Wind god

Lee Berman · 05 Nov 2010, 20:54 · from 2010-November.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Fri, 5 Nov 2010 16:54:11 -0400
Subject: (urth) Wind god
Message-ID: <SNT123-W41CAE4BE96847290C0B93CF4C0 at phx.gbl>

>Andrew Mason- the clearest thing seems to me to be the story about the Outsider, 
>'through a man he had posseessed and enlightened', whipping the sellers of sacrificial 
>animals. This is not theologically accurate, of course -you wouldn't expect that of the 
>Chrasmological Writings - but it seems clear enough what story it is referring to.

I would like to be more direct and say, "it seems clear enough what person it is referring
to.

Then I'd want to reverse it, as I think Gene Wolfe is inviting us to do, and think about a
story of a hundred headed man-dragon breathing hot fiery winds and ask what person it is
referring to. The same for the story of a giant, shapeshifting, bisexual god in the clouds 
named Zeus. And the same for a Melanesian eel named Abaia...

When you say "this is not theologically accurate, of course", do you mean because the story
implies Jesus was a man who was possessed by The Outsider god, rather than having been born
a deity or holy Savior? Possession does seem to imply more of demonic presence, yes?

(though some sects of Christianity do take great stock in human beings becoming possessed by
the Holy Spirit, writhing around and speaking in tongues; some others might argue that these 
are misled devil worshipping cults...)

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