Oannes

Lee Berman · 19 Mar 2012, 20:12 · from 2012-March.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2012 16:12:25 -0400
Subject: (urth) Oannes
Message-ID: <SNT123-W34A64D1D33E973F69C5EE9CF420 at phx.gbl>

>> I mean the God of the OT recognizes the existence of rival gods,

>Jerry Friedman: In the early books, but not the later ones.

Yes, exactly. I am suggesting that God seems to change through the 
course of the Bible (OT and NT). Anthropologically I certainly 
accept that this could be the result of changes in the cultures which
are writing about God.

But the Sun Series seems to depict gods which can be washed away or 
divided, shuffled and redealt, like cards, into different forms. Gods
like The Outsider can evolve from being minor deities in a pantheon
to The God (as was true for Dionysus).

>Jesus had nothing to say about polygamy, which seems like tolerating it.  
>Paul said a church overseer or deacon should be "the husband of one wife", 

This is my point. Judeo-Christian religions have evolved from more pagan
forms which condone polygamy to a modern version which does not. This does
not seem consistent with a God who is perfect and unchanging and cares very
much about marriage. Why would polygamy be okay 5000 years ago but gradually
become not okay?

Perhaps Gene wolfe is not entirely satisfied with the anthropological
explanation. Perhaps, in noticing the evolution of ancient pagan forms
toward more Christian forms, even pre-Christ, he has come to the conclusion
that God is an evolving and adapting entity. I dunno. Doesn't matter, I guess.
What matters to me is that we see divine reshuffling and evolution in the Sun
Series. At least I think so.

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