Anderson, Poul, "The Man Who Came Early" IN Knight, Damon, Ed. 100 Years of Science Fiction, Book One (London, 1972), pp. 185-212.
"The Man Who Came Early" reminds us of other historical fiction by Poul Anderson. Its second sentence refers to "...the king in Miklagard..." (p. 185) and to an "Eilif Eiriksson," who had served in the Varangian Guard.
Not only is the narration first person but it is addressed conversationally to a single auditor, a Christian priest. The speaker, having seen how the English and French prosper, concedes that "...the White Christ...must be a very powerful god, to ward so many realms..." (ibid.) and is attracted by the idea of receiving a white robe at baptism. Such a garment would mildew in Icelandic weather but he would sacrifice to the household elves...
Someone who thinks thus is prepared to change his deity within the Pagan world view but is not yet making the change to the Christian world view. How many of the first generation in Northern Europe did it that way? Christianity represented civilization, a higher culture and wider trade. There were pragmatic reasons for conversion. But subsequent generations grew up in a society that had collectively changed its world view from Pagan to Christian.
We now experience social change with, potentially, a more sympathetic understanding of earlier periods. I attended a handfast ceremony in which some people were surprised to hear a prayer to the Lord Jesus. However, the bride was Christian so it was appropriate that her deity was invoked. When a Pagan seasonal ritual was held in our kitchen, my daughter quietly informed the celebrant that she did not have any religious beliefs but was advised that belief or disbelief did not matter. (That is the Christian approach.) She found that she appreciated the ceremony.
I feel attuned to a world view in which it is acceptable to invoke local gods or not as we want and also to respect other people and their gods. Attending an anti-racist rally in Trafalgar Square, I again found my fellow demonstrators queuing to receive free vegetarian food from devotees of Krishna. And, if we learn meditation from Zen monks, then we offer incense to the Buddha who, in the mythology, was a "teacher of gods and men."
5 comments:
Hi, Paul!
I'm sure many Scandinavian pagans a thousand years ago contemplated converting to Christianity for the naive and rather simplistic reasons given in "The Man Who Came Early." It took time for the truths and ethical norms taught by the Catholic Church to really sink in and be internalized by Scandinavians.
And, I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with you about showing respect to gods I quite simply don't believe to EXIST. It makes no sense to respect beings which are not REAL.
That does NOT mean I, as a Catholic should be rude and impolite if I was a guest at a gathering of pagans (btw, don't neo pagans see how affected it is to call a wedding "hand fasting"?). Of course I should be polite and civil. I would simply decline to pray to gods which do not exist.
And what you said about taking food from devotees Krishna reminded me of how St. Paul exhorted his converts not to fret about the meat purchased in the market which may have been offered to pagan gods. It's enough for the Christian to not have offered to false gods. Rather he should buy his food and give thanks to the true God.
Sean
Sean,
I cannot separate respect for the worshiper from respect for the god. After all, I will treat an image of the god with respect, not vandalize it. If someone tells me that he worships and even experiences Thor, then I respect him and his experiences and recognize that the range of all human experiences is wider than mine.
My skepticism about monotheism is philosophical (the creator before the creation would be a self without other, which is like a square without sides) whereas my skepticism about polytheism is merely empirical (I do not see Thor - although, metaphorically at least, I do hear him.)
Paul.
Hi, Paul!
But I DO distinguish between showing respect to a pagan as a fellow human being from the non existent gods that pagan worships. And I think of images of pagan gods largely as works of art, to be preserved or not to be preserved either for the artistic skill shown in making them or for their historical associations.
A combox is hardly the right place for an elaborate discussion of how we can know or believe from logic and reason alone that God exists! I do say, however, that I found Aristotle's argument for the existence of God, defined as the ultimate Unmoved Mover, to be convincing. To say nothing of the arguments of later philosophers like St. Thomas Aquinas.
Sean
Sean,
What is good is that Anderson's texts keep leading us back into these deeper issues.
Paul.
Hi, Paul!
I agree! And, quite often it's surprising how Poul Anderson stories can lead to unexpectedly deeper issues. I say "unexpected" because quite often Anderson's stories don't seem to have deeper levels. These levels of nuance are often found only after rereading a story.
Sean
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