"There was no analog of Henri in any other timeline."
Actually, he reminds me a bit of Hong Xiuquan. Just a bit, though. Turtle Fan 17:22, May 15, 2010 (UTC)
- I'd forgotten about Hong.
- His cult didn't take and he didn't contribute to Scripture. That changes things a bit. Turtle Fan 19:39, May 15, 2010 (UTC)
- I guess I should clarify the article a bit. The main concern is that Henri doesn't exist in any other timeline, which creates a crisis of faith in Jacques. TR 17:36, May 15, 2010 (UTC)
- I can see how crosstime would complicate religious belief like that. Me, I'd just say the fact that he only appeared the once proves there was nothing divine about him, and be done with it. Certainly they would have encountered dramatically different versions of church history in their travels, where heresies that were defeated in the HTL took hold, and timelines in which there was no Christianity at all. I don't see this as being too different.
- By the way, is it just me or does HT seem to enjoy fucking with Christian theology? You've got this, USP, S&A, BtB (I'm inclined to give BtB a pass, though, since he didn't have any particular target in mind there.) Turtle Fan 19:39, May 15, 2010 (UTC)
- To an extent, although those are the most dramatic examples. He seems content to leave well enough alone in most works, emphasizes its importance in works like Justinian etc. Even in USP, Jesus as a vampire doesn't change the history of Christianity at all.
- No ascension, a Jesus who doesn't believe he has a soul, who's out of touch with God and whose only concern about the Church is that popes die quickly so he can feed often? That's a bit of a change. Remember that the friar told Benedict "We have . . . the Son" and the thought that greatly unsettled Benedict was not that there was a vampire down there (which is a hell of a leap) but that they had preserved physical remains of Christ crucified--no Resurrection, no ascension.
- In that sense, yes it changes. But since the truth is known to a very small number of people, what is a matter of faith is still a matter of faith for the majority. TR 20:18, May 15, 2010 (UTC)
- And the Order of the Pipistrelle people seem to take it in stride, and there's a glimmer of hope that Benedict will come to terms with it as well. Still, it does invalidate much theology. (Actually, not necessarily entirely so. . . . "You say it" leaves just enough wiggle room for those who can't stand the very unsettling conclusions toward which the rest of the story pushes the reader.) Turtle Fan 20:25, May 15, 2010 (UTC)
- With your counterexamples, yeah, he's respectful enough. I like that, with the exception of BtB, he confines the definitive proofs of theological questions to the fantasy stories. And I especially like when POVs die with their thoughts turning to the afterlife and end their last scenes with "He went on to learn whatever he would learn." Turtle Fan 20:06, May 15, 2010 (UTC)
- Tangenting slightly, I am pleased we haven't seen a fatwa stemming from St. Muhammed yet. TR 19:54, May 15, 2010 (UTC)
- That is refreshing. It might have to do with the obscurity of the work. This might also earn HT a little leeway with the fatwa-passing crowd, though the fatwa-passing crowd is not known for giving credit and accepting compromises, is it? Turtle Fan 20:06, May 15, 2010 (UTC)
- No, I don't think that would be enough for the fatwa-passing crowd. So may it remain relatively obscure. TR 20:18, May 15, 2010 (UTC)
- I don't doubt that it will. The only real threat is that the Asimov foreword will attract undue attention to it. But then, Asimov fanhood has remained on a pretty even keel for quite some time, so if it hasn't happened yet, I doubt it will any time soon. And Asimov wrote so many thousands of books and articles that by the time you've dug around to the foreword of a younger author's anthology, if you ever have at all, the Second Empire will have formed. And such a dedicated Asimov reader would no doubt have no time to read the rest of the book after he'd finished the foreword. Turtle Fan 20:25, May 15, 2010 (UTC)
"Ils ne passeront pas"[]
I'm not so sure the Inpp section is needed, as all its points can be found in Revelation.Matthew Babe Stevenson (talk) 18:58, September 26, 2019 (UTC)
- I'm inclined to agree. Turtle Fan (talk) 03:18, September 27, 2019 (UTC)
- We forgot about this one 5 years ago.Matthew Babe Stevenson (talk) 06:53, 7 September 2024 (UTC)
- Any objections? Turtle Fan (talk) 15:50, 7 September 2024 (UTC)
- I guess I don't care. We might consider a "see also" for Book of Revelation, just to make things a little more user friendly. TR (talk) 16:51, 7 September 2024 (UTC)
- I'm mildly disinclined to include a See Also but my feelings on the matter are not strong. Turtle Fan (talk) 14:33, 9 September 2024 (UTC)