What Difference Does It Make? (Kierkegaard)

“‘Whatever difference there may be between two persons, even if humanly speaking it were most extreme, God has it in his power to say, “When I am present, certainly no one will presume to be conscious of this difference, because that would be standing and talking to each other in my presence as if I were not present”’” (Soren Kierkegaard, quoted by Vernard Eller in Towering Babble [1983]).

On Responding Creatively to Challenging Times (Blumhardt)

“The kingdom of God must be the desire of our hearts; then solutions will come. You can be useful when you are willing to bear the greatest misery for God’s sake…It cannot be in vain, bearing what God wills us to bear, when we are following the one who bore the cross” (Johann Blumhardt [or son Christoph], quoted by Vernard Eller in Towering Babble: God’s People Without God’s Word [1983]).

Christian Literacy: Bible, Church History, Theology

Being a  faithful witness to Jesus Christ means being literate in a distinctive way. To begin with, it means having a meaningful understanding of Christianity. This is especially important today because such literacy is rare at the same time that churches, at least in the Western world, are disappearing.

   
Olympian literacy, or an understanding of ourselves and our world which actually serves the six conventional but destructive gods of Olympianity, is practically the only kind of literacy that exists today—even among Christians. Olympian literacy means having a nodding familiarity with current events: the latest TV shows, movies, hit songs, bestsellers, sports scores, political events, international crises, celebrity scandals, electronic gadgets, fashions, and more. These are the topics which people, Olympians and Christians alike, discuss most frequently and with the greatest excitement. 

Eller on Romans 13 (Part 2)

Separately as Christians and together as Church, we may expect Jesus to invite us to witness to people in government (the state): rulers, bureaucrats, tax collectors, police officers, and soldiers. What concrete words and actions might Jesus invite us to say and do?

Let us look at the range of logical possibilities: attack always > resist mostly > tolerate > support mostly > obey always.

What Do We Owe the State? Eller on Romans 13

Personally as Christians and together as Church, we may expect Jesus to invite us to witness to people in government (the state): rulers, bureaucrats, tax collectors, police officers, and soldiers. What concrete words and actions might Jesus invite us to say and do?

Let us look at the range of logical possibilities: attack always > resist mostly > tolerate > support mostly > obey always.