The only justification for repressive institutions is material and cultural deficit. But such institutions at certain stages of history perpetuate and produce such a deficit and even threaten human survival.

Natural selection as it has operated in human history favors not only the clever but the murderous.

War had always seemed to me to be a purely human behavior. Accounts of warlike behavior date back to the very first written records of human history it seemed to be an almost universal characteristic of human groups.

History is filled with tragic examples of wars that result from diplomatic impasse. Whether in our local communities or in international relations the skillful use of our communicative capacities to negotiate and resolve differences is the first evidence of human wisdom.

I believe that we must maintain pride in the knowledge that the actions we take based on our own decisions and choices as individuals link directly to the magnificent challenge of transforming human history.

Of course nobody would deny the importance of human beings for theological thinking but the time span of history that theologians think about is a few thousand years of human culture rather than the fifteen billion years of the history of the universe.

The prolonged slavery of women is the darkest page in human history.

History could pass for a scarlet text its jot and title graven red in human blood.

Humanity has experienced many revolutionary changes over the course of history: revolutions in agriculture in science industrial production as well as numerous political revolutions. But these have all been limited to the external aspects of our individual and collective lives.

The history of Christianity therefore must be of concern to all who are interested in the record of man and particularly to all who seek to understand the contemporary human scene.