[The Bible is] shallow enough for a child not to drown, yet deep enough for an elephant to swim.

— Augustine of Hippo (354–430), Kirchenvater

Note on attribution: Das Bild vom Wasser, in dem ein Kind waten und ein Elefant schwimmen kann, stammt in seiner klassischen Form von Gregor dem Großen (Moralia in Iob); unter Augustins Namen ist es erst spät belegt.

Topics: The Bible & the Word of God

Occasions: For Reflection

Augustine of Hippo

Augustinus von Hippo (354–430) war ein spätantiker Theologe, Philosoph und Bischof von Hippo Regius im heutigen Algerien. Bekannt durch Werke wie die „Confessiones“ und „De civitate Dei“, prägte er maßgeblich das westliche Verständnis von Gnade und Dreifaltigkeit, befürwortete im Donatistenstreit jedoch auch staatliche Zwangsmaßnahmen gegen Andersdenkende. Für heutige Bibelleser bildet sein Werk ein zentrales Fundament sowohl katholischer als auch reformatorischer Theologie, wenngleich seine Lehren zu Erbsünde, Prädestination und Sexualethik weiterhin umstritten sind.

All quotes by Augustine of Hippo (334)

More on this topic

A Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.

Unknown

The Bible in the pulpit must never supersede the Bible at home.

John Charles Ryle

The Bible is almost bursting with good news for bad people.

Corrie ten Boom

I read the Bible the way I harvest my apple tree: I shake it, and what falls down and is ripe, I take. The rest I leave hanging for now.

Martin Luther

The Bible is the cradle wherein Christ is laid.

Martin Luther

The law is divine and holy. Let the law have its glory, but yet no law, be it never so divine and holy, ought to teach me that I am justified, and shall live through it. I grant it may teach me that I ought to love God and my neighbor; also to live in love, soberness, patience, etc., but it ought not to show me how I should be delivered from sin, the devil, death, and hell. Here I must take counsel of the gospel. I must hearken to the gospel, which teaches me, not what I ought to do but what Jesus Christ the Son of God hath done for me: that He suffered and died to deliver me from sin and death. The gospel wills me to receive this, and to believe it. And this is the truth of the gospel. Most necessary it is, therefore, that we should know this article well, teach it unto others, and beat it into their heads continually.

Martin Luther

Jesus was not a theologian. He was God who told stories.

Madeleine L'Engle

If you want to keep people subjugated, the last thing you place in their hands is a Bible. There's nothing more radical, nothing more revolutionary, nothing more subversive against injustice and oppression than the Bible.

Desmond Tutu

All quotes · lumen.bible