Uta Ranke-Heinemann Quotes & Sayings

Confronted by a Church that has ceased to manifest God's mercy and intimate connection with humankind - that has converted Christ into a grim and joyless adjunct to the policing of bedrooms and marital intercourse - men and women can no longer see themselves as beloved of God, only as impure and reprehensible. — Uta Ranke-Heinemann

According to Jerome, Mary laid the foundations of virginity for both sexes, and the moral superiority of virginity becomes clear in her person. The reality was the other way around: Virginity was not prized because Mary was always a virgin, rather Mary was made a perpetual virgin because virginity was so highly praised. — Uta Ranke-Heinemann

Sexual pessimism and hostility toward the pleasures of the flesh are a legacy from the ancient world which Christianity has preserved in a special measure to this day. — Uta Ranke-Heinemann

Jesus was a friend of women, the first and practically the last friend women had in the church. — Uta Ranke-Heinemann

Sex is an aspect of human existence that has fallen prey in special measure to a very special form of theological science: the theological outgrowth or offshoot known as moral theology. Its biblical foundations are meager in the sense that nothing of the kind exists in the New Testament, so it has had to achieve its ambition largely by dint of its own efforts. — Uta Ranke-Heinemann