Introducing Theologies of Religions Quotes

“for Jesus the Spirit-filled prophet, the focus of his life and relationships was the Reign of God. That meant that he was not—as his followers have often been—church-centered. His primary concern was not to increase membership of his own movement or community. Rather, it was to transform people's hearts so as to transform their society.”
― Paul F. Knitter, Introducing Theologies of Religions

“any Christian theologian who proposes a theology of religions but who doesn't know much about any other religion than her/his own should be regarded as highly suspicious, if not dangerous.”
― Paul F. Knitter, Introducing Theologies of Religions

“St. Thomas Aquinas said it neatly and powerfully centuries ago: “Things known are in the knower according to the mode of the knower.”
― Paul F. Knitter, Introducing Theologies of Religions

“to be loyal to Christ, one must be vulnerable to others.”
― Paul F. Knitter, Introducing Theologies of Religions

“The facts seem to be that “a fully systematized theology of non-Christian religions is not possible today.”
― Paul F. Knitter, Introducing Theologies of Religions

“To believe in Jesus as the Christ means at its deepest to confess…that Jesus has an abiding and constitutive significance for the approach of the Kingdom of God and thus for the comprehensive healing of human beings…. For Christians, Jesus therefore is the decisive and definitive revelation of God.”26”
― Paul F. Knitter, Introducing Theologies of Religions

“within all the religions there is a concern to improve the lot of human beings in this world, which means improving this world. Whatever “salvation” or “enlightenment” or moksha may mean for the interior life of the soul or for life after death, it also is meant to make a difference in life on this earth.”
― Paul F. Knitter, Introducing Theologies of Religions

“If the bath water is dirty, it can be thrown out without losing the baby!”
― Paul F. Knitter, Introducing Theologies of Religions

“In real interreligious dialogue, heart speaks to heart. Only so can persons from differing traditions really “hear” each other.”
― Paul F. Knitter, Introducing Theologies of Religions

“Hans Küng's sobering words: “No peace among nations without peace among religions. And no peace among religions without a greater dialogue among them.”
― Paul F. Knitter, Introducing Theologies of Religions

“if a Christian no longer places Jesus Christ at the heart of what God is up to in all of history, she's no longer really a Christian.”
― Paul F. Knitter, Introducing Theologies of Religions

“If Christians, in other words, only talk and never listen, they're not very good Christians.”
― Paul F. Knitter, Introducing Theologies of Religions

“Evangelicals will insist that the Bible is always primary for Christians. And they are right. But primary doesn't have to mean absolute.”
― Paul F. Knitter, Introducing Theologies of Religions

“All religion is in daily need of reformation because all religion, in both blatant and subtle ways, seeks to make itself and its creeds, codes, and cults more important than the revelation and experience it is meant to serve and pass on.”
― Paul F. Knitter, Introducing Theologies of Religions

“to recognize that we are “sinners” or “fallen” is to recognize that there are limits to the human condition and that sound reason and good will of themselves do not automatically ensure progress;”
― Paul F. Knitter, Introducing Theologies of Religions

“any Christian theology of religions worth its name has to be biblical. If it's not, it may make for a good philosophy of religions, but it can't be called Christian.”
― Paul F. Knitter, Introducing Theologies of Religions

“any theology of religions that wants to call itself a Christian theology will have to be guided by the Bible, especially the New Testament.”
― Paul F. Knitter, Introducing Theologies of Religions

“Christ is not merely expressive of a divine salvation equally available in the plurality of religions; salvation is constituted by the coming of God in the concrete history of Jesus of Nazareth.”
― Paul F. Knitter, Introducing Theologies of Religions

“we let go in order to let God.”
― Paul F. Knitter, Introducing Theologies of Religions

“the religions of the world have to come together, not to form a new, singular religion but to form a dialogical community of communities.”
― Paul F. Knitter, Introducing Theologies of Religions