Walter Rauschenbusch Quotes & Sayings

The belief in a satanic kingdom exists today only where religious and theological traditions keep this believe alive. — Walter Rauschenbusch

Theologians have felt no hesitation in founding a system of speculative thought on the teachings of Jesus; and yet Jesus was never an inhabitant of the realm of speculative thought. — Walter Rauschenbusch

It is for us to see the Kingdom of God as always coming, always pressing in on the present, always big with possibility, and always inviting immediate action — Walter Rauschenbusch

The real joy of life is in its play. Play is anything we do for the joy and love of doing it, apart from any profit, compulsion, or sense of duty. It is the real joy of living. — Walter Rauschenbusch

The Kingdom of God is not a matter of getting individuals to heaven, but of transforming the life on earth into the harmony of heaven. — Walter Rauschenbusch

Whoever sets any bounds for the reconstructive power of the religious life over the social relations and institutions of men, to that extent denies the faith of the Master. — Walter Rauschenbusch

We never live so intensely as when we love strongly. We never realize ourselves so vividly as when we are in full glow of love for others. — Walter Rauschenbusch

In a few years all our restless and angry hearts will be quiet in death, but those who come after us will live in the world which our sins have blighted or which our love of right has redeemed. — Walter Rauschenbusch

Every generation tries to put its doctrine on a high shelf where the children can not reach it. — Walter Rauschenbusch

History is never antiquated, because humanity is always fundamentally the same. — Walter Rauschenbusch

Christianity is in its nature revolutionary. — Walter Rauschenbusch

God, we thank you for this earth, our homes; for the wide sky and the blessed sun, for the salt sea and the running water, for the everlasting hills and the never resting winds, for trees and the common grass underfoot. We thank you for our senses by which we hear the songs of birds, and see the splendor of the summer fields, and taste of the autumn fruits, and rejoice in the feel of the snow, and smell the breath of the spring. Grant us a heart wide open to all this beauty; and save our souls from being so blind that we pass unseeing when even the common thorn bush is aflame with your glory. — Walter Rauschenbusch

The influences that really make and mar human happiness are beyond the reach of the law. The law can keep neighbors from trespassing, but it cannot put neighborly courtesy and goodwill into their relations. — Walter Rauschenbusch

Theology is not superior to the Gospel. It exists to aid the preaching of salvation. Its business is to make the essential facts and principles of Christianity so simple and clear, so adequate and mighty, that all who preach or teach the Gospel, both ministers and laymen, can draw on its stores and deliver a complete and unclouded Christian message. — Walter Rauschenbusch