I'll weigh in here with an explanation. Ceramics and glass have little to no elasiticity. In addition, they are insulators. This being the case, when they come into contact with materials that rapidly trasfer heat energy either in or out they forse rapid thermal change in the vessel surface. As materials heat and cool, they exapnd or contract according to the amount of heat energy absorbed or released. This epansion must be slow enough to allow the entire vessel material, inside and out to expand or contract evenly. If the outer wurfaces expand or contract too quicly with respect to the core material, then the forces on the non-elastic glass or ceramic will cause the material to fail, creating cracks, and sometimes the ejection of material as in an explosion.
Metals warp due to the same phenomenon. Glass and ceramics fail catastrophically, which is why ceramics, though stronger and harder, and with much better heat retention properties than metal, are not used for gasoline engine blocks. The thermal expansion principles, along with the lack of elasticity would quicly cause the blocks to shatter.
Of course, some ceramics are better at withstanding differing teperature extremes better than others. This is due to the ability of the material to more quickly heat or cool uniformly, thus minimizing the espancion/contraction problems.
So in summary, if the temperature differentials are great enough, pressures do to differing expansion rates could conceivably cause a violent failure. More comonly, it results in brogen glass or ceramicware. And this is true of stonerware, which is also a type of ceramic. Think pizza stone.
Oh, and cast-iron is not immune to this problem either, though it is far more immune than is the glass and ceramic materials.
And then there's the ceramic-coated cast iron, or enamled cast iron.
This is the same reaason that ice on a large pond has cracks in it. As the water feezes, it expands, and has no where to expand to. Eventually, the pressures become large enough to crack the ice.
Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North