The Wizard

James Wynn · 02 Mar 2012, 02:27 · from 2012-March.txt.gz

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From: crushtv at gmail.com (James Wynn)
Date: Thu, 01 Mar 2012 20:27:34 -0600
Subject: (urth) The Wizard
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On 2/28/2012 11:47 AM, Daniel Petersen wrote:
> Then again, what I took to be some pretty obvious moments (e.g. wine 
> and bread rituals coinciding with a theophany of the Outsider in Short 
> Sun), some seem to perplexingly read as being mainly about referencing 
> Dionysus myths or what have you! So there ya go.

I don't think "mainly" a good term. The bread and wine are overt 
references the Eucharist. The man on the scaffold and the "fortunate man 
who was enlightened and possessed by the Outsider is of course Jesus. 
Silk ultimately becomes a Christian in the same way that Pevensies 
become Christians by their relationship with Aslan. Slik is also a 
figure of Aristaeus who was prophet of Dionysus. And C.S. Lewis (all of 
whose works Wolfe claims to have read) draws an explicit connection 
between Christ and Dionysus. The Dionysian references are pretty overt 
as well, and the cross-over is intentional. This shouldn't be confusing. 
If an author writes a story about a Christian founded on references to 
the tale of the "Three Little Pigs", it would not be a surprise that, 
say, the Church would take the form of a house made of bricks. That does 
not mean that the house of bricks is "mainly" a reference to Practical 
Pig's house.

"The heart of Christianity is a myth which is also a fact. The old myth 
of the Dying God, without ceasing to be myth, comes down from the heaven 
of legend and imagination to the earth of history. It happens ? at a 
particular date, in a particular place, followed by definable historical 
consequences. We pass from a Balder or an Osiris, dying nobody knows 
when or where, to a historical Person crucified (it is all in order) 
under Pontius Pilate....By becoming fact it does not cease to be myth: 
that is the miracle.If God chooses to be mythopoeic?and is not the sky 
itself a myth?shall we refuse to be mythopathic?"
~ CS Lewis

J.

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