“The absurd and legendary devil is the enigma of the Church.”

—  L. Frank Baum

The Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer (18 October 1890)
The Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer (1890 and 1891)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The absurd and legendary devil is the enigma of the Church." by L. Frank Baum?
L. Frank Baum photo
L. Frank Baum 108
Children's writer, editor, journalist, screenwriter 1856–1919

Related quotes

Martin Luther photo

“For where God built a church, there the Devil would also build a chapel…Thus is the Devil ever God's ape.”

Martin Luther book Table Talk

67. Compare "Where God hath a temple, the Devil will have a chapel", Robert Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy, part III, section 4, member 1, subsection 1
Table Talk (1569)

John Steinbeck photo

“It would be absurd if we did not understand both angels and devils, since we invented them.”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Source: East of Eden

John D. Barrow photo

“It is enigma enough that the world is described by mathematics; but by simple mathematics, of the sort that a few years energetic study now produces familiarity with, this is an enigma within an enigma.”

John D. Barrow (1952–2020) British scientist

New Theories of Everything (2007)
Context: Scanning the past millennia of human achievement reveals just how much has been achieved during the last three hundred years since Newton set in motion the effective mathematization of Nature. We found that the world is curiously adapted to a simple mathematical description. It is enigma enough that the world is described by mathematics; but by simple mathematics, of the sort that a few years energetic study now produces familiarity with, this is an enigma within an enigma.<!--Ch. 1, p. 2

Robert G. Ingersoll photo

“Take from the church the miraculous, the supernatural, the incomprehensible, the unreasonable, the impossible, the unknowable, the absurd, and nothing but a vacuum remains.”

Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer

Source: The Ghosts and Other Lectures

Robert G. Ingersoll photo

“The church must not abandon its belief in devils. Orthodoxy cannot afford to put out the fires of hell.”

Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer

Orthodoxy (1884)
Context: The church must not abandon its belief in devils. Orthodoxy cannot afford to put out the fires of hell. Throw away a belief in the devil, and most of the miracles of the New Testament become impossible, even if we admit the supernatural. If there is no devil, who was the original tempter in the garden of Eden? If there is no hell, from what are we saved; to what purpose is the atonement? Upon the obverse of the Christian shield is God, upon the reverse, the devil. No devil, no hell. No hell, no atonement. No atonement, no preaching, no gospel.

Patti Smith photo

“Later he would say that the Church led him to God, and LSD led him to universe. He also said that art led him to the devil, and sex kept him with the devil.”

Patti Smith Just Kids

Source: Just Kids

“The legendary missionary journey of St. Paul, which led to the foundation of the British church, presupposes the existence of a Jewish community - always the initial object of his propaganda - even before the capture of Jerusalem by Titus in the year 70.”

Cecil Roth (1899–1970) British historian

Source: A History of the Jews in England (3rd ed. 1964), p. 1

Tim Powers photo

“The church has become a more…exclusive club since the founder’s day, it’s clear. No doubt the Devil is more hospitable.”

Tim Powers book The Stress of Her Regard

Source: The Stress of Her Regard (1989), Chapter 10 (p. 129)

Alain photo

“Man himself is an enigma in motion”

Alain (1868–1951) French philosopher

Introduction
The Gods (1934)
Context: Man himself is an enigma in motion; his questions never stay asked; whereas the mold, the footprint, and by natural extension, the statue itself, like the vaults, the arches, the temples with which man records his own passing, remain immobile and fix a moment of man’s life, upon which one might endlessly meditate.

Umberto Eco photo

“I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth.”

Umberto Eco book Foucault's Pendulum

Source: Foucault's Pendulum

Related topics