Resident Aliens.<\/em> To date the book has sold over 160,000 copies, a remarkable number for a book of this type, and remains an important part of the literature regarding ministry and the church. I consider this book to be ground zero in terms of my own understanding of what the church is and what it is for, as well as my own job and what I\u2019m trying to do as a pastor.<\/p>\nWhat follows is a collection of quotations (not all 100% accurate, but very close), from the various sessions with Hauerwas and Willimon.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou cannot know Jesus without following Jesus.\u201d (Resident Aliens<\/em>)<\/p>\n\u201cTo be asked to die for this man is\u2026 He\u2019s either the Son of God, or you\u2019re making a terrible mistake.\u201d SH<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are certain words that certain traditions should not be able to use. The Reformed should never be able to use the word covenant<\/em>, because they mean contract\u2014and that means screw you. The Methodists should never be able to use the word experience<\/em> because they associate it with sex\u2014they did it once and they never got over it. Episcopalians should never be able to use the word incarnation<\/em>, because they mean God became human and said, \u2018Hey, this is pretty good!\u2019 And that\u2019s why you can\u2019t tell the difference between Unitarians and Anglicans\u2026 Reformed should never be able to use the word creation<\/em>, because that means we have natural knowledge that we can now use to judge you and the gospel in a way that gives us a way to rule the world.\u201d SH<\/p>\n\u201cBalance isn\u2019t a Christian concept. Avoiding stress & having balance isn\u2019t nearly as important as having a job.\u201d WW<\/p>\n
\u201cYou will find much in the world that is judgment on the church for failing to be the church. So it\u2019s not like world is all negative.\u201d SH<\/p>\n
Upon being asked if Resident Aliens is for a diverse Christianity, or just a homogenous, white, American group, Hauerwas said, \u201cWell I resent being lumped with Will. He\u2019s from South Carolina. I\u2019m a Texan. The implication that there\u2019s no difference; that we\u2019re both just white males\u2026 I mean, he\u2019s a southerner & a Methodist\u2026 he\u2019s always wanted to be liked.\u201d To which Willimon replied, \u201cYou would if you could.\u201d Hauerwas continued, \u201cI recognize of course that there\u2019s\u2026 the language of homogeneity can be very misleading. I recognize race as continuing to be one of the great challenges before us, I think equally hidden is class, and how we don\u2019t acknowledge the difference that class makes in our lives and that\u2019s particularly true of the church. Race is legitimate to be dealt with [in the church], class is not.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMay they rot in hell\u2026\u201d Stanley Hauerwas when asked about James Dobson, Joyce Meyers, & Joel Olsteen. SH<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a funny\u00a0way in which the world [ignoring the church] is making the church a whole lot more interesting.\u201d WW<\/p>\n
\u201cMission is whenever the gospel crosses some existing boundary.\u201d WW<\/p>\n
\u201cThe gospels is always intruding where it is not wanted. Jesus was always showing up where he was not invited.\u201d WW<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a declining, failing system, good news is a threat.\u201d WW<\/p>\n
\u2026being a bishop has let him see things so stunningly faithful they forced him out of his world hating depression. WW<\/p>\n
\u201cBiggest moral problem for students is a parents\u2019 divorce. You leave a bourgeois marriage to go find yourself\u2026 They were 12 years old when you got your divorce\u2026 divorce looks a whole lot different from the bottom up.\u201d WW<\/p>\n
\u201cChurch us a more determinative category than race, gender, or class.\u201d WW<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery kind of work has its advantages & disadvantages. What\u2019s crucial is a sense that it serves the community.\u201d SH<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in the death business, the church is. Part of our job is to help people learn how to die.\u201d SH<\/p>\n
\u201cI think people are literally dying to be told the truth.\u201d SH<\/p>\n
Jesus: \u201cI\u2019m gonna build my church\u2026the question is will you have the theol. Imagination to welcome those ill drag thru the door.\u201d WW<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the doors are red, it\u2019s a reminder to anyone that passes through them that we\u2019ve been made possible by the blood of the saints, so it\u2019s not just any doors you\u2019re going through. I would think it would make people hesitate for at least a moment, to say \u2018Do I want to go through this?\u2019\u201d SH<\/p>\n
\u201cA student resisted me when I gave out a bad grade on a paper\u2026 and I said, \u201cLook, if you don\u2019t like making bad grades on fully reasoned papers, think about law school\u2026 if this were law school we could\u2019ve accepted this. But you\u2019ve gone into a kind of war here\u2026 and so this isn\u2019t enough to sustain you.\u201d WW<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I spent the past couple of days at Duke University listening in on conversations between Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon. The event was part of Duke\u2019s annual Convocation and Pastor\u2019s School. Twenty-five years ago Hauerwas and Willimon teamed up to write the book Resident Aliens. To date the book has sold over 160,000 copies, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[491,1175,12,1174],"class_list":["post-3643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-church","tag-duke","tag-stanley-hauerwas","tag-william-willimon"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>I spent the past couple of days at Duke University listening in on conversations between Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon. The event was part of Duke\u2019s annual Convocation and Pastor\u2019s School. Twenty-five years ago Hauerwas and Willimon teamed up to write the book Resident Aliens.<\/em> To date the book has sold over 160,000 copies, a remarkable number for a book of this type, and remains an important part of the literature regarding ministry and the church. I consider this book to be ground zero in terms of my own understanding of what the church is and what it is for, as well as my own job and what I\u2019m trying to do as a pastor.<\/p>\n