The Story of Christianity Quotes

“The notion that we read the New Testament exactly as the early Christians did, without any weight of tradition coloring our interpretation, is an illusion. It is also a dangerous illusion, for it tends to absolutize our interpretation, confusing it with the Word of God.”
― Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation

“History is not the pure past; history is a past interpreted from the present of the historian.”
― Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation

“One point is certain: In many Gnostic circles women had a prominence they did not have in society at large. Part of the reason for this was that, since it is the spirit and not the body that is important, the shape of one’s body has little to do with eternal realities. Also, in many of the genealogies of eons with which Gnostics explained the origin of the world, there were female as well as male eons. It is quite possible that it was partly in response to this feature in Gnosticism that orthodox Christianity began restricting the role of women in the church, for it is clear that in first-century Christianity women had roles in the church that the second century began to deny them.”
― Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation

“Error never shows itself in its naked reality, in order not to be discovered. On the contrary, it dresses elegantly, so that the unwary may be led to believe that it is more truthful than truth itself. IRENAEUS OF LYONS”
― Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation

“There is a close relationship between faith and reason, for one cannot function without the other. Reason builds its arguments on first principles which cannot be proven, but are accepted by faith. For the truly wise, faith is the first principle, the starting point, on which reason is to build.”
― Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation

“Christians are no different from the rest in their nationality, language or customs. . . . They live in their own countries, but as sojourners. They fulfill all their duties as citizens, but they suffer as foreigners. They find their homeland wherever they are, but their homeland is not in any one place. . . . They are in the flesh, but do not live according to the flesh. They live on earth, but are citizens of heaven. They obey all laws, but they live at a level higher than that required by law. They love all, but all persecute them.”
― Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation

“The truth is probably that Constantine was a sincere believer in the power of Christ. But this does not mean that he understood that power in the same way in which it had been experienced by those Christians who had died for it. For him, the Christian God was a very powerful being who would support him as long as he favored the faithful. Therefore, when Constantine enacted laws in favor of Christianity, and when he had churches built, what he sought was not the goodwill of Christians, but rather the goodwill of their God.”
― Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation

“And any religious or moral deviations on Constantine’s part were seen in the same light, as the unfortunate actions of one who, while inclined to become a Christian, was not one of the faithful. Such a person could receive the advice and even the support of the church, but not its direction. This ambiguous situation continued until Constantine’s final hour.”
― Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation

“in spite of his policies favoring Christianity, and of his repeated confession of the power of Christ, he was not technically a Christian, for he had not been baptized. In fact, it was only on his deathbed that he was baptized. Therefore, any policy or edict favoring Christianity was received by the church as the action of one who was friendly or even inclined to become a Christian, but who had not taken the decisive step.”
― Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation

“Constantine reserved the right to determine his own religious practices, and even to intervene in the life of the church, for he considered himself “bishop of bishops.” Repeatedly, even after his conversion, he took part in pagan rites in which no Christian would participate, and the bishops raised no voice of condemnation.”
― Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation

“Constantine’s conversion was very different from that of other Christians. At that time, people who were converted were put through a long process of discipline and instruction, in order to make certain that they understood and lived their new faith, and then they were baptized. Their bishop became their guide and shepherd as they sought to discover the implications of their faith in various situations in life.”
― Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation

“The nature of Constantine’s conversion has been the subject of many debates. Shortly after the events told in this chapter, there were Christian authors—one of whom we shall meet in the next chapter—who sought to show that the emperor’s conversion was the goal toward which the history of the church and of the empire had always been moving. Others have claimed that Constantine was simply a shrewd politician who became aware of the advantages to be drawn from a “conversion.”
― Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation

“what is of paramount importance for the story of Christianity is not so much how sincere Constantine was, or how he understood the Christian faith, as the impact of his conversion and his rule both during his lifetime and thereafter. That impact was such that it has even been suggested that throughout most of its history the church has lived in its Constantinian era, and that even now, in the twenty-first century, we are going through crises connected with the end of that long era.”
― Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation

“According to two Christian chroniclers who knew Constantine, on the eve of the battle he had a revelation. One of our sources, Lactantius, says that it was in a dream that Constantine received the command to place a Christian symbol on the shields of his soldiers. The other chronicler, Eusebius, says that the vision appeared in the sky, with the words “in this you shall conquer.” In any case, the fact remains that Constantine ordered that his soldiers should use on their shield and on their standard or labarum a symbol that looked like the superimposition of the Greek letters chi and rho. Since these are the first two letters of the name, “Christ,” this labarum could well have been a Christian symbol. Although eventually Christians saw in this the great moment of Constantine’s conversion, historians point out that even after this event Constantine continued worshiping the Unconquered Sun. In truth, Constantine’s conversion was a long process,”
― Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation

“Constantine, who during the previous intrigues and civil wars had limited his intervention to diplomatic maneuvering, began a campaign that would eventually make him master of the empire. Suddenly, when least expected to do so, Constantine gathered his armies in Gaul, crossed the Alps and marched on Rome, Maxentius’s capital. Taken by surprise, Maxentius was unable to defend his strongholds, which Constantine’s troops rapidly occupied. All that he could do was to collect his army before Rome, and there fight the invader from Gaul. Rome itself was well-defended, and if Maxentius had chosen the wiser course, and remained behind the city walls, perhaps history would have taken a different turn. But instead, he consulted his augurs, who advised him to present battle.”
― Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation

“In the midst of such political chaos, persecution continued, although its impact depended upon the policies set by each emperor in each region. In the West, most of the territory was under the effective control of Constantine and Maxentius, and neither of these two emperors enforced the decrees against Christians, which they saw as the work of their rival Galerius. Galerius and his main protégé, Maximinus Daia, continued persecuting Christians.”
― Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation

“great deal of the friction between Christians and Pharisees was due to the similarity of their views, rather than to their difference. Moving among the common people, Jesus and his followers had more opportunities to rub shoulders with the Pharisees than with the Sadducees.”
― Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation

“Error never shows itself in its naked reality, in order not to be discovered. On the contrary, it dresses elegantly, so that the unwary may be led to believe that it is more truthful than truth itself.”
― Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation

“Martin is usually represented in the act of sharing his cape with the beggar. This is also the origin of the word chapel—for centuries later, in a small church, there was a piece of cloth reputed to be a portion of Martin’s cape. From that piece of cape—capella—the little church came to be called a “chapel,” and those who served in it, “chaplains.”
― Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation

“Socrates, Plato’s teacher, had been condemned to death, as an incredulous corrupter of youth. Plato wrote several dialogues in his defense, and by the first century Socrates was considered one of the greatest sages of antiquity.”
― Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation

“Jesuits”
― Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation

“Christians are no different from the rest in their nationality, language or customs. . . . They live in their own countries, but as sojourners. They fulfill all their duties as citizens, but they suffer as foreigners. They find their homeland wherever they are, but their homeland is not in any one place. . . . They are in the flesh, but do not live according to the flesh. They live on earth, but are citizens of heaven. They obey all laws, but they live at a level higher than that required by law. They love all, but all persecute them.12”
― Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation

“Thus, the theme of the book commonly called Acts of the Apostles is not so much the deeds of the apostles, as the deeds of the Holy Spirit through the apostles (and others). Luke has left us two books, the first on the deeds of Jesus, and the second on the deeds of the Spirit.”
― Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation

“Luke had a theological reason for this, for in his view the story he was telling shall not come to an end before the end of all history.”
― Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation

“Even before the incarnation, and from the very moment of the first sin, God has been leading humanity toward closer communion with the divine. For this reason, God curses the serpent and the earth, but only punishes the man and the woman.”
― Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation

“Miserable Aristotle, who gave them dialectics! He gave them the art of building in order to tear down, an art of slippery speech and crude arguments . . . which rejects everything and deals with nothing.15”
― Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation

“At this point, the notion of apostolic succession became very important. What was argued was simply that, if Jesus had some secret knowledge to communicate to his disciples—which in fact he did not—he would have entrusted that teaching to the same apostles to whom he entrusted the churches. If those apostles had received any such teaching, they in turn would have passed it on to those who were to follow them in the leadership of the various churches. Therefore, had there been any such secret teaching, it should be found among the direct disciples of the apostles, and the successors of those disciples, the bishops. But the truth was that those who could now—that is, in the second century—claim direct apostolic succession unanimously denied the existence of any such secret teaching. In conclusion, the Gnostic claim that there is a secret tradition with which they have been entrusted is false.”
― Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation

“The earliest Christians did not consider themselves followers of a new religion. All of their lives they had been Jews and they still were. This was true of Peter and the twelve, of the seven, and of Paul. Their faith was not a denial of Judaism but was rather the conviction that the messianic age had finally arrived.”
― Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation

“A great deal of the friction between Christians and Pharisees was due to the similarity of their views, rather than to their difference.”
― Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation

“Now I begin to be a disciple. . . . Let fire and cross, flocks of beasts, broken bones, dismemberment, come upon me, so long as I attain to Jesus Christ. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH”
― Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation