Contempt

Passages

Every passage tagged with this emotion in the Vela corpus. Search the body text, narrow by source or register, click through to a book’s profile to see how the passage sits with the rest of the work.

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• From Heptaméron (1559)

  "Well, then, shoes on one's feet, and one's staff in his hand," said he. "Buttered bread, and bread buttered — is it not all one?" How this was received I leave you to guess. The Cordelier, perceiving that his hour was nearly out, made new efforts to divert the ladies, and gave them reason to be pleased with him. " By-and-by, ladies," he said to them, " when you are chatting with your gossips, you will ask them, ' Who is this master friar who speaks so boldly .■' He is a jovial companion, I warrant.' I tell you, ladies, be not astonished — no, be not astonished if I speak boldly, for I am of Anjou, at your service." So saying he ended his sermon, leaving his audience more disposed to laugh at his absurdities than to weep over the Passion of our Lord, the com- memoration of which they were then celebrating. His other sermons during the holidays were pretty much of the like efficacy. You know the brethren of that order do not forget to go about making their collec- tions to get them their Easter eggs, as they say. Not only have they no lack of these, but people give them besides many other things, such as linen, yarn, chitter- lings, hams, chines, and so forth. On Easter Tuesday, when he was making his exhortations to charity, of which people of his sort are no niggards, he said, " I am bound, ladies, to thank you for the charities you have bestowed on our poor convent, but I cannot help re- marking to you that you have not duly considered our wants. You have given us, for the most part, nothing but chitterlings, of which, thanks be to God, we have no scarcity, the convent being choke-full of them. What shall we do, then, with such lots of chitterlings ^ Do you know what we shall do with them } It is my advice* ladies, that you mix your hams with our chitterlings, and you will make a fine alms." Facetious sayings of a Cordelier. Second day\ QUEEN OF NA VARRE. 1 1 j Then, continuing his sermon, he contrived to intro- duce the subject of scandal. After having expatiated upon it and adduced some examples, he cried out, with warmth, " I am surprised, ladies and gentlemen of St, Martin, that you are scandalised at a thing that is less than nothing, and that you make a talk of me every- where without reason, saying, ' Who would have thought it of the father, that he should have got his landlady's daughter with child ? ' That is a thing to be astonished about, truly, A monk has got a girl with child. What a wonder ! But hark you, fair ladies, would you not have reason to be much more surprised if the girl had got the monk with child .-* "

• From Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family (1901)

  This resulted in a negative and ironic coldness, as it were, a mocking distance and alienation ... They spoke of the "teaching body" and, during entire pauses, amused themselves by imagining a really existing creature , to imagine a kind of monster of disgusting and fantastic design underneath. And they generally spoke of the "institute" with an emphasis as if it were something like the one where Hanno's uncle Christian was... to imagine a kind of monster of disgusting and fantastic design underneath. And they generally spoke of the "institute" with an emphasis as if it were something like the one where Hanno's uncle Christian was... to imagine a kind of monster of disgusting and fantastic design underneath. And they generally spoke of the "institute" with an emphasis as if it were something like the one where Hanno's uncle Christian was... The sight of the good Lord, who for a while left everyone terrified by pointing in different directions at the greaseproof paper that lay here and there on the tiles with a horrible growl, had put Kai in an excellent mood. He dragged Hanno with him to one of the gates through which the teachers who were arriving for the second period entered the yard, and began bowing immensely to the red-eyed, pale, and needy seminarians who were passing by to salute themselves to go to their sextans and septimans in the rear courtyards. He bent over excessively, let his arms hang down and looked up devotedly from below at the poor fellows. But when the aged arithmetic teacher, Mr. Tietge, appeared, holding some books with a trembling hand on his back, squinting in an impossible way, crooked, yellow and spitting, he said in a resonant voice: "Hello, you corpse." Then what he looked somewhere in the air with a clear and sharp gaze ..... At that moment the bell rang loudly, and immediately the students began to flock to the entrances from all sides. But Hanno didn't stop laughing; he was still laughing so hard on the stairs that his classmates who surrounded him and Kai looked him in the face coldly, alienated and even a little disgusted by so much silliness... It was quiet in the class, and everyone stood up in unison when Head Teacher Doctor Mantelsack entered. He was the Ordinary, and it was customary to have respect for the Ordinary. He closed the door behind him by crouching, craned his neck to see if everyone was standing, hung his hat on a nail, then walked briskly to the lectern, raising and lowering his head in quick succession.

• From Science and Religion (2006)

  6 Lecture 2: The Warfare Thesis The Warfare Thesis Lecture 2 Given the widespread public acceptance of the conÀ ict model, it comes as a surprise to many people … that no historians will support it. Let me be clear: The idea that scienti ¿ c and religious camps have historically been separate and antagonistic is rejected by all modern historians of science. T he model for the interactions of science and religion most commonly encountered in popular literature and common belief is the warfare or conÀ ict thesis. This thesis maintains that throughout history, religion and science have been opposed and inimical. Religion has stymied the advance of science. Although no serious historians of science or of the science-religion issue today maintain the warfare thesis, it is nevertheless crucial to examine the origins of common beliefs, such as this one, and the solidity of their foundations. The origins of the warfare thesis lie in the late 19 th century, speci¿ cally in the work of two men—John William Draper and Andrew Dickson White. These men had speci¿ c political purposes in mind when arguing their case, and the historical foundations of their work are unreliable. John William Draper (18111882), the son of an English Methodist minister, was a chemist, physician, and ¿ rst president of the American Chemical Society. He wrote A History of the Con À ict between Religion and Science in 1874. The book was commissioned by a popular science publisher for the International Scienti ¿ c Series. It outsold every other title in this extensive series, went through 50 printings and 10 translations, and remains readily available. In spite of its popularity, the book is not good history; historical “facts” are confected, and causes and chronologies are twisted to the author’s purpose. The text is actually one long, vitriolic, anti-Catholic diatribe. Draper blames the Catholic Church for almost everything bad in Western history (including preventing the “proper” expansion of the human population). Part

• From New Testament Words (1964)

  By this time it has acquired a definitely unpleasant meaning; but it is essential to note that by the time the Septuagint was being revised hupokritēs has become, not only a bad word, but an actively evil word. One of the famous revisions of the Septuagint was made by a man called Aquila. In Job. 15.34; Prov. 11.9; Isa. 33.14, Aquila has hupokritēs and the Septuagint has asebēs, which means nothing less than ‘impious’. In Job 20.5 Aquila has hupokritēs and the Septuagint has paranomos, which means a ‘transgressor’, a ‘law-breaker’. In Isa. 32.6 Aquila has hupokrisis, and the Septuagint has anoma, which means ‘lawless things’. Clearly this word does not mean simply ‘hypocrisy’; it has begun to stand for something evil, lawless, godless, actively malign. In the Epistle of Barnabas (2nd century A.D.) there is a description of ‘The Two Ways’ and in it it is said: ‘You must not join yourself with those who walk in the way of death; you must hate everything that is not pleasing to God; you must hate all hupokrisis and you must not abandon the commands of the Lord/Obviously hupokrisis is active and evil sin. In the NT hupokrisis and hupokritēs have certain definite lines of thought. (i) The hupokritēs is the man who goes in for play-acting goodness, for what has been called ‘theatrical goodness’. He is the man who wants everyone to see him give alms (Matt. 6.2), to see him pray (Matt. 6.5), to know that he is fasting (Matt. 6.16). He is the man whose goodness is designed, not to please God, but to please men, the man who says not ‘To God be the glory’ but, ‘To me be the credit’. (ii) The hupokritēs is the man who, in the very name of religion, breaks God’s laws. He is the man who says that he cannot help his parents because he had dedicated his belongings to the service of God (Matt. 15.7; Mark 7.5); the man who refuses to help a sick person on the Sabbath, because it would be to break the Sabbath Law, although he will see to the comfort of his beasts on the Sabbath day (Luke 13.15). He is the man who prefers his idea of religion to God’s idea. (iii) The hupokritēs is the man who conceals his true motives under a cloak of pretence. The true motives of the people who asked Jesus the question about paying tribute were not to get information and guidance but to entangle Jesus in his words. They are hupokritai (Mark 12.15; Matt. 22.18). The hupokrites is the subtle schemer with deceptive words. (iv) The hupokritēs is the man who hides an evil heart under a cloak of piety. The Pharisees were like that (Matt. 23.28). He goes through the outward motions of religion while in his heart there is pride and arrogance, bitterness and hate. He is the kind of man who never fails to go to church and never fails to condemn a sinner.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  I answer that, Not every disobedience is equally a sin: for one disobedience may be greater than another, in two ways. First, on the part of the superior commanding, since, although a man should take every care to obey each superior, yet it is a greater duty to obey a higher than a lower authority, in sign of which the command of a lower authority is set aside if it be contrary to the command of a higher authority. Consequently the higher the person who commands, the more grievous is it to disobey him: so that it is more grievous to disobey God than man. Secondly, on the part of the things commanded. For the person commanding does not equally desire the fulfilment of all his commands: since every such person desires above all the end, and that which is nearest to the end. Wherefore disobedience is the more grievous, according as the unfulfilled commandment is more in the intention of the person commanding. As to the commandments of God, it is evident that the greater the good commanded, the more grievous the disobedience of that commandment, because since God’s will is essentially directed to the good, the greater the good the more does God wish it to be fulfilled. Consequently he that disobeys the commandment of the love of God sins more grievously than one who disobeys the commandment of the love of our neighbor. On the other hand, man’s will is not always directed to the greater good: hence, when we are bound by a mere precept of man, a sin is more grievous, not through setting aside a greater good, but through setting aside that which is more in the intention of the person commanding. Accordingly the various degrees of disobedience must correspond with the various degrees of precepts: because the disobedience in which there is contempt of God’s precept, from the very nature of disobedience is more grievous than a sin committed against a man, apart from the latter being a disobedience to God. And I say this because whoever sins against his neighbor acts also against God’s commandment. And if the divine precept be contemned in a yet graver matter, the sin is still more grievous. The disobedience that contains contempt of a man’s precept is less grievous than the sin which contemns the man who made the precept, because reverence for the person commanding should give rise to reverence for his command. In like manner a sin that directly involves contempt of God, such as blasphemy, or the like, is more grievous (even if we mentally separate the disobedience from the sin) than would be a sin involving contempt of God’s commandment alone. Reply to Objection 1: This comparison of Samuel is one, not of equality but of likeness, because disobedience redounds to the contempt of God just as idolatry does, though the latter does so more.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  JEROME. O wonderful endurance of the Lord, He had said before, One of you shall betray me. The traitor perseveres in his wickedness; He designates him more particularly, yet not by name. For Judas, while the rest were sorrowful, and withdrew their hands, and bid away the food from their mouths, with the same hardihood and recklessness which led him to betray Him, reached forth his hand into the dish with his Master, passing off his audacity as a good conscience. CHRYSOSTOM. I rather think that Christ did this out of regard for him, and to bring him to a better mind. RABANUS. What Matthew calls ‘paropsis,’ Mark calls ‘catinus.’ The ‘paropsis’ is a square dish for meat, ‘catinus,’ an earthen vessel for containing fluids; this then might be a square earthen vessel. ORIGEN. Such is the wont of men of exceeding wickedness, to plot against those of whose bread and salt they have partaken, and especially those who have no enmity against them. But if we take it of the spiritual table, and the spiritual food, we shall see the more abundant and overflowing measure of this man’s wickedness, who called to mind neither his Master’s love in providing carnal goods, nor His teaching in things spiritual. Such are all in the Church who lay snares for their brethren whom they continually meet at the same table of Christ’s Body. JEROME. Judas, not withheld by either the first or second warning, perseveres in his treachery; the Lord’s long-suffering nourishes his audacity. Now then his punishment is foretold, that denunciations of wrath may correct where good feeling has no power. REMIGIUS. It belongs to human nature to come and go, Divine nature remains ever the same. So because His human nature could suffer and die, therefore of the Son of Man it is well said that he goeth. He says plainly, As it is written of him, for all that He suffered had been foretold by the Prophets. CHRYSOSTOM. This He said to comfort His disciples, that they might not think that it was through weakness that He suffered; and at the same time for the correction of His betrayer. And notwithstanding His Passion had been foretold, Judas is still guilty; and not his betrayal wrought our salvation, but God’s providence, which used the sins of others to our profit. ORIGEN. He said not, By whom the Son of Man is betrayed, but through whom, (John 13:2.) pointing out another, to with the Devil, as the author of His betrayal, Judas as the minister. But woe also to all betrayers of Christ! and such is every one who betrays a disciple of Christ.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  BEDE. (ubi sup.) We must observe that He does not forbid that those, to whom it falls by the rule of their office, should be saluted in the marketplace, or have chief seats and places at feasts, but He teaches that those who love those things unduly, whether they have them or no, are to be avoided by the faithful as wicked men: that is, He blames the intention and not the office; although this too is culpable, that the very men who wish to be called masters of the synagogue in Moses’ seat, should have to do with lawsuits in the marketplace. We are in two ways ordered to beware of those who are desirous of vain glory; first, we should not be seduced by their hypocrisy into thinking that what they do is good; nor secondly, should we be excited to imitate them, through a vain rejoicing in being praised for those virtues which they affect. THEOPHYLACT. He also especially teaches the Apostles, not to have any communication with the scribes, but to imitate Christ Himself; and in ordaining them to be masters in the duties of life, He places others under themv. BEDE. (ubi sup.) But they do not only seek for praise from men, but also for gain. Wherefore there follows, Which devour widows’ houses, under the pretence of long prayers. For there are men who pretending to be just hesitate not to receive money from persons who are troubled in conscience, as though they would be their advocates in the judgment. A hand stretched out to the poor is always an accompaniment to prayer, but these men pass the night in prayer, that they may take away money from the poor. THEOPHYLACT. But the Scribes used to come to women, who were left without the protection of their husbands, as though they were their protectors; and by a pretence of prayer, a reverend exterior and hypocrisy, they used to deceive widows, and thus also devour the houses of the rich. It goes on, These shall receive a greater damnation, that is, than the other Jews, who sinned. 12:41–4441. And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. 42. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. 43. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: 44. For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  AUGUSTINE. (Tract. xxxix) Above He said, I judge no man; but, I judge not, is one thing, I have to judge, another. I judge not, He says, with reference to the present time. But the other, I have many things to say, and to judge of you, refers to a future judgment. And I shall be true in My judgment, because I am truth, the Son of the true One. He that sent Me is true. My Father is true, not by partaking of, but begetting truth. Shall we say that truth is greater than one who is true? If we say this, we shall begin to call the Son greater than the Father. CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. liii. 1) He says this, that they may not think that He allows them to talk against Him with impunity, from inability to punish them; or that He is not alive to their contemptuous designs. THEOPHYLACT. Or having said, I have many things to say, and to judge of you, thus reserving His judgment for a future time, He adds, But He that sent Me is true: as if to say, Though ye are unbelievers, My Father is true, Who hath appointed a day of retribution for you. CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. liii. 1) Or thus: As My Father hath sent Me not to judge the world, but to save the world, and My Father is true, I accordingly judge no man now; but speak thus for your salvation, not your condemnation: And I speak to the world those things that I have heard of Him. ALCUIN. And to hear from the Father is the same as to be from the Father; He has the hearing from the same sense that He has the being. AUGUSTINE. (Tract. xxxix. s. 6) The coequal Son gives glory to the Father: as if to say, I give glory to Him whose Son I am: how proudly thou detractest from Him, whose servant Thou art. ALCUIN. They did not understand however what He meant by saying, He is true that sent Me: they understand not that He spake to them of the Father. For they had not the eyes of their mind yet opened, to understand the equality of the Father with the Son. 8:28–3028. Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. 29. And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him. 30. As he spake these words, many believed on him.

• From New Testament Words (1964)

  The alazōn was the braggart and the boaster out to impress men; the man with all his goods in the shop window; the man given to making extravagant claims which he can never fulfil. But we have still to see the alazōn in his most damaging and dangerous form. It was not so very dangerous for a man to lay claim to a business or a fortune which he did not possess; but in the days of the NT there were men who made claims which were exceedingly dangerous. These men were the Sophists. The Sophists were Greek wandering teachers who claimed to sell knowledge; and, in effect, the knowledge they claimed to sell was the knowledge of how to be a success in life. The Greeks loved words; and the Sophists claimed to give men subtle skill in words, so that, in the famous phrase ‘they could make the worse appear the better reason’. They claimed to give men that magic of words which would make the orator the master of men. Aristophanes pillories them in The Clouds. He says the whole object of their teaching was to teach men to fascinate the jury, to win impunity to cheat, and to find an argument to justify anything. Isocrates, the great Greek teacher, hated them. ‘They merely try,’ he said, ‘to attract pupils by low fees and big promises’ (Isocrates, Sophist 10. 193a). He said: ‘They make impossible offers, promising to impart to their pupils an exact science of conduct by means of which they will always know what to do. Yet for this science they charge only £15 or £20…. They try to attract pupils by the specious titles of the subjects which they claim to teach, such as Justice and Prudence. ‘But the Justice and Prudence which they teach are of a very peculiar sort, and they give a meaning to the words quite different from that which ordinary people give; in fact they cannot be sure about the meaning themselves, but can only dispute about it. Although they profess to teach justice, they refuse to trust their pupils, and make them deposit the fees with a third party before the course begins’ (Isocrates, Sophist 4. 29Id). Plato savagely attacks them in his book called The Sophist: ‘Hunters after young men of wealth and position, with sham education as their bait, and a fee for their object, making money by a scientific use of quibbles in private conversation, while quite aware that what they are teaching is wrong.’

• From New Testament Words (1964)

  His is the pride that apes humility. (v) The hupokritēs in the end becomes blind. He can read the weather signs but cannot read the signs of God (Luke 12.56). He has deceived others so often that in the end he has deceived himself. (vi) The hupokritēs is thffc man, who in the cause of religion, seduces others from the right way (Gal. 2.13; I Tim. 4.2; I Pet. 2.1). He persuades others to listen to him instead of to God. (vii) In the end the hupokritēs is the man who is under the condemnation of God (Matt. 24.51). There is warning here. Of all sins ‘hypocrisy’ is the easiest to fall into, and of all sins it is most sternly condemned. HUPOMONĒ THE MANLY VIRTUE Hupomonē is one of the noblest of NT words. Normally it is translated ‘patience’ or ‘endurance’, but, as we shall see, there is no single English word which transmits all the fullness of its meaning. In classical Greek it is not a very common word, it is used of the endurance of toil that has come upon a man all against his will, of endurance of the sting of grief, the shock of battle and the coming of death. It has one very interesting use—it is used of the ability of a plant to live under hard and unfavourable circumstances. In later Greek, in the later Jewish literature, it is especially common, for instance in Fourth Maccabees, of that quality of ‘spiritual staying power’ which enabled men to die for their God. In the NT the noun hupomonē is used 30 times, and the corresponding verb hupomenein is used in this sense about 15 times. As we have said the normal translation of the noun is ‘patience’, and of the verb ‘to endure’, but when we examine its use in detail certain great truths, which are inspirations, begin to emerge. (i) Hupomonē is very commonly used in connexion with ‘tribulation’. Tribulation worketh patience (Rom. 5.3). The Christian must approve himself in much ‘patience’ and in ‘afflictions’ (II Cor. 6.4). The Thessalonians are commended for their ‘patience’ and faith in ‘persecutions’ and ‘tribulations’ (II Thess. 1.4). The Christian must be patient (hupomenein) in ‘tribulation’. This use is specially common in the Revelation, which is characteristically the martyr’s book (cp. Rev. 1.9; 3.10; 13.10). (ii) Hupomonē is used in connexion with ‘faith’. The testing of faith produces ‘patience’ (James 1.3). It is hupomonē which perfects faith. (iii) Hupomonē is used in connexion with ‘hope’. Tribulation begets ‘patience’ and patience begets experience and experience begets ‘hope’ (Rom. 5.3). It is ‘patience’ and comfort which produce ‘hope’ (Rom. 15.4, 5). The ‘patience’ of the ‘hope’ of the Thessalonians is praised (I Thess. 1.3). (iv) Hupomonē is connected with ‘joy’. The Christian life is marked with ‘patience’ and long-suffering with joyfulness (Col. 1.11).

• From Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family (1901)

  Four Chapter In May it happened that Uncle Gotthold, Consul Gotthold Buddenbrook, now sixty years old, suffered heart cramps one sad night and died a difficult death in the arms of his wife, née Stuwing. Poor Madame Josephine's son, who, in relation to his posterior and more powerful siblings on Madame's side Antoinette, whose life had been short-lived, had long since contented himself with his fate and in recent years, especially after his nephew left him the Dutch consulate, ate breast candies out of his tin without any grudges. Rather, it was his ladies who cherished and preserved the old family quarrel in the form of a general and vague animosity: not so much his good-natured and limited wife as the three elderly girls, who neither the Consul, nor Antonie, nor Thomas without a little poisonous flame able to look in the eyes... On Thursdays, on the traditional "Children's Days," at four o'clock, everyone would gather in the big house on Mengstrasse to have lunch and spend the evening there - sometimes Consul Krögers or Sesemi Weichbrodt would appear with their uneducated sister - and it was here that the Buddenbrook ladies of Broad Street, with unforced fondness, brought up the subject of Tony's past marriage, in order to induce Madame Grünlich to make some grand speeches, and at the same time exchange short, pointed glances . . . or where they made general observations as to which it was unworthy vanity to dye one's hair, and all too sympathetic inquiries were made about Jakob Kroeger, the consul's nephew. They gave to poor, innocent and patient Klothilde, the only who, in fact, must have felt inferior to them too, to taste a mockery that was by no means so harmless as that which the penniless and hungry girl everyday received from Tom or Tony with drawn and amazed friendliness. They made fun of Klara's strictness and bigotry, they quickly found out that Christian was not on the best terms with Thomas and that, thank God, they didn't have to pay any attention to him, because he was a Hans Quast, a ridiculous man. As for Thomas himself, in whom there was absolutely no weakness to be found, and who in turn met them with an indulgent equanimity that suggested I understand you and I'm sorry for you... they treated him with slightly poisoned respect. But from little Erika, which was by no means so innocuous as the one that the penniless and hungry girl took everyday from Tom or Tony with drawn and amazed friendliness.

• From New Testament Words (1964)

  1.17). Paul refuses to preach with the enticing words of man’s wisdom (I Cor. 2.1, 4, 5, 13). When Paul so strongly condemned the worldly wisdom of words, he was speaking out of the situation of the world of his day. The Greeks had always loved words; and one of the well-known figures of the Greek world was the Sophist. The Sophist was the orator who was as famous as a film star. The Sophist had two faults. He was much more concerned with how he said a thing than with what he was saying. It was cleverness of speech with which he was primarily concerned; and his first aim was to provoke applause. His one desire was to display himself. Dio Chrysostom said of the Sophists: They are all agapē for the murmur of the crowd.... Like men walking in the dark, they move always in the direction of the clapping and the shouting.’ (Dio Chrysostom, Oration 33). One of them said to Epictetus: ‘I want your praise.’ ‘What do you mean by my praise?’ asked Epictetus. ‘I want you to say Bravo! and Wonderful!’ said the Sophist (Epictetus, Discourses 3.23.24). Epictetus describes the scene as the professor went round after the lecture was done. ‘What did you think of me today?’ ‘Upon my life I thought you were admirable.’ ‘What did you think of my best passage?’ ‘What was that?’ ‘Where I described Pan and the Nymphs.’ ‘Oh, it was excessively well done’ (Epictetus, Discourses 3.23.11). He describes another scene. ‘A much larger audience today, I think,’ says the professor. ‘Yes, much larger.’ ‘Five hundred, I should guess.’ ‘Oh, nonsense, it could not have been less than a thousand.’ ‘Why, that is more than Dio ever had; I wonder why it was: they appreciated what I said, too.’ ‘Beauty, sir, can move even a stone.’ Paul knew the preachers and the teachers who were more concerned with epigrams than truth, whose one desire was to display their own cleverness and to awaken the applause of the crowd. He knew the preacher and the teacher who was thinking more of what men were thinking of him than what God was thinking of him. He knew the preacher and the teacher who was more concerned that men should look at him than that men should look at Christ. That is what Paul meant by the wisdom of this world. It is not yet completely dead. (iii) Such wisdom did not really know God (I Cor. 1.21). It was seductive far more than it was instructive (I Cor.2.4, 5). It was man’s wisdom, not God’s wisdom (I Cor. 2.13). It was the wisdom of the clever debater who was more concerned with a display of mental acrobatics than with the search for the truth (I Cor. 1.20).

• From Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family (1901)

  Yes, it is truly beautiful to be an artist!« Then he started again. But suddenly he broke off. All of a sudden he became serious: so surprising that it seemed as if a mask were falling off his face; he got up, ran his hand through his sparse hair, went to another place and stayed there, silent, ill-tempered, with restless eyes and an expression as if he were listening for some weird noise. ... "Sometimes I find Christian a bit strange," Madame Grünlich said to her brother Thomas one evening when they were alone ... "How does he actually speak? He goes into such strange detail, it seems to me... or how should I put it! He looks at things from such a strange angle, doesn't he?..." 'Yes,' said Tom, 'I quite understand what you mean, Tony. Christian is heartily indiscreet...it's hard to put into words. He's missing something that you can call balance, personal balance. On the one hand, he is incapable of keeping his composure in the face of other people's tactless naivety... He's not up to it, he doesn't know how to cover it up, he loses his composure altogether... But on the other hand, he can also in theWisely lose the composure that he gets into the most unpleasant blabbering and turns his most intimate parts on the outside. Sometimes that sounds downright spooky. Isn't it like talking in a fever? The imaginative lacks attitude and consideration in exactly the same way... Oh, the thing is quite simply that Christian is preoccupied too much with himself, with what is going on inside himself. Sometimes a veritable mania seizes him to bring to light and speak out the smallest and deepest of these occurrences... occurrences that a sensible person even cares about not concerned about which he does not want to know, for the simple reason that he would be embarrassed to share it. There is so much shamelessness in such disclosure, Tony!... You see: even a person other than Christian may say that he loves the theatre; but he will say it with a different accent, more casually, in short: more modestly. But Christian says it with an emphasis that means: Isn't my infatuation with the stage something incredibly strange and interesting? He struggles with words, pretends to struggle to express something lavishly subtle, hidden, and strange..." "Let me tell you something," he continued after a pause, throwing his cigarette through the wrought-iron door into the stove... "I myself have sometimes thought about this anxious, vain, and curious self-occupation, for I used to also inclined to do so.

• From Heptaméron (1559)

  " To my thinking," said Hircan, " the tall gentleman you have been telling us of had such a faint heart that he did not deserve the honour of having his adventure talkvl of. Having such a fine opportunity, nothing should have prevented him from profiting by it. His love, it must be owned, was not very great, since the fear of death and of shame found a place beside it in his heart." "And what could the poor gentleman have done against two women .'* " said Nomerfide. " He should have killed the old one," replied Hircan, " and the young one, seeing herself alone, would have been half vanquished." "Killed!" exclaimed Nomerfide ; "you would turn a lover into a murderer ! It would be a terrible thing to fall into your hands, I see." " If I had pushed matters so far," continued Hircan, " I should think myself ruined in reputation unless I went the whole way to the end." " Do you think it matter for wonder," said Geburon. " that a princess trained to virtue proves too much for one man t What would you say, then, to one woman in low life escaping from two men ! " " Geburon," said Ennasuite, " I call upon you for the fifth novel. If I am not mistaken, you know one about this poor woman which will not be displeasing to the company." " Be it so, then," said Geburon ; " I will tell you a story which I know to be true, having examined into it First day:, QUEEN OF NAVARRE. 43 on the spot. You will see from it that princesses arc not the only prudent and the only virtuous of their sex, and that often those who are reputed very amorous and very sly are less so than is supposed." NOVEL V. A boatwoman escapes from two Cordeliers, who wanted to force her, and exposes them to public derision.

• From The Swimming-Pool Library (1988)

  ‘Really? I don’t think …’ Then I saw that it was one of his conversational hairpins. I followed his glance across the room to where a dapper man, with crisp gold hair going grey, was sitting at the central table. Nantwich made a kind of diving or salaaming motion with his hands, and the man nodded and smiled. ‘Ronald Staines, you must know his stuff, of course.’ ‘I’m not sure that I do.’ I was sure he must be a dreadful photographer. ‘What sort of thing does he specialise in?’ ‘Oh, very special. You must meet, you’d love him,’ said Nantwich recklessly. I suffered a twinge of the mildly oppressive sensation one gets when one realises that the person one is talking to has plans. ‘Actually, there are lots of people, not yet dead, that I’d like you to meet. All my society is pretty bloody interesting. Falling to bits, of course, ga-ga as often as not, and a coachload of absolute Mary-Anns, I won’t deny it. But you young people know less and less of the old, they of you too, of course. I like young people around: you’re a bonny lot, you’re so heartless but you do me good.’ After this bizarre outburst he sat back and lapsed into one of his vacant spells, occasionally emitting an ‘Eh?’ or giving a shrug. I wondered what his complaint was: not just senility, clearly, as he could be sharp and to the point; was it hardening of the arteries, some slowly spreading constriction that brought on his spasmodic torpor? I knew that I must judge it by medical criteria, although I reckoned that he took advantage of his condition to further the egocentric discontinuities of his talk. Looking around the room I saw clear cases of other such afflictions, and thought how people of a certain kind gather together as if to authenticate a caricature of themselves—their freaks and foibles, unremarkable in the individual, being comically evident in the mass. As spoonfuls of soup were raised tremblingly to whiskery lips and hands cupped huge deaf ears to catch murmured and clipped remarks, the lunchers, all in some way distinguished or titled, retired generals, directors of banks, even authors, lost their distinction to me. They were anonymous, a type—and it was impossible to see how they could cope outside in the noise and race of the streets. How much did they know of the derisive life of the city which they ruled and from which they preserved themselves so immaculately and Edwardianly intact? As my eyes roamed across the room they came to rest on Abdul, who stood abstractedly sharpening his knife on the steel and gazing at me as if I were a meal.

• From Heptaméron (1559)

  " To my thinking," said Hircan, " the tall gentleman you have been telling us of had such a faint heart that he did not deserve the honour of having his adventure talkvl of. Having such a fine opportunity, nothing should have prevented him from profiting by it. His love, it must be owned, was not very great, since the fear of death and of shame found a place beside it in his heart." "And what could the poor gentleman have done against two women .'* " said Nomerfide. " He should have killed the old one," replied Hircan, " and the young one, seeing herself alone, would have been half vanquished." "Killed!" exclaimed Nomerfide ; "you would turn a lover into a murderer ! It would be a terrible thing to fall into your hands, I see." " If I had pushed matters so far," continued Hircan, " I should think myself ruined in reputation unless I went the whole way to the end." " Do you think it matter for wonder," said Geburon. " that a princess trained to virtue proves too much for one man t What would you say, then, to one woman in low life escaping from two men ! " " Geburon," said Ennasuite, " I call upon you for the fifth novel. If I am not mistaken, you know one about this poor woman which will not be displeasing to the company." " Be it so, then," said Geburon ; " I will tell you a story which I know to be true, having examined into it First day:, QUEEN OF NAVARRE. 43 on the spot. You will see from it that princesses arc not the only prudent and the only virtuous of their sex, and that often those who are reputed very amorous and very sly are less so than is supposed." NOVEL V. A boatwoman escapes from two Cordeliers, who wanted to force her, and exposes them to public derision.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  REMIGIUS. (ap. Gloss. ord.) Or, by the two thieves are denoted all those who strive after the continence of a strict life. They who do this with a single intention of pleasing God, are denoted by him who was crucified on the right hand; they who do it out of desire of human praise or any less worthy motive, are signified by him who was crucified on the left. 27:39–4439. And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, 40. And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. 41. Likewise also the Chief Priests mocking him, with the Scribes and elders, said, 42. He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. 43. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God. 44. The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. CHRYSOSTOM. Having stripped and crucified Christ, they go yet further, and seeing Him on the cross revile Him. JEROME. They revile him because they passed by that way, and would not walk in the true way of the Scriptures. They wagged their heads, because they had just before shifted their feet, and stood not upon a rock. The foolish rabble cast the same taunt against Him that the false witnesses had invented, Aha! thou that destroyest the temple of God and rebuildest it in three days. REMIGIUS. Aha! is an interjection of taunt and mockery. HILARY. What forgiveness then for them, when by the resurrection of His body they shall see the temple of God rebuilt within three days? CHRYSOSTOM. And as beginning to extenuate His former miracles, they add, Save thyself; if thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. de Cruc. et Latr. ii.) But He, on the contrary, does not come down from the cross, because He is the Son of God; for He therefore came that He might be crucified for us. JEROME. Even the Scribes and Pharisees reluctantly confess that He saved others. Your own judgment then condemns you, for in that He saved others, He could if He would have saved Himself. PSEUDO-CHRYSOSTOM.d But attend to this speech of these children of the Devil, how they imitate their father’s speech. The Devil said, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down; (Matt. 4:6.) and they say now, If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  CHRYSOSTOM. Yet the Lord enjoins nothing of this sort to be observed towards those who are without the Church, such as He does in reproving a brother. Of those that are without He says. If any smite thee on the one cheek, offer to him the other also. (Mat. 5:39.) as Paul speaks, What have I to do to judge them that are without? (1 Cor. 5:12.) But brethren he bids us reprove, and turn away from. JEROME. That He says, As a heathen and a publican, shews that he is to be more abhorred, who under the name of a believer does the deeds of an unbeliever, than those that are openly gentiles. Those He calls publicans, who pursue worldly gain, and levy contributions by trading, cheating, and villainous frauds, and perjuries.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  AMBROSE. He would not have said that all the temptation was ended, had there not been in the three temptations which have been described the materials for every crime; for the causes of temptations are the causes of desire, namely, the delight of the flesh, the pomp of vain-glory, greediness of power. ATHANASIUS. (non occ.) The enemy came to Him as man, but not finding in Him the marks of his ancient seed, he departed. AMBROSE. You see then that the devil is not obstinate on the field, is wont to give way to true virtue; and if he ceases not to hate, he yet dreads to advance, for so he escapes a more frequent defeat. As soon then as he heard the name of God, he retired (it is said) for a season, for afterwards he comes not to tempt, but to fight openly. THEOPHYLACT. Or, having tempted Him in the desert with pleasure, he retires from Him until the crucifixion, when he was about to tempt Him with sorrow. MAXIMUS. (lib. ad. piet. ex. 12.) Or the devil had prompted Christ in the desert to prefer the things of the world to the love of God. The Lord commanded him to leave Him, (which itself was a mark of Divine love.) It was afterwards then enough to make Christ appear the false advocate of love to His neighbours, and therefore while He was teaching the paths of life, the devil stirred up the Gentiles and Pharisees to lay traps for Him that He might be brought to hate them. But the Lord, from the feeling of love which He had towards them, exhorted, reproved, ceased not to bestow mercy upon them. AUGUSTINE. (de con. Ev. lib. ii. c. 6.) The whole of this narrative Matthew relates in a similar manner, but not in the same order. It is uncertain therefore which took place first, whether the kingdoms of the earth were first shewn unto Him, and He was afterwards taken up to the pinnacle of the temple; or whether this came first, and the other afterwards. It matters little however which, as long as it is clear that they all took place. MAXIMUS. (ut sup.) But the reason why one Evangelist places this event first, and another that, is because vain-glory and covetousness give birth in turn to one another. ORIGEN. But John, who had commenced his Gospel from God, saying, In the beginning was the Word, did not describe the temptation of the Lord, because God can not be tempted, of whom he wrote. But because in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke the human generations are given, and in Mark it is man who is tempted, therefore Matthew, Luke, and Mark have described the temptation of the Lord. 4:14–2114. And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. 15. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.

• From The Triumph of Christianity (2018)

  < 75 < Lecture 11  Early Christianities `Another very important early Christian group, called the Marcionites, took what was the opposite view in many ways. The group is named after its founder, Marcion, a 2nd-century theologian and teacher. yIn contrast to the Jewish Christian groups, Marcion’s hero in the faith was Paul, whom he saw as the ultimate authority for what it meant to be Christian. Marcion took the views of Paul and drew them to a logical conclusion. yThe God of the Jews who gave the law to Moses was a different God from the God of Jesus; the God of the Old Testament was not the God of the New Testament. yThe material world was created by the wrathful God of the Old Testament who gave his law and then condemned everyone for not keeping it. The God of Jesus was one of love and mercy who came into the world to deliver people from the judgmental creator God. `The final set of adherents to mention is the Gnostics, which comprised multiple groups. These groups had different mythological systems, writings, beliefs, and even gods. But there were some things that held them together. yThey all held to an extensive divine realm with numerous divine beings inhabiting it. yThey told extensive myths to explain where these divine beings came from and how they related to one another. yThese myths typically explained as well how the material world came into being as a result of a cosmic catastrophe. yThis world was seen as an awful realm of pain and suffering. Humans were trapped in this material world because of their material bodies, prisons for their immortal souls. yTo escape their bodily entrapment, souls needed to learn the secret knowledge that can bring salvation. The word knowledge in Greek is gnosis; that is why these groups are called gnostic. They were made up of people who knew the secrets that can bring salvation. < 76 < Lecture 11  Early Christianities yThere were some gnostic groups that were not Christian. Those that were Christian are the ones we know most about; they taught that Christ was a divine being who came from the divine realm above to reveal the secret knowledge that can bring salvation. yIt was not his death and resurrection that ultimately mattered. It was the secret teachings he delivered. yThese teachings are often conveyed in the myths themselves, some of which we now have in writings that have been discovered in modern times. These books were lost because Gnostics, like the Jewish Christians, the Marcionites, and all the other competing groups, were squashed by their opposition. < 76 <