John E. Goldingay Quotes

#1. One question such events provoke is "What kind of God allows this to happen?" Another question we might ask is, "What kind of creatures are human beings that we should cause and allow this to happen?

John E. Goldingay

#2. the Torah itself sets obedience in the context of trust.

John E. Goldingay

#3. (Whereas we are inclined to equate the reality and the sense of the reality, these are different things - there can be a reality of God's presence and activity whether we feel it or not, and we can have a sense of God's reality and activity but the sense may be false.)

John E. Goldingay

#4. What is distinctive and engaging about Jesus is not the novel things he says but the way he says things. He is creative not so much because he says things that are completely new but because he speaks with such authority.

John E. Goldingay

#5. ... prayer does not have to be theologically correct. It is a conversation.

John E. Goldingay

#6. It is said that the difference between God and us is that God never thinks he is us. Genesis suggests some nuancing of that insight. God doesn't mind sharing with us the divine life and the divine image and thus the divine responsibility for the world, and eventually God will become one of us.

John E. Goldingay

#7. The prophets' task is to tell their own people what God intends to do with them, not to think about what people in hundreds of years' time may need to hear, though the preserving of their prophecies implies the conviction that they have ongoing significance. Further,

John E. Goldingay

#8. Our relationship with God is not contractual, so that we could fulfill the right conditions and it would have the desired results, as if our relationship with God resembled putting coins in a vending machine. It is a personal relationship, and such relationships involve freedom on both sides. Joel

John E. Goldingay

#9. Memory relates to ethics as well as to spirituality (the distinction between ethics and spirituality is a Western one and does more harm than good). Memory places obligations upon you. The Israelites were to remember their experience of servitude in Egypt, and treat their servants accordingly.

John E. Goldingay

#10. The nature of the praise and prayer in the Psalms indicates how memory is key to praise and prayer.

John E. Goldingay

#11. The imprecatory psalms are for us to pray, who are not victims. Indeed, if we do not want to pray them, it raises questions about the shallowness of our own spirituality, theology and ethics. Do we not want to see wrongdoers put down and punished? One

John E. Goldingay

#12. In none of the Gospels does Jesus tell his disciples to extend the kingdom, work for the kingdom, build up the kingdom, or further the kingdom.

John E. Goldingay