Scott Newman

“The Purpose of the Eucharist lies not in the change of the bread and wine, but in the partaking of Christ, who has become our food, our life, the manifestation of the Church as the body of Christ. This is why the gifts themselves never became in the Orthodox East an object of special reverence, contemplation, and adoration, and likewise an object of special theological 'problematics': how, when, in what manner their change is accomplished.”
― Alexander Schmemann, The Eucharist: Sacrament of the Kingdom

“Are not conscientious agnostics and atheists often nearer to the kingdom than its chosen children? What they are rejecting is not God but that caricature of God and of Jesus, which would be blasphemous were it not innocent, presented to the world by many christians, and not mere nominal christians but those who pride themselves on their upholding of the faith.”
― Ruth Burrows, To Believe in Jesus

“We want a God we can hold within our minds and categories of thought. We want to understand him and be able to predict
how he will act. We do not want dark areas. Whereas we must accept being led into the darkness of his mystery, a darkness which is truly luminous in the Holy Spirit. But while we cling to our formulas as though they were God himself, we shall never know that luminous darkness which is developed faith, faith which is pure gift, a share of God's own knowledge communicated directly to the human spirit.”
― Ruth Burrows, To Believe in Jesus

“Contrary to what many might think, cynicism does not make unbelievers of us. Nor does it make independent thinkers of us. Rather, it makes us believers only of “what we can see,” that which can be conjured up by the powers of domination, held up us eternal, self-evident truths. It makes us believers in the myths on which those powers depend. Cynicism does not make us more mature; it makes us foolish and apathetic. There is nothing unreal about injustice, indignity, and oppression, and there is nothing naïve about justice, dignity, and equality and the struggle for a better world.”
― Allan Aubrey Boesak, Dare We Speak of Hope?: Searching for a Language of Life in Faith and Politics