<div>The Mystical Body of Christ, in Catholic Doctrine, is the Church. The teaching can be found in Ephesians:</div>
<div><span class="verse"></span> </div>
<div><span class="verse">"15</span> But doing the truth in charity, we may in all things grow up in him who is the head, even Christ: <span class="verse">16</span> From whom the whole body, being compacted and fitly joined together, by what every joint supplies, according to the operation in the measure of every part, makes increase of the body, unto the edifying of itself in charity."</div>
<div> </div>
<div>But what is the Church? The Church Militant, the worldly administrative body headquartered in Rome doesn't exist in Severian's world, so that's a poor guess as to Wolfe's meaning. The Catholic Encyclopedia, however, gives that meaning as the third definition of the term <em>ecclesia. </em>This is the first:</div>
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<div>"It is employed to denote all who, from the beginning of the world, have believed in the one true God, and have been made His children by grace."</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Clearly, this is Wolfe's intention.</div>
<div><br><br> </div>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 7:06 AM, <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:brunians@brunians.org">brunians@brunians.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex" class="gmail_quote">Sounds plausible.<br><br>Wolfe told me that Severian is part of the Mystical Body of Christ.<br><br>Does this fit in with that?<br>
<br>.<br>
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<div></div>
<div class="h5"><br><br>> Among the things I think the story is meant to show<br>><br>> 1) If Jesus Christ didn't exist, we'd have to invent a roughly similar<br>> figure,<br>><br>> 2) If that roughly similar figure was a flawed human being, the resulting<br>
> religion would be considerable worse (Wolfe cheats here--Severian isn't a<br>> great sage or moral teacher--the Christ-figure of his world's religion was<br>> generally not a nice man), and<br>><br>> 3) Because all faiths are salvific insofar as they participate in truth,<br>
> even the mock-Christianity of the New Sun world leads to genuine moments<br>> of<br>> grace.<br>><br>> On Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 5:53 AM, <<a href="mailto:brunians@brunians.org">brunians@brunians.org</a>> wrote:<br>
><br>>> Severian is the Conciliator.<br>>><br>>> Or am I missing something?<br>>><br>>> .<br>>><br>>><br>>> ><br>>> > I agree. The Conciliator was the "jesus" of Urth. And that already<br>
>> > happened in the past of Urth.<br>>> ><br>>> >> Date: Wed, 2 Jun 2010 21:00:40 -0400<br>>> >> From: <a href="mailto:eugene.zar@gmail.com">eugene.zar@gmail.com</a><br>>> >> To: <a href="mailto:urth@lists.urth.net">urth@lists.urth.net</a><br>
>> >> Subject: Re: (urth) traveling north<br>>> >><br>>> >> On Wed, Jun 2, 2010 at 8:42 PM, Lee Berman <<a href="mailto:severiansola@hotmail.com">severiansola@hotmail.com</a>><br>
>> >> wrote:<br>>> >> ><br>>> >> > FWIW, my opinion is that Urth is presented as less spiritually<br>>> >> > advanced than Earth, notably lacking two important earthly<br>
>> >> > spiritual events, The Flood and the Coming of Jesus. Thus,<br>>> >> > Severian has his roles to play. The Urth we are reading about<br>>> >> > is much older than our current Earth but being stunted in its<br>
>> >> > spiritual growth is still troubled by some of the ills which<br>>> >> > plagued our pagan ancestors.<br>>> >><br>>> >> Wasn't the Conciliator the Jesus-like figure? Severian seemed to me<br>
>> to<br>>> >> be very much non-divine. Quite the opposite, he very specifically<br>>> >> comes from a very dark place, and rises to his status as savior.<br>>> >> Severian's respect for the Increate and the sun itself is apparent<br>
>> >> early in the book, so I suspect Severian's story was meant to, in<br>>> >> part, show where the spiritual path you claim is lacking leads:<br>>> >> salvation.<br>>> >><br>
>> >> > _________________________________________________________________<br>>> >> > The New Busy think 9 to 5 is a cute idea. Combine multiple<br>>> calendars<br>>> >> with Hotmail.<br>
>> >> ><br>>> <a href="http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?tile=multicalendar&ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_5" target="_blank">http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?tile=multicalendar&ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_5</a><br>
>> >> > _______________________________________________<br>>> >> > Urth Mailing List<br>>> >> > To post, write <a href="mailto:urth@urth.net">urth@urth.net</a><br>>> >> > Subscription/information: <a href="http://www.urth.net/" target="_blank">http://www.urth.net</a><br>
>> >> ><br>>> >><br>>> >><br>>> >><br>>> >> --<br>>> >> Eugene Z<br>>> >> <a href="http://blog.eugenez.net/" target="_blank">http://blog.eugenez.net</a><br>
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