“Doubt, or the absence of faith and naivete, is a vice peculiar to this age, for no one is obedient nowadays; and naivete, which means the dominance of temperament in the manner, is a gift from God, possessed by very few.”
“How could such a powerful animal possess so generous a temperament as to carry man obediently and thoughtfully through the ages”
“Surely--But I am very off from that.From surely. From indeed. From the decent arrowthat was my clean naivete and my faith.This morning, men deliver wounds and death.They will deliver death and wounds tomorrow.And I doubt all. You. Or a violet.”
“Innocence might be its own reward, but when it boardered on naivete, if not stupidity, it was unforgivable.”
“Proponents of canonical hermeneutics are either unintentionally or willfully naive here-in most cases the naivete is willful. Canonical readings simply act as if the evolution of the text is irrelevant to its meaning; usually this is because it is deemed to be more expedient for the purpose of exhorting a faith community if such considerations are put aside.”
“Faith is a very clever concept. We invented God from our imagination and we use faith to justify His absence from reality.”