8.3.2 Sources

Quotations about the Beatitudes:

Luther:

“The absurd way to salvation.”

“Doing good earns much thanklessness but you should still know that heaven is yours.”

Berger:

Reversal of the typical civil value-system (e.g. “survival of the fittest”)

Presently: happy are! 1. Peter 4:14 – already now! 

“blessed”: is almost untranslatable: “The secret starts with the first word.”

“Yes, this is us, the blessed. Yes that is me.”

Barclay:

Jesus congratulates for a current blessedness

The Beatitudes are like lightning which is followed by the thunder of surprise and astonishment. 

The promised blessing is nothing short of the blessing of God. 

1. Kittel

“Referred to are those who are willing to see and shape their life from his perspective and to overcome human logic with the logic of trust and love.” (page 75)

1. Thielicke

“Don’t sigh about your loneliness as a Christian in the midst of the greater number of unbelievers: you are called to salt this whole godless dough. That is the calling of the solitary Christian.”