Wolfe as conversionist

António Pedro Marques · 04 Nov 2014, 01:35 · from 2014-November.txt.gz

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From: entonio at gmail.com (=?utf-8?Q?Ant=C3=B3nio_Pedro_Marques?=)
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2014 01:35:12 +0000
Subject: (urth) Wolfe as conversionist
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No dia 03/11/2014, ?s 17:21, "Dan'l Danehy-Oakes" <danldo at gmail.com> escreveu:

> Wolfe definitely played a (small) part in my conversion from generic Christian to Catholicism.

I think for many Wolfe - like so many others and other things, but let's say Wolfe since we're talking about Wolfe - may first play the role of intellectual disruptor: he _can_ make people understand that things are not so simple as they had thought.

But many are not stuck at that point. In this list, for instance, Lee has had the opportunity to articulate masterfully some of the things that religious folks usually think only they understand, and yet Lee is not a believer. Because to be a believer one actually has to believe in God, and that doesn't even mean believing in the Bible; it means feeling the presence of God, even if only at times, and then accepting religious belief as an explanation for that feeling. Now, some don't feel God because they've shut their senses, or fight against them, or never developed them in the first place, but none of those states has to be permanent. Art like Wolfe's may contribute to free one from the need to fight God, but it can't do everything. And certainly for some that would be considered a step backwards.

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