Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

Edgar Sheffield Brightman

Philosopher and Christian Theologian in the Methodist tradition, associated with Boston University and Liberal Theology, promulgated the philosophy known as Boston Personalism.

"If a person believes that the only approach to truth is the approach of the laboratory, he will never be able to find a spiritual God. God is a property of the universe as a whole, and not of its observable parts."

"The Kingdom of Heaven cometh not by observation. It comes by the appreciation of the signs of the presence and power of God in our inner experience."

"The search for God is a search for the purpose of life and for an unfailing source of eternal value."

"If there is a God, man's immortality is certain. If not, Immortality would not be worth having."

"The maxim "Think for yourself," is basic; but the further maxim, "Think socially," must be added if philosophy is to do its whole duty."

"No totalitarians, no wars, no fears, famines or perils of any kind can really break a man's spirit until he breaks it himself by surrendering. Tyranny has many dread powers, but not the power to rule the spirit."

"The spiritual life is indeed a life of struggle; but it is also a life of well-grounded hope. Hope is grounded in freedom, and freedom is grounded in all the high purposes and powers of spirit, human and divine. The last word of spirit is Victory."