The Time Machine invites us to discuss the nature of time as well as to speculate about the future of mankind and of life on Earth and of course to enjoy the adventures of the Time Traveller. Fiction about religious believers invites us to appreciate the characters, their activities and experiences, and also, if we are so inclined, to reflect on their beliefs. This returns us to Peter Berg in Poul Anderson's "The Problem of Pain." I think that a philosophical analysis of monotheism is a valid response, although obviously not a complete response, to the story, which is not only about what Berg believes but also about how he responds to his bereavement.
Other issues in the story are: how would intelligent carnivores see God - assuming that they do see Him, of course -? and how should Christians believe that God responds to other rational species? It is certain that, if there are different answers to a question, then different groups of people will accept different answers. Thus, Berg's Church has decreed that Jesus saves only mankind whereas, later in the Technic History, a Wodenite is ordained in the Jerusalem Catholic Church.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I touched on the points you raised in your second paragraph in my "God and Alien in Anderson's Technic Civilization" article. And quoted from a Catholic magazine how, while this was totally speculative and would probably need an Ecumenical Council to authoritatively judge, it was suggested a dying alien who came to know of Christ and requested baptism, might be conditionally baptized pending such a judgement. Plainly, from the existence of non-human Jerusalem Catholics in the Technic stories, the decision made was that non-humans could become Christians.
We don't know what church Peter Berg was a member of, whether one of the Protestant churches or even one of the Orthodox churches, but whichever it was decided non-humans could not be baptized. If the Catholic Church ever authoritatively defined that non-humans could be baptized I would disagree with what Peter Berg's church decided.
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment