The Lost Art of Scripture Quotes

“As Solomon ben Jehiel (1510–74), known as Maharshal, explained, scripture was the Word of God, so that even if the heavens and the oceans were ink, they would not suffice to expound a single passage of scripture, record all the doubts arising from it, and the many new ideas that it inspired.”
― Karen Armstrong, The Lost Art of Scripture: Rescuing the Sacred Texts

“Sound had always been sacred to the Aryans—it was far more important to them than the meaning of these hymns—so when they intoned and memorised them, the priests felt possessed by a sacred presence. The idea that the sound of a sacred text could be more important than the truths it conveys immediately challenges our modern notion of “scripture,” which, of course, implies a written text.”
― Karen Armstrong, The Lost Art of Scripture: Rescuing the Sacred Texts

“Milton’s treatment of Satan reminds us of the rabbis’ description of the “evil inclination” that is inextricably combined with human progress and productivity. Satan embodies many of the achievements of early modernity. When he embarks on his dangerous journey through Chaos, he becomes an intrepid early modern explorer, courageously seeking a New World; in his plan to invade Eden, he becomes a European coloniser; and, of course, he shares Milton’s passion for republican liberty when he inveighs against the monarchical elevation of the Son. Looking back on his moment of rebellion, he declares that he “sdeind [i.e., disdained] subjection”: “Will ye submit your necks, and chuse to bend / The supple knee?” he asks his fellow angels: Who can in reason then or right assume Monarchie over such as live by right His equals, if in power and splendor less, In freedom equal?70 Like the rabbis, Milton implied that evil was not an alien, omnipotent force; it was rather intricately combined with the creativity and inventiveness that were essential to human nature and its achievements.”
― Karen Armstrong, The Lost Art of Scripture: Rescuing the Sacred Texts

“Logos cannot assuage our sorrow or evoke our sense of the transcendent, so it cannot convince us that, despite all the rational evidence to the contrary, our lives have meaning and value.”
― Karen Armstrong, Lost Art of Scripture

“Every day I examine myself on three counts: in what I have undertaken on another’s behalf, have I failed to do my best? In my dealings with my friends, have I failed to be trustworthy in what I say? Have I passed on to others anything that I have not tried out myself?71”
― Karen Armstrong, The Lost Art of Scripture: Rescuing the Sacred Texts

“Consequently, scripture has no clear message and has nothing in common with the clear and distinct ideas that characterise sola ratio. Sometimes it even forces us to experience the shock of total unknowing.”
― Karen Armstrong, The Lost Art of Scripture: Rescuing the Sacred Texts