<br><br><div class="gmail_quote"><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"><br>
</div>>Not exactly sure that's a fair way to describe the Second Coming...the<br>
>End of the Universe is naturally a "mass genocide" in a sense, but a<br>
>very limited one...<br>
<div class="Ih2E3d"></div></blockquote><div><br><br>Fair enough. But, the end of everything is a limited genocide? I guess you can argue that, but there is always the ever present and tiring argument that the billions of non-Christians slated to go to hell is about as bad as the drowning of most of Urth. However, that is a surface level and facile argument that I'm not going to put forward. To me, that's about the level of "if God is so good, how come he let's kids die" argument, which I also think is facile.<br>
<br>I'm going to definitely concede that one area that Severian is very UNChristlike is that he isn't aware of his (possible) connection with the Divine plan. Christ certainly knows where his bread is buttered. Sev doesn't. But again, at root this is all a "Sev has some echos of the Christ Myth" not "Sev is actually Christ". <br>
<br>The hair's we are splitting are getting so fine I'm gonna need a bigger scalpel.<br> </div><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"><br>
<br>
</div>>Well, yes, but neither Severian nor, it seems, Tzadkiel is the master<br>
>of life and death. They have no sure knowledge of life "on the other<br>
>side," nor any authority over creation the way a divine being does.<br>
<div class="Ih2E3d"><br>
<br>
<br>
</div>>It'd be nice to have some textual evidence, though, wouldn't it?<br>
<div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c"><br>
<br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br>