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Stanley Hauerwas

Stanley Hauerwas Quotes

Theologian

Stanley Hauerwas, born on July 24, 1940, is an American theologian known for his work in Christian ethics, social theory, and political philosophy. His research focuses on the intersection of these fields, and he is renowned for his emphasis on Christian pacifism and embodiment. Hauerwas's work has had a profound impact on contemporary theology and social theory.

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Famous Stanley Hauerwas Quotes

“[W]e must first experience the kingdom if we are even to know what kind of freedom and what kind of equality we should desire. Christian freedom lies in service, Christian equality is equality before God, and neither can be achieved through the coercive efforts of liberal idealists who would transform the world into their image.”

Ifs Knows World Should Firsts Kind Christian Lying Desire Effort Kingdoms Idealist Christian Freedom

Author:Stanley Hauerwas

“In the Crusades, getting the Holy Land back was the goal, and any means could be used to achieve it. World War II was a crusade. The firebombing of Tokyo by Doolittle and the carpet bombing in Germany, especially by the British, showed that.”

World Mean War Used Goal Land Achieve Holy British War Of The Worlds Germany World War Ii World War I Carpet Bombing Crusades Tokyo Holy Land

Author:Stanley Hauerwas

“The narratives of Scripture were not meant to describe our world ... but to change the world, including the one in which we now live.”

World Including Scripture Narrative Changing The World Our World

Book:A Community of Character: Toward a Constructive Christian Social Ethic

Source: A Community of Character: Toward a Constructive Christian Social Ethic

“I have come to think that the challenge confronting Christians is not that we do not believe what we say, though that can be a problem, but that what we say we believe does not seem to make any difference for either the church or the world.”

Thinking World Believe Doe Problem Seems Christian Challenges Differences Church Confronting

Book:Hannah's Child: A Theologian's Memoir

Source: Hannah's Child: A Theologian's Memoir

“The church is constituted as a new people who have been gathered from the nations to remind the world that we are in fact one people. Gathering, therefore, is an eschatological act as it is the foretaste of the unity of the communion of the saints.”

People World Has Beens Facts Nations Church Unity Saint Communion Gathering

Book:In Good Company: The Church as Polis

Source: In Good Company: The Church as Polis

“For Christians do not place their hope in their children, but rather their children are a sign of their hope . . . that God has not abandoned this world.”

World Children Christian This World Abandoned

Book:The Hauerwas Reader

Source: The Hauerwas Reader

“Gentleness is given to those who have learned that God will not have his kingdom triumph through the violence of the world, for such a triumph came through the meekness of a cross.”

World Given Violence Crosses Gods Will Kingdoms Triumph Gentleness Meekness

Book:Hannah's Child: A Theologian's Memoir

Source: Hannah's Child: A Theologian's Memoir

“The most creative social strategy we have to offer is the church. Here we show the world a manner of life the world can never achieve through social coercion or governmental action. We serve the world by showing it something that it is not, namely, a place where God is forming a family out of strangers.”

World Shows Action Social Church Creative Achieve Offers Strategy Stranger Coercion

Author:Stanley Hauerwas

“The movement that Jesus begins is constituted by people who believe that they have all the time in the world, made possible by God’s patience, to challenge the world’s impatient violence by cross and resurrection.”

People World Believe Made Jesus Challenges Violence Movement Crosses Resurrection Impatient

Book:Matthew (Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible)

Source: Matthew (Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible)

“Whenever a people are bound together in loyalty to a story that includes something as strange as the Sermon on the Mount, we are put at odds with the world.”

People World Stories Together Strange Bounds Loyalty Odds Sermons Sermon On The Mount

Author:Stanley Hauerwas

“The basis for the ethics of the Sermon on the Mount is not what works but rather the way God is. Cheek-turning is not advocated as what works (it usually does not), but advocated because this is the way God is - God is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish. This is not a stratagem for getting what we want but the only manner of life available, now that, in Jesus, we have seen what God wants. We seek reconciliation with the neighbor, not because we feel so much better afterward, but because reconciliation is what God is doing in the world through Christ.”

World Way Want Feels Kind Doe Jesus Christ Ethics Bases Available Neighbor Selfish Working It Cheeks Sermons Reconciliation Ungrateful Stratagem Sermon On The Mount

Author:Stanley Hauerwas

“Another hallmark of Christianity is that salvation is not individualistic-it's not something one person receives for himself or herself. Salvation is the reign of God. It is a political alternative to the way the world is constituted. That's a very important part of the story that has been lost to accounts of salvation that are centered in the individual. But without an understanding that salvation is the reign of God, the need for the church to mediate salvation makes no sense at all.”

World Way Needs Persons Has Beens Important Stories Political Individual Lost Understanding Church Christianity Accounts Salvation Alternatives Reign Hallmark Individualistic

Book:The Hauerwas Reader

Source: The Hauerwas Reader

“Advent is patience it's how God has made us a people of promise, in a world of impatience.”

People World Made Promise Impatience Advent

Author:Stanley Hauerwas