Christianity is not some ideal toward which we ought always to strive even though the ideal is out of reach. Christianity is not a series of slogans that sum up our beliefs.
Stanley HauerwasRead
To be sure, those who are actually engaged in combat - those who actually see the maimed bodies and mourning mothers - struggle more than the rest of us to make sense of the reality of war.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Witnessing the horrors of war deeply affects those involved, making it harder for them to reconcile its reality compared to those who observe from a distance.
This quote highlights the profound impact that direct experience of war has on individuals, particularly soldiers, who are confronted with its brutal realities. While many may theorize about or discuss the concept of war, it is those who endure its physical and emotional toll who grapple most significantly with understanding and making sense of its true nature.
Themes
WarCombatRealitySufferingUnderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a discussion about the psychological effects of veterans returning from combat.
More from Stanley Hauerwas
All quotes βMy way of putting it is that Christians are called to live nonviolently not because we believe nonviolence is a strategy to rid the world of war, but in a world of war as faithful followers of Christ, we cannot imagine being anything other than nonviolent.
Stanley HauerwasRead
Advent is patience it's how God has made us a people of promise, in a world of impatience.
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War is America's central liturgical act necessary to renew our sense that we are a nation unlike other nations.
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To kill, in war or in any circumstance, creates a silence. It is right that silence should surround the taking of life. After all, the life taken is not ours to take.
Stanley HauerwasRead
The most creative social strategy we have to offer is the church. Here we show the world a manner of life the world can never achieve through social coercion or governmental action. We serve the world by showing it something that it is not, namely, a place where God is forming a family out of strangers.
Stanley HauerwasRead
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