Talk:Ad maiorem Dei gloriam

Merge proposals
I suggest merging this article into Society of Jesus.--Mm35173 14:51, 2 August 2005 (UTC)

I suggest merging this article into List of Latin phrases, unless there's much more significant information to add here in the future that would make it a little less stubby. -Silence 18:58, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

See I Corinthians 10:31 "do everything for the glory of God". m.e. 01:38, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Yes, that would be a start. This phrase does not originate with the Jesuits, as the article implies. --Wetman 02:47, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

Well, Jesus also said "Could you pass me the salt, please?" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.37.40.80 (talk) 16:32, August 26, 2007 (UTC)

J.S. Bach signed his cantatas with SDG, Soli Deo Gloria. The sources cited claiming Bach sometimes used AMDG instead either cite a very rare instance or are mistaken. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.97.60.48 (talk) 06:37, 30 July 2010 (UTC)

Latin aspects
Which one is more correct: Is there any reason why it's spelled Ad maiorem Dei gloriam? Olentz 17:09, 17 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam or
 * Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam

According to my WEBSTER'S II NEW RIVERSIDE UNIVERSITY Dictionary’s section on Foreign Words and Phrases, it is spelled "ad majorem Dei gloriam". However, the "Latin Alphabet" does not have a "J or a j", so, the letter "I or i" is used.

It depends on your Latin... originally it would have been written AD MAIOREM DEI GLORIAM; this was before the invention of the letter 'J'. m.e. 01:35, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

This is not really correct: often Latin scholars do write i for consonental j since J wasn't invented in the time of Cicero and Caesar; however by the time of the founding of the Society of Jesus, J most certainly did exist, and people were using it in Latin. Formally though, j and i are considered identical in Latin, so neither variant is wrong (however I think that majorem is more historically accurate). --194.98.58.121 (talk) 15:35, 14 November 2008 (UTC)

AMDG as a motto
Who cares if it's Marquette's motto... it's the motto of nearly every Jesuit institution (except, ironically, the one i attend) 69.122.137.200 01:52, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

For the GREATER glory of God
I'd like to see some discussion of the reason for inserting the adjective greater into a commonly occuring phrase from the Bible. Logically, it doesn't make much sense. If something is done for the glory of God, something else done for the greater glory of God would seem like a matter of immature one-upmanship. Is this discussed anywhere important enough so that we could have a passus about it in this article? __meco (talk) 16:04, 17 October 2008 (UTC)

The insertion of the adjective "greater" simply describes the glory as something greater than oneself. It is no different than saying "For the Glory of God" other than it describes that glory as greater than ones own personal glory. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.202.152.136 (talk) 23:17, 19 September 2011 (UTC)

It can be a misunderstanding of the translation, consistent with the Jesuit "Magis" concept: "Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam" would mean "For A greater glory of God", while "Ad Magnam Dei Gloriam" would mean "For THE greater Glory of God"

Other users
It's not exclusively Jesuit or even Catholic, as you can see it in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin on the memorial to Edward Guinness who died in 1927.86.42.209.222 (talk) 18:03, 14 December 2012 (UTC)