# C????????? F?????????? *The Urth list — 2 messages, 2 voices, 17 Jan 2003* > Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright > in each message remains with the person who wrote it. > Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original > archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than > retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact. --- ### Andy Robertson *17 Jan 2003, 19:09* The point is, you can, just about, write CF and not be Christian. In the same way that you can, just about, be a Catholic and not be Christian. :) OK, not literally. But what I mean is that it is a matter of cultural background not religious belief. Catholicism is deeply connected with Cosmology and physics. And ANTI-Catholicism is even more deeply connected - modern cosmology grew out of Catholic theology by opposition and binary fission. Galileo etc. A CASE OF CONSCIENCE would squeak in. So would BLACK EASTER, which was, of course, dedicated to CSL. Blish was an agnostic BUT he was fascinated by the existential questions Christianity (and espescially Catholicism) has grappled with for so long. Did I ever tell you of the time I went to look for Lewis' grave in the Oxford churchyard he was buried in, and found Blish's? ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Dan'l Danehy-Oakes" > To: > Sent: Friday, January 17, 2003 6:52 PM > Subject: RE: (urth) DOORS: The Hero, The Otherworld, The Ending > OK. Do you have a better term than "Catholic fabulation?" > It seems that would resolve our remaining differences. . (H'mmm ... would you include A CASE OF CONSCIENCE, or HYPERION?) It seems to me that the word "fabulation" does that fairly effectively. Or perhaps "Christian Mythopoieic Fantasy," which would be accurate but ugly ... --- ### Dan'l Danehy-Oakes *17 Jan 2003, 22:40 · follows Andy Robertson* > The point is, you can, just about, write CF and not be Christian. By that logic, it shouldn't be Catholic either, in that you can write it and not be a Catholic. (Besides, I don't think anyone can really _be_ a Christian ... it's an ideal to attain to. Which is sufficient answer to the question of why some "Christians" behave so badly.)) > Catholicism is deeply connected with Cosmology and physics. > > And ANTI-Catholicism is even more deeply connected - modern > cosmology grew out of Catholic theology by opposition and > binary fission. Galileo etc. A somewhat overblown story, but point taken ... Certainly Catholicism is very deeply connected etc. Someone once told me that you can't be a Catholic and not believe in the literal seven-day creation; I said, "Oh, then I guess the last half-dozen Popes haven't been Catholics..." > A CASE OF CONSCIENCE would squeak in. So would BLACK > EASTER, which was, of course, dedicated to CSL. H'mmm. BE/DAJ don't disguise the demons behind stfnal conceits. If you allow such things, then the word "mythopoeic" sounds better and better to me. > Blish was an agnostic BUT he was fascinated by the > existential questions Christianity (and espescially > Catholicism) has grappled with for so long. I believe he converted to the C of E late in life. > Did I ever tell you of the time I went to look for Lewis' > grave in the Oxford churchyard he was buried in, and found Blish's? No! I went looking for Lewis' grave also, and got there too late - the gates were locked, and I was leaving England next day so couldn't come back. I didn't know Blish was buried there also; now I _must_ go back. ---