Caleb Wallis, the Sachem, self-styled founder and master of the Eyrie, always to be addressed as "sir":
"'I've left my father's faith. I guess most time travelers do. But I still believe in a God who every now and then calls a particular man to a destiny.''" (p. 72)
A God in Wallis's image.
Time travelers should be able to confirm or disconfirm the alleged miraculous origins of religions. There Will Be Time and the Time Patrol are ambiguous on this issue.
In Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End, the aliens give mankind a chronoscope and soon only one religion - an austere form of Buddhism? - survives. Some people who practice meditation find it beneficial here and now whatever the truth or falsity of historical claims about religious founders.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Poul Anderson couldn't give a positive answer for or against Christianity if he was not SURE. So that ambiguity made sense. Also, I think it made for better stories, both in THERE WILL BE TIME and the Time Patrol.
As for Caleb Wallis' insistence on being formally addressed, don't forget how I discussed that in my "Andersonian Themes and Tropes" article. And Stirling had John Rolfe giving a nearly word for word quote of what Wallis said in CONQUISTADOR.
Ad astra! Sean
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