"Some controverters in divinity are like swaggerers in a tavern, that catch that which stands next to them, the candlestick, or pots; turn everything into a weapon: ofttimes they fight blindfold; and both beat the air. The one milks a he-goat, the other holds under a sieve. Their arguments are as fluxive as liquor spilt upon a table; which with your fingers you may drain as you will. Such controversies, or disputations, (carried with more labour, than profit) are odious: where most times the truth is lost in the midst, or left untouched. And the fruit of their fight is that they spit on one another, and are both defiled. These fencers in religion, I like them not."
-Ben Jonson
15 November 2011
Controvers scriptores.
Attention Brendan:
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1 comments:
"Fencers in religion" -- I rather like that as an epithet. And anything you can do to deflate the self-importance of theologians is probably on the right track, so thanks for the offering!
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