Severian as Jonah

Marc Aramini · 16 Apr 2012, 19:52 · from 2012-April.txt.gz

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From: marcaramini at yahoo.com (Marc Aramini)
Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2012 12:52:02 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: (urth) Severian as Jonah
In-Reply-To: <CAM0v-i57Q9sQCAxzK_FgdxzckfDPsgHWsBf76-7YqoYNPJM+gg at mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <1334605922.36870.YahooMailClassic at web161804.mail.bf1.yahoo.com>



--- On Mon, 4/16/12, Antonin Scriabin <kierkegaurdian at gmail.com> wrote:




Interesting idea.? One difference though is that the task of Jonah on his travels was to save Nineveh from its moral corruption, and Severian has the more "mundane" task of bringing the New Sun.? They seem like different "types" of salvation to me. 
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Straight up, I don't like the parallel the program drew between Jonah and Jesus in the first place.? outside of being consumed by the maw of an incomprehensible beast,Leviathan or hell,?the moral implication?of the two are insanely at odds.
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Jonah is a man who will not do God's bidding because he KNOWS that prophets of doom always succeed in gaining repentance, when there is no doom - ie that he brings a false message in the final analysis.? He flees from God and is eaten, then is gorilla pressed into working the word of God against his will, for the most part.? And at the end, he was right all along: prophets of doom always gain repentance, and nobody gets destroyed.
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Jesus' tale is one of a token questioning of God in the Agony in the Garden and then ultimate self sacrifice, not my will but thine be done; the cup cannot pass from his lips.? Of all the prophets for Jesus to emulate, Jonah is the least worthy.
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