Messianic

Tony Ellis · 24 Nov 1999, 10:37 · from urth-v0028.mbox · original

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From: "Tony Ellis" <tony.ellis at futurenet.co.uk>
Subject: (urth) re: re: Messianic
Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 10:37:42 +0000
Message-ID: <urth-v0028-0530 at digest.urth.net>
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Rostrum wrote:

> This is cool, but doesn't really address my point, which I didn't make
> clear, so here it is again.  It's not so much that there isn't enough
> quantity to Sev's career as Conciliator, but that the quality that seems
> lacking.
>
Well, maybe it was me not making -my- point clear :-). The
thing is, we don't -know- what Sev does on those subsequent
visits to the past, but since TUOTNS ends with him finally,
comfortably, settled into his role as a godling, it seems a
reasonable assumption that he could now start giving sermons
on mounts or whatever.

> Not
> that miracles aren't notable, but most of the world's religious figures
> are remembered for something more than a bunch of magic tricks.
>
Hmm, how do I say this nicely? Most of the world's religious
figures -are- remembered for a bunch of magic tricks. Most
of the saints are nothing -but- a collection of magic
tricks, with a unique and implausibly nasty death thrown in
to make it really stick in the mind. Jesus? We remember him
-now-, 2000 years after the event, for his teachings, but
look at the paintings and relics in any medieval cathedral
and it's the miracles that spread and sustained the religion
during the hundreds and hundreds of years when only an
educated elite could actually read the Bible or understand a
latin sermon. And especially that Uber-miracle: the
resurrection.

Don't forget, too, that Severian leaves behind a Book, which
if it bears any resemblance to the BOTNS we know is chock
full of thought and philosophy. If Severian had appeared
2000 years ago instead of Christ, today we'd be going to
church to hear "Dearly Beloved, we believe that we invent
our symbols. The truth is that they invent us..."


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