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Walter Wink

Walter Wink Quotes

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“The gift our enemy may be able to bring us: to see aspects of ourselves that we cannot discover any other way than through our enemies. Our friends seldom tell us these things; they are our friends precisely because they are able to overlook or ignore this part of us. The enemy is thus not merely a hurdle to be leaped on the way to God. The enemy can be the way to God. We cannot come to terms with our shadow except through our enemies.”

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Author:Walter Wink
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“In 1989, thirteen nations comprising 1,695,000 people experienced nonviolent revolutions that succeeded beyond anyone's wildest expectations . . . If we add all the countries touched by major nonviolent actions in our century (the Philippines, South Africa . . . the independence movement in India . . .) the figure reaches 3,337,400,000, a staggering 65% of humanity! All this in the teeth of the assertion, endlessly repeated, that nonviolence doesn't work in the 'real' world.”

PeopleIfsWorldRealCountryActionHumanityNationsPeaceCenturyFiguresMovementRevolutionMajorsExpectationsIndiaIndependenceAddSouthTeethTouchedReal WorldNonviolenceSouth AfricaAssertionThirteenUbuntuPhilippinesStaggering
Author:Walter Wink
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“Mysticism has often been misunderstood as the attempt to escape this simple, phenomenal world to a more pure existence in heaven beyond. This is not mysticism, but Gnosticism. Biblical mysticism is the attempt to exit 'this world' to an alternative reality that pervades the old order. Its goal is to jettison the mind-set that says 'greed is good,' selfishness is normal,' and 'killing is necessary.' Mysticism in biblical terms is not escapism, as so many have caricatured it, but a fight for ethics and social change.”

WorldMindRealityOrderFightingHeavenSocialGoalTermSimpleExistenceThis WorldPureNormalEthicsKillingGreedAlternativesSelfishnessMysticismBiblicalSocial ChangeMisunderstoodExitPhenomenalEscapismMind SetGnosticismGreed Is Good
Author:Walter Wink
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“History belongs to the intercessors, who believe the future into being. If this is so, then intercession, far from being an escape from action, is a means of focusing for action and of creating action. By means of our intercessions we veritably cast fire upon the earth and trumpet the future into being.”

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Book:The Powers That Be: Theology for a New Millennium
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“...Jesus did not advocate non-violence merely as a technique for outwitting the enemy, but as a just means of opposing the enemy in such a way as to hold open the possibility of the enemy's becoming just as well. Both sides must win. We are summoned to pray for our enemies' transformation, and to respond to ill-treatment with a love that not only is godly but also, I am convinced, can only be found in God.”

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Author:Walter Wink
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