18 May 2015

When searching for the source of last week’s quotation, I came across this from the theologian and ethicist Reinhold Niebuhr:

“Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible;
but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.”

Reinhold Niebuhr (From ‘The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness’ 1944)

9 Mar 2015

Moving on from the last few quotations about diversity among humans, here is a quotation – and a challenge – about environmental diversity:

“We do justice to what we are as human beings when we seek to do justice to the diversity of life around us; we become what we are supposed to be when we assume our responsibility for life continuing on earth. And that call to do justice brings with it the call to re-examine what we mean by growth and wealth.”

Rowan Williams (Anglican bishop, theologian and poet; Lecture given on 13/10/2009)

10 Nov 2014

During the Second World War, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, academic, theologian and pastor, was imprisoned then executed for helping to smuggle Jews out of Germany. He regularly preached about peace and justice but also plotted to kill Hitler and had to reconcile himself with his involvement to kill another human being.

“We are not simply to bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Life Together, SCM Press, 1954)