“Among all the imagery of these three door-ways, there is no hint of fear, punishment or damnation, and this is the note of the whole time. Before 1200, the Church seems not to have felt the need of appealing habitually to terror; the promise of hope and happiness was enough.”

—  Henry Adams

Mont Saint Michel and Chartres (1904)
Context: First comes the central door-way, and above it is the glory of Christ, as the church at Chartres understood Christ in the year 1150; for the glories of Christ were many, and the Chartres Christ is one. Whatever Christ may have been at other churches, here, on this portal, he offers himself to his flock as the herald of salvation alone. Among all the imagery of these three door-ways, there is no hint of fear, punishment or damnation, and this is the note of the whole time. Before 1200, the Church seems not to have felt the need of appealing habitually to terror; the promise of hope and happiness was enough.

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 "Among all the imagery of these three door-ways, there is no hint of fear, punishment or damnation, and this is the note…" by Henry Adams?
Henry Adams photo
Henry Adams 311
journalist, historian, academic, novelist 1838–1918

Related quotes

W.E.B. Du Bois photo

“The theology of the average colored church is basing itself far too much upon 'Hell and Damnation'—upon an attempt to scare people into being decent and threatening them with the terrors of death and punishment..

[]”

W.E.B. Du Bois (1868–1963) American sociologist, historian, activist and writer

Source: Writings: The Suppression of the African Slave-Trade / The Souls of Black Folk / Dusk of Dawn / Essays

Mitch Albom photo

“She felt worthless and hollow. There was no hope of fixing this.
And when hope is gone, time is punishment.”

Mitch Albom (1958) American author

Source: The Time Keeper

Haruki Murakami photo
William Blake photo

“Terror in the house does roar,
But Pity stands before the door.”

William Blake (1757–1827) English Romantic poet and artist

Terror in the House
1800s, Poems from Blake's Notebook (c. 1804)

Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar photo
Robert Frost photo

“How many times it thundered before Franklin took the hint! How many apples fell on Newton's head before he took the hint! Nature is always hinting at us. It hints over and over again. And suddenly we take the hint.”

Robert Frost (1874–1963) American poet

Lives of the Poets : The Story of One Thousand Years of English and American Poetry (1959) by Louis Untermeyer
1950s

Bram Stoker photo
Jonathan Edwards photo

Related topics