Theologian Quotes - Page 17

• Our problem was that in the American approach to Soviet affairs policy has oscillated between people who take an essentially psychological approach and people who take an essentially theological approach, and the two really meet. The psychologists try to "understand" the Soviet Union. And try to ease its alleged fears. The theologians say the Soviets are evil.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Two, People, Evil

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• There is an old, old story about a theologian who was asked to reconcile the Doctrine of Divine Mercy with the doctrine of infant damnation. 'The Almighty,' he explained, 'finds it necessary to do things in His official and public capacity which in His private and personal capacity He deplores.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Religion, Damnation, Doctrine

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• His (the theologian) basic instinct of self preservation forbids him to respect reality at any point or even to let it get a word in.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Reality, Self, Instinct

  Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1993). “Nietzsche Selections”, Prentice Hall

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• Science and vivisection make no appeal to a theological idea, much less a political one. You can argue with a theologian or a politician, but doctors are sacrosanct. They know; you do not. Science has its mystique much more powerful than any religion active today.

  Brenda Ueland

  Powerful, Science, Animal

  Brenda Ueland (1993). “Strength to Your Sword Arm: Selected Writings”, Holy Cow Press

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• Laughing has always been considered by theologians as a crime.

  Robert Green Ingersoll

  Laughter, Laughing, Crime

  Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.2352, Library of Alexandria

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• To a thrifty theologian, bent on redemption with economy, there are few points of ethics too fine-spun for splitting.

  Ellen Glasgow

  Redemption, Ethics, Economy

  Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow (1938). “Works”

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• My job as a pastor and theologian is to tease out the nature and the necessity of the gospel in meticulous ways, in everything I say, in everything I like. I want desperately for the church in America to rediscover the power and the beauty and the nature and the necessity of the gospel.

  Tullian Tchividjian

  Jobs, America, Church

  Source: www.christianpost.com

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• Of course, Jastrow's comment is exaggerated at best; theologians hardly predicted the Big Bang. If our universe turns out to be closed, hence with an end, this does not mean apocalyptic visions of the end of the world were on target. And even if a beginning for the universe is a successful prediction of one version of theism, this is still not that impressive. After all, even a stopped clock is right twice a day. The Big Bang becomes strong support for God only with an argument showing that such a beginning requires a Creator.

  Taner Edis

  Strong, Mean, Successful

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• Theology is never any help; it is searching in a dark cellar at midnight for a black cat that isn't there. Theologians can persuade themselves of anything.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Atheist, Cat, Dark

  Robert A. Heinlein (1985). “Job, a Comedy of Justice”, Del Rey

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• I think gardening is nearer to godliness than theology. True gardeners are both iconographers and theologians insofar as these activities are the fruit of prayer 'without ceasing.' Likewise, true gardeners never cease to garden, not even in their sleep, because gardening is not just something they do. It is how they live.

  Vigen Guroian

  Prayer, Sleep, Garden

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• I am for liberty of conscience in its noblest, broadest, and highest sense. But I cannot give liberty of conscience to the pope and his followers, the papists, so long as they tell me, through all their councils, theologians, and canon laws that their conscience orders them to burn my wife, strangle my children, and cut my throat when they find their opportunity.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Children, Cutting, Opportunity

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• The experienced pastor will recognize to which situation humor belongs and to which belongs sobriety.

  Thomas Oden

  Sobriety, Pastor, Situation

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• Laughter has been implanted in our soul, that the soul may sometime be refreshed.

  Saint John Chrysostom

  Laughter, Soul, May

  Saint John Chrysostom, Aeterna Press “Homilies of Saint John Chrysostom: On The Epistle to the Hebrews”, Aeterna Press

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• Humor, together with irony,forms a safeguard against idolatry.

  Krister Stendahl

  Together, Irony, Form

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• For the Lord hath in no place forbidden mirth.

  Heinrich Bullinger

  Mirth, Lord, Forbidden

  Heinrich Bullinger, Harding (1850). “The Decades of H. Bullinger ..”, p.55

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• It is much easier to write a good Times leading article than a good joke in Punch.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Writing, Good Times, Easier

  Gilbert K. Chesterton (2013). “The Essential Gilbert K. Chesterton”, p.91, Simon and Schuster

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• What is so funny about us is precisely that we take ourselves too seriously. Laughter is the same and healthy response to the innocent foibles of men; and even to some which are not innocent.

  Reinhold Niebuhr

  Laughter, Men, Healthy

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• Wherever she was, holy laughter was present to heal and redeem.

  Madeleine L'Engle

  Laughter, Holy, Heal

  Madeleine L'Engle (2016). “Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art”, p.57, Convergent Books

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• A church is in a bad way when it banishes laughter from the sanctuary and leaves it to the cabaret, the nightclub and the toastmasters.

  Helmut Thielicke

  Laughter, Church, Sanctuary

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• The only time laughter is wicked is when it is turned against Him Who gave it.

  Fulton J. Sheen

  Laughter, Wicked, Only Time

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• Humor is proof that everything is going to be all right with God nevertheless.

  Charles M. Schulz

  Still Life With Woodpecker, Proof, Nevertheless

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• It is possible to live for the next life and still be merry in this.

  Thomas More

  Next, Stills, Merry

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• Humor is the foundation of reconciliation.

  Saint Francis de Sales

  Foundation, Reconciliation

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• We are nowhere forbidden to laugh, or be satisfied with food...or to be delighted with music or to drink wine.

  John Calvin

  Wine, Laughing, Drink

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• A good joke is the closest thing we have to divine revelation.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Divine Revelation, Revelations, Jokes

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