Hope arouses, as nothing else can arouse, a passion for the possible.

The woman most in need of liberation is the woman in every man and the man in every woman.

A spiritual person tries less to be godly than to be deeply human.

In reality, there are no biblical literalists, only selective literalists. By abolishing slavery and ordaining women, millions of Protestants have gone far beyond biblical literalism. It's time we did the same for homophobia.

Christians have no business thinking that the good life consists mainly in not doing bad things. We have no business thinking that to do evil in this world you have to be a Bengal tiger, when, in fact, it is enough to be a tame tabby—a nice person but not a good one. In short, Pentecost makes it clear that nothing is so fatal to Christianity as indifference.

I love the recklessness of faith. First you leap, and then you grow wings.

Faith handles the ultimate incongruities of life, humor handles the more immediate ones.