Richard Hofstadter (1916–1970) American historian
Source: Anti-Intellectualism in American Life (1974), p. 31
National Prayer Breakfast (2006)
Context: It is such an important idea, Jubilee, that Jesus begins his ministry with this. Jesus is a young man, he's met with the rabbis, impressed everyone, people are talking. The elders say, he's a clever guy, this Jesus, but he hasn't done much... yet. He hasn't spoken in public before...
When he does, his first words are from Isaiah: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me," he says, "because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor." And Jesus proclaims the year of the Lord's favour, the year of Jubilee. [Luke 4:18]
What he was really talking about was an era of grace — and we're still in it.
Richard Hofstadter (1916–1970) American historian
Source: Anti-Intellectualism in American Life (1974), p. 31
Dallas Willard (1935–2013) American philosopher
Source: The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God
Camille Paglia (1947) American writer
Source: Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson (1990), p. 89
Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986) Indian spiritual philosopher
1960s, Freedom From The Known (1969)
Context: It is important to understand from the very beginning that I am not formulating any philosophy or any theological structure of ideas or theological concepts. It seems to me that all ideologies are utterly idiotic. What is important is not a philosophy of life but to observe what is actually taking place in our daily life, inwardly and outwardly. If you observe very closely what is taking place and examine it, you will see that it is based on an intellectual conception, and the intellect is not the whole field of existence; it is a fragment, and a fragment, however cleverly put together, however ancient and traditional, is still a small part of existence whereas we have to deal with the totality of life.
“Jesus could not have imagined such an idea as Albert Einstein's theory of relativity.”
John Shelby Spong (1931) American bishop
Source: Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism (1991), p. 25
Bart D. Ehrman book Did Jesus Exist?
Source: Did Jesus Exist? (2012), Ch. 4: 'Evidence for Jesus from Outside the Gospels'