"...doomed and resigned to foreknowledge - yon figure out of darkness and the wind...the forever homeless." (Time Patrol, p. 403)
Ulfilas employs pagan imagery to expound his uncompromising Arian monotheism whereas Farness cannot in honesty argue either for heathenism or for Christ. So what does the Time Patrol know about the origin of Christianity? In a different time travel scenario, Jack Havig of There Will be Time was in Jerusalem on the presumed day of the Crucifixion but went there to meet other time travelers, not to check out the truth about Jesus.
As ever, Poul Anderson exercises restraint and acknowledges mysteries when handling such matters. As a time traveler, I would want to confirm or disconfirm the Resurrection but I lack either a time machine or the ability to write a science fiction novel on this subject.
9 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Yes, I agree, Poul Anderson shows restraint whenever he touches on the ultimate mysteries in his works. I think he was a fairly strong or emphatic agnostic in his younger years, altho always showing respect to honest believers in God. I've mentioned this before, but it bears repeating, I wonder how MUCH of an agnostic Anderson was by the time of his late phase? Certain poems and passages in his later books makes me suspect Anderson at least wished he believed in God. One example being his poem "Prayer in War," which has stuck with me since I first read it in ORION WILL RISE. Another being various passages in GENESIS (such as the mention of God Incarnate humbly dining with His disciples).
I've reread S.M. Stirling's CONQUISTADOR and THE PESHAWAR LANCERS. I felt like some of Anderson's space oriented hard SF, so I'm now reading FLANDRY OF TERRA.
Sean
Doylistically, one can say that Poul Anderson exercises restraint. As I recall, there is an incident in The Shield of Time where Manse Everard thinks that a fellow Patrolman might be Cathlic, which raises questions. If a Patrolman can be a Cathloic, he is presumably not aware of proof that Jesus performed no miracles, and did not rise from the dead. On the other hand, there is nothing to suggest that all the Patrolmen and the Danellians too are Christians, which would presumably be the case if they knew that the New Testament miracles really happened.
But many people, given time travel, would want to know just what Jesus actually said and did, and whether he truly rose after three days. Is travel to first century Eretz Israel bNned or very closely regulated? Is it kept secret from ordinary Patrolmen and other time travelers just what has been learned about the beginnings of Christianity?
Once you start facing these questions, you seem to have conflicts, one way or another, with the Time Patrol universe as we have seen it, which, to return to the Doylist perspective, is probably why Anderson did not address these points in any of his Time Patrol stories.
Best Regards,
Nicholas D. Rosen
Nicholas,
Yes, I noticed that one Patrolman might be Catholic whereas another cannot in honesty defend Christianity. The Patrol would, for its own purposes, closely regulate travel to such a sensitive area of space-time but would also need to know what had happened there-then and I would not like to think of them concealing what they had found there. This is a potential problem area for the entire series. If it were known with scientific precision what had happened, then believing it would no longer be a matter of faith. I think that that would change everything but in unpredictable ways.
Paul.
Greetings, Nicholas and Paul!
You gentlemen have raised interesting points I wished I had thought of!
Nicholas: Drat! I've read THE SHIELD OF TIME at least twice and I'm not sure which Time Patrolman in that book might be a Catholic. I have a vague recollection of a 30th century AD Peruvian Time Patrolman. Is that the one?
But, yes, if any Time Patromen are Catholics then it logically follows they are not aware of evidence of Our Lord not being God Incarnate existing or being suppressed.
And you raised a fascinating question: are Patrolmen of the remote future and the Danellians themselves Christians? If they knew beyond no possible doubt that the miracles of Christ are real, they would virtually HAVE to become Christians.
And I can see how 1st Century AD Israel would be a very, very, very sensitive that the Patrol would NEED to keep a tight guard over. Crazies and fanatics of various kinds would be flocking there from after the "discovery" of time traveling.
Yes, the "conflicts" raised by questions of the kind you raised is very likely one huge reason for the restraint shown by Poul Anderson about these matters.
Paul: and you too have raised a very interesting point as regards Carl Farness. Shouldn't he KNOW either way the truth about Christ and Christianity? But we see no hint of the Patrol suppressing evidence proving or disproving the miracles of Christ. Was first century AD Israel such a dangerously sensitive region that it was INTERDICTED from anyone but the Danellians and a very few Patrol officers of the highest status?
Sean
Sean,
"...maybe he was a sincere Catholic." SOT, p. 313.
When Carl reflected that he could not in honesty argue for Christ, I took this to mean that he did know the truth.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I only have a hardback copy of SHIELD. The page numbering differs widely, I have noticed, in hard cover and soft cover editions of the same book.
And I can see how you drew the concluded alluded to in the quote about Carl's "reflections." But Anderson still seems to leave the question open, at least, of what he thought.
Sean
Sean,
Part Six, 1147 A.D., "Going from Ice Age France...," Everard in conversation with Koch.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I had no time to adequately comment before going to work, but I found it, on page 261 of my hardcover copy of THE SHIELD OF TIME. And if Herr Koch, the Time Patrolman posted to Mainz in 1137 (NOT 1147) was a sincere Catholic, that too is another bit of ambiguity seeming to indicate it was known the miracles of Christ genuinely happened. Another way of Anderson leaving the question open.
Sean
There would be similar issues for the life of Mohammed.
Similarly the historical & archeological record is overwhemingly against the story of the Jewish Exodus from Egypt being true, but surely checking via time machine would give similar problems for true believers.
Mormonism? Joseph Smith's conviction for fraud ought to be a problem for the true believers, but some might want to check for the Gold Plates.
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