Quotes about Christ
page 7

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James Hamilton photo
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Julia Ward Howe photo

“In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me:
As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.”

Julia Ward Howe (1819–1910) American abolitionist, social activist, and poet

Published version, in the Atlantic Monthly (February 1862)
In the whiteness of the lilies he was born across the sea,
With a glory in his bosom that shines out on you and me,
As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
Our God is marching on.
First manuscript version (19 November 1861).
The Battle Hymn of the Republic (1861)

Thomas Brooks photo
Richard Monckton Milnes, 1st Baron Houghton photo

“Mohammed’s truth lay in a holy Book,
Christ’s in a sacred Life.”

Richard Monckton Milnes, 1st Baron Houghton (1809–1885) British politician and poet

Mohammedanism.

John Fante photo
Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon photo
Gene Roddenberry photo
Henry Liddon photo

“The history of the Church of Christ from the days of the Apostles has been a history of spiritual movements.”

Henry Liddon (1829–1890) British theologian

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 4.

Teresa of Ávila photo
John Wesley photo

“I can by no means approve the scurrility and contempt with which the Romanists have often been treated. I dare not rail at, or despise, any man: much less those who profess to believe in the same Master. But I pity them much; having the same assurance, that Jesus is the Christ, and that no Romanist can expect to be saved, according to the terms of his covenant.”

John Wesley (1703–1791) Christian theologian

Letter to a Roman Catholic Priest, published in his Journal for 27 August 1739 http://books.google.com/books?id=TylXAAAAIAAJ&q=%22+published+in+his+Journal+for+27+August+1739%22&dq=%22+published+in+his+Journal+for+27+August+1739%22&hl=en&ei=ggg-TMSKNcL6lwfw3cj3BQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-thumbnail&resnum=1&ved=0CC8Q6wEwAA.
In, The works of the Rev. John Wesley, A. M., London, Wesleyan Conference Office, 1872, vol. 1, p. 220. http://books.google.com/books?id=Eo9KAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA220&dq=%22+I+can+by+no+means+approve+the+scurrility+and+contempt+with+which+the+Romanists%22&hl=en&ei=iwM-TOq7OcP7lwfr6Kz5BQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CDkQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=%22%20I%20can%20by%20no%20means%20approve%20the%20scurrility%20and%20contempt%20with%20which%20the%20Romanists%22&f=false http://wesley.nnu.edu/John_Wesley/letters/1739.htm
General sources

Ellen G. White photo
Count Basie photo
Marshall McLuhan photo
Bobby Fischer photo

“The Jews have been hardened against Christ, against decency for thousands of years… They're gonna have to be annihilated, Eugene.”

Bobby Fischer (1943–2008) American chess prodigy, chess player, and chess writer

Speaking to Eugene Torre, Radio Interview, May 24 1999 http://www.geocities.jp/bobbby_b/mp3/F_07_1.MP3
1990s

“Nietzsche … combines, in effect, Christ’s harsh sayings: ‘let the dead bury their dead’ and ‘narrow is the way which leadeth unto life’.”

John Carroll (1944) Australian professor and author

Source: Break-Out from the Crystal Palace (1974), p. 98

Frederick William Robertson photo

“A magnificent restoration awaits us. … Christ comes in judgment; then restoration.”

Paul P. Enns (1937) American theologian

Source: Heaven Revealed (Moody, 2011), p. 99

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Jane Roberts photo
George Santayana photo

“The idea of Christ is much older than Christianity.”

George Santayana (1863–1952) 20th-century Spanish-American philosopher associated with Pragmatism

The Idea of Christ in the Gospels (1946)
Other works

Kurien Kunnumpuram photo

“Mission of the Church is to collaborate with God in his work for the wholeness of the human person, the human community and the cosmos according to the pattern revealed in Jesus Christ.”

Kurien Kunnumpuram (1931–2018) Indian theologian

Kunnumpuram, K. (2009) Towards the Fullness of Life: Reflections on the Daily Living of the Faith. Mumbai: St Pauls
On the Church

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Robert Southey photo

“Wild dreams! but such
As Plato lov'd; such as with holy zeal
Our Milton worshipp'd. Blessed hopes! awhile
From man with-held, even to the latter days
When Christ shall come, and all things be fulfill'd.”

Robert Southey (1774–1843) British poet

For the apartment in Chepstow Castle where Henry Marten the Regicide was imprisoned thirty years.

Alexander Maclaren photo
Orson Pratt photo
Pope Benedict XVI photo

“Our Christian conviction is that Christ is also the messiah of Israel. Certainly it is in the hands of God how and when the unification of Jews and Christians into the people of God will take place.”

Pope Benedict XVI (1927) 265th Pope of the Catholic Church

God and the World, published October 2000, as reported by National Catholic Reporter
2000

Fritz von Uhde photo

“The one whom I honor most of all is Rembrandt. Rubens and Velasquez painted better than Rembrandt, but he was the greatest of all painters because he was most powerful humanly. His grasp of all things was from within out. He had something that surpassed all other painters-a great humanity. He is perhaps the only one who could have painted the Christ.”

Fritz von Uhde (1848–1911) German artist

As quoted by Gustav Stickley (1911). The Craftsman http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/DLDecArts/DLDecArts-idx?type=article&did=DLDecArts.hdv20n06.i0027&id=DLDecArts.hdv20n06&isize=text, Volume 20. United Crafts, p. 631

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Sören Kierkegaard photo

“Let us suppose that a man believes in eternal life on Christ’s word. In that case he believes without any fuss about being profound and searching and philosophical and racking his brains.”

Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism

Source: 1840s, Two Ethical-Religious Minor Essays (1849), P. 103

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Richard Wurmbrand photo
Ed Harcourt photo
Sören Kierkegaard photo
Baba Amte photo
Alexander Maclaren photo
Florence Nightingale photo

“The Church is now more like the Scribes and Pharisees than like Christ… What are now called the "essential doctrines" of the Christian religion he does not even mention.”

Florence Nightingale (1820–1910) English social reformer and statistician, and the founder of modern nursing

As quoted in The Life of Florence Nightingale (1913) by Edward Tyas Cook, p. 392

Alexander Maclaren photo
Edward Thomson photo
Julian of Norwich photo

“And in this dying was brought to my mind the words of Christ: I thirst.
For I saw in Christ a double thirst: one bodily; another spiritual…”

Julian of Norwich (1342–1416) English theologian and anchoress

The Eighth Revelation, Chapter 17

John Calvin photo

“Moreover, in order that we may be aroused and exhorted all the more to carry this out, Scripture makes known that there are not one, not two, nor a few foes, but great armies, which wage war against us. For Mary Magdalene is said to have been freed from seven demons by which she was possessed [Mark 16:9; Luke 8:2], and Christ bears witness that usually after a demon has once been cast out, if you make room for him again, he will take with him seven spirits more wicked than he and return to his empty possession [Matt. 12:43-45]. Indeed, a whole legion is said to have assailed one man [Luke 8:30]. We are therefore taught by these examples that we have to wage war against an infinite number of enemies, lest, despising their fewness, we should be too remiss to give battle, or, thinking that we are sometimes afforded some respite, we should yield to idleness.
But the frequent mention of Satan or the devil in the singular denotes the empire of wickness opposed to the Kingdom of Righteousness. For as the church and fellowship of the saints has Christ as Head, so the faction of the impious and impiety itself are depicted for us together with their prince who holds supreme sway over them. For this reason, it was said: "Depart, …you cursed, into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels"”

Matt. 25:41
“Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion” https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1611644453 Book 1, ch.14, sect. 14, edited by John T. McNeill pp.173-174.
Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536; 1559)

Charles Bukowski photo
William Makepeace Thackeray photo
Sören Kierkegaard photo
Thomas Frank photo
Christian Scriver photo

“In the school of Christ they are the best scholars who continue learning to the last.”

Christian Scriver (1629–1693) German hymnwriter

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 376.

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Paul Farmer photo
Horace Bushnell photo
A.E. Housman photo
Anne Brontë photo
George Croly photo
Frederick William Robertson photo
Jacques Ellul photo
Nat Turner photo
Thomas Jefferson photo

“Almighty God, Who has given us this good land for our heritage; We humbly beseech Thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of Thy favor and glad to do Thy will. Bless our land with honorable ministry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion, from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people, the multitude brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endow with Thy spirit of wisdom those whom in Thy name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that through obedience to Thy law, we may show forth Thy praise among the nations of the earth. In time of prosperity fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in Thee to fail; all of which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America

This is a misquotation of a prayer from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer (ministry should be industry and arrogance should be arrogancy). This was a revision from an earlier edition. The original form, written by George Lyman Locke, appeared in the 1885 edition. In 1994 William J. Federer attributed it to Jefferson in America's God and Country: Encyclopedia of Quotations, pp. 327-8. See the Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia http://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/national-prayer-peace.
Misattributed

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Helena Petrovna Blavatsky photo
Taliesin photo
James Hamilton photo

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. In its doctrinal largeness let it inhabit your convictions, and in its Divine lovingness let it be infused into your spirit, and let its lifesome energy inspire your character.”

James Hamilton (1814–1867) Scottish minister and a prolific author of religious tracts

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 90.

Jean-Henri Merle d'Aubigné photo
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Ernest Barnes photo
Robert M. Price photo

“In the case of Jesus Christ, where virtually every detail of the story fits the mythic hero archetype, with nothing left over, no "secular," biographical data, so to speak, it becomes arbitrary to assert that there must have been a historical figure lying back of the myth.”

Robert M. Price (1954) American theologian

[Price, Robert M., w:Robert M. Price, Christ a Fiction, https://infidels.org/library/modern/robert_price/fiction.html, 27 November 2016, 1997]

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Thomas Brooks photo
Jerry Falwell photo
Samuel Vince photo

“A very eminent writer has observed, that "the conversion of the Gentile world, whether we consider the difficulties attending it, the opposition made to it, the wonderful work wrought to accomplish it, or the happy effects and consequences of it, may be considered as a more illustrious evidence of God's power, than even our Saviour's miracles of casting out devils, healing the sick, and raising the dead." Indeed, a miracle said to have been wrought without any attending circumstances to justify such an exertion of divine power, could not easily be rendered credible; and our author's argument proves no more. If it were related, that about 1700 years ago, a man was raised from the dead, without its answering any other end than that of restoring him to life, Iconfess that no degree of evidence could induce me tobelieve it; but if the moral government of God appeared in that event, and there were circumstances attending it which could not be accounted for by any human means, the fact becomes credible. When two extraordinary events are thus connected, the proof of one established the truth of the other. Our author has reasoned upon the fact as standing alone, in which case it would not be easy to disprove some of his reasoning; but the fact should be considered in a moral view - as connected with the establishment of a pure religion, and it then becomes credible. In the proof of any circumstance, we must consider every principle which tends to establish it; whereas our author, by considering the case of a man said to have been raised from the dead, simpli in a physical point of view, without any reference to a moral end, endavours to show that it cannot be rendered credible; and, from such principles, we may admit his conclusions without affecting the credibility of Christianity. The general principle on which he establishes his argument, is not the great foundation upon which the evidence of Christianity rests. He says, "Notestimony can be sufficient to establish a miracle, unless it be of such a kind, that the falsehood would be more miraculous than the fact which it endavours to prove." Now this reasoning, at furthest, can only be admitted in those cases where the fact has nothing but testimony to establish it. But the proofs of Christianity do not rest simply upon the testimony of its first promulgators, and that of those who were affterwards the instruments of communicating it; but they rest principally upon the acknowledged and very extraordinary affects which were produced by the preaching of a few unlearned, obscure persons, who taught "Christ crucified;" and it is upon these indisuptable matters of ffact which we reason; and when the effects are totally unaccountable upon any principle which we can collect from the operation of human means, we must either admit miracles, or admit an effect without an adequate cause. Also, when the proof of any position depends upon arguments drawn from various sources, all concutring to establish its turh, to select some one circumstance, and atrempt to show that that alone is not sufficient to render the fact credible, and thence infer that it is not ture, is a conclusion not to be admitted. But it is thus that our author has endavoured to destroy the credibiliry of Christianity, the evidences of which depend upon a great variety of circumstances and facts which are indisputably true, all cooperating to confirm its truth; but an examination of these falls not whithin the plan here proposed. He rests all his arguments upon the extraordinary nature of the fact, considered alone by itself; for a common fact, with the same evidence, would immediately be admitted. I have endavoured to show, that the extraordinary nature, as much as the mosst common events are necessary to fulfill the usual dispensations of Providence, and therefore the Deity was then direted by the same motive as in a more ordinary case, that of affording us such assitance as our moral condition renders necessary. In the establishment of a pur religion, the proof of its divine origin may require some very extraordinary circumstances which may never afterwards be requisite, and accordingly we find that they have not happened. Here is therefore a perfect concistencty in the operation of the Deity, in his moral government, and not a violation of the laws of nature: Secondly, the fact is immediately connected with others which are indisputably true, and which, without the supossition of the truth of that fact, would be, at least, equally miraculous. Thus I conceive the reasoning of our author to be totally inconclusive; and the argumentss which have been employed to prove the fallacy of his conclusions, appear at the same time, fully to justify our belief in, and prove the moral certainty of, our holy religion.”

Samuel Vince (1749–1821) British mathematician, astronomer and physicist

Source: The Credibility of Christianity Vindicated, p. 27; As quoted in " Book review http://books.google.nl/books?id=52tAAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA262," in The British Critic, Volume 12 (1798). F. and C. Rivington. p. 262-263

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Thomas De Witt Talmage photo

“Bring the little ones to Christ. Lord Jesus, we bring them to-day, the children of our Sunday-schools, of our churches, of the streets. Here they are; they wait Thy benediction. The prayer of Jacob for his sons shall be my prayer while I live, and when I die: " The angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads."”

Thomas De Witt Talmage (1832–1902) American Presbyterian preacher, clergyman and reformer during the mid-to late 19th century.

Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 571.
Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895)

Washington Gladden photo

“The substance of all realities is in this religion of Jesus Christ; but it can be real only to those who will do His will.”

Washington Gladden (1836–1918) American pastor

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 135.

“For the future I cease, Death approaches with little delay,
Since the dragons of Laune and Lane and Lee are destroyed;
I’ll follow the heroes far from the light of day,
The princes my ancestors followed before Christ died.”

Egan O'Rahilly (1670–1726) Irish poet

Closing lines of his last known poem (c.1729)
Translated from the Irish by Owen Dudley Edwards, as quoted in Webster's New World Dictionary of Quotations (2005), p. 626

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Will Eisner photo

“Pobedonostev: Aha! You are very well recommended Golivinski. You are just what we need here! Russia’s bureaucracy and its state apparatus have been infiltrated by Jews. Believe me. I’ve been studying the Jewish threat.
As guardians of Christina Russia we must deal with them… but it will not be easy…they’re more intelligent and smarter than the average Russian. So how?? How??
Golivinski: Jews are clever but it can be done by means of their own methods… by philisophical writings, news items…and such!
Pobedonostev: Precisely!
Golivinski: For example, we could influence the readers of our Russian newspapers by planting anti-jew articles in their columns…written in the paper’s style,’’’ of course!
and we could even publish a fake newspaper that will print news about Jewish activity!
Pobedonostev: Brilliant, my boy…come, I will assign you at once to my press chief, Mikhail Soloviev!
Soloviev, I have a young assistant for you, his name Mathieu Golovinski!
Soloviev: I can use help!
I hope he’s clever. Thank you, Pobedonostev…
Now, Golovinski, to begin with…I hate jews. They are a sly race whop will creep in and destroy the purity of our Russian culture!
So, I want you to write me a piece on this subject…and make sure it makes a clear case!
Golivinski: Excuse me sir!
Soloviev:Back so soon? What is it Golovinski?
Golovinski: Here is the article you asked for
Soloviev: In only one hour? Let em read it.
Where did you get these official statistics?
Golivinski: Oh, I made them up! No one would dare to challenge them.
Soloviev: Good work! From here on you will write for our regular campaign against the new modernization!
Golvinski: Why that?
Soloviev: All liberal, capitalistic, socialistic movements are directed by jews. We must expose them.
They are the anti-christ!
Golivinski: But sir, shouldn’t we keep this political?
Soloviev: In Russia religion and politics are the same!
Our people will believe anything negative about the Jews! Go ahead boy!”

Will Eisner (1917–2005) American cartoonist

Source: The Plot: The Secret Story of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion (10/2/2005), pp. 42-48

Ramakrishna photo
Eugéne Ionesco photo

“Pray to the I don't-know-who
I hope : Jesus Christ.”

Eugéne Ionesco (1909–1994) Romanian playwright

Prier le Je Ne Sais Qui
J'espère : Jesus-Christ.
Inscription on his tombstone.
Variant translation: Pray to the I don't-know-who: Jesus Christ, I hope.
As quoted in Parasuicidality and Paradox : Breaking Through the Medical Model (2007) by Ross D. Ellenhorn, p. 55

Clive Staples Lewis photo

“Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else.”

Book IV, Chapter 4, "Good Infection"
Mere Christianity (1952)

Francis de Sales photo

“A heart-memory is better than a mere head-memory. Better to carry away a little of the love of Christ in our souls, than if we were able to repeat every word of every sermon we ever heard.”

Francis de Sales (1567–1622) French bishop, saint, writer and Doctor of the Church j

Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 373.

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