“Christianity claims that the supernatural is as reasonable as the natural, that man himself is supernatural as truly as he is natural, and that the Bible is so clearly the word of God by proofs that are unanswerable, that it is unreasonable to disbelieve its divine truths.”
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 35.
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Abbott Eliot Kittredge 24
American minister 1834–1912Related quotes
Rome, or Reason? A Reply to Cardinal Manning. Part I. The North American Review (1888)
Context: It is probably safe to say that at one time, or during one phase of the development of man, everything was miraculous. After a time, the mind slowly developing, certain phenomena, always happening under like conditions, were called “natural,” and none suspected any special interference. The domain of the miraculous grew less and less—the domain of the natural larger; that is to say, the common became the natural, but the uncommon was still regarded as the miraculous. The rising and setting of the sun ceased to excite the wonder of mankind—there was no miracle about that; but an eclipse of the sun was miraculous. Men did not then know that eclipses are periodical, that they happen with the same certainty that the sun rises. It took many observations through many generations to arrive at this conclusion. Ordinary rains became “natural,” floods remained “miraculous.” But it can all be summed up in this: The average man regards the common as natural, the uncommon as supernatural. The educated man—and by that I mean the developed man—is satisfied that all phenomena are natural, and that the supernatural does not and can not exist.
Source: Reflections and Maxims (1746), p. 184.
“The supernatural is the natural not yet understood.”
“The human being, by his nature, is condemned to the supernatural.”
[2003, Survey of Metaphysics and Esoterism, World Wisdom, 141, 978-0-94153227-3]
Human being, Specificities
“Authentic Christianity is a supernatural walk with a living, dynamic, communicating God.”
Too Busy Not to Pray (2008, InterVarsity Press)
Bill Nye, " Bill Nye Debates Ken Ham (video - 165:32) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6kgvhG3AkI&hd=1", YouTube, (February 4, 2014)
"Bill Nye Debates Ken Ham" (February 4, 2014)
Letter to Alexander Pope; compare: "Slave to no sect, who takes no private road, But looks through Nature up to Nature’s God", Alexander Pope, Essay on Man, epistle iv. line 331.
“One man’s “magic” is another man’s engineering. “Supernatural” is a null word.”
Source: Accepting the Universe (1920), p.261