Theology Today

“Whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

—Mark 10:15

“I love these little people; and it is not a slight thing when they, who are so fresh from God, love us.”

—Charles Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop

“The picture of Jesus as a charismatic or ‘holy man’ vividly in touch with what the texts call ‘Spirit’ radically challenges the flattened sense of reality pervading the modern worldview and much of the mainline church. … Similarly, the picture of Jesus as a subversive sage undermining his culture's conventional assumptions, as a prophet calling it to change its historical direction, and as a revitalization movement founder seeking to create an alternative culture, all point to a deep involvement in the life of history.”

“Christianity is best understood when it is viewed at its intersections. … Because the Christian gospel of salvation is universal, it must necessarily cross national and cultural boundaries and unite different people under a common identity. Thus, Christian proclamation constantly initiates a new mixing—a new mestizaje.”

“How appropriate or effective is it to rely on the image of a Waiting Father to communicate the reality of God's grace? To many of my generation, such a metaphor calls up horrible images. … There are too many connotations of regression, of going back to a time when we had no responsibility and could make no decisions, even if we wanted to. Adults who long to return to the irresponsibility of childhood are adults with problems, and that's not what our presentation of Christian faith and life should cater to.”