(urth) The Wizard

[Dan'l Danehy-Oakes]

Without going into all the details of your post, which was quite
interesting, I want to clarify something: I do not believe that Christ
has come, or will come, in the Sun universe.

Rather, I believe that salvation in that universe is available through
the "once for all" sacrifice of Christ in _our_ universe. When the
Outsider shows Silk images of Christ, it is from our universe, not
his. (And "a man possessed and enlightened by the Outsider" is the
closest thing Silk can understand to what Christ was/is/will be.)

On Fri, Mar 9, 2012 at 4:38 AM, Lee Berman <severiansola at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>>> Wolfe would not put Christians in his story by mentioning them 0 times.
>
>>Dan't Danehy-Oakes: Well, he _does_ mention the Theoanthropos.
>
> True, early on, vis Agia, iirc. And at that point in the story we might be
> prompted to think the god in humanform referenced is Jesus Christ. But as
> the story progresses I think The Conciliator becomes a more likely
> candidate in this society. On the other hand, Agia's demon symbol might
> suggest she worships a different Theoanthropos than The Conciliator. Who
> might that be.....? ;- )
>
>>You're right, and again Able gives his blood voluntarily,
>>making it somehow salvific.
>
> I think this jibes with the contrast between Severian's feasting on Thecla,
> which wolfe describes as a "diabolical eucharist" and his similar meal of
> the old Autarch which is decribed more benignly.
>
>>But pagan gods commonly drink the blood of their worshippers...
>
> Yes, but perhaps that's what makes them pagan. They demand blood sacrifice
> FROM their followers. Christ offers His blood as a sacrifice TO his
> followers.
>
> In the James Jordan interview Daniel cites, Wolfe explains (in discussing Apheta)
> that he thinks it is the duty of higher beings to uplift lower beings, just as
> lower beings ought to worship and aspire to the level of higher beings.
>
>>Daniel Petersen: All that may be allusively there in Wizard Knight, which would
>>be exactly what we've come to expect from Wolfe.  Pagan practices finding their
>>'correction' and true 'fulfilment' in Christian salvation.
>
> Agreed. Which is part of the reason I think a true Christ figure has yet to arrive
> in the Sun Series universe rather than having appeared and departed.
>
>>Antonin Scriabin: I would just point out that the Most High God seems quite absent
>>from the lower worlds and that "he" struck me as a remarkably deist being, especially
>>considering how active the "gods" of other realms interact with the worlds below them.
>>It seems that it is easy to go a world "up" or "down", but going farther than that is
>>rarer (perhaps a "two-world jump" is even impossible), so perhaps the Most High God's
>>influence is mainly in the world second from the top.
>
> I agree. And I think this parallels the situation of The Increate in the Sun Series.
> Tzadkiel seems to suggest The Increate is too lofty to interact directly with humanity
> and his will is done through intermediaries such as Tzadkiel, whose will on Urth is
> done through intermediaries such as B, F and O. This is one reason I don't think The
> Outsider is The Increate. He is too close and directly involved with humanity.
>
> If Gene Wolfe is a man who believes in the reality of pagan gods, then it is not such
> a stretch to think he also believes in the reality of angels.  I think many modern
> Christians consider their faith only through the concepts of God and Man. Perhaps Wolfe
> feels there are (or has been) a hierarchy of intermediary beings between them.
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-- 
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes