Jack Miles Quotes & Sayings

Can a literary character be said to live a life from birth to death or otherwise to undergo a development from beginning to end? Or is a literary character-fixed on the pages of a book, trapped forever in the same few words and actions-the very opposite of a living, developing human being? — Jack Miles

Religion [...] may be seen as literature that has succeeded beyond any writer's wildest dreams. — Jack Miles

God is no saint, strange to say. There is much to object to in him, and many attempts have been made to improve him. — Jack Miles

The profound originality of a divine-human pact in which both parties complain endlessly about each other has too rarely been acknowledged as such. — Jack Miles

Lord can restore a covenant with Israel and yet continue — Jack Miles

Philosophers of religion have sometimes claimed that all gods are projections of the human personality, and so it may be. But if so, we must at least recognize the empirical fact that many human beings, rather than project their own personalities upon gods wholly of their own creation, have chosen to introject - take into themselves - the religious projections of other human personalities. — Jack Miles

Radio is a wonderful medium, but the clock is very unforgiving, and the discussion of this matter included in the interview as originally recorded had to be cut to fit the allotted time. I am happy to provide this elaboration to correct the record. — Jack Miles

Refuse to deny what you know but consent to how little that will always be, and, when the moment comes, the sky will open and the liberating intrusion will descend upon you. — Jack Miles

You think you are alone. Then you raise your eyes, and you are surrounded. — Jack Miles