Saturday 12 January 2019

Saving The Historical Appearances

Writing about religions in history (see Current Agenda) recalls Poul Anderson's works on time travel:

in There Will Be Time, time travelers are in Jerusalem on the presumed day of the Crucifixion and in Constantinople when it is sacked by Crusaders but do not affect the course of religious history;

in the Time Patrol series, the Patrol guards Goddess worship, then Christianity etc, but only as long as they are scheduled to exist;

in The Corridors Of Time, Wardens foster Goddess worship whereas Rangers promote patriarchal religions;

in all three cases, history happens exactly as we know it to have done!

Anderson, covering every option, also presents alternative histories, of course:

the Jews did not return from Babylon;
Alexander the Great survived into old age;
the Patrol responds to several divergent timelines and prevents others.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I know this piece was not meant as a quiz, but I'll treat it like one!

The Jews did not return from Babylon: "The House of Sorrows."

Alexander the Great lived into old age: "Eutopia."

The Time Patrol responded to several divergent timelines and prevents others: examples being "Delenda Est," "Brave To Be A King," and "Amazement of the World."

Sean


paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
And, in "Star of the Sea," there was the danger of a massive religious divergence.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I should have remembered that one. An example I agree with. Even "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth" touches on similar ideas. That is, Carl might have unintentionally strengthened the faith of the Goths in Odin so much that history would have changed.

Sean