Theology Quotes
More Theology Quotes
Philosophy ... finds itself to be no longer anything but the heir to a fabulous mystical theology, but missing a God and wiping the slate clean.
georges bataille— p. 9 (L’Expérience Intérieure (1943))
The hope of science isthe perfection of the human race. The hope of theology is the salvation of a fewand the damnation of almost everybody.
Robert Ingersoll— 1867 The Age of Reason, Mar.
Now it is on the whole more convenient to keep history and theology apart.
— 1922 A Short History of theWorld, ch.37.
There are, certainly, differing degrees of devotion among Moon's followers; the fact that they bow at the right moment or shout "Mansei!" in unison doesn't mean they believe everything Moon says, or do precisely what he commands. Even on important issues, like Moon's claiming to be the messiah, there are church members whom I met, including a close aide to Moon, who demur. A religious leader whom they respect and whose theology they believe, yes; the messiah, perhaps not.
sun myung moon— Peter Maass, Moon at Twilight, The New Yorker September 14, 1998.
My theology, briefly,Is that the UniverseWas DictatedBut not Signed.
christopher morley— "Safe and Sane" in Hide and Seek (1920), p. 92
The study of theology as it stands in Christian churches, is the study of nothing; it is founded on nothing; it rests on no principles; it proceeds by no authorities; it has no data; it can demonstrate nothing; and admits of no conclusion. Not any thing can be studied as a science without our being in possession of the principles upon which it is founded; and as this is not the case with Christian theology, it is therefore the study of nothing.
thomas paine— Chapter III: Conclusion
Notwithstanding the quasi-religious enthusiasms of ultra-Darwinists, their own understanding of theology is a combination of ignorance and derision, philosophically limp, drawing on clichés, and happily fuelled by the idiocies of the so-called scientific creationists.
simon conway morris— p.316 (Life's Solution (2003))
It seldom seems to strike the ultra-Darwinists that theology might have its own richness and subtleties, and might strange thought actually tell us things about the world that are not only to our real advantage, but will never be revealed by science.
simon conway morris— p.316 (Life's Solution (2003))
In too many modern churches there is no emphasis on theology at all. There is a kind of justification by works or by keeping up with modern trends anything that will drag in a few more people.
Robertson Davies— "Author Says Messiah Could Be a Woman"
The antagonism between science and religion, about which we hear so much, appears to me to be purely factitious fabricated, on the one hand, by short-sighted religious people who confound a certain branch of science, theology, with religion; and, on the other, by equally short-sighted scientific people who forget that science takes for its province only that which is susceptible of clear intellectual comprehension; and that, outside the boundaries of that province, they must be content with imagination, with hope, and with ignorance.
thomas henry huxley— "The interpreters of Genesis and the interpreters of Nature" (1885).
I am too much of a sceptic to deny the possibility of anything especially as I am now so much occupied with theology but I don't see my way to your conclusion.
thomas henry huxley— Letter to Herbert Spencer (22 March 1886); this is often quoted with a variant spelling as: I am too much of a skeptic to deny the possibility of anything.
The hell to be endured hereafter, of which theology tells, is no worse than the hell we make for ourselves in this world by habitually fashioning our characters in the wrong way.
william james— Ch. 4 (The Principles of Psychology (1890))
"Isn't it sad, that in a time when we face so many devastating problems – poverty, HIV/AIDS, war and conflict – that in our Communion we should be investing so much time and energy on disagreement about sexual orientation?" [The Communion, which] "used to be known for embodying the attribute of comprehensiveness, of inclusiveness, where we were meant to accommodate all and diverse views, saying we may differ in our theology but we belong together as sisters and brothers" now seems "hell-bent on excommunicating one another. God must look on and God must weep."
desmond tutu— "Tutu calls on Anglicans to accept gay bishop". Spero News. 2005-11-14. Retrieved on 2006-05-26.
Real theology is always rather shocking to people who already think they know what they think. I'm still shocked myself.
larry wall— Usenet article <199708261932.MAA05218@wall.org> (1997)
The capacity for the accomplishment of religious virtuosos the “intellectual sacrifice” is the decisive characteristic of the positively religious man. That this is so is shown by the fact that in spite of (or rather in consequence) of theology (which unveils it) the tension between the value-spheres of “science” and the sphere of “the holy” is unbridgeable.
Max Weber— As quoted in Basit Bilal Koshu's The Postmodern Significance of Max Weber's Legacy, p. 62.
Are we to suppose that the only being in the universe who cannot answer prayer is that One who alone has all power at His command? The weak theology that professes to believe that prayer has merely a subjective benefit is infinitely less scientific than the action of the child who confidently appeals to a Father in heaven.
— John William Dawson, p. 461. (Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895))
We can no more have exact religious thinking without theology, than exact mensuration and astronomy without mathematics, or exact iron-making without chemistry,
— John Hall (Presbyterian pastor) (1895) Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers p.580.
It is on account of theology alone that any assertion whatsoever should be called catholic or heretical. For only an assertion which is consonant with theology is truly catholic, and only one which is known to be opposed to theology is known to be heretical. For if some assertion were found to be opposed to decrees of the highest pontiffs, or also of general councils or also to laws of the emperors, nevertheless, if it were not in conflict with theology, even if it could be considered false, erroneous or unjust, it should not be counted as a heresy.
— Vol. I, Book 1, Ch. 2, as translated by John Kilcullen and John Scott (2003)
You can only live for yourself: Your action is good only whilst it is alive whilst it is in you. The awkward imitation of it by your child or your disciple, is not a repetition of it, is not the same thing but another thing. The new individual must work out the whole problem of science, letters, and theology for himself, can owe his fathers nothing.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson, Journal entry May 28, 1839
The emanistic theories which played so great a part in Neoplatonic philosophy and Gnostic theology are forms of evolution .
thomas henry huxley— Thomas Henry Huxley, The Advance of Science in the Last Half-Century (1889)
God split himself into a myriad parts that he might have friends. This may not be true, but it sounds good and is no sillier than any other theology.
— Robert A. Heinlein, Aphorisms of Lazarus Long, in "Time Enough for Love" (1978 [1973]), page 216.
In the context of natural theology there is reason to believe that pantheism may fare well if compared with theism. This may be part of the reason why it has been the classic religious alternative to theism.
— Michael P. Levine, Pantheism: A Non-Theistic Concept of Deity p. 349.
To theology, ... only what it holds sacred is true, whereas to philosophy, only what holds true is sacred.
Ludwig Feuerbach— Ludwig Feuerbach, Lectures on the Essence of Religion, R. Manheim, trans. (1967), Lecture 2, p. 11
History has the relation to truth that theology has to religion i.e., none to speak of.
robert a. heinlein— Time Enough for Love. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. p. 13. ISBN 9780399111518.
One man's theology is another man's belly laugh.
robert a. heinlein— Time Enough for Love (Twelfth Printing ed.). New York: Berkeley Medallion. p. 243. ISBN 9780425024935.
That Vulcan gave arrows unto Apollo and Diana the fourth day after their Nativities, according to Gentile theology, may pass for no blind apprehension of the Creation of the Sun and Moon, in the work of the fourth day.
— Opening lines of Ch. 1
theology recognizes the contingency of human existence only to derive it from a necessary being, that is, to remove it. theology makes use of philosophical wonder only for the purpose of motivating an affirmation which ends it. Philosophy, on the other hand, arouses us to what is problematic in our own existence and in that of the world, to such a point that we shall never be cured of searching for a solution.
maurice merleau-ponty— p. 44 (In Praise of Philosophy (1963))
"Just what kind of noose are you offering to put round my neck, here? Is this treason?" "Worse," Cazaril sighed. "theology."
lois mcmaster bujold— p. 333 (Cryoburn (2010))
theology became conscious of its autonomy qua supreme science , which philosophy was emptied of its spiritual exercises, which, from now on...
— Pierre Hadot, quoted in Voices of change p.27
