From: "Dan'l Danehy-Oakes" 
Subject: RE: (urth) War With The Ascians as a Proxy War?
Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2002 10:52:57 -0700

Welcome, Crush.

You wrote...

> Hey, I'm also new. The Acian War *could* be thought of as a proxy war,
> but it could just as easily be viewed as a resistance war against 
> an occupying force. If there is any correlation between the Acian War
> and the War of Heaven, THAT is certainly closer to the way I've always 
> viewed my Christian participation.

Right. A big help with understanding this concept when I was much
younger was John Donne's sonnet "Batter my heart, three-person'd God,"
which is one of the most vivid presentations of "spiritual warfare"
and the fight to retake the "occupied" territory of the human soul,
which I have ever encountered.

> Actually the word "pagan" (according to Henry Chadwick) was a
> Roman military term for "civilian"-so a pagan was one who had 
> yet to become involved in the war.

I am not knowing from Henry Chadwick. Merriam-Webster's online
gives this for the etymology of Pagan:

     Middle English, from Late Latin paganus, from Latin,
     country dweller, from pagus country district; akin to
     Latin pangere to fix -- more at PACT

Under PACT, we find this:

     Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin pactum,
     from neuter of pactus, past participle of pacisci to
     agree, contract; akin to Old English fOn to seize, Latin
     pax peace, pangere to fix, fasten, Greek pEgnynai

So, wow: "pagan" turns out to be related to "peace." But,
more to the point, Andrew's "bit of pedantry" seems to be
pretty accurate.

Which doesn't really make any problems with this:

> In this light, the Acians could be viewed as a fifth column 
> brigade. The hieros seem to view themselves as our "descendents".
> Who knows the true pedigree of Erebus and Abaia? 

Well, right. There's hints in tBotNS that they're alien, though
I can't recall an explicit statement on the subject. TBotSS
seems to suggest that Scylla, at least, is related to the "Mother" 
of Blue.

--Blattid


--