Freedom and Religion

On my arrival in the United States it was the religious aspect of the country that first struck my eye. As I prolonged my stay, I perceived the great political consequences that flowed from these new facts. Among us, I had seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom almost always move in contrary directions. Here I found them united intimately with one another: they reigned together on the same soil.

Alexis de Tocqueville quoted in Noll, American God p. 6

Imagination

“Through the five senses the soul feels, knows, and understands, coordinating their deliverances as a unity. The wonderful conjunction of body and soul has its closest bond in the imagination (the image forming faculty) which is not more of soul than it is of body and vice versa.

Aidan Nichols, Epiphany Ch. 1

Responsibility for Creation

The world was not made by man.
The earth is the Lord’s,
Not a derelict.
What we own, we owe.
“How shall I ever repay to the Lord
All his bounties to me!” (Psalm 116:12)

Abraham Joshua Heschel

Living

Living is not a private affair of the individual.
Living is what man does with God’s time, what man does with God’s world.

Abraham Joshua Heschel

Holiness

Just to be is a blessing.
Just to live is holy.

Abraham Joshua Heschel

Trust

The great problem in the life of man is whether to trust, to have faith in God. The great problem in the life of God is whether to trust, to have faith in man.

Abraham Joshua Heschel

Worship

Worship
Is a way of seeing the world
In the light of God.

Abraham Joshua Heschel