Saturday, 1 August 2020

Real Religious Feeling

I think that there is real religious feeling in at least four passages written by Poul Anderson. What do I mean by "real religious feeling"? A response to life including a sense of transcendence combined with mythological imagination and moral aspiration?

See:

Two Concluding Prayers which links to:

Bodin's Prayer

See also:

On Identifying "Top Gods"

- and Father Tomislav's sermon as quoted in:

Through The Western Gate

5 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I agree, and I would include as well Anderson's poem "Prayer in War," which you can find in ORION SHALL RISE.

It's my belief that even if, for most of his life, Anderson thought of himself as being mostly agnostic, there were times he wanted to believe in God. And I saw enough indications of such a view to make me wonder how agnostic Anderson was in his very last years.

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,

I know you include "Prayer in War" as expressing religious feeling. That one didn't grab me as much.

Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I don't see why not, because that poem mentions and appeals to God.

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,

I liked the devotional feeling in the passages that I quoted.

Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And I agree that devotional feeling can be found in the texts you cited. I would argue the same can be found in "Prayer in War."

Ad astra! Sean