Re: CHAT: Religions (was: Visible planets)

On Friday, November 14, 2003, at 12:32 AM, Costentin Cornomorus wrote:

[snip]
> Certainly there are echos. We even studied the
> first part of Silmarilion in an adult catachesis
> class. In part for its beauty, in part because
> himself was a devout Catholic and it shows.
It seems to me that we're largely in agreement.

> Nevertheless, it doesn't jive in its particulars
> with Catholic teaching (i.e., what's in
> scripture).
Which is perhaps one reason JRRT never got it completed
& published in his lifetime.  It's what I sometimes feel
about 'briefscript'/BrSc - I'm trying to find a compromise,
reconciling two party conflicting aims.  Maybe JRRT was
having a similar problem with his Catholicism & his attempt
to produce a sort English epic on the lines of the Finnish
Kalavala.

> If it meshed that strongly, you'd
> find Silmarilion in the theology or cosmology
> sections of Catholic books stores and libraries;
> and I'd expect it to be taught as an expression
> of Catholic theology.
No, no - I don't think for one moment JRRT would've
wanted that.  It was his sub-creation, his work of
fiction.  I'm sure he'd expect his books to be quite
firmly in the fiction section of any library, whether
Catholic or not.

> You might even hear it
> proclaimed at Mass. For all its beauty and all
> its echos, I have experienced neither.
And JRRT certainly wouldn't have wanted that - he
didn't even like the dropping of Latin in favor of
the vernacular.


[ME:}
>> Are you serious about the 1st? I know 'Merkan
>> Fundamentalist are
>> very 'fundamental' by UK standards - but you
>> mean that some still
>> hold to the geocentric theory, like the good
>> ol' "Flat Earth Society"?
>
[Padraic]
> They are quite active, especially in trying to
> get this sort of stuff taught in schools as
> science. Same goes for a literal six day
> creation, a young Earth, a worldwide flood, and
> so forth.
Good grief!  Glad I live this side of the Pond.

It this wasn't going on in the most powerful nation
in the world, it would be quite risible.

Ray
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