"The object of life was not to avoid a Jonathan Edwards hellfire, but to be upright and honorable." (p. 138)
Upright or uptight? The character who has these reflections is Joshua Coffin so my question is appropriate. Before googling and posting about Jonathan Edwards, I searched the blog to find out whether I had done so before and found that I had although not in relation to Orbit Unlimited. See In The Johannine Cathedral. Poul Anderson's Operation Chaos clearly labels Edwards as an unknowing instrument of the Adversary.
Orbit Unlimited and Operation Chaos are set in such different universes that there is almost no connection between them although theoretically both can be incorporated in some version of a multiverse. If there are many parallel Earths, then there can be many Jonathan Edwards with different relationships to the Adversary.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I'm a bit puzzled, I did a googling of Jonathan Edwards, and while I certainly don't agree with his Protestant theology, I don't see why Steven Matuchek could have regarded him as an unwitting agent of the Adversary. Edwards did not strike me as as a BAD man.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
The remark might not be entirely serious. Matuchek describes Edwards as an unknowing instrument of the Adversary.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I did notice that "unknowing" bit, but it still seemed STRAINED to me.
Ad astra! Sean
I think the reference was to the man's remark that the floors of Hell being paved with the skulls of unbaptized infants.
Calvinists of Edwards' stamp were big into infant danmnation.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Yes, I think I remember that now. And such notions are among the most ghastly ideas, IMO, to be found in Calvinism. Catholic theologians reacted against such ideas with speculations about Limbo, along with stress on the mercy of God.
Ad astra! Sean
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