From the Fathers of the Church blog,
In the middle of the fourth century, St. Gregory of Nyssa gave in to
a fit of complaint. Ordinary people, he said, were spending entirely
too much time talking about theology. “Mere youths and tradesmen,
off-hand dogmatists in theology, servants too, and slaves that have
been flogged … are solemn with us and philosophical about things
incomprehensible … If you ask for change someone philosophizes to you
on the begotten and the unbegotten.”
And the problem followed poor Gregory all over the marketplace. If he asked the baker the price of his bread, he got Trinitarian doctrine instead. If he asked whether the bath was ready, he got still more speculation.
Gosh, times have changed. Not too long ago, a friend of mine ordered a Christmas cake to read “Happy birthday, Jesus,” and the baker asked her how that name was spelled.
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