“ Psychology as a science has its limitations, and, as the logical consequence of theology is mysticism, so the ultimate consequence of psychology is love. ” - Erich Fromm, The Art of Loving.
“ Love is active penetration of the other person, in which my desire to know is stilled by union. In the act of fusion, I know you, I know myself, I know everybody - and I “know” nothing. I know in the only way knowledge of that which is alive is possible for man - by experience of union. ”
- Erich Fromm, The Art of Loving
“ If you want to know who God is, look at Jesus. If you want to know what it means to be human, look at Jesus. If you want to know what love is, look at Jesus. If you want to know what grief is, look at Jesus. And go on looking until you’re not just a spectator, but you’re actually part of the drama which has him as the central character. ” - N.T. Wright (via firstbreath90 (via jgaert)
“ Not until a person has become so wretched that his only wish, his only consolation, is to die – not until then does Christianity truly begin. ” - Soren Kierkegaard.
“ Imitation is not a requirement of the law, for then we would have the burden of law again. No, imitation begins with the joy over being loved – and then comes the striving to please. Christ comes to the world as the example, constantly enjoining: Imitate me. We humans prefer to adore him instead. Genuine faith is never satisfied with the religious way of doing things – Sabbath worship or an hour or a half-hour of each day. Christianity is nothing else but faith right in the middle of actual life and weekdays. ”
- Soren Kierkegaard.
“ Christianity’s history is one of alienation from God through the gradual strengthening of appearance. Or it might be said Christianity’s history is one of the progressive removal of God – tactfully and politely by building churches and monumental buildings, by a monstrous doctrinal system, with an incalculable host of preachers and professors. Established Christianity is about as far away from God as one can possibly get. ” - Soren Kierkegaard.
“ Capital punishment is the penalty for preaching Christianity in character. ” - Soren Kierkegaard.
“ [H]ad Americans not developed a seductive mechanism to make money off one another and the land, they would have conquered the real spirit of Europe and would have developed cities more artistic than Florence, more romantic than Paris, more alive than Rome, and with more grandeur than London. Had the Americans conquered the real spirit of Europe they would have produced a greater sculptor than Michelangelo, a more wholistic man than da Vinci, a greater painter than Raphael and a better symbol of mankind than Goethe, rather than merely collecting and preserving European creations in large impersonal buildings. ”
- A. Reza Arasteh, Rediscovering America (75)
“ Though it is not absolutely certain that he who walks with chains around his ankles is in fact a criminal (for there are many cases when the powers that be have condemned an innocent man), it is eternally certain that he who by preaching Christianity wins honor and prestige is a liar, a deceiver, who at one point or another has falsified the trutg ” - Soren Kierkegaard.
“ It means that no one becomes a believer by hearing about Christianity, by reading about it, by thinking about it. It means that while Christ was living, no one became a believer by seeing him once in a while or by going and staring at him all day long. No, a certain setting is required – venture a decisive act. ”
- Soren Kierkegaard.
