The two Jesuits ask whether we would accept extraterrestrial baptism or equivalent. What do our representative sf writers say?
CS Lewis' Martians and Venerians live in direct contact with Maleldil (the Solar word for "God"), do not practice initiations and, in any case, have no regular contact with Terrestrials. Blish's Lithians are entirely rational and secular.
In Poul Anderson's History of Technic Civilization:
the Ythrian Old Faith is polytheist with practices involving drug use and bloody sacrifices;
in the New Faith, God the Hunter offers not salvation in a hereafter but a good fight at death;
the Merseian deity is entirely transcendent and favors the Race above all other rational species.
Transcendence is indicated by the phrase "the God" as opposed to letting the word for a god become a personal name. Because of his upbringing, Olaf Magnusson is a Merseian ideologically if not biologically. An Avalonian human being who joins a choth might honorably embrace the New Faith although it is incompatible with any Terrestrial religion whereas the Merseian allegience is bad news, a false gospel.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I thought of the Ythrian "Old Faith" as being purely pagan and polytheistic in quite unpleasant ways. And I can agree on how humans who joined a choth can honorably adopt the "New Faith," despite my thinking it is mistaken to do so. "The Problem of Pain" shows a human character criticizing what he believes to be serious errors in the New Faith, while conceding that he thought it had some truth in it.
Yes, Poul Anderson, WAS one of the few major SF authors to take seriously philosophical and theological questions. And use them in his works. Other authors who did so as well being James Blish, Anthony Boucher, Walter Miller, etc.
Sean
Post a Comment