Thursday, December 20, 2012

Hawthorne on Theological Books


No poetry from me this week due to a ton of overtime work. But here's a nice quote from Hawthorne's "The Old Manse":

So long as an unlettered soul can attain to saving grace, there would seem to be no deadly error in holding theological libraries to be accumulations of, for the most part, stupendous impertinence.

I agree. Even though I own a pretty sizable theological library.


4 comments:

  1. "Doctor of the Church", Thomas Aquinas who wrote the definitive "Summa Theologica", had similar thoughts to Hawthorne (albeit a bit earlier and less eloquent) when in his later years he said, "I can write no more. I have seen things that make my writings like straw."

    He died 3 months later and unfortunately, his insight came too late -- for he had written earlier that heretics should be put to death. See my Poem: Winter Chills (when insights come too late). :-)

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  2. Yes, I know that quote from Aquinas, another good one. We all make mistakes--hopefully none of mine result in the capital punishment of heretics. Some of my best friends are heretics! (I remember that poem from a few weeks ago, nicely done.)

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  3. Yeah, your Christianity sounds very different from his. He would have been a better person had he play bass guitar in a band for a few years.

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    1. I can picture him dressed up like Gene Simmons, tongue out, thumping his bass. Yeah, that might have done him some good.

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