Crystal L. Downing > Quotes

“How often
today might Christians think they stand for "true" Christianity when what they stand for is a secular tradition-what cultural critic Raymond Williams would call a "selective tradition" (chapter five)-that has little to do with the kingdom of God?”
― Crystal L. Downing, Changing Signs of Truth: A Christian Introduction to the Semiotics of Communication

“Sayers’s answer is simple. Anytime we reduce Christian belief and practices to an economy of exchange we destabilize the distinctive essence of Christianity: the non-negotiable truth that salvation through the death and resurrection of Christ is a gift. Any handing over that undermines dogma about God’s gift, as delineated in the first four Ecumenical Councils, should be avoided.”
― Crystal Downing, Subversive: Christ, Culture, and the Shocking Dorothy L. Sayers

“Christians are called to love the whole world, which includes the cultures in which we are embedded. For only by loving culture can we become effective communicators within it.”
― Crystal L. Downing, Changing Signs of Truth: A Christian Introduction to the Semiotics of Communication