Origen on "The Last Enemy, that is Death"

It is on this account, moreover, that the last enemy, who is called death, is said to be destroyed: in order, namely, that there may be no longer any sadness when there is no death nor diversity when there is no enemy. For the destruction of the last enemy must be understood in this way, not that its substance which was made by God shall perish, but that the hostile purpose and will which proceeded not from God but from itself will come to an end. It will be destroyed, therefore, not in the sense of ceasing to exist, but of being no longer an enemy and no longer death. For to the Almighty nothing is impossible6, nor is anything beyond the reach of cure by its Maker; for it was on this account that he made all things, that they might exist, and those things which were made in order to exist cannot cease to exist.

Origen, On First Principles, being Koetschau's Text of the De Principiis Translated into English. Chapter 6, Pgs250-51

Karl Barth, Romans & Human Longing

There is good reason for Paul's longing. When pilgrims on the road of God meet one another, they have something to say. A man by of value to another man, not because he wishes to be important , not because he possesses some inner wealth of soul, not because of something he is, but because of what he is--not. His importance may consist in his poverty, in his hopes and fears, in his waiting and hurrying, in the direction of his whole being towards what lies beyond his horizon and beyond his power. The importance of an apostle is negative rather than positive. In him a void becomes visible."

--Karl Barth, "The Epistle to the Romans," pg 33. On vv. 11,12. CH. 1.

Soren Kierkegaard, "Saints & Sinners"

"God creates out of nothing. Wonderful you say. Yes, to be sure, but he does what is still more wonderful: he makes saints out of sinners."

--Soren Kierkegaard. 

Cormac McCarthy & The Fear of Death

"Deep in each man is the knowledge that something knows of his existence. Something knows, and cannot be fled nor hid from."

--Cormac McCarthy

So what is it?

In a word, I think it is death. The experience driven aspect of cultural pursuit reveals the fear that we will at once die. Death has our name and home address, and she cannot be confounded.

A great thought to ponder at 1 in the morning. Enjoy?

--Nick

Bonhoeffer Quote

“There is no part of the world, no matter how lost, no matter how godless, that has not been accepted by God in Jesus Christ and reconciled to God. Whoever perceives the body of Jesus Christ in faith can no longer speak of the world as if it were lost, as if it were separated from God; they can no longer separate themselves in clerical pride from the world. The world belongs to Christ, and only in Christ is the world what it is ... Christ has died for the world, and Christ is Christ only in the midst of the world”

(Bonhoeffer, Ethics, 67)

Thanks to Robin Parry for this. Quite good. 

--Nick

Thomas Talbott quote

‎"It is the good news that Christ has achieved a complete victory over sin and death, that there is therefore no such thing as a hopeless condition, and that the ultimate truth about the universe is glorious, not tragic."

--Thomas Talbott.

Jurgen Moltmann Quote, "The Crucified God pg.xii"

"The translation of The Crucified God into many languages brought me into the community of many struggling and suffering brothers and sisters. The book was read in Korean and South African prisons. People working in slums and hospitals wrote to me, as well as people who were themselves suffering under 'the dark night of the soul.' I came into contact with Catholic orders vowed to poverty and the mysticism of the cross, and with Mennonite congregations who are following the path of Jesus. I need not tell it all. What I should like to say is this: even more than Theology of Hope, this book brought me into a great company. I believe it is the company of people under the cross. Beneath the cross the boundaries of denominations and cultures collapse. The community of the sufferers and the seekers is an open, inviting community. 

It is about this community that I am thinking, now that this book appears again, for it is there that I am home."

--Jurgen Moltmann, "The Crucified God", preface xii.