"The fact that ethics constitutes a problem reminds us that the object about which we are conversing has no objectivity [...]for we are not metaphysicians."

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"The fact that ethics constitutes a problem reminds us that the object about which we are conversing has no objectivity, that is to say, it is not a concrete world existing above or behind our world; it is not a treasury of our spiritual experiences; it is not even some transcendental vastness: for we are not metaphysicians. Our conversation is about men living in the world of nature and of civilization; and, moreover, we ourselves are also men living of necessity from minute to minute a quite concrete life." (Barth, Epistle to the Romans, p. 424)

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"[...]man was brought into the world last after the creation, not being rejected to the last as worthless, but as one whom it behoved to be king over his subjects at his very birth."

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"[...] man was brought into the world last after the creation, not being rejected to the last as worthless, but as one whom it behoved to be king over his subjects at his very birth. And as a good host does not bring his guest to his house before the preparation of his feast, but, when he has made all due preparation, and decked with their proper adornments his house, his couches, his table, brings his guest home when things suitable for his refreshment are in readiness,—in the same manner the rich and munificent Entertainer of our nature, when He had decked the habitation with beauties of every kind, and prepared this great and varied banquet, then introduced man, assigning to him as his task not the acquiring of what was not there, but the enjoyment of the things which were there; and for this reason He gives him as foundations the instincts of a twofold organization, blending the Divine with the earthy, that by means of both he may be naturally and properly dispos...
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"[...]we ought narrowly to scrutinize our Father's characteristics, that by fashioning and framing ourselves to the likeness of our Father[...]"

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"[...]after the grace bestowed we are called His children. And therefore we ought narrowly to scrutinize our Father's characteristics, that by fashioning and framing ourselves to the likeness of our Father, we may appear true children of Him Who calls us to the adoption according to grace." (On the Baptism of Christ, NPNF, pp. 523-524)
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“There is one true and perfect power [...] But it rules not by violence and tyrannical dictatorship[...]"

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“There is one true and perfect power which is above all things and governs the whole universe. But it rules not by violence and tyrannical dictatorship, which inforces the obedience of its subjects through fear and compulsion." ( Graff, St. Gregory of Nyssa, the Lord’s Prayer, the Beatitudes (Paulist Press; 1953), p. 51) “Μία τῶν πάντων ὑπέρκειται ἡ ἀληθὴς ἐξουσία καὶ δύναμις, ἡ τοῦ παντὸς ἀναδεδεγμένη τὸ κράτος, καὶ βασιλεύουσα οὐ βιαίᾳ τινὶ καὶ τυραννικῇ δυναστείᾳ, φόβοις καὶ ἀνάγκαις ὑποζεύξασα τῇ ὑποταγῇ τὸ ὑπήκοον.” (De or. Dom. III, PG 256)
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