Gerhard Forde on the Christian life
A locus on the Christian life is potentially the most dangerous in dogmatics. It is concerned with giving an account of how the act of God in Christ impinges on, effects, and affects the lives we live. Such an account is potentially dangerous because, as the tradition shows all too patently, the rhetoric has a way of running away with itself and becoming inflated and oppressive. In the anxiety to demonstrate that the Christian life is different, vital, relevant, abundant, and obviously superior to every other kind of life, the encomiums pile up, often fired by enthusiasm and hubris rather than by reality.
from Christian Dogmatics, Vol II, (Fortress, 1984), 395.
(P.S. something of a counterpoint from Adolf Koberle)
there is no place in it [the new life of faith] for self-admiration, nor does it cherish delusions of perfection, but yet, in spite of all its weakness and failures, it is a real deliverance from the bondage and dominion of sin.
from The Quest for Holiness, (1936), vii.
