October 2011
32 posts
1 tag
“It is only by going some distance into a single problem of knowledge that we are...”
– W. H. Auden, reviewing Adler’s How to Read a Book. (via garbandier)
“‘I too have been for some time greatly dissatisfied with the...”
– George MacDonald (p 263 in William Raeper’s Biography on the life of GM. From a letter GM wrote to his cousin James at ‘The Farm’ in 1893) Via Craig Castleman.
Politics has an important place, but it is not salvation, even in the corporate sense.
“[T]he message of the early Christians, which lies at the heart of the notion of...”
– N.T. Wright, “The Great Story” (via pejohnston)
1 tag
The fire of roses
The purification of Curdie’s hands in the fire of roses, which gives him such powers of discernment and knowledge, is a difficult scene to illustrate, though this version is pretty evocative.
Curdie dared not stop to think. It was much too terrible to think about. He rushed to the fire, and thrust both of his hands right into the middle of the heap of flaming roses, and his arms...
2 tags
“Doubts are the messengers of the Living One to rouse the honest. They are the...”
– Unspoken Sermons by George MacDonald: The Voice of Job
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“Like all art, poems are only hints and guesses that draw our attention to...”
– Luci Shaw
via @Image_Journal
“God is the Mystery-without-Secrets.”
– Ben Myers, Faith and Theology: Doodlings again…
2 tags
“When Calvin says, “The only true knowledge of God is born of obedience,” he’s...”
– Marilynne Robinson: Prevenient courage | Faith & Leadership
I like the Calvin quote, which is oddly reminiscent of George MacDonald. I don’t understand Robinson’s gloss on it, which might be an indicator of why “mainline” Protestantism is in trouble.
What she holds out in the...
2 tags
“For Bohr, physics was not about finding out what nature is, but about what can...”
– Book Review - Quantum - By Manjit Kumar - NYTimes.com (via ayjay)
4 tags
“Mine was not an Enlightened mind, I now was aware: it was a Gothic mind,...”
– Russell Kirk, Confessions of a Bohemian Tory (New York: Fleet, 1963), 23.
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“We no longer dare to believe in beauty and we make of it a mere appearance in...”
– Hans Urs Von Balthasar, The Glory of the Lord: A Theological Aesthetics
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“When you talk to someone, above all refrain from upsetting him by...”
– Theophan the Recluse (1815-1894) as found in The Art of Prayer: an Orthodox Anthology edited by Igumen Charition of Valamo
“Some profound truths simply cannot be expressed in words of one syllable.”
– Russell Kirk, The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Conservatism
“The Shakespearean worldview: credulity about everything tempered by skepticism...”
– Robertson Davies, Murther and Walking Spirits
2 tags
“Anyhow, it isn’t what happens to you that really counts: it’s what you are able...”
– Robertson Davies, A Mixture of Frailties; speaker is Sir Benedict.
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“At the present time we witness everywhere the following paradoxical situation....”
– Lesslie Newbigin, Honest Religion for Secular Man (1966 ed) pp25-26 (via newbigin)
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“From where you currently read, look around. How many systems are
supporting and...”
– Bobulate: Counting therbligs
“C.S. Lewis once observed that while many people use art, only a very few receive...”
– David Dark, The Sacredness of Questioning Everything, a book I wish I could buy in bulk and hand out to everybody I know, I love it so much. (via jeffreyoverstreet)
“For Jesus “feast” was not just a “metaphor” for the kingdom. As Jesus announced...”
– Peter Leithart (via germerian)
“He who says there is no such thing as an honest man, you may be sure is himself...”
– George Berkeley
“The only way for a Christian to be loyal to his central commitment is to be as...”
– Elton Trueblood (1900-1994), The Future of the Christian, Harper & Row, 1971, p. 9, via CQOD
2 tags
“If we Christians have the truth, and that truth is beautiful – more beautiful...”
– Truth and Beauty: A Conversation with N.D. Wilson : Kingdom People
“Meaning is the bread on which man, in the intrinsically human part of his being,...”
– Joseph Ratzinger, Introduction to Christianity (via invicemsunt)
1 tag
“If there is to be a true universal history, it will be written on the basis of a...”
– Lesslie Newbigin, Honest Religion for Secular Man (1966 ed) p21 (via newbigin)
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“Placing work in context is one of publishers’ primary tasks.”
– James Bridle, The New Value of Text | booktwo.org
Just read the whole article.
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“We’ve been trying for decades, since the advent of hypertext fiction, of...”
– James, Bridle, The New Value of Text | booktwo.org
“The only really effective apologia for Christianity comes down to two arguments,...”
– Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (1985)
“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.”
– Samuel Beckett, cited by Jonah Lehrer, Why Do Some People Learn Faster? | Wired Science | Wired.com
1 tag
“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”
– Anaïs Nin (via rulesformyunbornson)
4 tags
“The fact is that in order not to be scandalized, one has to have a whole view of...”
– Flannery O’Connor (via dailyflanneryoc)
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“Trying to learn to use words, and every attempt
Is a wholly new start, and a...”
– T. S. Eliot, Four Quartets, “East Coker” ll. 171-189 (via bluedollar)
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“Perhaps her greatest strength was that she never overstepped the limits of her...”
– P. D. James on Agatha Christie in Talking About Detective Fiction
This strikes me as high praise. Many people of great ability do not know or respect their limits. It’s not possible to push your limits if you don’t know what they are. 