(urth) Religious writers and audiences

[brunians at brunians.org]

What does the high in high propaganda mean?

.


> Shouldn't a master of high propaganda hit the best seller list more often?
> heh
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: "brunians at brunians.org" <brunians at brunians.org>
> To: The Urth Mailing List <urth at lists.urth.net>
> Sent: Sat, June 5, 2010 9:41:00 PM
> Subject: Re: (urth) Religious writers and audiences
>
> Wolfe.
>
> .
>
>
>> Whose? Wolfe's? Lewis'? Pullman's?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----
>> From: "brunians at brunians.org" <brunians at brunians.org>
>> To: The Urth Mailing List <urth at lists.urth.net>
>> Sent: Sat, June 5, 2010 8:38:15 PM
>> Subject: Re: (urth) Religious writers and audiences
>>
>> His books are masterful works of high propaganda.
>>
>> .
>>
>>
>>>
>>>> _The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia_ by Laura
>>>> Miller. Basically: young girl loves Narnia, clueless about the
>>>> religious aspect. Grows up, eyes open, feels betrayed by the allegory.
>>>> Gets even older, comes to terms with loving a book that she does not
>>>> at all "believe."But it brings to mind two questions about Wolfe:
>>>> 1) In what sense do people feel that his books are "allegorical" (even
>>>> in the loosest sense) of his (or any) religious views? I take it here
>>>> that allegorical means more than being informed-by-religion and
>>>> actually instructive-of or apologetic-for a certain theology, as Lewis
>>>> apparently wanted Narnia to be?
>>>
>>> 1) Sometimes his work is apologetic and sometimes it isn't. The Sun
>>> Cycle --the setting and heroes-- are Christian Gnostic. Actually, the
>>> setting of the Wizard Knight is Gnostic as well with it's layers of
>>> aeons each ruled by an archon. I doubt Wolfe is Gnostic. When Silk
>>> talks
>>> about gun control, I presume Wolfe concurs. The way Able makes Disiri
>>> human is I presume a Christian figure. When Wolfe, (as I believe)
>>> creates a Rajan character who is father, son, and spirit, three-in-one,
>>> he is probably rationalizing the Trinity. But it is all an extremely
>>> light touch. If anything IMO associating the characters Severian with
>>> Jesus (as Wolfe certainly does) would be blasphemous if it were
>>> intended
>>> as Christian allegory (however loosely).
>>>
>>>> 2) How do his non-Catholic readers react to the overt theologizing and
>>>> moralizing that is obviously there at times? (This would go for even
>>>> Catholic readers who might find something non-orthodox.)
>>>
>>> 2) I'm not Catholic. How do I react to the Catholicism that *does*
>>> arise
>>> in his stories? Let me put it this way. I have zero sympathy for anyone
>>> who discovers that there is a Christian theme in the Narnia books and
>>> feels "betrayed". I consider that ignorant bigotry. They are no
>>> different from the Christians who have spoken to me against the
>>> "unChristian elements" in Narnia and Tolkien and said their stories
>>> were
>>> unsuitable for youth.
>>>
>>> The shelves of libraries are full of stories that are condescending or
>>> hostile to observant Christian belief...I mean the kind of fervent
>>> belief that causes people to pool their money to send missionaries to
>>> tell about on 12000 miles away. Those books reflect the worldview of
>>> 30s
>>> Intellectualism (which originally was a specific movement that was
>>> politically pro-socialism and religiously materialistic) which --for
>>> decades-- darkly overshadowed the publishing industry. The Great Books
>>> are full of moralizing and theologizing from that angle. Should
>>> observant Christians feel betrayed by that? Overt liberal democracy is
>>> pretty rare in science fiction. If the governance of the societies are
>>> defined at all, they are typically centrally planned either by a
>>> bureaucratic government or a military order. Should I feel betrayed by
>>> this or just allow myself to follow along the story the author chooses
>>> to weave?
>>>
>>> As for Narnia, if people didn't continuously and erroneously INTRODUCE
>>> people to the books as "Christian allegory", not that many people would
>>> catch on to the Christian themes mixed in there -- not until the final
>>> volume if at all. Lewis noted that most did not and those that did were
>>> usually children. I have had very astute readers tell me that they
>>> didn't note any Christian themes in "Til We Have Faces" until *I* began
>>> discussing them. Anyway, Narnia is not nearly so crudely apologetic as
>>> Pullman's answer to it.
>>>
>>> J.
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Urth Mailing List
>>> To post, write urth at urth.net
>>> Subscription/information: http://www.urth.net
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Urth Mailing List
>> To post, write urth at urth.net
>> Subscription/information: http://www.urth.net
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Urth Mailing List
>> To post, write urth at urth.net
>> Subscription/information: http://www.urth.net
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Urth Mailing List
> To post, write urth at urth.net
> Subscription/information: http://www.urth.net
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Urth Mailing List
> To post, write urth at urth.net
> Subscription/information: http://www.urth.net
>