Dualism & horror

Alex David Groce · 19 Oct 1998, 14:36 · from urth-v0020.mbox · original

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From: "Alex David Groce" <adgroce at eos.ncsu.edu>
Subject: Re: (urth) Dualism & horror
Date: Mon, 19 Oct 1998 14:36:05
Message-ID: <urth-v0020-0071 at digest.urth.net>
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Mark Millman wrote:

> While I'll grant you that Islamic and Zoroastrian
> works aren't typically of great importance in our
> culture, Sergeant, I'd hesitate to suggest that
> Judaism is either pagan or contains Christian
> elements.  If you want to argue that supernatural
> evil in Judaism is a relic of pre-Jewish Semitic
> paganism, I'll agree with you; but then I'll insist
> that Christian supernatural evil derives from a
> much wider variety of assimilated and co-opted
> pagan sources.  As for high theology, which can
> be far removed from Christian folk belief, and
> even a great deal of doctrine . . . I can't speak
> to that.

Yes, Judaic works would be another category.  Although I can't really think=
 of
a work from a Jewish perspective involving a supernatural evil right off
hand...  And I suspect that any I could think of would have an attitude to =
it
not unlike some Christian works.  Judaism may not have Christian elements, =
but
I'd be fairly silly as a Christian to deny their are Jewish elements in
Christianity...  Either way, you have some similarity of the view of evil (=
not
identity, at all, but similarity).

> Sergeant Rock continued:
> > If Satan exists, he's void, in the sense
> > of having no substance--I believe the
> > common metaphor is say he is like a
> > shadow. (Hmmm....shadows in Wolfe's
> > works...not an uncommon theme.
> > Hmmm.)
>=20
> If Satan is void and without substance, there's
> a strong implication that all the other members
> of God's heavenly hosts are as well; the book
> of Job makes Satan's existence, if not his
> exact role, quite explicit.  And, while it's not
> clear whether God gave Satan only the man-
> agement or the actual performance of Job's
> misfortunes, there is more than a suggestion
> of agency.
>=20
> But I do very much like your observation on
> shadows.

Yes, although evil is a perversion of good, it does EXIST -- Satan has a wi=
ll
of his own--in the end he's "without substance" in one sense, but I think h=
e's
an agent capable of action and indeed, in orthodox thought, of great power =
in
the world.  Sins, after all, arise out of an improper degree or object of l=
ove,
but still exist (by drawing substance from the good).  This is sloppy langu=
age
of course, but then St. Thomas can sound sloppy talking about the Mystery of
Evil (or Free Will, which is inextricably linked).

--=20
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." - John 8:32
--
Alex David Groce (adgroce at eos.ncsu.edu)
Senior (Computer Science/Multidisciplinary Studies in Technology & Fiction)
'98-99 NCSU AITP Student Chapter President
608 Charleston Road, Apt. 1E (919)-233-7366
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~adgroce

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