David > David's Quotes

“Better is one day in the company of those bullied by Christians but loved by Jesus than thousands in the company of those wielding scripture to harm the weak and defenseless.”
― David P. Gushee, Changing Our Mind: A call from America's leading evangelical ethics scholar for full acceptance of LGBT Christians in the Church

“Make your church a context where parents know that the right response to their teenagers is never to reject them as human beings, never to throw them out.”
― David P. Gushee, Changing Our Mind

“If what we are talking about is blessing an anything-goes ethic in a morally libertine culture, I stand utterly opposed, as I have throughout my career. But if what we are talking about is carving out space for serious committed Christians who happen to be gay or lesbian, to participate in society as equals, in church as kin, and in the blessings and demands of covenant on the same terms as everyone else, I now think that has nothing to do with cultural, ecclesial and moral decline, and everything to do with treating people the way Christ did.”
― David P. Gushee, Changing Our Mind

“The sense that card-carrying American evangelicalism now requires acquiescence to attitudes and practices that negate core teachings of Jesus is fueling today’s massive exodus.”
― David P. Gushee, After Evangelicalism: The Path to a New Christianity

“American evangelicalism now requires acquiescence to attitudes and practices that fundamentally (aha!) negate core teachings of Jesus”
― David P. Gushee, After Evangelicalism: The Path to a New Christianity

“I just called the slaveholder version of Christianity "false." I believe that. But note that in situations of conflict participants view reality differently. The more intractable the conflict, especially where both sides have the capacity to hurt each other, the more difficult it is to determine who is "victim" and who is "oppressor." Think about how nothing is quite as predictable and fruitless as hearing estranged spouses blame each other for being abusive or oppressive. Liberation theology dealt with this perceptual gulf in conflicted situations by speaking of the "epistemological privilege of the poor/oppressed." This meant: the view of the truth of a conflictual situation is clearer from the underside than from the position of power. But this assumes that we know who is on the underside and who holds the power. I am not saying that the exodus-liberation-deliverance motif is invalidated; I am saying that few situations present themselves to us in such clarity as Exod. 1-2 enslavement and infanticide do.”
― David P. Gushee, The Sacredness of Human Life: Why an Ancient Biblical Vision Is Key to the World's Future

“save our souls from being so blind that we pass unseeing when even the common thornbush is aflame with Your glory,”
― David P. Gushee, Yours Is the Day, Lord, Yours Is the Night: A Morning and Evening Prayer Book

“Human life is sacred: this means that each and every human being has been set apart for designation as a being of elevated status and dignity. Each human being must therefore be viewed with reverence and treated with due respect and care, with special attention to preventing any desecration or violation of a human being.”
― David P. Gushee, The Sacredness of Human Life: Why an Ancient Biblical Vision Is Key to the World's Future

“Please protect me through the dangers and confusion of my transient life on earth, ensuring that in all things I strive for eternal life in Heaven.”
― David P. Gushee, Yours Is the Day, Lord, Yours Is the Night: A Morning and Evening Prayer Book