reading Stieg Larsson's second Millennium novel;
waiting for Eon by Greg Bear, which is "print on request";
always finding something else to post about Poul Anderson's time travel, like -
The Time Patrol concentrates on guarding Palestine, 69-70 AD, because:
fanatics or freebooters want to change the course of the Jewish War;
many researchers crowd into that small volume of space and time;
the War has many causes and consequences.
The Patrol must prevent deliberate changes by criminals and accidental changes by researchers in a situation where accidents are all too possible. Although Everard does not understand the physics, he is taught and accepts that the continuum is vulnerable around such moments and therefore that reality is unstable as far away as Germany where the Patrol, preoccupied with Palestine, does not concentrate any resources - and "'...a ripple of change...'" is starting among German barbarians (Time Patrol, p. 493).
This is a question for physicists? Then neither logic nor historical knowledge is sufficient to enable us to discuss it. Everard and his colleague investigating the disturbance in Germany find that they have caused it but this is possible because unstable reality has generated the oddity of a pagan prophetess with the potential to found a Northern Goddess-monotheism that will resist Christianity although, thanks to Patrol intervention, the goddess' star of the sea becomes instead associated with the Virgin Mary. Anderson combines time travel not only with history but also with mythology.
6 comments:
Hi, Paul!
I'm a bit puzzled by your "Northern Goddess-monotheism" comment. I reread "Star of the Sea" not that long ago and the impression I got was that the prophetess did NOT deny the other pagan gods. So, I'm not sure that a different monotheistic faith unrelated to Judaism/Christianity would have arisen. Granted, I can see how a god or goddess might become so dominant that the other gods in the Germanic pantheon would fade away.
However, as a Catholic, my view is that of the argument developed by G.K. Chesterton in his book THE EVER LASTING MAN, that the rise of Christianity made it impossible to take paganism seriously.
Sean
Sean,
Veleda did not deny but did downplay the other gods. I think that this is how monotheism developed. The relevant discussion is in TIME PATROL, on p. 568. Janne says that the new faith "'...would not become monotheistic...'" but immediately adds that the goddess would become the supreme figure and would keep out Christianity.
Paul.
Hi, Paul!
I'll be looking up the page you mentioned, thanks! But, while I can see monotheism or quasi monotheism developing from some pagan religions, such as that of Pharaoh Akhenaten's short lived cult of the Aten in Egypt, or the dualistic Zoroastrianism of pre Muslim Persia (to say nothing of what we see in "Star of the Sea"), I don't believe that is what happened with the Jews. Because I believe the true God DID intervene in human history to select a people for Himself, as the means of gradually revealing Himself to mankind. A process which reached its culmination with the Incarnation of Christ and the rise of Christianity.
I know, you don't believe that was the case! I'm not offended! (Smiles)
Sean
Sean,
However it happened, though, I think that the record shows that the development of monotheism even in the Bible was gradual.
Paul.
Hi, Paul!
Of course I agree. The OT, for example, is a history of God's slow, gradual, and patient revelation of Himself to first the Jews and then mankind.
Sean
Sean,
If you reason from the premise of a divine intervention or revelation, then, yes, it would have to have been gradual.
Paul.
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