Watercolor, charcoal and plaster on paper

Many of the church fathers were quite aware of how public ignorance worked for them. Some of what Gregory of Nazianzus wrote was, “ A little jargon is all that is necessary to impose upon the people. The less they comprehend, the more they admire.” This kind of thought was helpful to spread the faith, so it was fostered. However, in continuing that practice, the church lost much of its history from the inaccurate, unnoted, or garbled reporting of events. Even worse was the very idea of experimentation had been replaced by credulous reliance on theological authority.

-- Walker, Barbara G., The Women’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, HarperCollins, San Francisco, 1983. Pages 210-211.