Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Robert M. Price

Quote by Robert M. Price

“"Heresy," by the way, simply means "choice." It came to mean "thoughtcrime," implying it was blasphemy to presume to choose your own belief instead of swallowing what the bishops spoonfed you.”

Quote by Robert M. Price

Create image

Author

Robert M. Price
Robert M. Price

Robert M. Price is an American writer known for his critical studies of religion and mythology. His work spans a variety of fields, including biblical studies, Christian theology, and literary criticism. more

You May Also Like

“In broad outline and in detail, the life of Jesus as portrayed in the gospels corresponds to the worldwide Mythic Hero Archetype in which a divine hero's birth is supernaturally predicted and conceived, the infant hero escapes attempts to kill him, demonstrates his precocious wisdom already as a child, receives a divine commission, defeats demons, wins acclaim, is hailed as king, then betrayed, losing popular favor, executed, often on a hilltop, and is vindicated and taken up to heaven.”

ChildrenJesusWinningHeavenTakenAtheismDivineBirthKingsHeroLosingDefeatDetailsPositive AtheismFavorsDemonBroadsBetrayedInfantOutlinesArchetypeAcclaimPrecociousVindicated
Author:Robert M. Price
Create image

“If, when we compare two versions of a story, the second known to be a retelling of the first, and find that the second has more of a miraculous element, we may reasonably conclude we have legendary (or midrashic or whatever) embellishment. The tale has grown in the telling. This sort of comparison is common in extrabiblical research and no one holds that it cannot properly indicate legend formation there.”

IfsFirstsMayTwoStoriesReligionCommonKnownAtheismElementsResearchPositive AtheismTalesVersionsCompareComparisonLegendsMiraculousFormationLegendaryRetellingEmbellishment
Book:Beyond Born Again: Toward Evangelical Maturity
Create image

“The piety of "having a personal relationship with Christ" ... is alien to the New Testament... but evangelicals elevate it to the shibboleth of salvation! Unless you have a personal relationship with Jesus, buster, one day you will be boiling in Hell. Sheesh! Talk about the fury of a personal savior scorned!”

JesusChristHellAtheismOne DaySalvationPositive AtheismAliensSaviorTestamentFuryNew TestamentPietyPersonal RelationshipsBoilingScornedBusters
Author:Robert M. Price
Create image

“But if they did really refer to some kind of a "personal relationship," it would in effect be a case of channeling. I suspect this is why fundamentalists who condemn New Age channelers do not dismiss it as a fraud..., but instead think that Ramtha and the others are channeling demons. If they said it was sheer delusion, they know where the other four fingers would wind up pointing!”

IfsThinkingKnowsKindSaidAgeCasesFourAtheismEffectsWindFingersPositive AtheismDemonDelusionSuspectsFraudSheerThey SaidNew AgePointingChannelingPersonal Relationships
Author:Robert M. Price
Create image

“It is quite likely ... that the central figure of the gospels is not based on any historical individual. Put simply, not only is the theological "Christ of faith" a synthetic construct of theologians, a symbolic "Uncle Sam" figure, but if you could travel ... back to First-Century Nazareth, you would not find a Jesus living there.”

IfsFirstsJesusIndividualChristAtheismCenturyFiguresHistoricalPositive AtheismUnclesConstructsTheologianSymbolicTheologicalSyntheticNazarethUncle Sam
Author:Robert M. Price
Create image

“As I conceive this doctrine to be a gross misrepresentation of the character and moral government of God, and to affect many other articles in the scheme of Christianity, greatly disfiguring and depraving it; I shall show, ... that it has no countenance whatever in reason, or the Scriptures; and, therefore, that the whole doctrine of atonement, with every modification of it, has been a departure from the primitive and genuine doctrine of Christianity.”

Has BeensReasonWholeCharacterShowsGovernmentMoralChristianityAtheismPositive AtheismScriptureGenuineDoctrineArticlesPrimitiveSchemesGrossAtonementDepartureCountenanceModificationMisrepresentation
Author:Joseph Priestley
Create image