[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"$fwI7XiBAIjFwHb-mZ-BCWwgcgEfA96aVhbi-fDBJgvNQ":3,"$fz-5fN3xE6HcdDhVmxiS8qLo-OoMB6j_Xbzm_SyxWUUU":52},{"author":4,"tags":51},{"author_id":5,"author_name":6,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"bio":9,"short_bio":10,"bio_jsonld":11,"slug":49,"image_url":50},12536,"James Martin","J",48,"The latter half of the twentieth century saw rapid expansion in computing and information technology, as practitioners worked to make sense of an industry transforming nearly every aspect of modern life. James Martin, born on 19 October 1933 in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, emerged from that period as a figure who worked across several of its dimensions simultaneously.\n\nMartin was a United Kingdom citizen who was educated at Keble College and Rhodes University. He worked in a range of professional capacities — as a computer scientist, engineer, consultant, writer, screenwriter, and businessperson — writing in the English language throughout his career. This breadth of activity placed him at intersections that more narrowly defined practitioners did not typically occupy, allowing him to engage with computing both as a technical discipline and as a field with practical business and communicative dimensions.\n\nMartin received the Turing Talk, a recognition associated with the computing field, which stands as a concrete marker of his standing among peers in that profession. He died on 24 June 2013 in Bermuda, having built a career that spanned the formative decades of the computing industry. His work as a consultant and writer, conducted alongside his technical and engineering roles, reflects the range of ways in which he engaged with the field over the course of his professional life.","The latter half of the twentieth century saw rapid expansion in computing and information technology, as practitioners worked to make sense of an industry transforming nearly every aspect of modern life. James Martin, born on 19 October 1933 in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, emerged from that period as a figure who worked across several of its dimensions simultaneously.",{"@graph":12,"@context":48},[13,25],{"@id":14,"name":6,"@type":15,"sameAs":16,"birthDate":22,"deathDate":23,"description":24},"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3806666","Person",[14,17,18,19,20,21],"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Martin_(author)","https://viaf.org/viaf/108137621/","https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n50040931","https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL319329A","https://d-nb.info/gnd/124113176","1933-10-19","2013-06-24","British information technology consultant and writer (1933–2013)",{"@type":26,"author":27,"headline":30,"isBasedOn":31,"mainEntity":32,"reviewedBy":33,"articleBody":9,"dateCreated":34,"dateModified":35,"additionalProperty":36,"creativeWorkStatus":47},"Article",{"name":28,"@type":29},"Editorial Team","Organization","James Martin — biography",[14,17,19,20],{"@id":14},{"name":28,"@type":29},"2026-05-24T17:40:58.750916+00:00","2026-05-24T17:59:59.691027+00:00",[37,41,44],{"@type":38,"value":39,"propertyID":40},"PropertyValue","Q3806666","wikidata",{"@type":38,"value":42,"propertyID":43},"1.000","factscore",{"@type":38,"value":45,"propertyID":46},"claude-sonnet-4-6","draftModel","AI-drafted, auto-published","https://schema.org","james-martin",null,[],{"quotes":53,"pagination":117},[54,62,68,74,80,86,92,98,104,111],{"id":55,"quote_text":56,"author_id":5,"source_id":57,"has_image":58,"author":59,"source":60,"quote_tag":61,"commentary":50},3106601,"Great works are often quiet works.",6,false,{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":49,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":50},{},[],{"id":63,"quote_text":64,"author_id":5,"source_id":57,"has_image":58,"author":65,"source":66,"quote_tag":67,"commentary":50},3106592,"But Jesus accepts what we give, blesses it, breaks it open, and magnifies it. Often in ways that we don’t see or cannot see. Or will not be able to see in this lifetime. Who knows what a kind word does? Who knows what a single act of charity will do? Sometimes the smallest word or gesture can change a life.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":49,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":50},{},[],{"id":69,"quote_text":70,"author_id":5,"source_id":57,"has_image":58,"author":71,"source":72,"quote_tag":73,"commentary":50},3106590,"The multiplicity of desires leads to a multiplicity of paths to God.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":49,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":50},{},[],{"id":75,"quote_text":76,"author_id":5,"source_id":57,"has_image":58,"author":77,"source":78,"quote_tag":79,"commentary":50},3106586,"Paradoxically, admitting your own powerlessness can free you from the need to fix everything and allow us to be truly present to the other person, and to listen. A cartoon in The New Yorker had one woman saying testily to her friend, ‘There’s no point in our being friends if you won’t let me fix you.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":49,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":50},{},[],{"id":81,"quote_text":82,"author_id":5,"source_id":57,"has_image":58,"author":83,"source":84,"quote_tag":85,"commentary":50},3106583,"Overall, being spiritual and being religious are both part of being in relationship with God. Neither can be fully realized without the other. Religion without spirituality can become a dry list of dogmatic statements divorced from the life of the spirit. This is what Jesus warned against. Spirituality without religion can become a self-centered complacency divorced from the wisdom of a community. That’s what I’m warning against. For St. Ignatius.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":49,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":50},{},[],{"id":87,"quote_text":88,"author_id":5,"source_id":57,"has_image":58,"author":89,"source":90,"quote_tag":91,"commentary":50},3106579,"First, you’re not God. Second, this isn’t heaven. Third, don’t be an ass.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":49,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":50},{},[],{"id":93,"quote_text":94,"author_id":5,"source_id":57,"has_image":58,"author":95,"source":96,"quote_tag":97,"commentary":50},3106574,"Without the Jesuits you wouldn’t be enjoying your gin and tonic.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":49,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":50},{},[],{"id":99,"quote_text":100,"author_id":5,"source_id":57,"has_image":58,"author":101,"source":102,"quote_tag":103,"commentary":50},3106571,"The problem was that whenever I considered “earning a living,” I thought mostly about the “earning” and nothing about the “living.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":49,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":50},{},[],{"id":105,"quote_text":106,"author_id":5,"source_id":57,"has_image":58,"author":107,"source":108,"quote_tag":109,"commentary":110},3106569,"Religion can provide a check to my tendency to think that I am the center of the universe, that I know better than anyone about God, and that God speaks most clearly through me.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":49,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":50},{},[],"**The Backstory**\nThis quote from James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author, reflects his introspective and self-aware approach to spirituality. As a contemporary Catholic writer, Martin has written extensively on the intersection of faith and modern life, often emphasizing the importance of humility and discernment. The sentiment expressed in this quote suggests that during a time of growing individualism and secularization, Martin was grappling with the potential pitfalls of unchecked ego and the dangers of spiritual narcissism.\n\n**The Hidden Insight**\nWhat lies beneath this quote is the tension between the desire for certainty and the need for humility in one's spiritual pursuits. Martin is acknowledging the universal human tendency to believe that one's own perspective is the most accurate, yet he is also recognizing the limitations and potential pitfalls of such an attitude. This paradox highlights the delicate balance between confidence in one's convictions and the openness to alternative viewpoints that is essential for genuine spiritual growth.\n\n**How to Use This**\nTo apply this mindset today, modern professionals and creatives can benefit from regularly practicing self-reflection and critical self-assessment. By acknowledging the potential for their own biases and assumptions to cloud their judgment, they can cultivate a more humble and open-minded approach to their work, one that is receptive to diverse perspectives and willing to revise or even abandon their initial convictions when presented with compelling evidence to the contrary.",{"id":112,"quote_text":113,"author_id":5,"source_id":57,"has_image":58,"author":114,"source":115,"quote_tag":116,"commentary":50},3106560,"This is the greatest challenge of faith, says Polish, “to live with a God we cannot fully understand, whose actions we explain at our own peril.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":49,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":50},{},[],{"currentPage":118,"totalPages":119,"totalItems":8,"itemsPerPage":120},1,5,10]