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Doug Pagitt Quotes

Christianity has always been the hope of God through Jesus played out in the lives of real people living in real circumstances.

Christianity has always been the hope of God through Jesus played out in the lives of real people living in real circumstances.

Doug Pagitt
Jesus, Real, People
Doug Pagitt (2012). “A Christianity Worth Believing: Hope-filled, Open-armed, Alive-and-well Faith for the Left Out, Left Behind, and Let Down in us All”, p.26, John Wiley & Sons

The inerrancy debate is based on the belief that the Bible is the word of God, that the Bible is true because God made it and gave it to us as a guide to truth. But that's not what the Bible says.

Doug Pagitt
Belief, Debate, Guides
Doug Pagitt (2012). “A Christianity Worth Believing: Hope-filled, Open-armed, Alive-and-well Faith for the Left Out, Left Behind, and Let Down in us All”, p.42, John Wiley & Sons

The story of the gospel is so much better than the legal model suggests. It tells us that we are created as God's partners, not God's enemies. Sin does a lot of damage to that partnership - it disables us, it discourages us, it disturbs us - but it never destroys the bond that exists between God and humanity.

Doug Pagitt
Humanity, Enemy, Doe
Doug Pagitt (2012). “A Christianity Worth Believing: Hope-filled, Open-armed, Alive-and-well Faith for the Left Out, Left Behind, and Let Down in us All”, p.85, John Wiley & Sons

God is constantly creating anew. And God also, invites us to be re-created and join the work of God as co-(re)creators. . . . Imagine the Kingdom of God as the creative process of God reengaging in all that we know and experience. . . . When we employ creativity to make this world better, we participate with God in the recreation of the world.

Doug Pagitt
Creativity, Creating, Creative

The early evangelists recognized they could help the Jesus story make sense if Jesus was seen as someone who was chosen to appease the wrath of God - hence, the 'anointed one' who could do what no one else could do.

Doug Pagitt
Jesus, Wrath, Stories
Doug Pagitt (2012). “A Christianity Worth Believing: Hope-filled, Open-armed, Alive-and-well Faith for the Left Out, Left Behind, and Let Down in us All”, p.99, John Wiley & Sons

One of the reasons churches in North America have trouble guiding people about money is that the church's economy is built on consumerism. If churches see themselves as suppliers of religious goods and services and their congregants as consumers, then offerings are 'payment.'

Doug Pagitt
Religious, Offering, America

This can come as a shock to those Christians who are so used to hearing that Jesus is the solution to sin that they assume that the remedy started with the death of Jesus.

Doug Pagitt
Christian, Jesus, Hearing
Doug Pagitt (2012). “A Christianity Worth Believing: Hope-filled, Open-armed, Alive-and-well Faith for the Left Out, Left Behind, and Let Down in us All”, p.90, John Wiley & Sons

I'm writing with the assumption that most of you who are reading this book have concluded what I have: Preaching doesn't workpreaching, as we know it, is a tragically broken endeavor. The value of our practices-including preaching-ought to be judged by their effects on our communities and the ways in which they help us move toward life with God.

Doug Pagitt
Moving, Book, Reading

Engaging the body in acts of being present with God, including certain ceremonial practices, opens us up to God in new ways. People of faith in ancient times understood that such physical acts and practices as rest and worship, dietary restrictions, and mandated fabric in their wardrobes were of great value to their faith and life.

Doug Pagitt
Practice, People, Fabric
Doug Pagitt, Kathryn Prill (2013). “BodyPrayer: The Posture of Intimacy with God”, p.12, WaterBrook

During a recent life development forum we offered a session on Christian practices. In one of the four weeks we introduced the practice of making the sign of the cross on ourselves. This gesture has become a very powerful experience for me. It is rich with meaning and history and is such a simple way to proclaim and pray my faith with my body.

Doug Pagitt
Christian, Powerful, Simple

And let me tell you 'Kingdom of God' language is really big in the emerging church.

Doug Pagitt
Church, Kingdoms, Language

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