[SPAM] Re: [SPAM] Re: Urth before Earth

thalassocrat at nym.hush.com · 22 Jul 2006, 16:55 · from 2006-July.txt.gz

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From: thalassocrat at nym.hush.com (thalassocrat at nym.hush.com)
Date: Sun, 23 Jul 2006 02:55:25 +1000
Subject: (urth) [SPAM] Re: [SPAM] Re: Urth before Earth
Message-ID: <200607221655.k6MGtQ5W050768 at mailserver3.hushmail.com>

On Sat, 22 Jul 2006 16:51:16 +1000 Dan'l Danehy-Oakes 
<danldo at gmail.com> wrote:
>>Frankly, I think Wolfe kind of wrote himself into a
>corner here -- by having Urth's history _so_ parallel to
>Earths, he put himself in a position where there _had_
>to be something indistinguishable from the Christian
>Church. But the Incarnation has to be an _utterly_
>unique event (says Christian theology). So the "man
>possessed and enlightened by the Outsider" who winds
>up getting crucified (in Silk's vision) is historically
>indistinguishable from the Theoanthropos...

"Theoanthropos" is tricky. I think it is only used by Agia, in the 
jungle hut scee.

As far as I know, the usual Chalcedonian term is actually 
"Theanthropos". Is Wolfe making some kind of statement, putting the 
former in bad-girl Agia's mouth? 

At the risk of making a lot out of nothing much, perhaps her term 
should be read as "Theo-Anthropos", man-as-god, rather than the 
orthodox "both-man-and-god" (or whatever: I don't pretend to really 
understand the orthodox concept). Kind of appropriate for her, if 
you believe (as I tend to) that she's connected to the black 
magicians.

That aside, my pet theory conforms to some of Dan'l's views; the 
universe of NS had no Jesus. For an orthodox Christian, the 
incarnation must surely be a unique event, changing everything. God 
is outside,in NS; when he incarnates and enters inside, it must 
change everything. Not least, it must end the whole cycle of 
universes, and fix one - ours - as the only reality, now with a 
definite beginning & definite end.

I differ from Dan'l in thinking that Silk's universe is in fact 
ours; the Outsider whispering in Silk's ears on the ballcourt is 
the echo of the incarnation, out of the distant past, but (I like 
to think) happening at the same instant from the Outsider's extra-
universal point of view. So I think Silk sees the actual, unique 
Jesus in his visions. 

When Silk meets Sev, it is not in the universe of NS, but in this 
new one, in which Sev's future will differ radically from the NS 
story. 

Anyway, it makes sense to me :)

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