#eol

In the tenth century BC, the priests of India devised the Brahmodya competition, which would become a model of authentic theological discourse. The object was to find a verbal formula to define the Brahman, the ultimate and inexpressible reality beyond human understanding. The idea was to push language as far as it would go, until participants became aware of the ineffable. The challenger, drawing on his immense erudition, began the process by asking an enigmatic question and his opponents had to reply in a way that was apt but equally inscrutable. The winner was the contestant who reduced the others to silence. In that moment of silence, the Brahman was present - not in the ingenious verbal declarations but in the stunning realisation of the impotence of speech. Nearly all religious traditions have devised their own versions of this exercise. It was not a frustrating experience; the finale can, perhaps, be compared to the moment at the end of the symphony, when there is a full and pregnant beat of silence in the concert hall before the applause begins. The aim of good theology is to help the audience to live for a while in that silence. ↗

— Karen Armstrong

#religion #theology #equality

Matthew 10:34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. ↗

— Anonymous

#christianity #faith #theology #faith

Of Course God does not consider you hopeless. If He did, He would not be moving you to seek Him (and He obviously is)... Continue seeking Him with seriousness. Unless He wanted you, you would not be wanting Him. ↗

— C.S. Lewis

#christ #christianity #faith #god #hope

All religions are based on obsolete terminology. ↗

— Vladimir Nabokov

#philosophy #philosophy-of-religion #religion #theology #translation

Whenever people are certain they understand our peculiar situation here on this planet, it is because they have accepted a religious Faith or a secular Ideology (Ideologies are the modern form of Faiths) and just stopped thinking. ↗

— Robert Anton Wilson

#people #religion #self-consciousness #faith

Hold material goods and wealth on a flat palm and not in a clenched fist. ↗

— Alistair Begg

#christianity #materialism #theology #wealth #faith

Sacraments are like hoses. They are the channels of the living water of God's grace. Our faith is like opening the faucet. We can open it a lot, a little, or not at all. ↗

— Peter Kreeft

#christianity #faith #god #god-s-grace #grace

Fundamentalism's strident denunciation of its opponents is a sign of its weakness, its dogmatic authoritarianism is a pathological mutation of faith. ↗

— Alan Aldridge

#religion #theology #faith

It would be unjust toward children to introduce them to Christian teaching and existence only as little pagans and catechumens, in order to leave it up to them to choose the Faith on their own responsibility at a point in time difficult to determine. ↗

— Hans Urs von Balthasar

#catholicism #christianity #faith #infant-baptism #theology

Theology starts with a crisis, the very crisis of reality itself. The crisis is the fact that you live, that you have a life to live. … The crisis is the very mystery of our existence and the yearning for there to be some kind of meaning to it. ↗

— Andrew Root

#faith #theology #faith