Reading Home from Nowhere by James Howard Kunstler

The Embedded Church Podcast

In this episode, Sara Joy interviews Eric about the book Home From Nowhere by James Howard Kunstler. Published in 1996, this book remains incredibly relevant for the place where we find ourselves today as we confront a rising decline of shared, civic life. In fact, Eric has referred to Kunstler as a "lawless prophet." This prophetic voice of Kunstler rings clear as we consider the ways our cities have fostered our disconnection from time and place, leaving us "home from nowhere."

Kunstler, an artist in several respects, makes a case for retaining value judgements when it comes to creating places of beauty and civic art. He argues that there are patterns innately pleasing to human beings and we do well to recognize this truth and build places accordingly. To do so, honors who we are and our connection to the past and the future as participants in a larger story. He also asserts that we live in the tension of desiring beauty, yet being constantly faced with the reality that beauty fades. Continuing to produce beautiful, civic art and civic spaces, however, is an avenue for developing the connective tissue that provides for civil society. Kunstler believes we need to rebuild our cities to make them worth caring about, which means valuing public space.

He unpacks this call more through his discussions of charm, shame, freedom, and responsibility, throwing some new ideas and curve balls around what he thinks these words truly mean and how they relate to our civic life and how we ought to design our cities. Kunstler provides some provocative, and sometimes salty, assertions about where we have gone wrong in our cultural understandings of the human condition and seems to be calling for repentance. Since brazen and bold statements are his modus operandi, we recognize that some of what he writes can be edgy and should be taken with a grain of salt. In spite of this, he adds some keen insights to the conversation around cities, design, civic life, and the human condition.

Access more Show Notes with pictures and resources related to this episode.

More information about this podcast and helpful church and urbanism resources can be found on The Embedded Church website.

Related Resources

The Geography of Nowhere by James Howard Kunstler

Home from Nowhere by James Howard Kunstler

The City in Mind: Notes on the Urban Condition by James Howard Kunstler

The Ghastly Tragedy of the Suburbs, TED talk by James Howard Kunstler

Lawless Prophet: James Howard Kunstler and the New Urbanist Critique of American Sprawl by Eric O. Jacobsen

Romans 7:15-19 "For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing."

John 12:3-8 "Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me."

Find these Key Terms on The Embedded Church website:

- Charm

- Chronological Connectivity

- City Beautiful Movement

- Civic Art

- Traditional Neighborhood Development

Show Credits

Hosted and Produced by Eric O. Jacobsen and Sara Joy Proppe

Edited by Adam Higgins | Odd Dad Out Voice Productions

Theme Music by Jacob Shaffer

Artwork by Lance Kagey | Rotator Creative