From: C R Culver <CRCulver@aol.com>
Subject: (urth) Religion in the BotNS
Date: Wed, 11 Mar 1998 22:16:31 EST


[Posted from URTH, a mailing list about Gene Wolfe's New Sun and other works]

Said Peter S:
>The part where he goes through Thrax holding the Claw aloft recalls `I am the
light of the world'<

This section is hard for me to interpret religiously, because Severian does
release the floodgates, killing the prisoners in the jacal. That is, IMHO, not
in any way Christlike.

Continues Peter:
>I'm sure there must be other such.  I hope someone can wax lyrical on the
relationship of the Pancreator, Increate<

I notice 'Pancreator' is used historically, in God's role as Creator, and
Increate is used in the present, explaining a God who watches, remotely,
though.

One interesting thing I did notice is Severian's reviving of Miles. The word
Miles is Latin for soldier (actually, it is nominative or accusative plural),
but it also can mean "thousand." How many people are in a Roman legion? A
thousand, or some variation of it? Thus, Severian was able to revive Jonas,
but casting out his demons (that is, his personal demons, or his pain over not
having Jolenta), just as Christ, in Luke, drove the demons out of the man who
identified himself as Legion. I'm pretty much thinking out loud right now, so
don't take this too seriously.

Christopher R. Culver <crculver@aol.com>
http://members.aol.com/crculver/index.html
------------------------------------------------
"Ignorance, that light of fools steers a wayward path"
-Brendan Perry

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