If I'm ever going to get through Richard Rohr's 'The Tears of Things: Prophetic Wisdom for An Age of Outrage,' I suppose I need to condense and combine.
Here is a summary of chapters 3 & 4:
In Chapter 3 of The Tears of Things, Rohr reflects on the biblical concept of the remnant — the small, faithful minority through which God brings transformation. He argues that real change often starts at society’s edges rather than from the center; this “critical mass” isn’t about power but witness, and it resists scapegoating by taking responsibility for collective ills. Rohr draws especially on the prophet Hosea, suggesting that divine love is adult and committed, even when our fidelity is broken. In Chapter 4, titled “Welcoming Holy Disorder,” Rohr introduces a spiritual pattern of order → disorder → reorder and argues that prophets don’t just condemn, they provoke a necessary upheaval. He outlines ten qualities of a true prophet — such as courage, humility, and compassion — showing that prophetic work isn’t motivated by status or reward but by love.
Below are some of the underlined sections from my reading...
p. 29-30 - "I am not sure how explicitly the prophets understood this seeming divine strategy, but they certainly learned to work inside of littleness, failure, and rejection from a nonresponsive audience."
p. 30 - "Power distorts truth, so God plants and develops it at the edge, where the power-hungry least expect it. The truth will always be too much for everybody, but God seems content with a few getting the point in each era."
p. 32 - "This revelation of the remnant is the clear opposite of our notion of majority rule, authority rule, Christendom, or even 'one person, one vote.' In a very clear way, it presents an utterly counterintuitive theme that a humble minority is always the critical stand-in for God's big truth -- and the group through which God is working change."
p. 33 - "The critical mass in biblical theology is always the small, 'edgy' group that carries history forward almost in spite of the whole. Think of Noah and his family in the ark; the youngest and forgotten son David becoming king; the barren wives Sarah and Elizabeth, each giving birth to a special child late in life; the twelve outlier fishermen being called as Jesus's disciples instead of anybody from the capital city temple team."
p. 41 - "A minority within a minority, they taught the refined and actual message of love of God and neighbor as one, which is full religious transformation."
Chapter 4 -
p. 46-47 - "I founded the Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC)... in 1987 because of the growing sense that we needed to educate people to the truth-tellers who are inside and effective critics of religious institutions, without becoming negative or cynical themselves - a loyal opposition, as we call it today."
p. 52 - "A major assertion in this whole book is that they (prophets) were angry, even depressed, before they were sad and enlightened. Remember when Paul said that 'prophesying [can be] imperfect' (1 Cor. 13:9) and still be prophecy? Good news indeed."
p. 53 - "I think a prophet's reward - as well as the reward for those who receive a prophet - is precisely nothing, except the telling of the message itself. When you want and need something extra, like fame, money, or notoriety, the truth is already lost." ... "Jesus is forever purifying his messengers by pulling them outside of the usual reward systems."
p. 56 - "Look for humility, love, and detachment in the speaker. If those elements are not present, be careful and rightly doubtful. A prophet does not need to push the river of her ideas too feverishly, because she knows the source of the river is beyond her."
p. 56 - "Prophets must have asked themselves, many times, How do I know this is not just my idea? They have learned to be their own devil's advocate."
p. 56-57 - Great section on the need for humility, simplicity, and a vow of poverty (to guard against corruption).
p. 59 - Remember, every time God forgives sin, he is saying that relationship matters more than his own rules. Think about that. Forgiveness honors disorder while still naming it disorder."
p. 61 - "When criticism is not tolerated or encouraged, the proud, deceitful, and power hungry will invariably win out. Every institution needs designated, positive, and affirmed whistleblowers, or the shadow always takes over and the problem is never included in the resolution."
Okay... that's a lot. Happy chewing... :)
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