BIBLE
In the Old Testament the New lies hidden, in the New Testament the Old is laid open. [St.
Augustine of Hippo]
The word of God is in the Bible as the soul is in the body. [P.T. Forsyth]
What you bring away from the Bible depends to some extent on what you carry to it. [Oliver
Wendell Holmes]
Men do not reject the Bible because it contradicts itself but because it contradicts them. [E. Paul
Hovey]
The Bible was written for a man with a head upon his shoulders. [Martin Luther]
We must not only pause to reflect upon passages from the Bible, but upon 'slices of life' too,
relating them together, and to the will of the Risen Christ for us. [Michel Quoist]
I believe it is only when we come to the Bible with burning questions from our own experience
that Jesus can truly speak to us. We have to be asking questions before we can hear Jesus'
answers. ... At the same time, we need to understand Jesus in the context of his own culture.
Only in this way can we hear the answers Jesus really gave, rather than the answers we would
like him to give. [Clair Woodbury]
SCRIPTURE
As in Paradise, God walks in the Holy Scriptures, seeking man. [St. Ambrose]
Divine Scripture is the feast of wisdom, and the single books are the various dishes. [St.
Ambrose]
The whole series of the divine Scriptures is interpreted in a fourfold way. In all holy books one
should ascertain what everlasting truths are therein intimated, what deeds are narrated, what
future events are foretold, and what commands or counsels are there contained. [The Venerable
Bede]
It is a great thing, this reading of the Scriptures! For it is not possible ever to exhaust the mind of
the Scriptures. It is a well that has no bottom. [St. John Chrysostom]
Explain the Scriptures by the Scriptures. [St Clement of Alexandria]
If the Scriptures be the fat pastures of the soul; therein is no venomous meat, no unwholesome
thing; they be the very dainty and pure feeding. [Thomas Cranmer]
These writings bring back to you the living image of that most holy mind, the very Christ
himself speaking, healing, dying, rising, in fact so entirely present, that you would see less of
him if you beheld him with your eyes. [Desiderius Erasmus]
Holy Scripture is a stream of running water, where alike the elephant may swim, and the lamb
walk without losing its feet. [Pope St Gregory]
To be ignorant of the Scripture is not to know Christ. [St. Jerome]
Every Christian must refer 'always and everywhere' to the Scriptures for all his choices,
becoming 'like a child' before it, seeking in it the most effective remedy against all his various
weaknesses, and not daring to take a step without being illuminated by the divine rays of these
words. [Pope John Paul II]
The way to understand the Scriptures and all theology is to become holy. It is to be under the
authority of the Spirit. [Martyn Lloyd-Jones]
God the Father is the giver of Holy Scripture; God the Son is the theme of Holy Scriptures; and
God the Spirit is the author, authenticator, and interpreter, of Holy Scripture. [J.I. Packer]
Scripture is full of Christ. From Genesis to Revelation everything breathes of Him, not every
letter of every sentence, but the spirit of every chapter. [Frederick W. Robertson]
Most people are bothered by those passages in Scripture which they cannot understand; but as
for me, I always noticed that the passages in Scripture which trouble me most are those that I do
understand. [Mark Twain]
SCIENCE OR METHODS
There is one thing even more vital to science than intelligent methods; and that is, the sincere
desire to find out the truth, whatever it may be. [Charles Sanders Peirce]
Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind. [Albert Einstein]
Methodology without theology is lame, it gets you nowhere; theology without methodology is
blind, you move but could end up in a ditch. [Munachi Ezeogu]
SALVATION
The terms for 'salvation' in many languages are derived from roots like salvus, saos, whole, heil,
which all designate health, the opposite of disintegration and disruption. Salvation is healing in
the ultimate sense; it is final cosmic and individual healing. [Paul Tillich]
LOGIC
One truth does not displace another. Even apparently contradictory truths do not displace one
another. Logic is far too coarse to make the subtle distinctions life demands. [D.H. Lawrence]
In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat: but in the evolution of real knowledge it
marks the first step in progress towards a victory. [Alfred North Whitehead]
JESUS CHRIST
Had the doctrines of Jesus been preached always as pure as they came from his lips, the whole
civilized world would now have been Christian. [Thomas Jefferson]
In his life Christ is an example, showing us how to live; in his death he is a sacrifice, satisfying for our sins; in his resurrection, a conqueror; in his ascension, a king; in his intercession, a high priest. [Martin Luther]
