“Should the church be trying to erect a spiritual reign of terror over people by threatening earthly and eternal punishment on its own authority and commanding everything a person must believe and do to be saved?”

—  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"Preface", as translated by Barbara Green and Reihhard Krauss (2001). <!-- Edited by Geffrey B. Kelly and John D. Godsey -->
Discipleship (1937)
Context: Should the church be trying to erect a spiritual reign of terror over people by threatening earthly and eternal punishment on its own authority and commanding everything a person must believe and do to be saved? Should the church's word bring new tyranny and violent abuse to human souls? It may be that some people yearn for such servitude. But could the church ever serve such a longing?
When holy scripture speaks of following Jesus, it proclaims that people are free from all human rules, from everything which presumes, burdens, or causes worry and torment of conscience. In following Jesus, people are released from the hard yoke of their own laws to be under the gentle yoke of Jesus Christ. … Jesus' commandment never wishes to destroy life, but rather to preserve, strengthen, and heal life.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Should the church be trying to erect a spiritual reign of terror over people by threatening earthly and eternal punishm…" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer?
Dietrich Bonhoeffer photo
Dietrich Bonhoeffer 161
German Lutheran pastor, theologian, dissident anti-Nazi 1906–1945

Related quotes

Dietrich Bonhoeffer photo

“Should the church be trying to erect a spiritual reign of terror over people by threatening earthly and eternal punishment on its own authority and commanding everything a person must believe and do to be saved? Should the church's word bring new tyranny and violent abuse to human souls? It may be that some people yearn for such servitude. But could the church ever serve such a longing?
When holy scripture speaks of following Jesus, it proclaims that people are free from all human rules, from everything which presumes, burdens, or causes worry and torment of conscience. In following Jesus, people are released from the hard yoke of their own laws to be under the gentle yoke of Jesus Christ. … Jesus' commandment never wishes to destroy life, but rather to preserve, strengthen, and heal life.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945) German Lutheran pastor, theologian, dissident anti-Nazi

"Preface", as translated by Barbara Green and Reihhard Krauss (2001)
Discipleship (1937)

W.E.B. Du Bois photo

“The theology of the average colored church is basing itself far too much upon 'Hell and Damnation'—upon an attempt to scare people into being decent and threatening them with the terrors of death and punishment..

[]”

W.E.B. Du Bois (1868–1963) American sociologist, historian, activist and writer

Source: Writings: The Suppression of the African Slave-Trade / The Souls of Black Folk / Dusk of Dawn / Essays

Sebouh Chouldjian photo

“The Armenian Church should save nothing on Armenian upbringing and spiritual integrity of the young generation.”

Sebouh Chouldjian (1959) Archbishop Sebouh Chouldjian is the primate of the Diocese of Gougark of the Armenian Apostolic Church

Քրիստոնեական http://araratian-tem.am/media/Qristoneakan_verchin%20(2).doc, p. 3
On preserving national values

“The Church must always be popular. It is about the person and his relationship with God. The church that is financially well off can forget its content. We are nothing without the people. What is important is that the people connect with their God, and with the Eternal Word of the Father, who became man and walked with us. Now it is us who are trying to walk with him.”

Josu Iriondo (1938) Catholic bishop

Source: For Latin Immigrants, Church Is Home, Says Auxiliary of New York https://zenit.org/2003/11/05/for-latin-immigrants-church-is-home-says-auxiliary-of-new-york/ (5 November 2003)

James Hudson Taylor photo

“We believe that the time has come for doing more fully what He has commanded us; and by His grace we intend to do it. Not to try, for we see no Scriptural authority for trying. Try is a word constantly in the mouth of unbelievers,... far too often taken up by believers. In our experience, ‘to try’ has usually meant ‘to fail’. (The Lord’s) command is not ‘Do your best,’ but ‘DO IT’.”

James Hudson Taylor (1832–1905) Missionary in China

(A.J. Broomhall. Hudson Taylor and China’s Open Century, Book Six: Assault on the Nine. London: Hodder and Stoughton and Overseas Missionary Fellowship, 1988, 47).

Lillian Hellman photo

“I do not believe in recovery. The past, with its pleasures, its rewards, its foolishness, its punishments, is there for each of us forever, and it should be.”

Lillian Hellman (1905–1984) American dramatist and screenwriter

Source: Scoundrel Time (1976), p. 150
Context: Sad is a fake word for me to be using, I am still angry that their reason for disagreeing with McCarthy was too often his crude methods.... Many of the anti-Communists were, of course, honest men. But none of them... has stepped forward to admit a mistake. It is not necessary in this country; they too know that we are a people who do not remember much. I have written here that I have recovered. I mean it only in a worldly sense because I do not believe in recovery. The past, with its pleasures, its rewards, its foolishness, its punishments, is there for each of us forever, and it should be.

Nikolai Berdyaev photo

“It must be recognized that man in his limited and relative earthly life is capable of bringing about the beautiful and the valuable only when he believes in another life, unlimited, absolute, eternal. That is a law of his being. A contact with this mortal life exclusive of any other ends in the wearing-away of effective energy and a self-satisfaction that makes one useless and superficial. Only the spiritual man, striking his roots deep in infinite and eternal life, can be a true creator. But Humanism denied the spiritual man, handed over the eternal to the temporal, and took its stand by the natural man within the limited confines of the earth.”

Nikolai Berdyaev (1874–1948) Russian philosopher

Source: The End of Our Time (1919), p. 34

Boris Yeltsin photo

“Storm clouds of terror and dictatorship are gathering over the whole country… They must not be allowed to bring eternal night.”

Boris Yeltsin (1931–2007) 1st President of Russia and Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR

Appeal to citizens of Russia to oppose the 1991 coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev. (19 August 1991)
1990s

Walter Rauschenbusch photo

“Throughout the Middle Ages the sway of the Church over the moral and spiritual life of the people,”

Walter Rauschenbusch (1861–1918) United States Baptist theologian

Source: Christianity and the Social Crisis (1907), Ch.4 Why Has Christianity Never Undertaken the Work of Social Reconstruction?, p. 145
Context: Throughout the Middle Ages the sway of the Church over the moral and spiritual life of the people, her power to inspire and direct their enthusiasms and energies, her chance for molding their conceptions of life, were amazing and unparalleled by any other force.

Pope Francis photo

“It is not necessary to believe in God to be a good person. In a way, the traditional notion of God is outdated. One can be spiritual but not religious. It is not necessary to go to church and give money— for many, nature can be a church. Some of the best people in history do not believe in God, while some of the worst deeds were done in His name.”

Pope Francis (1936) 266th Pope of the Catholic Church

Attributed to Pope Francis in a Facebook image circulated circa , this is debunked in "Mass Exodus" at Snopes.com (15 December 2014) http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/popeatheist.asp, which asserts there are no credible indications Francis ever made such a statement: "It's not clear where the quote originated, but there is no proof (nor is there precedent) for the claim Pope Francis voiced it."
Misattributed

Related topics