I believe it to be a grave mistake to present Christianity as something charming and popular with no offence in it.… We cannot blink the fact that gentle Jesus meek and mild was so stiff in His opinions and so inflammatory in His language that He was thrown out of church, stoned, hunted from place to place, and finally gibbeted as a firebrand and a public danger. Whatever His peace was, it was not the peace of an amiable indifference.
—Dorothy L. Sayers in A Careless Rage for Life
Does prayer change things?
Prayer has its limits, some say. Speaking to God is all right; but letting God speak to us, well, that might be considered schizophrenia.
Yet Christ said whatsoever you ask the Father in my name will be given to you. Hmmm. Christ was fond of parables and speaking indirectly, but he is about as straightforward as possible about prayer. The question is, do we believe prayer changes things?
—Jay Copp in U.S. Catholic (July 1992)
Shall the next be first?
Perhaps the slack line of belief in eschatology, the theological concern for the last things, moves some to focus their fears on the next things instead.
—Eugene Kennedy in the Chicago Tribune (Jan. 11, 1993)
The wrong questions
A careful look at the gospels shows that Jesus seldom accepted the questions posed to him. He exposed them as coming from the house of fear.… To none of these questions did Jesus give a direct answer. He gently put them aside as questions emerging from false worries. They were raised out of concern for prestige, influence, power, and control.
They did not belong to the house of God. Therefore Jesus always transformed the question by his answer. He made the question new—and only then worthy of his response.
—Henri J. M. Nouwen in Lifesigns
1
You have reached the end of this Article Preview
To continue reading, subscribe now. Subscribers have full digital access.
You have reached the end of this Article Preview
Three women have come forward with additional allegations against the late Christian apologist.
These young influencers want to #MakeJesusViral.
Woman of Faith speaker celebrated life of singleness.
