Wolfe as Heretic

David Stockhoff · 19 May 2010, 15:26 · from 2010-May.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Wed, 19 May 2010 11:26:34 -0400
Subject: (urth) Wolfe as Heretic
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Exactly. This is how Tolkien handled it too; his elemental gods were clearly angelic, and Elves remembered this if Men didn't. Just acknowledging the gods as real doesn't mean they must be gods. 

I don't think Wolfe would agree that only the Jews knew God before the Christians; the Greeks must have glimpsed divinity, whether in angelic form or as fragments of true divinity. They were well acquainted with it.

To me, all his novels read like the Soldier novels to me---his characters are like the blind men encountering the elephant, but they don't think they know everything like 21st century people do, nor do they think God is a big warm hug. They acknowledge the persistence of mystery/ies. Encountering their gods could be a fatal experience.

I don't think there are angels in FHC.

BTW, I'd bet that Wolfe might have fun with heretical status in the sense of being a "bad boy," but no more than that. He's too smart to have converted with the purpose of either deconstructing and demolishing his new religion or oversimplifying/rigidifying it.

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Message: 7
Date: Wed, 19 May 2010 15:33:01 +0100
From: Ant?nio Pedro Marques <entonio at gmail.com>
To: The Urth Mailing List <urth at lists.urth.net>
Subject: Re: (urth) Wolfe as Heretic
Message-ID: <4BF3F69D.5060501 at gmail.com>
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Church Fathers did not in general make a point of saying pagan gods didn't 
exist. I don't think any considered them divine, but instead of angelic 
nature, though either fallen or miscontrued by their worshippers.

Hi, people.

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