Where does the name “Ship of Fools” come from?
The first printed reference to the name is in a 15th-century allegorical poem, The Ship of Fools, by German poet Sebastian Brant, who set his drama on a ship crewed by all the fools of the world. Here are the relevant lines from the poem’s prologue… I have pondered how a ship Of fools I’d suitably equip – A galley, brig, bark, skiff, or float, A carack, scow, dredge, racing boat, A sled, cart, barrow, carryall – One vessel would be far too small To carry all the fools I know… This site got the name Ship of Fools from a different source, though. Simon Jenkins, who named the magazine which eventually became this website, records the moment of epiphany thus: “When I was a theology student, I was in the library one day reading a biography of the theologian Karl Barth (like you do) and came across a letter he wrote to a friend. The two of them were planning to launch a journal and the friend had suggested giving it the name, “The Word of God”. Karl Barth thought this was a bit over the
The first printed reference to the name is in a 15th-century allegorical poem, The Ship of Fools, by German poet Sebastian Brant, who set his drama on a ship crewed by all the fools of the world. Here are the relevant lines from the poem’s prologue… I have pondered how a ship Of fools I’d suitably equip – A galley, brig, bark, skiff, or float, A carack, scow, dredge, racing boat, A sled, cart, barrow, carryall – One vessel would be far too small To carry all the fools I know… This site got the name Ship of Fools from a different source, though. Simon Jenkins, who named the magazine which eventually became this website, records the moment of epiphany thus: “When I was a theology student, I was in the library one day reading a biography of the theologian Karl Barth (like you do) and came across a letter he wrote to a friend. The two of them were planning to launch a journal and the friend had suggested giving it the name, “The Word of God”. Karl Barth thought this was a bit over the
