but there is no listening. There is ideology, but there is no understanding (33).
This sociological development in America also threatens to gather pace in Australia. It is therefore increasingly incumbent upon our churches to develop counter-cultural models of community that reflect God-intended unity in diversity.
Source: Where the Nations Meet (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 19980
Posted December 28
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