Teemu Räty

“diaconal action should consider the root causes of poverty and suffering; it should become more comprehensive, preventative and liberating. Or, as noted above: bold action as mediation and ‘go-between’. The growing acknowledgment of the political implication of diakonia contributed to the framing of the theme ‘prophetic diakonia’ which urged diaconal agencies to stand up against injustice, and promote the rights of the poor and marginalised.”
― Stephanie Dietrich, Diakonia as Christian Social Practice: An Introduction

“This was realised in 1954 when the Institute for Diaconal Studies (Das Diakoniewissenschaftliche Institut – DWI) was established as part of the University of Heidelberg; since then, DWI has played an important role in educating diaconal leadership as well as of promoting research; it has since produced an impressive number of studies on diakonia.”
― Stephanie Dietrich, Diakonia as Christian Social Practice: An Introduction

“it nevertheless builds on a vision of the cosmological diaconate of Jesus, in the sense that his ministry as Servant and Lord has changed the course of the history of the world. Wendland holds together the concepts of διακονος and δουλος (slave), giving especial attention to the Christological hymn in Philippians 2:5-11 where Jesus is announced as the slave who was “obedient to death – even death on a cross” and thereby became the Saviour of the world.”
― Stephanie Dietrich, Diakonia as Christian Social Practice: An Introduction

“Do we hope for the realisation of God’s Kingdom that in the presence and the spirit of Jesus already seizes, liberates and prepares for service? Or do we wait for the end of this world of unavoidable suffering and basically hopeless work as its overcoming?”
― Stephanie Dietrich, Diakonia as Christian Social Practice: An Introduction