(now
BUILT
ENVIRONMENT AND BIBLICAL THEOLOGY
MAKING
CONNECTIONS: DISCERNING RELATIONSHIPS
MICHAEL POWELL
Doctor of Philosophy February 2003
16 - OUTCOMES
I revere learning because it is a fundamental inspiration. It isn’t just
something that has to do with duty; it is born into us. The will to team, the desire
to learn, is one of the greatest inspirations. (Louis Kahn)
16.1
Purposes
In the previous Section leave was taken of Sydney Opera
House as both `disclosure' model and `picture' model. This Section is,
therefore, located offshore. The dynamic of the work with the models now gives
way to more detached analysis and reflection
The purposes of this Section, focused on outcomes, are:
1.
To show that the aim has been achieved, noting the significant
discoveries made.
2.
To indicate the potential of the work, such as its usefulness
3.
To evaluate the work and claim originality for it
4. To
make recommendations on dissemination and further work.
16.2
Achievement of aim
In the Introduction it was stated that:
The aim of this thesis is to relate `Biblical
Theology' to `Built Environment' using specific biblical texts and built
environment locations and by means of `picture' and 'disclosure' models.
It is demonstrated below that this aim has been fully
achieved by means of a complex process that has revealed significant
discoveries, potential, originality and scope for further work.
16.3 Process carried out
The complex process described in Sections 2, 3 and 4
has been carried out in full and demonstrated convincingly in Sections 5-14,
with an additional perspective set out in Section 15.
At the outset, two concepts of Biblical Theology
and Built Environment were identified. These were, first, a simple or
descriptive concept comprising the biblical text in its present form or
straightforward aspects of building and, second, an analytical one giving
insights into background and reasons for things being as they are in Built
Environment and Biblical Theology. Both concepts, or ends of a spectrum, have
been fully utilised.
A full range of materials, particular and
general, pertaining to Built Environment and Biblical Theology, have been
identified as envisaged and examples of all have been utilised. Materials
relating to
It was earlier described in details
how the models had evolved from simple configurations to the complex
Sydney Opera House, used descriptively as 'picture' model and analytically as
'disclosure' model, the latter utilising the concept of the single sphere.
Further nuances had been derived from the cones of meaning and the centrifugal
and centripetal dynamics and the truncated
icosohedron with its surface feature of five hexagons ranged around
a pentagon. While this now sounds unremarkable, the experience of carrying out
the work has been one of contrasting exaltation and depression, as the usable
ideas emerged from a mass of unusable ones.
At the heart of the work has been the dynamic,
interactive process of selecting, deploying and interpreting materials to
unlock the power of the models, and of utilising the models in ways that do
justice to the content and nature of the materials. The principal discoveries
deriving from this process are considered in Section 16.4 below.
16.4
Principal discoveries
ACHIEVABILITY
The most basic discovery is that the aim has proved to
be feasible and practicable at all. This is both a discovery and a
vindication. The situation is similar to that of Sydney Opera House, in which
a dream was realised and an impossibility, given fresh thought, became a
possibility.
MATTERS OF SUBSTANCE
1. If feasibility was the great surprise that occurred
towards the end of the work, the surprise that occurred almost every day over
two years was that of the universal richness flowing from the myriads
of small details and their significance. Almost every page of the thesis
contains at least one or, more commonly, several details that, when found,
sparkled with relevance and meaning.
2. Feasibility without intelligibility is of little
value. As the thesis came together, it was found possible to present both
Biblical Theology and Built Environment information in a single,
straightforward and comprehensible language. Although the two
disciplines have their technical languages (or jargons), there was little need
to use them.
3. While working with the materials in relation to the
models, one became aware that the real, the metaphorical and the
metaphysical were being interwoven. For example, in Section 10 Traversing
Places and
Times: Psalms', the first focus is on the hard geography and
history of
4. When interpreted in relation to built environment,
the biblical texts were found to take on significance not normally
associated with them. For example, in the study of Nehemiah, the wall around
As a further example, one can take the topic of light.
In Genesis 1, the Psalms and Revelation, the reader contemplates light, the
light of the heavenly bodies, of the skies and of the city coming down out of
the sky. These are wide, diffuse images. In John's Gospel, the reader is not
only directed to the light inherent in the person of Jesus but also to the
light mediated by the hard architecture of the
5. When considered in conjunction with each other and
in relation to the biblical texts, the particular built environments of
As a second example, it will be recalled9
that one of the main essences revealed by the Tasmanian study was the way in
which natural environment and built environment were perceived as one in
relation to trees and timber. Inhospitable forest tamed by the hard labour of
human beings and beasts provided the wherewithal out of which first shelters
and then homes could be made. It was the working of the forests and the use of
the timber that opened up vistas and beauty, whether in a landscape or in a
piece of crafted woodwork. These experiences have shown, concretely to those
there and vicariously to others, what it means to be living people exercising
stewardship in a living world.
6. Section 15, drawing on Sections 5-14, saw the
whole issue of Built Environment and Biblical Theology in human terms of
imagined interpersonal encounter and conversation. This emphasises that while
Built Environment and Biblical Theology may come together in the more abstract
and academic terms of cultural studies or philosophy, they most certainty come
together as aspects of human experience, not merely juxtaposed with each other
but enabled to speak with each other. Of particular significance were the
recurring questions concerning who is and is not benefiting from built
environment situations and transactions.
7. It should be borne in mind that Sections 5-14
include many fascinating and detailed discoveries of a micro nature,
stemming from the richness of the materials and the dynamic of the model.
MATTERS OF PROCESS
The process by which Sections 5-14
were compiled had to be discovered as the work progressed. Some of the main
points need to be noted.
1. The main themes that now
appear so authoritative and fixed in the titles of Sections 5-14: Wonder and
Beauty, Beginning, Significance, Identity, Becoming, Traversing, Resources,
Types and Purposes, Costs and Worth, and Homes - only came to light through
prolonged grappling with the materials and models. They were not mysteriously
given and they were not obvious. The research was at least two-thirds done
before they became apparent and began to coalesce as a set. In a way, the
themes form a classification system or typology of the kind set out by
Schneekloth and Franck (1994) in relation to built environment
scenarios.
2. It is important to note that the
full range of concepts has been used. In the case of Biblical Theology,
there has been a sharp contrast between the simple references to biblical
texts given in sub-section 7 of each of Sections 14-14 and the complex
insights from ranges of commentaries set out in
sub-section 3 of each of Sections 5-9. In the case of Built Environment, there
has been a greater similarity across sub-sections
6 and 7 of Sections 5-9 and sub-sections 2 and 3 of Sections 6-10 but the
usage has ranged between the simply descriptive and the deeply analytical.
3. The derivation of the five sets of biblical
commentaries that form sub-section 3 of each of Sections 5-9 is worthy of
comment. Each set now gives the appearance of having been hand-selected for
this purpose, already known by an expert and readily discoverable by a
generalist. That was only partly true. For example, in the case of Nehemiah,
Williamson (1987) and Blenkinsopp (1988) were well known expert commentaries.
Fensham (1982) was less well known but general in nature. Andrews (1999) was
not strictly a commentary at all but a broader work on the nature of the
Bible, using Nehemiah to illustrate certain points. Grabbe (1998) and Davies
(1999) were more individualistic, experimenting with their particular
approaches. It was the purpose of this thesis and the disciplines of its model
that brought them together as a useful, balanced set, enabling a range of
perceptions concerning the
4. While the Borough of Chelmsford was largely
self-identifying as a built environment research area, the
situation with
5. Each of Sections 5-14 required the selection and
deployment of a coherent set of biblical and built environment materials,
both particular and general. Ranges of possible materials could be
assembled. For every Section it was possible to find high value, contemporary
materials that found each other naturally in the model. The model enabled them
to be seen in relationship to each other. Together, they stirred one to think
about what homes are becoming, what built environments in the material sense
are becoming and what human communities are becoming. Together, co-inherent in
and through the model, they have illuminated and challenged. This has been the
dynamic.
To take an example, it was with Section 6, Genesis:
Beginning and Section 11, Resources:
Genesis, that one was acutely conscious of the vastness of materials
available. A systematic survey of building materials used in historical and
contemporary
6. Even when a viable set of materials had been
selected under the influence of the model actual construction of the
detailed Sections was often problematic. While now they all are all very
clinically structured and relatively seamless in appearance, each of them was
at one time and tosome extent, a series of somewhat wobbly
stepping-stones from either the biblical material to the built environment
materials or the reverse. The single sphere is a cerebral and aesthetic
concept of an academic nature. Behind the appearance is the reality of the
stepping-stones anc. the determination and conviction derived from the model
to establish a safe, if not altogether easy, path across them.
Sections 8 and 13, both involving the Gospel of John,
were among the more difficult. but w tne end more rewarding, to construct.
They did not fall into place easily. To start, the biblical material was
diverse, including the light and blindness emphasis of chapters 8 and 9 and
the discourse materials of chapters 14 to 16. The commentaries also were
diverse, each having relevance in its own way but not easily coming together.
The symbolism of Koester (1995) is a long way from the sociology of Malina and
Rohrbaugh (1998).
It was a sense of the encounter and argument between
Jesus and the Jews in chapters 8 and 9 that forced out the concept of
identity. Prior (1997) on colonial identities had to come into the thesis
somewhere and this was the obvious place. Again, prisons and prisoners figured
so prominently in
The experience with Sections 9 and 14 involving the
Epistles and Revelation materials was different. Some commentators on
Revelation were writing for the Millennium and alt had to explain the way in
which they see and use the imagery of the book, particularly the New
Jerusalem. Chelmsford Borough was deeply involved in the consultative
processes concerning its local Plan for the next ten years.
7. It has been made very clear that there was a vast
amount of material that could have been used. The problem was not to find
materials with which to work but to choose well from the large amounts
available. The research technique was not one of data collection but one of data
reduction. It could be said, therefore, that this research process has
been about the selection and moulding of data, data being in the form of texts
and, on some occasions, visits and experiences. It is seeing a text in a
library or a shop and saying, That fits' or looking at a street, a building or
a panorama and saying, `that shows something relevant'. The process is
somewhat like furnishing a house. As one goes around furniture shops and
antique fairs, one starts to be aware of the kinds of things that will be
appropriate and as one gets to know the details of the layout and light of the
house, one develops an awareness of what kinds of furniture and ornaments will
fit in.
8. While in its early stages, the process was more like
joinery, concepts, materials, models and methodological issues being rigid in
nature, in its later stages it had become artistry. True artists paint
original pictures. Their subjects, whether still life, portrait or landscape,
may have been painted many times before but the true artist brings an
originality of interpretation and style. It is maintained that as
inter-related complexity was recognised and that as joinery was superseded by
artistry, this thesis developed its own powerful originality. The process is
undoubtedly one of artistry and design. One has to grow into it, let oneself
be carried by it and, as McNiff (1998) suggested so well, learn to trust it.
16.5
Potential of the research
PRACTICAL USEFULNESS
The process of carrying out the work and reflecting on
it have brought to light various positive and exciting areas of usefulness.
1. As indicated at the beginning, it was a theological
teacher who enabled the writer to see the evolving model in terms of
centrifugal and centripetal dynamic forces. Now the work is complete it is
possible to go back to him and show him how a casual, throwaway idea has
become a potential tool for use in theological education.
A project on the following lines could be devised for
his students.
Pairs of students could be asked to select a small
built environment, such as a cluster of buildings, an urban street or a small,
rural settlement. They would need to inquire into the past, present and
possible future of their chosen location. The more detail that could be
discovered, the better. Students would make their own traverse through time
and space, note issues of land and materials, review the classifications and
typologies they themselves and others used, reflect on the various kinds of
costs and worth involved and ask for whom their particular place was home.
They would come to understand its beginning and becoming, its significance and
beauty, and the identities of place and people.
Such work could be undertaken very early in
undergraduate education to develop skills in theological perception or just
prior to graduation when the approach would be more sophisticated or at a
post-graduate or in-service level where experience would play a larger part.
Depending on the level, the brief could be written so as to direct students to
particular facets of ethics or spirituality.
A parallel project could be developed with built
environment teachers. Their students could undertake a similar live
investigation but be asked to relate it to either the Bible itself or a
theological paper summarising the biblical texts and some of the commentaries
on them. A further development could be in the form of a joint project for
theological and built environment students.
2. Turning to the life of the Christian faith
community, one could devise a similar but non-academic
experience.
Four groups of people could be invited to come from the
south, the north, the east and the west to converge on the Cathedral. Those
coming from the south could be given part of the guided walk through
In the Cathedral the four streams could be allocated to
five biblical areas - wonder and beauty, beginning, significance, identities,
and becoming. Skilled group leaders could then draw out the insights that the
four journeys had brought to the five biblically related topics. A second
layer of discussion might or might not reveal that the Cathedral itself has
the whole story of the town written into, and revealed by, its buildings.
Participants in such a pilgrimage of exploration would
go back to everyday life with a biblically informed view of planning and
architectural matters. They would be enriched both as citizens and as
Christians; indeed they would be on the way to becoming integrated Christian
citizens so far as the built environment aspect of life was concerned.
3. The Planning Officer at Devonport was
interested in this work, not for any expressed reason of theology or faith,
but because she is serving a city which is starting to search for a philosophy
of built environment. Neither the Council members nor the people in general
would put it in quite those terms but it is the situation. This thesis has
shown unequivocally how rich the history is and how well it has been recorded
in both general texts such as those of Ramsay (1957,1980) and Binks (1981) and
the enthusiastically undertaken detailed recording work of, for example, the
Devonport Plaque Walk, In Tasmania the past matters. It tells the people who
they are and where they came from. The buildings embody, illustrate and
exemplify the story of the last 150 or so years which have passed with great
rapidity.
Overlaying the value of the past for its own sake is
the value of heritage, which may be thought of as the value, which the past is
considered to have for the present and the future. The current heritage
studies are about managing change and development in ways that keep parts of
the past in place.
While history to a great extent and heritage to a
lesser extent have figured in this thesis, they are not the major concepts to
have emerged when biblical theology and built environment have been brought
together. This thesis offers the possibility of a philosophy rooted in wonder
and traverse, beginning and resources, significance and types, identity and
costs, becoming and home. These have been shown to relate to the
In narrowly defined professional terms the Planning
Officer must address the practical issues of what to keep, what can be changed
and what can be thought of as transient. Vocationally, as a person motivated
through the interests and gifts which she possesses, to a concern for, and
understanding of, the environments of human life, she can think in terms of
the categories of this thesis. They can provide for her a vocational inscape
which can underlie and form what she says and does professionally in terms of
landscape and townscape.
This framework for thought and evaluation can be
commended to persons such as this particular Planning Officer with integrity
for its own sake. It is what emerges almost naturally when life is thought
about as a whole and in terms of the good and the right. It is comprehensive,
coherent and integrated. While it is deep, it has grown out of the experience
of reality and ordinariness. Devonport played a key part in the development of
the framework. Through its Planning Officer and her vocational motivation and
searching, the framework can be given back to Devonport for its use as it
contemplates its future.
4. In the
In the cases of both the Tasmanian planner and the
GENERALISABILITY
A highly significant characteristic of this work has
been the ordinariness of the built environments investigated and of the
biblical materials studied. This is not a limitation but a key aspect of
potential. Because everything is ordinary and not special it is likely to be
typical of many other built environments and areas of biblical study.
The fact that ten routes between built environment and
biblical theology have been included constitutes substantial evidence that
such routes are likely to be possible on a widespread and perhaps almost
infinite basis. The thesis has not put forward just one or two such routes
which might be either rare or the result of chance or coincidence. What is
given is substantial and systematic evidence that such routes are likely to be
possible starting from anywhere in Built Environment or Biblical Theology. The
likelihood of universality has been demonstrated.
These widespread possibilities arise largely from the
ordinariness and, therefore, of the typicality, of the materials used.
None of this is an argument for easy research. The
opposite is in fact the case because one is confronted by the rich, diverse
materials available. They present themselves and demand to be considered. The
researcher is vulnerable to the real, living, articulate, comprehensible
world. He cannot hide himself in the obscurities, dark comers and meticulously
pre-determined and fine-tuned questions of sheltered academia.
An example of possible extensibility arose as these
final pages were being written. A visit to the Weald and Downland Open Air
Museum of Buildings immediately started to relate itself to this research.
The museum is situated in open Downland. Some forty
buildings so far have been dismantled, brought to the museum and re-erected in
their original forms, with varying amounts of conservation. They include
housing from the poorest cottage to substantial farmhouses, various workshops
and agricultural buildings, and a market cross.
Each building was once part of a particular built
environment, which could have been traversed, which had a beginning, became
something, cost something to someone, was home to someone, utilised resources,
had some kind of significance and fell into some kind of typology.
In the museum they have become a new kind of
built environment, which poses the searching questions: Who is doing this, why
are they doing it, for whose benefit are they doing it and, in addition, what
is it doing to the people who come to visit it, imprisoning them in a past or
opening out to them a future?
CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
This work began with the writer's personal quest for
knowledge and understanding and desire to test personal conviction. This work
has vindicated his own determination to persevere with a dual commitment,
practically to the building-related professions and the Christian church, and
intellectually to Built Environment and Biblical Theology, in the belief that
they would one day co-inhere and that it would be both dull and wrong to
jettison one for a so-called complete commitment to the other. Full commitment
in this context lies in making the connections between fields of activity and
thought and in showing how it is that such connections enhance value and
meaning. This is neither the place nor the moment to talk about the many dark
tunnels and seemingly dazzling highways, but in reality blind alleys, that
have been encountered along the way. One expects that the work recorded here
will come to be seen as a major step towards a still future, but now
significantly nearer, moment when one can say `Now I know that these two areas
of life belong together'. Undoubtedly there is now the confidence to unlock
the potential and take the matter further.
The nature of the knowledge that has been gained is
inherent in the above sentence, `Now I know that these two areas of life
belong together'. This is the knowledge of conviction and belief. It is not
some minor addition to the world's library of factual data but a new dimension
to the sum of human insight derived from extended, thoughtful and careful
working with the model and materials. What, at the beginning, seemed as if it
might be true has, through the experience of the process, been found to be so.
The materials and model have been handled honestly and fairiy and from them
has come something that, because it is true to them, has become, or revealed,
its own kind of truth. This is not a blind `I now know' but an assured `I now
know - and I expect to know more deeply and more truly as time goes on and I
am able to explore more widely and think more deeply'.
The second
contribution is in terms of the knowledge of process, already extensively
reflected upon in this Section. The thesis has shown how it is possible to
work with two different built environments, such as
16.6
Evaluation
This Section so far has commented upon the complex
process carried out and enunciated the main discoveries made in terms of both
substance and process. Further, it has demonstrated the potential of the work
done in terms of its usefulness to a range of possible beneficiaries, the
generalisability that can be expected to arise from it, and its contribution
to knowledge.
It is maintained that this work as a whole, substance
and process, is unique. There is no known work specifically linking the
built environments of
It is also maintained that the work has been creative.
Its dynamic creativity has lain mainly in the way both the `picture' model
and the 'disclosure' model have been used, both to depict what has gone on and
lead the process of, to use the words chosen for the title of the thesis,
'making connections' and `discerning relationships`. The `making' and
'discerning' are obverses of each other. One has had to `make' every
sub-section of every Section and the Sections have had to be `made' into an
entity. It is only as one `makes' that one is able to 'discern' what is
already there, hidden and waiting to be revealed. If the risk of `making' is
not taken, the gift of 'discernment' cannot be received.
Such uniqueness and creativity have combined to produce
a thesis that is revelatory, in that it enables things to be
seen that have not been seen before. The revelatory nature becomes abundantly
clear when one considers the full text of each Section in relation to the
quotation from Louis Kahn placed at its head. In many cases, what Kahn says or
hints at in a sentence or two is explained by the text of the Section. This
thesis, therefore, is to some extent a revelation of what Kahn might, at least
in part, mean. Conversely, Kahn gives an encapsulation of what a particular
Section of this thesis might be held to mean.
In some cases the equivalence with Kahn is literal, as
with beauty in Section 5 Psalms: Wonde and Beauty
or with the street in Section 10 Traversing Places and Times: Psalms. In other cases it is metaphorical, as with
the story being recorded in the rock in Section 4 Methodological Matters or with the miracle of the room in Section 14
Homes: Epistles and Revelation. More fundamentally, the equivalence is of the
spirit, as with sensing the spirit of a teacher's
work in Section 8 John's Gospel.-
Identity or with sensing the nature of a thing as the essence of students'
work in Section 15 Closing Certainties: Opening Possibilities.
It is believed that the work has provided strong
evidence that the research process followed has demonstrated validity for
work at doctoral level. It has been shown to be systematic and evidence based.
The trail of enquiry has had to be followed with great attention to detail yer
with an eye to the wide context in which the work is has been set. Judgement
has been brought into play at every point and every step. Sometimes the
judgements have been of choice sometimes of interpretation and sometimes of
deep discernment. Although there is an element of simplicity in what has been
done, it is a robust simplicity that has come from prolonged probing and
reflective thought.
It is evident that the methodology used displays
noticeable resonance with some social science research methodologies
such as comparison. This is straightforward between
Penultimately, it is believed that this work is timely.
As indicated earlier, Gorringe (2002) A Theology of the Built Environment:
Justice, Empowerment Redemption was published during the final phase of the
writing of this thesis, rightly claiming to be the first comprehensive text on
its subject. That Gorrnge has published at the present time reinforces the
present writer's judgement that there has been a need for work in the area of
Built Environment and Theology. This thesis will, it is believed, prove a
timely complement to Gorringe's work. His is the professional work of an
academic theologian with socio-economic and similar interests. Thus, at first
sight, it appears to be `top down' in contrast to this thesis, which might be
characterised as being `bottom up'. The underlying conviction, however, is the
same. Gorringe says:
A Trinitarian theology cannot allow a secular and
sacred divide, in which `secular' occupations are left to the non-theologians,
and theology confined to specialists. Rather, the rationale of such a theology
will be a discernment of God active in God's world. This includes the built
environment.
(Gomnge 2002:7)
Finally, there remains the question of whether this
long process has been personally worthwhile for the writer. The answer
is an overwhelming `Yes', not just because one feels vindicated in one's
commitment to living and working with the interfacing disciplines3z
but because of the exhilaration of the journey. My visit to
Overall, it is strongly believed that that the work
done has given rise to a thesis demonstrating an innovative and comprehensive originality.
Such originality is the sum of a complex process exhaustively carried out;
demonstrable potential in terms of usefulness, generalisability and
contribution to knowledge; qualities of uniqueness, creativity, a revelatory
nature, technical research resonance, and timeliness, culminating in the
conviction of having been personally worthwhile.
16.7
Recommendations
The following recommendations relate to the
dissemination of findings and the scope for future work.
FOR THE WRITER AND SUPERVISORS
For the writer, the completion of this thesis is an
interim point in what is essentially a lifelong process. Substantial
dissemination at this point is desirable. If Supervisors wish to be associated
with the work, that would be welcome
Biblical
Theology, in the broad sense used in this thesis, by its
nature seeks to discover its own meaning and relevance and give expression to
them. It would, therefore, be appropriate to look for outlets both for the
specific details of this work and for the approach used via networks such as
the Cambridge Theological Federation or the theological Network East
Built Environment is
more challenging because by its nature it is practical and pragmatic. Building
happens in response to needs, desires and opportunities. The fact that it
reveals and embodies much about human life in the world is fortuitous. What
this thesis does is show Built Environment as a sector of life, what it in
fact is, an embodiment and a revelation of meaning.
While it would be absurd to suggest that every Built
Environment professional, and every member of the public involved in any
significant way with Built Environment, should be required to contemplate
their work in relation to Biblical Theology - or any other .. ology' -,
arguably it is not absurd to suggest that from time to time such people should
find themselves confronted with unusual viewpoints and questions they do not
usually ask. Such encounters are particularly important in universities and at
times of change. University is a place from which to move forward but it is
also a place where it should be possible to stand back. It would be
inappropriate and unacceptable to go in heavy-handedly with Biblical Theology
but that can be a background from which questions can be asked and suggestions
made.
As with Biblical Theology, the time would be opportune
for some appropriate published work. The focus needs to be on the statement,
`Built environments reveal what human beings at particular times and in
particular places have needed, desired, made, valued and, sometimes,
destroyed. [They] are embodiments of ideas and values, and mirrors to human
life'.
As regards what might be thought of as the integrative
subject of 'Built Environment and Biblical Theology', the writer intends
to give consideration to how this work can be linked with his previous work to
create a cross-disciplinary text and/or post-graduate course or module on
`Built Environment and Biblical Theology'.
The development of the kind of practical exercises indicated
may prove particularly interesting in relation to Biblical Theology and Built
Environment separately and jointly.
Research process and methodology have
been critical to the work. The experience gained, noting possibilities and
limitations discovered, might usefully be disseminated to a `technical'
audience, including
GENERALLY
This thesis has opened up possibilities for further
work on Built Environment and Biblical Theology. For those who like grinding
exceeding small, there are many facets of this thesis that could be taken and
treated in much greater detail than has been done here. There is also much
scope for work with other materials and locations, and other kinds of
perspective on them.
More widely, this thesis could itself be considered, if
not as a model, then as a starting point for work on Biblical Theology and
almost any other sector of either everyday life or specialist discipline, such
as agriculture, a sector obviously present in the Bible, or information
technology, one at first sight not present in the Bible. Equally it would seem
plausible for appropriate people to explore relationships between Built
Environment and, for example, the Koran.
Such studies of substance should be integrated with the
further development of the methodological and process matters instigated in
this thesis.
16.8
End word
There is no final conclusion or definite end point to
work of this kind, only awareness of the vast possibilities inherent in other,
new beginnings, waiting to be taken up by oneself or others.
Section
by Section in this thesis, words of Louis Kahn have captured the essence of
what has been going on. It is entirely apt to repeat here, at the end, the
words of his which were quoted at the head of the Introduction:
You
feel that what you truly have to offer is in your next work, and that what you
have done is always incomplete. (Louis Kahn)