Jesus Christ needs to be understood more realistically than as a high ideal that we try to apply to historical reality. Jesus Christ was deeply engaged in historical struggle. Jesus is the revelation of God’s engagement in historical struggle. from A Thicker Jesus
Meditation is old and honorable, so why should I not sit, every morning of my life, on the hillside, looking into the shining world? Because, properly attended to, delight, as well as havoc, is suggestion. Can one be passionate about the just, the ideal, the sublime,...
It is this ideal of kingship that is manifested most perfectly in the life and mission of Jesus of Nazareth. ...The ideal of kingship furnished the content for the messianic tradition, the tradition which was fulfilled in the life of Christ and which is the challenge...
Private benevolence will not relieve world poverty, ease third-world debt, promote full employment, stop the mangling of the environment, mitigate obscene excesses of wealth, or negate all the damaging alienation that exists between groupings of people such as "Jew...
There is in all true church music a spirit of adoration, aspiration and reverence, and a sense of assurance. To aid the soul to become more keenly and deeply conscious of itself, its supreme personal quality, its high and enduring worth, is the ideal of church music....
The feeble gospel goes back to Jesus as our model, our example, and is much concerned with moral injunctions. It sees his teaching as a fine set of ideals at which to aim. It may not do much harm but it has no power to change your life: it is a faith built in sand...
What we really believe is what our actions show that we believe. When we realize that faith is not what we believe but what we do, then we have to take some account of our actions. Given what we profess, we may just have to change how we live, and that may mean that...
There is no ideal church, no invisible church… No, it is the church of parking lots and potluck dinners that comprises the ones formed and forming the continuing story of Jesus Christ in the world.