(urth) Wolfe as Heretic

[John Watkins]

Chesterton in The Everlasting Man took a pretty firm position that the
Phoenicians/Carthaginians were devil-worshippers.  I can't recall if he took
a more charitable position on other pagan deities.

On Wed, May 19, 2010 at 4:45 PM, James Wynn <crushtv at gmail.com> wrote:

> I made a mess of Paul's quote, let me try again:
>
> "Paul's opinion was that: "Idols are NOT truly divine and what is offered
> to them does not do any good.. But the gentiles sacrifice to demons,
> not to God." (1 Cor 10:20)
>
>  On Wed, May 19, 2010 at 3:43 PM, James Wynn <crushtv at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> Church Fathers did not in general make a point of saying pagan gods
> didn't
> >> exist. I don't think any considered them divine, but instead of angelic
> >> nature, though either fallen or miscontrued by their worshippers.
> >
> > For pagans, the difference between divine and merely "higher" is
> > probably splitting hairs. It is only an important difference for
> > monotheists.
> >
> > Paul's opinion was that: "Idols are truly divine and what is offered
> > to them does not dow any good.. But the gentiles sacrifice to demons,
> > not to God." (1 Cor 10:20)
> >
> > He was glossing from Deuteronomy: "They sacrificed to demons, which
> > are not God. Gods they had not known, gods that recently appeared,
> > gods your fathers did not fear."
> >
> > Wolfe differs in accepting that the ancient gods might not always be
> > malevolent, but potentially even good. He might have received this
> > from (or had it confirmed by) the Anglican C.S. Lewis who said almost
> > the same thing. (And in "That Hideous Strength" he portrayed the gods
> > Venus and Mercury as powers not positively aligned to the rebellious
> > Lord of Earth,) This all sounds like something Chesterton might have
> > opined, but I can't find anywhere he did.
> >
> > But then again, CS Lewis's view of pagan gods portrayed in "The Last
> > Battle" is certainly at odds with Paul's. So maybe it is all
> > heretical.
> >
> > The Fathers and the Biblical Prophets seem to have all agreed that
> > sacrifices to these powers is without practical value. This is
> > different from Latro's world.
> >
> > Is it heretical to believe that that magic (defined as prayers and
> > sacrifices powers who are not God) *works" even if you believe it is
> > something that is wrong or hurtful to do? .I met a Christian erstwhile
> > fortune-teller who said it definitely did work for him. But he wasn't
> > a theologian and his opinions on the source of its efficacy were more
> > like Paul's than Wolfe's; so, I guess that doesn't really prove
> > anything.
> >
> > I suppose we'd have to drill down farther into what Wolfe truly
> > believes and how strongly he believes it to know if he's a heretic or
> > not. Put him on the rack.
> >
> > J.
> >
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