Here is a great quote by Kierkegaard that I came across in Shane Claiborne's book Irresistible Revolution. My wife and I are leading a team of 9 students to the Philippines for 3 weeks this July and we are reading this book and discussing it as a team (let me know if you would like to get involved by donating to the team). I thought it would be a great quote to share with you all.
The Matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we as Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church's prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament."
1 comment:
That Kierkegaard sure knew how to hit the nail on the head. Here's another of his quotes that's a favorite of mine (this is from memory, not word for word): "Contradiction indicates that a task for understanding remains."
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