14 Quotes by William H. Willimon

Avid TV viewers are more likely than others to believe their neighborhoods are unsafe, assume that crime rates are rising, and overestimate their odds of becoming a victim, and they are more likely to own guns.

The thousands of black bodies incarcerated on death row are one legacy of lynching. The highest rates of execution in the United States can be correlated with those states where lynching was most prevalent. America’s practice of lynching morphs rather than dies.

We reject the charge of tribalism, particularly from those whose theologies serve to buttress the most nefarious brand of tribalism of all – the omnipotent state. The church is the one political entity in our culture that is global, transnational, transcultural. Tribalism is not the church determined to serve God rather than Caesar. Tribalism is the United States of America, which sets up artificial boundaries and defends them with murderous intensity.

We are right to trust descriptions of Jesus given by those most disrupted by Jesus.

The gospels tell us that knowing where this gift came from, who his people were, isn’t going to help us much. If you want to know about Jesus, if you want to know him, you’ve got to meet him on the road.