<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:10pt"> <div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <div style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <div dir="ltr"> <font face="Arial" size="2"> <hr size="1"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span></b> Lee Berman <severiansola@hotmail.com><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> urth@lists.urth.net <br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Monday, April 16, 2012 3:23 PM<br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> (urth) Severian as Jonah<br> </font> </div> <br>
<br>I was watching a TV show on the "Secrets of Christianity" and there was<br>a segment on a sea voyage Jesus took. The interesting part (for this<br>list) was a mention that Jesus probably took this trip as a deliberate<br>attempt at recreating Jonah's voyage. There are a number of parallels to<br>be found between Jonah and Jesus (http://www.agapebiblestudy.com/charts/The%20Typology%20of%20Jonah%20and%20Jesus.htm)<br> <br>The part I found most pertinent to BotNS was the parallel of Jonah spending <br>3 days in the belly of the great fish, then being expelled, parallelling<br>Jesus' 3 days in the cave then being resurrected.<br><br>Previously I had posted about a recurring theme regarding fish mouths and<br>caves that I saw in BotNS including the Jurupari reference, the Ouroboros <br>story, Abaia and undines, the man-ape cave and the Fomalhaut reference. Though <br>I saw this theme, I really didn't understand its significance. Perhaps now I do.<br>
<br>Not everyone agrees but I see Urth (and The Whorl) as a "gnostic" world which,<br>despite being more technologically advanced (and declined) than modern earth,<br>is spiritually retarded; i.e. they have not yet received Christ. If this is<br>the case then perhaps the fish mouth/cave theme is meant to invoke Severian as<br>a Jonah-like figure. A precursor who helps prepare the world for a future <br>coming of Christ.<br> <br><br>---Much as does Dionysus. I like it. It explains all the fish heads ... er, the fish mouths.<br><br>Any idea what was so important to Jesus about Jonah that he would do such a thing? or at least what others thought was important about it?<br> </div> </div> </div></body></html>