Peter J Leithart Quotes

Whenever God gives a miracle child to an old couple, it is a sign that He is beginning something new. An old couple having their first child means a new life. But a virgin who conceives must mark the beginning of a new creation. ~ Peter J. Leithart

The Triune God is in the world, nearer to us than we are to ourselves, yet the world is also encompassed by his loving presence. He does have the whole world in his hands, even while he inhabits the whole world. For Christians, being saved means being caught up into this communion, indwelled by God and indwelling in him, and being opened up so that other people have room in us and we in them. ~ Peter J. Leithart

Anyone can discern the evils of the factory system or the Terror.
But it takes considerable wisdom to discern the evils embedded in the staccato blather of a seventeen-year-old girl. ~ Peter J. Leithart

I believe we find imaginative satisfaction in stories that end with weddings because we live in a world that will end with a wedding. The Bible tells the story of history, a story that is mysteriously 'built into' the structure of our minds and practices, so that even writers who resist this story cannot help but leave traces of it - faint and distorted as they may be - on every page. ~ Peter J. Leithart

Pastors and Bible teachers go about their work in communal settings, where they listen to as well as deliver sermons, hear as well as speak, and gain biblical insights from their parishioners as much as they pass them on. ~ Peter J. Leithart

Dancing is forbidden to Christians. Isn't it suggestive that the word ballet comes from the Greek ballo, which is also the origin of diabolos, "devil"?8 ~ Peter J. Leithart

Austen is a moralist, but, as John Lauber has put it, she is not a "punitive" moralist. Sometimes her villains receive no more serious punishment than to achieve their desires. Often that is punishment enough. ~ Peter J. Leithart

Context enables us to determine which of several meanings is in play in a particular text. The verb in "I see" means something quite different if uttered by a formerly blind man healed with spittle and dust, by a student who has just received an extended explanation of a difficult mathematical theorem, or by a skeptical wife whose husband offers a lame explanation for the lipstick on his collar. In the first context, see refers to physical sight, while in the latter two it refers to understanding, and in the last it could hardly be said without a heap of sarcasm. ~ Peter J. Leithart

Before we can progress in providing answers ... we have to repent of our questions. ~ Peter J. Leithart

For Mary, the world is something to be mastered, manipulated, and made; for Fanny, the world is a gift to be received with thanksgiving. Fanny is the eucharistic heroine, giving thanks in all times and places. ~ Peter J. Leithart

The Bible never mentions Christianity. It does not preach Christianity, nor does it encourage us to preach Christianity. Paul did not preach Christianity, nor did any of the other apostles. During centuries when the Church was strong and vibrant, she did not preach Christianity either. Christianity, like Judaism and "Yahwism", is an invention of biblical scholars, theologians, and politicians, and one of its chief effects is to keep Christians and the Church in their proper marginal place. The Bible speaks of Christians and of the Church, but Christianity is gnostic, and the Church firmly rejected gnosticism from her earliest days. ~ Peter J. Leithart

Literature in the West arose from liturgy. ~ Peter J. Leithart

The Bible is useful because it opens our eyes, and because it's highly impractical to walk through life with our eyes closed. ~ Peter J. Leithart

It is a strange story, the story of Jesus. To the Jews, it is not the story of Israel's redemption but some odd detour. For Christians, though, the story of Jesus is the final chapter of the story of Israel. For Christians, all that Israel hopes for - redemption from enemies, forgiveness of sins, triumph and exaltation, a restoration of Eden, the conversion of the nations, the earth filled with the glory of Israel's God - all of it comes to pass through Jesus. Not through the sword of Zealots, or the rigid purity of the Pharisees, or the political compromises of the Sadducees, or the withdrawal of the Essenes. Israel's story is carried to its conclusion by a different sort of Jew entirely, a different sort of holiness, a different story-line, a story-line of compassion, service, suffering, death. And, over all and transforming all, resurrection. For Jesus is risen. He is risen indeed. ~ Peter J. Leithart

Jesus keeps the Sabbath with an eye to the "weightier matters of the law," which are justice, mercy, and truth. Jesus keeps the Sabbath as an adult. Children are very worried about keeping the rules, and forcing other people to keep the rules. But children might keep rules so rigidly that they actually violate the rules. That's how the Pharisees keep the law. They are childish law keepers. Jesus is a mature law-keeper, and He calls His disciples to keep the law in the same way. ~ Peter J. Leithart

The cross is the crux, the crossroads, the twisted knot at the center of reality, to which all previous history leads and from which all subsequent history flows. By it we know all reality is cruciform - the love of God, the shape of creation, the labyrinth of human history. ~ Peter J. Leithart

Magic doesn't suit everyone. Only those prepared to take full responsibility for themselves should apply. ~ Peter J. Carroll

Whatever was in that document had caused the death of the leader of the Catholic Church. Who'd be next? Calvi shuddered. His life's work was safe-guarding this document. Whatever its purpose or mystery, it was his solemn and sole mission to protect it. Even if it meant giving up his life for it. ~ Peter J. Tanous

A wise man once said that the best definition of insanity was performing the same action over and over again, expecting different results."
Father Peter stopped smiling. "The same could be said of you. What makes you so sure you're right? And so sure I'm wrong?"
"The difference is that I made a mistake once, out of ignorance," Tim said. "Everything I've done since then has been to try to make amends."
"To earn forgiveness."
"To protect the innocents." Tim smiled, "And yes, to earn forgiveness. ~ Robert J. Wiersema

My course is a survey of how readings of the same constant text have varied over the centuries, from the formation of the canon to our present time, dependent on context and subtext. A community in exile will read differently than a community in apparent full possession of all it surveys, with those who have nothing welcoming the promised overturning of the standing order, and those who have much of this world's goods not longing for the end of the age. Depending, then, upon how one reads and interprets, either the Bible is a textbook for the status quo, of quiescent pieties and promises, or it is a recipe for social change and transformation. There are churches dedicated to each point of view, each claiming its share of the good news; but what is good news for some is often bad news for somebody else. ~ Peter J. Gomes

A free press is one that prints a dictator's speech but doesn't have to. ~ Laurence J. Peter

It is frightfully difficult to know much about the fairies, and almost the only thing for certain is that there are fairies wherever there are children. ~ J.M. Barrie

In spite of warnings, nothing much happens until the status quo becomes more painful than change. ~ Laurence J. Peter

Lily and James only made you Secret-Keeper because I suggested it," Black hissed, so venomously that Pettigrew took a step backward. "I thought it was the perfect plan ... a bluff ... Voldemort would be sure to come after me, would never dream they'd use a weak, talentless thing like you ... It must have been the finest moment of your miserable life, telling Voldemort you could hand him the Potters. ~ J.K. Rowling

It's good to deal with a group that knows how to nod. So many these days
are halfhearted at best. ~ Peter J. Story

The pseudoscience of astrology has no place in magick. Astrology has already died twice: once with the classical gods, and a second time after the Enlightenment. The complete failure of contemporary psychology to create anything other than a vocabulary of intellectual rubbish has encouraged astrology to resurface. ~ Peter J. Carroll

Smee", he said huskily, "that crocodile would have had me before this, but by a lucky chance it swallowed a clock that goes tick tick inside it, and so before it can reach me I can hear the tick and bolt." He laughed, but in a hollow way. "Some day", Smee said, "the clock will run down, and then he'll get you. ~ J.M. Barrie

Everyone is in awe of the lion tamer in a cage with half a dozen lions-everyone but a school bus driver. ~ Laurence J. Peter

See," he said, "the arrow struck against this. It is the kiss I gave her. It has saved her life. ~ J.M. Barrie

Peter invented, with Wendy's help, a new game that fascinated him enormously, until he suddenly had no more interest in it, which, as you have been told, was what always happened with his games. It consisted in pretending not to have adventures ... ~ J.M. Barrie

Poetry depends on being simultaneously opaque and transparent. It can't be only one or the other. The pebble and the pool. ~ Peter J. Daniels

The modern child will answer you back before you've said anything. ~ Laurence J. Peter

The historian James Anthony Froude wrote: "The worth of a man must be measured by his life, not by his failure under a singular and peculiar trial. Peter the apostle, though forewarned, three times denied his Master on the first alarm of danger; yet that Master, who knew his nature in its strength and in its weakness, chose him. ~ J. Oswald Sanders

A philosopher is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn't there. A theologian is the man who finds it. ~ Laurence J. Peter

Three Observations 1) The computer may be incompetent in itself - that is, unable to do regularly and accurately the work for which it was designed. This kind of incompetence can never be eliminated, because the Peter Principle applies in the plants where computers are designed and manufactured. 2) Even when competent in itself, the computer vastly magnifies the results of incompetence in its owners or operators. 3) The computer, like a human employee, is subject to the Peter Principle. If it does good work at first, there is a strong tendency to promote it to more responsible tasks, until it reaches its level of incompetence. ~ Laurence J. Peter

Dreaming illustrates your hidden capacities and your unawakened ability. ~ Peter J. Daniels

Generations of British writers would look up to Roget as a kindred soul who could offer both emotional as well as intellectual sustenance. In the stage directions to Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie includes an homage to Roget: The night nursery of the Darling family, which is the scene of our opening Act, is at the top of a rather depressed street in Bloomsbury. We might have a right to place it where we will, and the reason Bloomsbury is chosen is that Mr. Roget once lived there. So did we in the days when his Thesaurus was our only companion in London; and we whom he has helped to wend our way through life have always wanted to pay him a little compliment. For Barrie, Roget's masterpiece was synonymous with virtue itself. To describe the one saving grace of the play's villain, Captain Hook, Barrie adds, "The man is not wholly evil--he has a Thesaurus in his cabin. ~ Joshua Kendall

To live will be an awfully big adventure. ~ J.M. Barrie

One hundred years ago, the Blessed Virgin revealed a mysterious prophecy to three Portuguese shepherd children. ~ Peter J. Tanous

Nobody can be perfect unless he admits his faults, but if he has faults how can he be perfect? ~ Laurence J. Peter

Fortune knocks but once, but misfortune has much more patience. ~ Laurence J. Peter

certain group of people in the United States tried an experiment. They tried the experiment of making a fortune without working, of making a fortune through the stock exchange. They extended the experiment until it exploded and all went down to earth. "Aspects of World Trade" Thomas J. Watson Sr. July 31, 1930 ~ Peter Greulich

An optimist expects his dreams to come true; a pessimist expects his nightmares to. ~ Laurence J. Peter

As individuals we tend to climb to our levels of incompetence. We behave as though up is better and more is better, and yet all around us we see the tragic victims of this mindless escalation. ~ Laurence J. Peter

What could there be in this document written by a young girl in 1917? ~ Peter J. Tanous

Having a long term goal provides a catalyst for motivation at every waking moment. ~ Peter J. Daniels

The Lord is saying literally, "Thou art 'Petros' [the masculine form of the word], and upon this 'petra' [the feminine form of the word] I will build My church. Thou art a rock, Peter, and upon this rock, I will build My church. ~ J. Dwight Pentecost

If you wish it.
Slightly: If you wish it?
Peter: IF YOU WISH IT. ~ J.M. Barrie

It's strange that men should take up crime when there are so many legal ways to be dishonest. ~ Laurence J. Peter

He decided to appeal to the fairies for enlightenment. They are reputed
to know a good deal. ~ J.M. Barrie

It made me realise just how desperate the world is for a superhero. I don't just mean those of the comic books. For there is an inexhaustible supply of would-be superheroes throughout history and across the globe. From the legends of King Arthur and Robin Hood, to the Gods of a thousand religions. From Santa Claus to Peter Pan to a myriad other folklore characters. Monsters from the Lochs. Spirits from the other side. Aliens from distant planets. The world longs for something ... something else. Something powerful and exciting. A little bit of magic. ~ Paul J. Newell

(Q: From an outsider's perspective, what you call "chaos magick" has a lot of rules, discipline, and order involved, and doesn't seem very chaotic at all. What would you say to such a person?)
A: I differentiate sternly between Chaos and Entropy. Only highly ordered and structured systems can display complex creative and unpredictable behaviour, and then only if they have the capacity to act with a degree of freedom and randomness. Systems which lack structure and organisation usually fail to produce anything much, they just tend to drift down the entropy gradient. This applies both to people and to organisations. ~ Peter J. Carroll

To some, the temporal triumph of the Christian community in the world is a sign of God's favor and the essential righteousness of the Christian position. The irony of the matter, though, is that whenever the Christian community gains worldly power, it nearly always loses its capacity to be the critic of the power and influence it so readily brokers. ~ Peter J. Gomes

In the country of the blind, the one-eyed king can still goof up. ~ Laurence J. Peter

Second to the right, and straight on till morning.
That, Peter had told Wendy, was the way to the Neverland ~ J.M. Barrie

The only clear view is from atop the mountain of your dead selves. ~ Peter J. Carroll