-Poul Anderson, "Star of the Sea," section 16, IN Anderson, Time Patrol (New York, 2006), pp. 467-640 AT p. 609.
We can still say such things metaphorically.
"'Well,' he said low, 'that lies with the gods, doesn't it? Or with the norns but no use in offering to them.'"
-Poul Anderson, Mother Of Kings (New York, 2003), Book Three, Chapter II, p. 193.
How many kinds of beings are superior to gods, mythologically speaking of course? Norns, Buddhas and Neil Gaiman's Endless. Also, the Hebrew god is supposed to be more powerful than any others, thus generating a syllogism:
gods are power;
other gods are powerless before the god of Abraham;
therefore, there are no other gods.
In some of Anderson's historical fictions, Christians have not yet reasoned from the second premise to the conclusion.
Danes settling in England take baptism because:
"Christendom was so vastly more wide and rich than anything left in the North." (Mother Of Kings, Book Two, Chapter XIV, p. 141)
These are cultural conversions. What are the grounds for spiritual conversions? For St Paul it was a blinding light and a voice, thus, I would say, a psychological crisis. For CS Lewis, it was philosophical arguments with which I disagree. For some, it is hearing Evangelical preaching although I find this completely irrational. I have considered evidence for the Resurrection here.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Except I believe St. Paul truly DID meet Our Lord on the road to Damascus. That Saul of Tarsus changed from being a persecutor of the early Christians to becoming an apostle of Christ only because he literally met Him on that road to Damascus. Yes, I know, you don't agree! (Smiles)
I have two very interesting books about St. Paul: one is PAUL THE CONVERT, by Alan F. Segal, and the other is PAUL AMONG THE PEOPLE, by Sarah Ruden. The first was written by a Jew (by no means hostile to Christianity) partly because of the realization that the letters of Paul were among the earliest surviving JEWISH writings not in the Hebrew canon of the Bible. Which made them sources for knowledge of Jewish thought and religious movements of the first century AD. The Ruden book was written by a Classical scholar who had at first accepted all the conventional "liberal" attacks on St. Paul. Then Sarah Ruden had an inspiration, she would reread St. Paul in the context of the times he lived in, compared against her knowledge of Greco/Roman history and culture and literature. And she came to drastically revise her views of Paul as a result.
Sean
Sean,
Thanks. I have also read about Paul and, of course, he is a many-sided figure without whom, I think, Christianity would not have survived.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Oh, I think Christianity would have survived and spread even if St. Paul had not been converted by Christ--but men/women and nations would have converted more slowly.
Sean
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