Russell Moore > Quotes

“The Christian catacombs represent simplicity and earthiness; the cathedrals, transcendence and wonder.”
― Russell Moore

“An evangelical is one who says to a liberal: I'll call you a Christian if you call me a scholar.”
― Russell Moore

“An evangelical is one who says to a liberal, 'I'll call you a Christian if you call me a scholar.”
― Russell Moore

“We don't deny human depravity; we take reassurance from it. We sense that everyone is really just about power and appetite, and therefore only those who guard their power and feed their appetites can survive. "You can't judge me; I'm a good person!" is replaced with "You can't judge me; you're a bad person too!”
― Russell Moore, losing our religion: an altar call for evangelical america

“The unchurched kids laughed at the Bible studies based on television shows or songs of the moment. They weren't impressed at all by the video clips provided by the denomination's publisher, or by the knock-off Christian boy bands crooning about the hotness of sexual purity. What riveted their attention wasn't what was relatable to them but what wasn't.”
― Russell Moore

“The authority of Scripture works itself out in a human life not like a "worldview" mapping out exhaustive responses to the controversies in which one is already engaged, but first by submerging a life in a different storyline altogether. A renewed experience of biblical authority can illuminate what's at the heart of every claim to authority in any community: a storyline that makes sense of the meaning of one's world and one's place in it.”
― Russell Moore, losing our religion: an altar call for evangelical america

“As an evangelical Christian, I come to this discussion with motivations about
the common good and human flourishing, but beyond these merely natural goods to
an even deeper concern for what I believe to be the purpose of the entire cosmos: the
gospel of Jesus Christ.”
― Russell Moore

“The easiest way to success is to erase nuance, to seem to be leading the crowds while actually following them. ... To gain attention, spectacle is the way to be noticed, which is why ambitious but hollow young men on social media often are looking to be denounced, so that they can gain a niche audience.”
― Russell Moore, losing our religion: an altar call for evangelical america

“You, too, are more than your worldview.
Of course, philosophical arguments have a significant place in the history of the church and the pursuit of faith. But the
"renewing of your mind" the Bible calls you to isn't primarily about learning points of debate; it's first reminding yourself of the mercy of God. And because of his mercy, you continually offer yourself as a "living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God" (Rom. 12:1-2).
This offering involves all of you—your affections, your intuitions, and your longings-not just your reason.
That's why on our deathbeds, most of us will not turn to axioms and arguments we embraced and applied. Rather, we will look to the hymns we learned to sing, the stories we came to know to be true, and the people who bore witness—in their own flawed, fragmented ways-to a Light shining in the darkness, a Word who became flesh.”
― Russell Moore

“When one feels as though one is under constant existential threat, one cannot maintain the bonds of trust in others needed to build community or the kind of curiosity that can lead to finding ways to serve one another. Confidence in the kingdom of Christ, trust that our ultimate survival is assured in Christ, can enable us then not just to serve our Lord but to stop looking for substitutes for him. Some are panicked about rising secularism and what they fear will be hostility to the church, but act in ways that tie the witness of the church to forms of power that actually fuel secularization. Some of you are tempted toward cynicism, then, when you see people you thought you knew taking positions you never could imagine them taking, because of politics or culture. The first group sometimes speaks as though the church will collapse if "the culture" collapses. And members of the second group sometimes think that the church will not survive the scandals of what passes for Christian "influence" at the moment. Wherever you fit in this spectrum, though, we should all heed exactly what happened at Caesarea Philippi. Jesus rebuked Peter for seeking to adopt the way of Herod and of Caesar and of Baal—power apart from the cross. In fact, Jesus said this was Satan (Matt. 16:23). What Jesus builds is different altogether—a church that cannot be stopped with Caesar’s cross.”
― Russell Moore