James Gustafson: Prophet

James Gustafson is American academic. Explore interesting quotes on prophet.
James Gustafson: 8 quotes1 like

“Prophets do not help responsible Christian persons who seek to gain political and economic power as a means to serve the public good within the constraints of political, economic, medical, or other institutions.”

James Gustafson

Source: "Varieties of Moral Discourse: Prophetic, Narrative, Ethical and Policy", p. 55

“Prophets tend to be impatient with detailed analyses of particular choices made in the past—choices that determined how, month by month, we got to where we are from where we were. They tend to be equally impatient with how we can practically get from where we are today to some modest increments of improvement a month from now. To the prophet such preoccupation seems to be rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.”

James Gustafson

Source: "Varieties of Moral Discourse: Prophetic, Narrative, Ethical and Policy", p. 50

“The legitimacy of prophetic moral discourse, I believe, is without question. It is not, however, sufficient as moral discourse. It undercuts preoccupation with meager thinking about means to short-range ends. … It does not concern itself with incremental choices that have to be made by persons and institutions in which good and evil are intricately intermingled.”

James Gustafson

Source: "Varieties of Moral Discourse: Prophetic, Narrative, Ethical and Policy", p. 55