Cases Quote by Augustus William Hare

“The typical clergy/laity system practiced among most churches is detrimental to believers. In this system only a professional class of people teaches and preaches,…

— Henry Hon

Many wise and true sermons are preached us everyday by unconscious ministers in street, school, office, or home; even a fair table may become…

— Louisa May Alcott

the Press has no band of critics who go the round of the churches and chapels, and are on the watch for a slip…

— George Eliot

Clergymen almost necessarily fail in two ways as teachers of morals. They condemn acts which do no harm and they condone acts which do…

— Bertrand Russell

“Even in my profession how little the art of reading has been studied! how little a clear manner, and good delivery, have been attended…

— Jane Austen

Today, we need a Church capable of walking at people's side, of doing more than simply listening to them… At times we lose people…

— Pope Francis

...the Bible itself is less read than preached, less interpreted than brandished. Increasingly, pastors may drape a limply bound Book over the edges of…

— Harold Bloom

Just one time you got a reason, Heard you had nothing to lose. A pied preacher for the pin-eyed congregation, It must be easy…

— Lamb Of God

“Most pastors, as I have observed them, will spend more time on preaching preparation for the next month than on vision preparation for the…

— Will Mancini

And seldom if ever do I leave the pulpit without a sense of partial failure, a mood of penitence, a cry to God for…

— John Stott

“If preachers would speak only to men's fancies or understandings, and not meddle too smartly with their hearts, and lives, and carnal interests, the…

— George Virtue

The problem is that, regardless of what our theologies tell us about the purpose of the clergy, the actual effect of the clergy profession…

— Christian Smith