Deluge

Son of Witz · 17 Dec 2010, 15:18 · from 2010-December.txt.gz

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From: Sonofwitz at butcherbaker.org (Son of Witz)
Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2010 07:18:57 -0800
Subject: (urth) Deluge
In-Reply-To: <SNT123-W1974E5836F49546AB43556CF160 at phx.gbl>
References: <SNT123-W1974E5836F49546AB43556CF160 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <8AA1C469-001F-4996-909C-6E88426C4C89 at butcherbaker.org>



On Dec 17, 2010, at 1:03 AM, Lee Berman <severiansola at hotmail.com> wrote:

> 
> 
> In a previous discussion of this topic I found it a pretty compelling conclusion that
> if Briah is Christian and Urth is Earth in the future then either:
> 
> 1. God has broken his Covenant with humanity to never again send a Flood.
> 
> or
> 
> 2. Severian, Tzadkiel and the White Fountain are (somehow) entirely secular and have nothing
> to do with God.
> 
> or maybe..
> 
> 3. Severian and everyone around him are not really humans so God was allowed to Flood earth again.
> 
> 
> I have been assuming everyone here is familiar with Gene WOlfe's words in the James Jordan interview:
> 
> 
>> JJ: This universe that you set in Briah, or part of it--is that our universe? Or is that a universe that 
>> resurrected saints have set up in the world to come as part of the cities that they made?
> 
>> GW: No. I thought of it as a long past universe. Something that we are repeating rather than something that 
>> we are.
> 
> 
> I have heard all the arguments on both sides, and I am not one who thinks an author always has the final word on 
> interpretation of his own work. I AM a person who thinks human beings very rarely just sort through
> all existing evidence to come to their conclusions. Especially in today's complex world, there is just too
> much contradictory evidence on both sides of any controversial issue.
> 
> Instead what we do is start with a conclusion and then sift through the evidence to find support for it and
> try our best to ignore or invalidate all evidence to the contrary that we encounter.
> 
> So for me, the time has come to stop the evidence war on this and each ask ourselves about the personal reasons 
> which have led us to the conclusion we have regarding Christianity in the Sun series.
> 
> For me, it was simply the Gene Wolfe quote. Previous to finding it, I hadn't considered the anti-Flood covenant
> or the Norse meaning of "Urth" or any of the other evidence. Since I am not a Christian or religious, it didn't 
> bother me to think that Severian and the story I treasure was not in a Judeo-Christian universe. I was willing to
> take Gene Wolfe at his word. I'm not too political but I am rabidly anti-torture and generally averse to 
> parasitic exploitation of humans by other humans in the manner of chatelaines-khaibits. So, distancing myself
> from Urth isn't so difficult at all, for me.
> 
> I think there are perfectly valid personal reasons for one to perfer the Christian interpretation of Briah and Urth.
> I'd be interested in hearing a bit of self-analysis from whomever is willing to share.                         
> _______________________________________________

I see Christ there because it is heaped with Christian symbols. I am not Religious.

Again, a BOOK tells us WHY the Deluge happened. In fact, hundreds and hundreds of stories tell of the deluge differerently, with different causes.  I believe the Deluge happened in our Earth's past, but any guess as to why is the province of that realm of Speculative Fiction known as Revelation.  So what is to say that Severian's Deluge isn't our own, and the scripture has it wrong?  Just sayin'.

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