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The task of pastoral ministry, above all else, is to arrange contingencies for an encounter with the divine.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

There can be no real attachment to the given creation, no genuine responsibility in the world, unless we recognize the breach which already separates us from it.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Attachment Creation Reality Responsibility World
Our eyes are at fault, that is all. God is in the manger, wealth in poverty, light in darkness, succor in abandonment.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Darkness Eyes God Leaving Light Ourselves
When all is said and done, the life of faith is nothing if not an unending struggle of the spirit with every available weapon against the flesh.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

End Faith Life Spirit Struggle Weapon
The truth of the matter is that the whole world has already been turned upside down by the work of Jesus Christ.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Religious Truth World
But the Christian also knows that he not only cannot and dare not be anxious, but that there is no need for him to be so. Neither anxiety now work can secure his daily bread, for bread is the gift of the Father.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Dare Father Gift Himself Need Secure
I can no longer condemn or hate a brother for whom I pray, no matter how much trouble he causes me.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Hate Himself Myself Prayer
Nothing can be more cruel than the leniency which abandons others to their sin. Nothing can be more compassionate than the severe reprimand which calls another Christian in one’s community back from the path of sin.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Compassionate Path Sin
Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Action Responsibility
Nothing can be known either of God or man until God has become man in Jesus Christ.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

God Man Religious
The limitation of the ethical phenomenon to its place and time does not imply its rejection but, on the contrary, its validation. One does not use canons to shoot sparrows.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Limitation Place Rejection Time
Jesus is the only significance. Beside Jesus nothing has any significance. He alone matters.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Alone Himself Religion Worth
God loves human beings. God loves the world. Not an ideal human, but human beings as they are; not an ideal world, but the real world. What we find repulsive in their opposition to God, what we shrink back from with pain and hostility, namely, real human beings, the real world, this is for God the ground of unfathomable love.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

God Human Ideal Love Pain Reality World
A God who let us prove his existence would be an idol.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Existence God Idol
Love, in the sense of spontaneous, unreflective action, spells the death of the old man.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Action Death Love Man Old Reflection
The task of pastoral ministry, above all else, is to arrange contingencies for an encounter with the divine.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Divine Job
The wars of Israel were the only ‘holy wars’ in history, there can be no more wars of faith. The only way to overcome our enemy is by loving him.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Enemy Faith History Love Ourselves War

The task of pastoral ministry, above all else, is to arrange contingencies for an encounter with the divine.

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The task of pastoral ministry, above all else, is to arrange contingencies for an encounter with the divine.

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