When Everard informs Koch of a temporal change later that same year:
"The habits of disguise took over. Koch crossed himself again and again. Or maybe he was a sincere Catholic." (p. 313)
Maybe? But surely the Patrol knows the truth about such matters? Carl Farness remarks that he cannot in honesty argue for Christ. Everard remarks that the Patrol concentrates on guarding Palestine because so many fanatics or freebooters want to change what happened in Jerusalem. But what did happen? Time travelers should know. And questions of spiritual practice ought not to depend on the truth or falsity of historical propositions.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Butt that touches on what I believe is one of the factors making Christianity so unique, it's HISTORICITY. I.e., the actual and real existence of Christ. You might not believe Our Lord the divinely incarnated Son of God and that He literally rose from the dead, but many, like the Apostles and St. Paul (who stressed the importance of that point), firmly believed that He did and APPEARED to them.
So I see no reason not to expect Christianity to have survived into the remote future of the Time Patrol, even into the Danellian era! Which means Otto Koch's behavior is not so so odd.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
The Patrol position is ambiguous because of what Farness says.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Do you mean when Carl Farness met the Arian missionary, Ulfilas? But I never understood's Carl's thoughts at that time to reflect any "official" position of the Time Patrol. My thought was simply showing his hesitant, uncertain views of such matters. That he was simply an agnostic. I might be wrong, granted, because I'm writing from memory here.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Yes, I meant that scene. The Patrol should know the truth or falsity of the Resurrection.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
The simplest explanation, of course, is that Carl's uncertain views about Christ reflected Anderson's own hesitations about such matters at the time he wrote "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth." Or perhaps the Patrol itself was uncertain? Or did the Danellians forbid it to reveal what it knew, pro or con? Because to do would be a hugely disruptive factor in the timeline leading to the Danellians.
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment