(urth) An Old mystery ...

[Son of Witz]

>And so I get frustrated when, on this list, many who are not
>Christians themselves sort of imply that this monstrous act in the
>book is something that I should just be gung-ho about because, well,
>the Christian God is pretty much a monster Himself.  I don't buy that,
>and I don't think Wolfe does, and I think it misses the mark in

Is anyone asking you to get Gung Ho about it, or calling God a Monster?
if so I've missed it.
also, if it's tedious, why bother?

You seem to be in the camp that views the flooding of Urth as a bad thing.
If the second coming or Apocatastasis are factored in the arguments, it's to show this notion of Reset to primordial conditions as a POSITIVE.

This is Death and Resurrection in a nutshell.  a basic human understanding that life flowers out of death.  Hence the Phoenix Throne of the Autarchs who 'might' bring about the New Sun. This comes up in EVERY culture.

The Flooding of Urth is NOT a negative act. It is intended for LONG TERM RESURRECTION of Humanity and those beings humanity created.

ONLY the shortsighted and selfish view it as a negative thing.
I don't mean You, I mean the characters in the book who try to prevent the coming of the New Sun. 

I compare Severian with Kali just as readily, accept that there are MORE Christian symbols present, so the comparison to Christ is more pertinant and useful to understanding the books.