Religion in the BotNS

C R Culver · 12 Mar 1998, 03:16 · from urth-v0008.mbox · original

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From: C R Culver <CRCulver at aol.com>
Subject: (urth) Religion in the BotNS
Date: Wed, 11 Mar 1998 22:16:31 EST
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[Posted from URTH, a mailing list about Gene Wolfe's New Sun and other work=
s]

Said Peter S:
>The part where he goes through Thrax holding the Claw aloft recalls `I am =
the
light of the world'<

This section is hard for me to interpret religiously, because Severian does
release the floodgates, killing the prisoners in the jacal. That is, IMHO, =
not
in any way Christlike.

Continues Peter:
>I'm sure there must be other such.  I hope someone can wax lyrical on the
relationship of the Pancreator, Increate<

I notice 'Pancreator' is used historically, in God's role as Creator, and
Increate is used in the present, explaining a God who watches, remotely,
though.

One interesting thing I did notice is Severian's reviving of Miles. The word
Miles is Latin for soldier (actually, it is nominative or accusative plural=
),
but it also can mean "thousand." How many people are in a Roman legion? A
thousand, or some variation of it? Thus, Severian was able to revive Jonas,
but casting out his demons (that is, his personal demons, or his pain over =
not
having Jolenta), just as Christ, in Luke, drove the demons out of the man w=
ho
identified himself as Legion. I'm pretty much thinking out loud right now, =
so
don't take this too seriously.

Christopher R. Culver <crculver at aol.com>
http://members.aol.com/crculver/index.html
------------------------------------------------
"Ignorance, that light of fools steers a wayward path"
-Brendan Perry

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