I have a feeling this has been beaten to death in posts I haven't yet read from years past, but the wiping out of nearly all life on earth has been something undertaken by the Increate before, in our own Judeo-Christian tradition, so there is plenty of basis for it not being Evil. Also, what is Revelations but the wiping of the old order and the creation of a new. Cataclysm is nearly always the consequence in the renewal of Earth, in either a temporal or spiritual sense. <br>
<br>If one is a Christian, it's something one has to be reconciled to, otherwise you have to ignore large swaths of the Bible's teaching.<br><br>And I am in full agreement that we should keep Wolfe's faith squarely in mind when analyzing the book. I'm not Catholic myself, but I find knowing that about Wolfe helps me immensly in thinking about this text.<br>
<br>Oh wait, I just realized you are speaking of the end of the Short Sun, not Urth of the New Sun. Hmmmm. Now I can't say I follow you....<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Nov 21, 2008 at 1:25 PM, Craig Brewer <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:cnbrewer@yahoo.com">cnbrewer@yahoo.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div class="Ih2E3d">>2) Severian is not Christ, but is propped up as a sort of<br>
Christ-figure by the (by this theory, anyway) villianous<br>
Hierogrammates. He may be either their half-innocent dupe, in which<br>
case he's basically Puzzle, or he may be their willing accomplice, in<br>
which case he's basically the Anti-Christ.<br>
<br>
</div>This idea in particular has always seemed particularly compelling to me given what happens at the end of the Short Sun. I've always thought that we were supposed to contrast Silk and Severian at some very deep level.<br>
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