Before we discuss the modern city, here’s some background.

David conquered Jerusalem about 3,000 years ago to make it the capital of Israel. The kingdom split about 80 years later, and after another 200 years, the Assyrians crushed the northern kingdom. The southern kingdom survived for another 125 years, until the Babylonians subdued it and exiled much of the population.

After perhaps two generations of captivity, Jews were encouraged to return home. Prophets offered insights into the rebuilding of the nation, and particularly Jerusalem, its urban center.

You know our local history, including redlining, blockbusting, white flight and urban sprawl.

In some ways the challenges of today’s inner city parallel the bleak biblical situation, according to Wallace S. Hartsfield II in a lecture at the Gem Theater just before he was installed as professor of Hebrew Bible at Central Baptist Theological Seminary. He is also pastor of Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church, where he succeeded his father.

Populated by those who had never left and those who were returning from captivity, distressed Jerusalem was like today’s urban core, ruined and exposed. Hartsfield then asked, what is the remedy for a “density” of people and resources inadequate to bolster the people’s hopes?

Hartsfield identified four responses from post-Exilic prophets, focusing on the role of religious institutions.

•Haggai agitated against discouragement and complacency. While resources to address the city’s plight were few, he said, building and serving the temple, the executive source of divine order, would produce prosperity.

•Zachariah’s mystical vision required a moral transformation, with God guarding and dwelling in the midst of a diverse people and the city guided by civic and religious leaders.

•Malachi criticized the priesthood for its failures and warned that if God’s presence departed, the city would fall. The temple should mediate divine order for the city.

•Trito-Isaiah, whose writings scholars find in Isaiah 56-66, said that the temple should be open to foreigners and its sacrifice replaced with liberating service to the poor and brokenhearted.

What is the role of today’s religious leadership: confrontation, transformation, meditation or liberation? Hartsfield said that no single model applies to current urban problems, but each may fit a different situation.

However, in sum, reconciliation is at the heart of restoration, he said, and faith communities must participate in the rebuilding of the wounded city.

To create true community, those who have not talked together must find common ground. Righteousness, Hartsfield said, must be our ultimate concern.

Vern Barnet does interfaith work in Kansas City. Reach him at vern@cres.org.