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About this quote

What does it mean?
He argues the Bible should be appreciated as a literary work rather than literal divine instruction.
In plain terms
Treat the Bible as art and story, not as strict rules.
What can you take from it?
Approach sacred texts with literary sensitivity.

Where it applies

  • biblical studies
  • faith communities
  • academic reading

Putting it to work

  • reading scripture critically
  • appreciating religious art
  • reducing dogma

Questions to consider

  • How should religious texts be read?
  • Can literature and faith coexist?

Another view

Believers may find this dismissive of their spiritual convictions.

More from George Santayana

  1. Miracles are propitious accidents, the natural causes of which are too complicated to be readily understood.

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  2. England is the paradise of individuality, eccentricity, heresy, anomalies, hobbies, and humors.

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  3. Perhaps the only true dignity of man is his capacity to despise himself.

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