Great Throughts Treasury

"Theology is unapologetically prescriptive. It does not claim to be value-free or neutral. Theologians draw upon the beliefs of a particular tradition to suggest a course of action, an appropriate response, a way of life commensurate with what the faith teaches. Theology can be wrong; it cannot be noncommittal."

"God has given man a thrilling responsibility for this world. But man has not fulfilled his assignment. God has placed the tiller of history in man’s hand, but man has gone to his hammock and let the winds and tides sweep his ship along."

"All human beings have an innate need to hear and tell stories and to have a story to live by. Religion, whatever else it has done, has provided one of the main ways of meeting this abiding need."

"What we are seeking so frantically elsewhere may turn out to be the horse we have been riding all along."

"Not to decide is to decide"

"Man must now assume the responsibility for his world. He can no longer shove it off on religious power."

"Sermons remain one of the last forms of public discourse where it is culturally forbidden to talk back."

"Somewhere deep down we know that in the final analysis, we do decide things and that even our decisions to let someone else decide are really our decisions, however pusillanimous."