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Quote by Thomas C. Oden

“I went into the ministry to use the church to elicit political change according to a soft Marxist vision of wealth distribution and proletarian empowerment. Edrita [his wife] could sense that I was on a long and uncertain path. She was always more conservative than I, but she did share my basic social values and was willing at least to let me test my political follies...Whenever I read the New Testament after 1950, I was trying to read it entirely without its crucial premises of incarnation and resurrection. That required a lot of circular reasoning for me to establish what the text said. I habitually assumed that truth in religion was finally reducible to economics (with Marx) or psychosexual motives (with Freud) or self assertive power (with Nietzsche). It was truly a self-deceptive time for me, but I had no inkling of its insidious dangers.”

Quote by Thomas C. Oden

Work

A Change of Heart: A Personal and Theological Memoir

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Author

Thomas C. Oden

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“Неужели вам непонятно, что задача новояза – сузить горизонты мысли? В конце концов мы сделаем мыслепреступление попросту невозможным – для него не останется слов. Каждое необходимое понятие будет выражаться одним-единственным словом, значение слова будет строго определено, а побочные значения упразднены и забыты. В одиннадцатом издании, мы уже на подходе к этой цели. Но процесс будет продолжаться и тогда, когда нас с вами не будет на свете. С каждым годом всё меньше и меньше слов, всё уже и уже границы мысли. Разумеется, и теперь для мыслепреступления нет ни оправданий, ни причин. Это только вопрос самодисциплины, управления реальностью. Но в конце концов и в них нужда отпадёт. Революция завершится тогда, когда язык станет совершенным.”

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