Category: Books and Culture

“It really is Dionysus or the Crucified. And Dionysus is not just the god of the endless party—sex, drugs, and rock and roll—he is also the god of random dismemberment. In the sixties, we were urged many times (in a Dionysian vein) to ‘make love, not war.’ It turns out that the slogan actually means ‘make love, then war.’”

All the Condemnation, pp. 38-39

“Those who feast on accusations will eventually be eaten by them. This won’t necessarily happen tomorrow. You can run on for a long time.”

All the Condemnation, p. 34

“Accusation is holy law poured through the filter of a tiny and defiled soul. Justice is holy law unfiltered. Love is holy law poured out on the only sinless man, broken on a tree. And why was He willing to be broken there? He did it so a world full of accusers could become a world full of former accusers.”

All the Condemnation, p. 32

“The right kind of self-accusation is evangelical repentance.”

All the Condemnation, p. 30

“This is why guilt goes on demented moralistic crusades. This is why we want to save polar bears that didn’t need saving, this is why we want to make the world safe for democracy, this is why we build bloody empires, this is why we call the practice of dismembering babies ‘women’s reproductive health’ and why sanctified sodomy is rapidly assuming the status of a civic sacrament. Guilt must be declared righteous; guilt must attain to glory. But apart from repentance and faith in Jesus, the only way to get there is by means of a moralistic and very public frenzy. In order to keep that frenzy from being identified for what it is, thus wrecking the glory party, it is also necessary to club any dissenters.”

All the Condemnation, pp. 26-27

“Sin is not seeking after glory, but rather falling short of it.”

All the Condemnation, p. 25