Excerpt 3

"Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor  language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither  inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor  lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct   which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or  deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim  themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting   Greek as well as barbarian cities ... and following the customs  of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary  conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking  method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as  sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet  endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their  native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers.  They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not  destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common  bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They  pass their days on earth but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the  prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives.  They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life. They are poor,  yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in  all; they are dishonored, and yet in their very dishonor are glorified.  They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and  bless; they are insulted, and repay the insult with honor; they do good,  yet are punished as evil doers.

From "To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity" by James Davidson Hunter