Kenny

“If the Hebrew Bible contains a political theology, then two of its central principles are: (1) a rejection of all political idolatry, and therefore a distrust of monarchs, who often make gods of themselves; and (2) a demand for social justice, and therefore a distrust of the well-to-do, who often hoard riches for themselves. These principles are invoked again and again by the Jewish prophets, from Amos through Isaiah and on to the man known as Jesus (Brueggemann, 1978).”
― Philip S. Gorski, American Babylon: Christianity and Democracy Before and After Trump

“The denial of emotion is a terrible thing; what takes time is learning that the positive path is the education of emotion, not it’s uncritical indulgence, which actually locks us far more firmly in our mutual isolation. Likewise, the denial of rights is a terrible thing; and what takes time to learn is that the opposite of oppression is not a wilderness of litigation and reparation but the nurture of concrete, shared respect.”
― Rowan Williams, The Way of St Benedict

“The images of communal survival and flourishing our culture feeds us all to easily blur our vision of God‘s new creation – for instance, we think America is a Christian nation, and democracy the only truly Christian political arrangement. Unaware that our culture has subverted our faith, we lose a place from which to judge our own culture. In order to keep our allegiance to Jesus Christ pure, we need to nurture commitment to the multicultural community of Christian churches. We need to see ourselves and our own understanding of God’s future with the eyes of Christians from other cultures, listen to voices of Christians from other cultures so as to make sure that the voice of our culture has not drowned out the voice of Jesus Christ.”
― Miroslav Volf, Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation

“Vocation is the response a person makes with his or her total self to the address of God and to the calling to partnership. The shaping of vocation a total respond of the self to the address of God involves the orchestration of our leisure, our relationships, our work, our private life, our public life, and the resources we steward, so as to put it all of the disposal of God’s purposes in the services of God and the neighbor.”
― James W. Fowler, Becoming Adult, Becoming Christian: Adult Development and Christian Faith