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<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=severiansola@hotmail.com
href="mailto:severiansola@hotmail.com">Lee Berman</A> </DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV><BR><BR>> >>As Dionysus was precursor to Christ on earth, so I
think The Outsider and Silk are<BR>> >> the precursors to
Blue/Urth's version of Christianity. We see the signs that He is <BR>>
>> coming but in the narrative we are given, He has not yet
arrived. <BR><BR>> >> Gerry Quinn: Only
if we ignore the clear references to Him, e.g. Palm Sunday. Why would <BR>>
>Wolfe have put that in, if he wanted us to think that Christ had not
come? Easier to <BR>> >leave it out altogether, surely?<BR><BR>>
Well, I answered that before, but apparently not suffiently. I take this as
Wolfe's<BR>> way of saying that a Jesus-like figure appeared on Urth but it
wasn't Christ. The<BR>> concept of Christ does not reside in such material
items as a cross or palm fronds or<BR>> even in the flesh and blood body of a
guy named Jesus. This makes some sense if Wolfe<BR>> conceives of
Christianity to be a principle which is applicable across the
unviverse(s),<BR>> not just a utility reserved for the human race on planet
earth.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The big problem I see with this interpretation is not the interpretation
itself but that Wolfe mentions Jesus and yet seems to give no indication at all
that this is the interpretation he is promoting.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Suppose you were writing an alternate history where Hitler became a monk
and WWII never occurred. Would you gratuitously insert a clear reference
(and old piece of newsreel, say) to Hitler orating at a Nuremberg Rally, while
never ever making any reference to Hitler taking vows? To me that seems
analogous to what you are proposing as a ‘secret history’ behind the Solar
Cycle.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Wolfe has a reputation for subtlety, and an (exaggerated) reputation for
obscurity. But I am pretty sure that neither you, Wolfe or anyone else
would write the story this way.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Famously, Wolfe once said - in relation to BotNS I think – that he tried to
tell the reader everything once and once only. He did not suggest telling
him 0 times. I also think he rowed back a little from this approach in
later work. <BR></DIV>
<DIV><BR>> If Christ had appeared on Urth in the past, where did He go? Where
is the spiritual<BR>> salvation He offered? Why is it no longer available to
the people of Urth? Why is<BR>> Urth left only with remnants of Christianity?
Is Christianity so fragile that it could<BR>> appear for a while then
disappear for 90% of the rest of human history?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>There are a variety of religions on Urth, and little description of them,
and we only see a small part of the planet. Christianity may well persist
underground, or may even have changed its form a little and be all around.
None of the characters in BotNS are very religious except the Pelerines.</DIV>
<DIV><BR>Marble seems to indicate that the chems on Urth clung to the older
religion in Typhon’s time. But chems seem to be largely gone, at least
from the Commonwealth.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>> Also, while to me, The outsider does not resemble our Christian
God or the Increate in <BR>> his actions (possession, allowing multiple gods
and monsters to exist with humans, not <BR>> offering spiritual
salvation,etc.) he does more resemble the OT God to me. If we assume <BR>>
that the OT and NT God are the same, then I guess He would be trans-universal
and the guy<BR>> Silk was shown really could have been Jesus Christ. But on
earth, not on Urth. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>If he can be shown to Silk across universes, it might be argued that the
transcendental blessings associated with him should propagate across universes
anyway.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>As for the Outsider, I disagree with you. As I’ve noted, the
descriptions of him in the character lists are quite analogous to the Persons of
the Trinity[*]. He is never shown to possess anyone. He enlightens
Silk, a similar thing but not quite the same. The supposed possession of
Jesus when he threw the </DIV>
<DIV>moneylenders out of the temple is just Silk’s interpretation. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>[*]</DIV>
<DIV>Lake: the minor god who enlightened Silk</DIV>
<DIV>Calde: the god of the broken and disparaged, whose realm lies outside the
Whorl</DIV>
<DIV>Exodus: the god of gods</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The Calde description fits Christ. The Exodus description can be NT Father
or OT Yahweh. Lake could be the Holy Spirit.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>- Gerry Quinn</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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