Two crew members go EVA to defend Envoy:
"The jetpacks on their backs were like the wings of the warrior angel Michael." (p.110)
Michael is a Biblical reference. This archangel is in Daniel, Jude and Revelation. I have just reread Mike Carey's Lucifer which also features Michael, Gabriel etc. Like some of Poul Anderson's fantasies, Lucifer mixes mythologies. Thus, when Michael asks whether it was the Buddha that heard a sermon in the thunder, Lucifer replies that that was in the Upanishads but nevertheless applauds his brother's ecumenicism! Carey gives Michael a more active role in the creation of the world than I would have expected. However, this fits with some of the religious traditions summarized in the Wikipedia article.
Poul Anderson did not write any Biblically based fantasies. We can't have everything. However, some of his works show the Pagan gods withdrawing before the power of Christ.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
This well known prayer to St. Michael the Archangel was composed by Pope Leo XIII in 1884 after he had seen a vision of Satan boasting that he would destroy the Church. But the Pope was reassured when he saw that St. Michael would guard and defend the Church against Satan's attacks.
And I did think of St. Michael when I read this chapter of STARFARERS!
Ad astra! Sean
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