Bunn - 444 Surprising Quotes About the Bible - A Treasury of Inspiring Thoughts and Classic Quotations

Bloomington, MN: Bethany House Publishers, 2005. – 192 p.

ISBN 978-1-4412-6287-5

 

The Bible is often called the “Book of books” due to its unique standing in history, religion, and literature. It is also, quite literally, a Book of books in that it encompasses sixty-six distinct works written by scores of authors over a span of centuries. The Bible contains remarkable examples of prose and poetry, of oratories and admonitions, of songs and celebrations, of narratives and genealogies, of insights and instructions, of prophesies and parables and prayers. Indeed, the Bible can be seen as an entire library rather than just a single book—a library that is both ancient and yet continually new.

 

My first serious engagement with Scripture began some dozen years ago while studying theology at Oxford University. I quickly felt overwhelmed by the complexity of the Bible and the breadth of biblical scholarship. But the transforming power of the Word of God, as expressed by various writers over the ages, made a deep impression on me. I started to collect some of these observations in a file that I labeled Words on the Word.

 

My Words on the Word file prompted me to reflect on dimensions of Scripture that go beyond the printed page. The Word can be understood as Christ—the expression of God—the eternal Logos instilling order in the universe. In another sense, the Word is also our appropriation of that truth by making it our own here and now. The file gradually became filled with clippings and scribblings and excerpts about the Word of God—quotations that tended to uplift, challenge, inspire, amuse, comfort, instruct, or otherwise provoke a reaction.

 

With time this file began to take shape as a book, expanding to cover a diverse range of themes and materials. And the publishers gave it a zingy title. From these origins, it is clear that my selection process has been more random than systematic. I did not set out to compile a volume on the most important thoughts of the most important people. Often a quote presents an especially well-turned phrase. Some crystallize a complex idea or hold a singular beauty of expression. Some are notable due to their history. Others are significant due to their source. I have included dates and designations, as indeed, it does matter whether the attribution is to a medieval mystic or a modern-day movie mogul.

 

All of us have experienced that slight “catching” to our breath upon beholding an especially splendid sight. This perhaps best explains my selection criteria: which ideas have caught my mind or heart or soul? My hope is that this “treasury of inspiring thoughts and classic quotations” about the Bible imparts the same feeling in the reader. And that it invites us to delve again into the Book of books, fathoming our own response.

 

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BIBLE. SHAPE CIVILIZATIONS

Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

 

MATTHEW 28:18–20

 

THE GREAT COMMISSION

 

England has two books, the Bible and Shakespeare. England made Shakespeare, but the Bible made England.

 

VICTOR HUGO (1802–1885)

 

FRENCH POET AND NOVELIST

 

This Bible is for the Government of the People, by the People, and for the People.

 

JOHN WYCLIFFE (1320–1384)

 

ENGLISH REFORMER AND BIBLE TRANSLATOR

 

For nearly four hundred years, and throughout several revisions of its English form, the King James Bible has been deeply revered among the English-speaking peoples of the world. The precision of translation for which it is historically renowned, and its majesty of style, have enabled that monumental version of the Word of God to become the mainspring of the religion, language, and legal foundations of our civilization.

 

MY UTMOST DEVOTIONAL BIBLE PREFACE, 1992

 

We present you with this Book, the most valuable thing that this world affords. Here is wisdom; this is the Royal Law; these are the lively Oracles of God.

 

CORONATION SERVICE FOR THE NEW BRITISH MONARCH PRESENTATION OF THE HOLY BIBLE, 1689

 

We have a social gospel. We need a systematic theology large enough to match it and vital enough to back it.

 

WALTER RAUSCHENBUSCH (1861–1918)

 

AMERICAN PACIFIST

 

The Lord has more light and truth yet to break forth out of his holy word.

 

JOHN ROBINSON (1576–1625)

 

ENGLISH PASTOR

 

(ADDRESS TO THE DEPARTING PILGRIMS, 1620)

 

It is the best gift God has given to men. All the good Savior gave to the world was communicated through this book. But for it we could not know right from wrong. All things desirable for man’s welfare, here and hereafter, are to be found portrayed in it.

 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN (1809–1865)

 

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

 

(REPLY TO A COMMITTEE PRESENTING A BIBLE)

 

Abraham Lincoln used scripture quotations very frequently and very powerfully. Probably no Bible quotation, or, for that matter, no quotation from any book ever has had more influence upon people than the famous quotation made by Lincoln in his Springfield (Ill.) speech of 1812—“A house divided against itself cannot stand.” It is said that he had searched for some time for a phrase which would present in the strongest possible way the proposition he intended to advance—namely, that the nation could not endure half-slave and half-free.

 

WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN (1860–1925)

 

DEMOCRATIC POLITICIAN AND POPULIST

 

Throughout the history of the western world, the Scriptures, Jewish and Christian, have been the great instigators of the revolt against the worst forms of clerical and political despotism. The Bible has been the Magna Carta of the poor and of the oppressed.

 

THOMAS H. HUXLEY (1825–1895)

 

BRITISH BIOLOGIST

 

I would say here something that was heard from an ecclesiastic of the most eminent degree: “That the intention of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how one goes to heaven, not how the heavens go.”

 

GALILEO GALILEI (1564–1642)

 

ITALIAN SCIENTIST

 

(DEFENDING CHARGES THAT HIS ASTRONOMICAL THEORIES SEEMED TO CONFLICT WITH THE BIBLE)

 

The old, for the English, is holy and beautiful, largely because the language of the King James Bible has conveyed that to them.

 

ADAM NICHOLSON

 

GOD’S SECRETARIES: THE MAKING OF THE KING JAMES BIBLE,2003

 

Don’t give up! Don’t get discouraged! I have read the end of the book! We win!

 

DESMOND TUTU

 

ARCHBISHOP OF CAPETOWN AND CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST

 

The existence of the Bible, as a book for the people, is the greatest benefit which the human race has ever experienced. Every attempt to belittle it is a crime against humanity.

 

IMMANUEL KANT (1724–1804)

 

GERMAN PHILOSOPHER

 

It is impossible to mentally or socially enslave a Bible-reading people. The principles of the Bible are the groundwork of human freedom.

 

HORACE GREELEY (1811–1872)

 

FOUNDER AND EDITOR OF THE NEW YORK TRIBUNE

 

The general diffusion of the Bible is the most effectual way to civilize and humanize mankind; to purify and exalt the general system of public morals;to give efficacy to the just precepts of international and municipal law; to enforce the observance of prudence, temperance, justice and fortitude; and to improve all the relations of social and domestic life.

 

JAMES KENT (1763–1847)

 

AMERICAN JURIST

 

The Gospel is not merely a book—it is a living power—a book surpassing all others. I never omit to read it, and every day with the same pleasure. Nowhere is to be found such a series of beautiful ideas, and admirable moral maxims, which pass before us like the battalions of a celestial army. . . . The soul can never go astray with this book for its guide.

 

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE (1769–1821)

 

FRENCH GENERAL AND EMPEROR

 

The reverence for the Scriptures is an element of civilization, for thus has the history of the world been preserved, and is preserved.

 

RALPH WALDO EMERSON (1803–1882)

 

AMERICAN ESSAYIST, POET AND PHILOSOPHER

 

The first question ever asked by an Inquisitor of a “heretic” was whether he knew any part of the Bible in his own tongue. It was asked in 1233 of a man who belonged to a dissident religious sect known as the Waldensians, which emphasized Bible study and lay preaching; it would be asked again of thousands of others before the course of history would render its dark implications null and void.

 

BENSON BOBRICK

 

THE MAKING OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE, 2001

 

I have an implicit faith . . . that mankind can only be saved through non-violence, which is the central teaching of the Bible, as I have understood the Bible.

 

MAHATMA GANDHI (MOHANDAS KARAMCHAND GANDHI) (1869–1948)

 

INDIAN STATESMAN AND PACIFIST

 

To this day the common Britisher or citizen of the United States of North America accepts and worships it as a single book by a single author, the book being the Book of Books and the author being God.

 

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW (1856–1950)

 

IRISH DRAMATIST

 

To all serving in my Forces by sea, or land, or in the air, and indeed to all my people engaged in the defence of the Realm, I commend the reading of this book. For centuries the Bible has been a wholesome and strengthening influence in our national life, and it behoves us in these momentous days to turn with renewed faith to this Divine source of comfort and inspiration.

 

KING GEORGE VI (1895–1952)

 

KING OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND FROM 1936

 

(MESSAGE PRINTED IN POCKET-SIZED NEW TESTAMENTS DISTRIBUTED TO THE BRITISH ARMED FORCES DURING WORLD WAR II)

 

There never was found, in any age of the world, either religion or law that did so highly exalt the public good as the Bible.

 

SIR FRANCIS BACON (1561–1626)

 

ENGLISH LAWYER, PHILOSOPHER AND ESSAYIST

 

There are no songs comparable to the songs of Zion; no orations equal to those of the prophets; no politics like those which the Scriptures teach.

 

JOHN MILTON (1608–1674)

 

ENGLISH POET, AUTHOR OF PARADISE LOST

 

Without the Bible we would never have known the abolitionist movement, the prison-reform movement, the anti-war movement, the labor movement, the civil rights movement, the movement of indigenous and dispossessed peoples for their human rights, the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, the Solidarity movement in Poland, the free-speech and pro-democracy movements in such Far Eastern countries as South Korea, the Philippines, and even China. These movements of modern times have all employed the language of the Bible.

 

THOMAS CAHILL

 

THE GIFTS OF THE JEWS: HOW A TRIBE OF DESERT NOMADS

 

CHANGED THE WAY EVERYONE THINKS AND FEELS, 1998