Walter Wink

The church says to the lion and the lamb, "Here, let me negotiate a truce," to which the lion replies, "Fine, after I finish my lunch."

Walter Wink (May 21, 1935 – May 10, 2012) was an American biblical scholar, theologian, and activist who was an important figure in Progressive Christianity.

Quotes

• Most Christians desire nonviolence, yes; but they are not talking about a nonviolent struggle for justice. They mean simply the absence of conflict.
  • Jesus and Nonviolence: A Third Way (2003), p. 4

• The church says to the lion and the lamb, "Here, let me negotiate a truce," to which the lion replies, "Fine, after I finish my lunch."
  • Jesus and Nonviolence: A Third Way (2003), p. 4

Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination (1992)

• Violence is so successful as a myth precisely because it does not seem to be mythic in the least. Violence simply appears to be the nature of things. It is what works. It is inevitable. ... The roots of this devotion to violence are deep, and we will be well rewarded if we trace them to their source. When we do, we will discover that the religion of Babylon—one of the world's oldest, continuously surviving religions—is thriving as never before in every sector of contemporary American life, even in our synagogues and churches. It, and not Christianity, is the real religion of America.
  • p. 13

• Besides an unmasking of the oppressors, there must also be a healing of the servile will in their victims.
  • p. 102

• The victory of faith over the Powers lies, not in immunity to their wrath, but in emancipation from their delusions.
  • p. 103