A Private and Public Faith Quotes

“The practice of the Christian life consists of the discernment of (the seeing and hearing), and the reliance upon (the reckless and uncalculating dependence), and the celebration (the ready and spontaneous enjoyment) of the presence of the Word of God in the common life of the world.”
― William Stringfellow, A Private and Public Faith

“The first place to look for Christ is in Hell.”
― William Stringfellow, A Private and Public Faith

“The characteristic place to find a Christian is among his very enemies.”
― William Stringfellow, A Private and Public Faith

“The separation of religion from the practical affairs of society is a convenient doctrine for those who fear that social change would threaten of modify their own political and social self-interest.”
― William Stringfellow, A Private and Public Faith

“It points, for instance, to the fact that there is never an abstract, single 'Christian answer' to an issue to which all Christians are bound to adhere or conform.”
― William Stringfellow, A Private and Public Faith

“Nevertheless, the idea is deeply embedded in American Protestantism that the clergy go to seminary in order to become theologians. I recall, for example, giving a lecture at a seminary a while ago in which I made a remark which particularly agitated the Dean of the seminary, and he said to me, 'No responsible theologian would say what you just said!' That seemed to me reassuring news. A few days later I received a letter from someone who had been present at this exchange. The letter declared that the Dean had been mistaken and that in fact Soren Kierkegaard had written in his journals somewhere the substance of what I had said. I reported this comforting and distinguished citation to the Dean, who without hesitation announced: 'Oh, Kierkegaard is not a responsible theologian.' How could he be? He was no seminary professor. How could he know much about the mystery of God's presence in the world? Kierkegaard, after all, was only in the world - where God is - not in the seminary - where the theologians are!”
― William Stringfellow, A Private and Public Faith

“He looked for a job, and the job that he found was that of an orderly in a hospital, on the night shift, where his work was emptying bed pans, wrapping up dead bodies, and doing all the other things which orderlies have to do.
You never met a more emancipated man.”
― William Stringfellow, A Private and Public Faith

“Acceptance of another person is acceptance of the other as he is, without entailing any demands that he change in any empirical way. This boy is an addict, and while I would rejoice if he were freed from this affliction, that would not change or increase my acceptance of him as a person. And though I am not an addict, that makes me no better nor any worse than he. I am not his judge. I am just his friend.”
― William Stringfellow, A Private and Public Faith

“The Church must be free to be poor in order to minister among the poor.”
― William Stringfellow, A Private and Public Faith

“Notice, too, how often the standard of help - rehabilitation, as it is usually called - is not just made up of the common morality of middle class society, but specifically in how far the client or patient or case imitates and becomes like the case worker or probation person or professional - that is, in how far the one who is being helped becomes like the one who is helping him.”
― William Stringfellow, A Private and Public Faith

“Crisis - that is, the serious encounter of a man with exactly that which now threatens his own life, with that which represents, signifies, and warns of his own death - is always terrible, wonderful, eventually inescapable, saving and holy.”
― William Stringfellow, A Private and Public Faith

“Anxieties do not end in death.
Anxieties end in God.”
― William Stringfellow, A Private and Public Faith

“West Side Story was a highly popular and successful musical play and now is a similarly well-received motion picture. (I would think that it could also be used shrewdly as a document for discussion in Sunday Schools, in place of some of the ridiculous curriculum materials now in use).”
― William Stringfellow, A Private and Public Faith

“The Christian social witness is achieved only insofar as Christians are deeply implicated in the real life of society - in unions and political clubs and citizen groups and the like; it is not made by Christian people gathering off by themselves in a parish house to study and discuss social issues.”
― William Stringfellow, A Private and Public Faith

“Each layman must be his own apologist, responsible for his stewardship of the Gospel in his daily life and work.”
― William Stringfellow, A Private and Public Faith

“In other words, the most notorious, plain, and victorious truth of God is that God participates in our history - even yours and mine. Our history - all our anxieties - have become the scene of His presence and the matter of his care. We are safe. We are free. Wherever we turn we shall discover that God is already there. Therefore, wherever it be, fear not, be thankful, rejoice, and boast of God.”
― William Stringfellow, A Private and Public Faith