Saturday 29 July 2017

Acknowledgments

Poul Anderson, American and agnostic, shows us contemporary York (see York Minster) and presents Catholic characters, like van Rijn and Axor, sympathetically. SM Stirling presents authentic British characters, like Sir Nigel Loring, and settings, like Newport Pagnell, and understands every religion that he writes about.

Further, Stirling acknowledges his sources. Thus, let us on this blog also thank:

Steve Brady for assistance with dialects and British background;
Kier Salmon for help with the Old Religion;
Diana L. Paxson for information on Asatru;
Dale Price for help with Catholic organization, theology and praxis.

Stirling also acknowledges other sources but here I focus specifically on the British and religious backgrounds.

SM Stirling, The Tears Of The Sun (New York, 2011), Acknowledgments.

7 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

One thing I would quibble about is Wiccans and neo-pagans calling their faith the "Old" Religion. A religion barely dating back about sixty or seventy years to Gerald Gardner can scarcely be called OLD, not when compared to Catholic Christianity (and before that, Judaism). Catholicism/Judaism is very ANCIENT, dating back at least to the time of Moses, circa 1300 BC. AND with a scholarly/written tradition going back nearly as far, a tradition none of the pagan religions has. And that tradition includes massive, deep, and subtle philosophical and theological reflections (including much taken from Classical philosophy). Compared to that, neo-paganism is so thin and NEW.

And I also have my doubts many of the neo-pagan religions of our time will last all that long before they fade away.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
The other very ancient spiritual-philosophical tradition is Indian meditation and yoga.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I agree Hinduism is very old, dating back to some time after the Aryan invasion of India, but not that Indian meditation and yoga goes that far back. I guess I better google it!

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
Buddhism is a few centuries BC. Jainism is much older.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I did check, and the practices and methods of meditation associated with yoga is believed to have started taking definite form by the sixth/fifth centuries BC.

Sean

S.M. Stirling said...

Note that a couple of Catholics in the books have the same reaction to the claim of antiquity...

Sean M. Brooks said...

Dear Mr. Stirling,

A reaction I would agree with! The so called "Old" Religion is very NEW. And sometimes just plain SILLY.

Sean