Theology - christiansquoting.org.uk

All my theology is reduced to this narrow compass-- Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.--Archibald Alexander (1772-1851)

In the Church of Jesus Christ there can and should be no non-theologians -- Karl Barth

The theologian who has no joy in his work is not a theologian at all. Sulky faces, morose thoughts and boring ways of speaking are intolerable in this science. --Karl Barth (1886-1968) (Quoted in his obituary, _New York Times_ [December 11, 1968])

Theology is but our ideas of truth classified and arranged.-- Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) In "Correct Quotes for DOS," WordStar International, 1991.

Wherefore all theology, when separated from Christ, is not only vain and confused, but is also mad, deceitful, and spurious; for, though the philosophers sometimes utter excellent sayings, yet they have nothing but what is short-lived, and even mixed up with wicked and erroneous sentiments. JOHN CALVIN

A man may be theologically knowing and spiritually ignorant. - STEPHEN CHARNOCK

Dogma does not mean the absence of thought, but the end of thought. -- G KChesterton

What the denouncer of dogma really means is not that dogma is bad; but rather that dogma is too good to be true.G K Chesterton, _The Everlasting Man_

In truth, there are only two kinds of people; those who accept dogma and know it, and those who accept dogma and don't know it. G K Chesterton

It is indeed a fathomless mystery of theology, and even if I were theologian enough to deal with it directly, it would not be relevant to do so here. Suffice it to say here that this triple enigma is as comforting as wine and open as an English fireside; that this thing that bewilders the intellect utterly quiets the heart: but out of the desert, from the dry places and, the dreadful suns, come the cruel children of the lonely God; the real Unitarians who with scimitar in hand have laid waste the world. For it is not well for God to be alone. --G. K. Chesterton,_Orthodoxy_ ch. 8 (1908)

Doctrine is the framework of life - the skeleton of truth, to be clothed and rounded out by the living grace of a holy life. ~ Adoniram J. Gordon

One man's theology is another man's belly laugh.-- Robert Heinlein

Theology, not morality, is the first business on the church's agenda of reform, and the church, not society, is the first target of divine criticism.
Michael Scott Horton, Beyond Culture Wars

The [Christian] "doctrines" are translations into our concepts and ideas of that which God has already expressed inlanguage more adequate, namely the actual incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection.... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), letter

What makes some theological works like sawdust to me is the way the authors can go on discussing how far certain positions are adjustable to contemporary thought, or beneficial in relation to social problems, or "have a future" before them, but never squarely ask what grounds we have for supposing them to be true accounts of any objective reality. As if we were trying to make rather than to learn. Have we no Other to reckon with?... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963)

Insofar as theology is an attempt to define and clarify intellectual positions, it is apt to lead to discussion, to differences of opinion, even to controversy, and hence to be divisive. And this has had a strong tendency to dampen serious discussion of theological issues in most groups, and hence to strengthen the general anti-intellectual bias inherent in much of revivalistic Pietism... "Fundamentalism" in America, among other things, was a movement that tried to recall these denominations to theological and confessional self consciousness. But it was defeated in every major denomination, not so much by theological discussion and debate as by effective political manipulations directed by denominational leaders to the sterilizing of this "divisive" element. ... Sidney E. Mead in Church History [1954]

How charming is divine philosophy!
Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose,
But musical as is Apollo's lute,
And a perpetual feast of nectar'd sweets
Where no crude surfeit reigns.
--John Milton (1608-1674) _Comuso_ [1634], Line 476

Dogma has been the fundamental principle of my religion. . . . Religion, as mere sentiment, is to me a mockery. -- Cardinal Newman

The foundation of true holiness and true Christian worship is the doctrine of the gospel, what we are to believe. So when Christian doctrine is neglected, forsaken, or corrupted, true holiness and worship will also be neglected, forsaken, and corrupted. John Owen (1616-1683)

Berkoff writes to give ides about God but Calvin writes to give knowledge of God.-- J Packer

Live to explain thy doctrine by thy life.~Matthew Prior: Dr Sherlock

It is worse than useless for Christians to talk about the importance of Christian morality unless they are prepared to take their stand upon the fundamentals of Christian theology. -- Dorothy Sayers

Doctrinal rightness and rightness of ecclesiastical position are important, but only as a starting point to go on into a living relationship -- and not as ends in themselves. -- Francis Schaeffer

It is not for a moment that we can begin to get anywhere until the right doctrines are taught. But the right doctrines mentally assented to are not an end in themselves, but should only be the vestibule to a personal and loving communion with God. -- Francis A. Schaeffer, Letters Of Francis Schaeffer

To say we want no dogmas in religion is to assert a dogma.--Fulton J. Sheen, _Religion Without God_, 1928

From time immemorial men have quenched their thirst with water without knowing anything about its chemical constituents. In like manner we do not need to be instructed in all the mysteries of doctrine, but we do need to receive the Living Water which Jesus Christ will give us and which alone can satisfy our souls. - Sadhu Sundar Singh (1889-1929)

Our anthropology is intimately bound up with our theology. If God is dead, man is too. If we are not accountable, then we do not count. R. C. SPROUL

Christian communities that maintain their doctrinal identity and moral boundaries flourish in the modern world; Christian communities that fudge doctrine and morals decay. Contrary to much popular wisdom, the Christian movement is flourishing throughout the world. And in all instances, without exception, it is the Christian communities that eschew Lite approaches to doctrine and morals that are growing. ---- George Weigel, _The Courage to be Catholic_, 2002

The devil is a better theologian than any of us and is a devil still.--Aiden Wilson Tozer (1897-1963)_Man, the Dwelling Place of God_