Time & Perspective Quote by Fulton J. Sheen

Sheen lands the joke with the ease of a practiced broadcaster: he calls the Evangelists his "four writers" as if he were the star of a weekly variety show thanking the staff in the closing credits. The line is funny because it drags something sacred into the grammar of modern celebrity, then snaps it back into reverence. It flatters the audience's media literacy - we recognize the cadence of an acceptance speech - while reminding them that Christianity, too, runs on texts, authorship, and narrative craft.

The intent is twofold. On the surface, it is gratitude: a cleric acknowledging the sources behind his preaching. Underneath, its a savvy act of positioning. Sheen, a major Catholic media figure in mid-century America, had to compete in the same attention economy as television hosts and radio personalities. By framing Scripture as his writers' room, he disarms the suspicion that religion is anti-modern or anti-entertainment. He is basically saying: I know how this medium works, and I also know where the real material comes from.

The subtext has a subtle theological edge. Calling Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John "writers" emphasizes human voices and styles, not a single flattened divine monologue. That nod to authorial difference can make faith feel more plausible to a modern audience: not magic dictation, but testimony, editing, and lived memory. Sheen's wit isn't just charm; its an argument that the Gospel belongs in the same cultural conversation as any compelling story - except, in his telling, its the story that wrote him first.