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What’s lost is nothing to what’s found, and all the death that ever was, set next to life, would scarcely fill a cup. —Frederick Buechner, Godric, 96.

Christian faith occurs in the encounter of the believer with him in whom he believes. It consists in communion, not in identification, with him. —Karl Barth, Evangelical Theology: An Introduction, 99.

Do not trust yourself to your own opinions, but take them to Christ and see whether they are in conformity with the faith (Rom. 12:7) and the Word of the holy Gospel. I, too, occasionally have beautiful and splendid thoughts, and I believe that the Holy Spirit inspired them. But when I judge them in [...]

It is extremely important that we know where our sins have been disposed of. The Law deposits them on our conscience and shoves them into our bosom. But God takes them from us and places them on the shoulders of the Lamb. —Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 22: Sermons on the Gospel of St. John [...]

Love is not a general human possibility, but a gift. More exactly, the possibility of love is given as a gift which must be repeatedly realized by the believer. —Rudolph Bultmann, The Johannine Epistles, 1 John 3:24 (59).

In a Church or community where only ecclesiastical officials rather than all the members of the community are active, there is grave reason to wonder whether the Spirit has not been sacrificed along with the spiritual gifts. —Hans Küng, Church, 187 in James D. G. Dunn, The Theology of Paul the Apostle, 598.

The psalmist doesn’t try to explain evil. He doesn’t try to minimize evil. He simply says he will not fear evil. For all the power that evil has, it doesn’t have the power to make him afraid. —Frederick Buechner, “The Clown in the Belfry” in Secrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons, 128.

Scripture is the only book which is essential to our engagement with Christ, but reading Scripture is not the same as engaging Christ; the book is not a substitute for a personal engagement with the living Savior. —Victor Shepherd, Interpreting Martin Luther: An Introduction to His Life and Thought, 246.

When a ditchdigger trades his shovel for a backhoe, his arm muscles weaken even as his efficiency increases. A similar trade-off may well take place as we automate the work of the mind. —Nicholas Carr, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to our Brains, 217.

The gospel as the true treasure of the church is also constitutive of the church; that is, the gospel determines the parameters of the church, and not the other way around. Where the gospel is heard and upheld and cherished, the church exists; without the gospel, the church is nothing. —Victor Shepherd, Interpreting Martin Luther: [...]