Forgive me if this discussion of Biblical literalism is getting off-topic. The relevance to Wolfe, I think, is how Christians and Christian writers regard the holy scriptures.<div><br></div><div>Marc Aramini views Protestants as reading the Bible in a literal fashion, while Catholics read it figuratively. James Wynn says that in his experience both Catholics and Protestants lack skepticism about Genesis.</div>
<div><br></div><div>It seems to me that the main Christian tradition has never favored a literal reading of scripture. But I don't have the evidence at hand to back that up. Let me just give the view of my Presbyterian Church:</div>
<div><br></div><div>"<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; ">The Scriptures, given under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; ">are nevertheless the words of men, conditioned by the language, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; ">thought forms, and literary fashions of the places and times at which they were written. They reflect views of life, history, and the cosmos which were then current. The church, therefore, has an obligation to approach the Scriptures with literary and historical understanding. "</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><p class="p1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10px; "><br></span></p><p class="p1">
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</p><p class="p1"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="2"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10px;">" </span></font><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Scripture is not authoritative for any and everything, in any and every question. It is not an encyclopedia of information about every area of human knowledge and understanding. So, for instance, it is not appropriate to go to the biblical sources for scientific understanding of such things as biology, astronomy, the structure of the universe, or historical knowledge in general. "</span></p>
<p class="p1" style="font-size: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10px; "><br></span></p><p class="p1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>Presbyterian Understanding and Use of Holy Scripture</i>, 1982</span></p>
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<div><br></div><div><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Dec 21, 2010 at 11:12 AM, James Wynn <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:crushtv@gmail.com">crushtv@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
James Wynn-<div class="im"><br>
"Literal-mindedness" and a lack of skepticism about Genesis is not really a small minority among _observant_ Christians, Jews, or Muslims in my experience, including observant Catholics. And for many of those "anti-evolutionists", Science is their day job, just not their religion. And perhaps that's all we need know about Wolfe's Christan beliefs and why tBotNS could be interpreted as potentially violating them: SF fantasy is his day job.<br>
</div></blockquote>
<br>
Gerry Quinn-<div class="im"><br>
I don't really follow. Do you think Wolfe is a Bible literalist? I would find it easier to believe he is a crypto-communist!<br>
</div></blockquote>
<br>
It's true. You've failed to follow.<br>
<br>
That thread was regarding why and whether "The Book of the New Sun" contradicted Christian theology. What I said was that there is no reason Wolfe would have necessarily felt compelled to have Severian's futuristic world align with Christian theology. So, the basic plot and setting of the novel is irrelevant.<br>
<br>
u+16b9<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
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</div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Best wishes,<br>Jack<br>
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