I Believe in E.T.
“The ring of the King,” said Ransom, “is on Arthur’s finger where he sits in the House of Kings in the cup-shaped land of Abhalljin, beyond the seas of Lur in Perelandra. For Arthur did not die; Our Lord took him, to be in the body till the end of time and the shattering of Sulva, with Enoch and Elias and Moses and Melchisedec the King. Melchisedec is he in whose hall the steep-stoned ring sparkles on the fore-finger of the Pendragon.”
“Well answered,” said the Stranger. “In my college it was thought that only two men in the world knew this. But as for my third question, no man knew the answer but myself. Who shall be Pendragon in the time when Saturn descends from his sphere? In what world did he learn war?”
“In the sphere of Venus I learned war,” said Ransom. “In this age Lurga shall descend. I am the Pendragon.”
~That Hideous Strength
I’m sure a lot of you expect that since being in Oxford I’ve been seeped in classic philosophical texts and literature, expanding my vocabulary, and learning how to better formulate arguments in writing. Well, I’m sure some of that is at least partially true, but I thought I’d take this opportunity to share with you another side of me that has been growing since coming to Oxford, my imagination.
Many of you may not know this, but I really do have a fascination with myth and legend. I don’t know much about it at all. Unfortunately, teachers never really expose you to it because the majority of the academia shuns it as “childish.” You’ve probably all seen the History Channel specials on Bigfoot, and Sasquatch, the Loch Ness monster, dragons, Mokele Mbembe, and the like. I think where most people blow this off as impossible; I tend to buy into it. Well, I’ve been reading a lot of fantasy lately. I’ve gone through the Narnia books, The Hobbit, Lewis’ Space Trilogy, and soon I will have worked through some of George MacDonald’s fiction. Reading all these books have really brought out a suppressed side of my mind.
In Lewis’ spiritual autobiography, Suprised by Joy,Lewis talks about a Joy which he describes as an unsatisfied desire. For Lewis, it is almost a kind of inexpressible grief or pain, but it is a kind we want. Perhaps many of you have experienced this in the spiritual context while meditating on the things of God, or hearing a powerful sermon, or singing some beloved hymn. Perhaps you find yourself overwhelmed with a sort of grief which far exceeds any feeling you have ever tasted, and yet you want more of it. I know for myself this is the case.
For both Lewis and Tolkien, this Joy is the quintessential element in fantasy. If you don’t create this sort of longing or desire in the reader, then you probably have failed in your sub-creation of the mythical world. The problem with me, maybe its wrong to call it a problem, is that I really want these things I read to be true. I’ve just finished the Space Trilogy. I had read the third installment, That Hideous Strength, once before, but had never read either Out of the Silent Planet, or Perelandra. The first two are good books, but the third book is by far the best. I think even people who hate science fiction could really enjoy it. It was my second time reading it, and I loved it even more. The trilogy basically shows us one character, Ransom, who travels through space and visits other worlds to find they are inhabited by what we would call “aliens.” Most of the planets are ruled by eldila, what we call angels, and our own planet is basically under siege and infiltrated by fallen eldila.
I don’t want to give too much of the stories away, but I do recommend them. For myself, they’ve opened up a radically new idea that the Christian myth, or story, could be so much more than we can even imagine. Many of you might cringe at the idea, and there is sense in which I think one must be careful. But to say that the Scripture is our infallible, inerrant guide for doctrine and life is true in that it shows God’s plan of salvation for His people on this planet. I think it is certainly within God’s infiniteness to have many other worlds existing over which He is Sovereign LORD. I think it is at least interesting to ponder. I don’t think it is something that should distract our purpose here on earth, but it is at least intriguing to consider what possible beings could actually exist, what beings could have existed even in our own world. For myself, I find no problem believing in the existence, or past existence, of dragons and wholly “other” beings.
I came to Oxford hoping to expand my knowledge. It seems I’ve only added “aliens” to my list of crazy things I think exist.
“Well answered,” said the Stranger. “In my college it was thought that only two men in the world knew this. But as for my third question, no man knew the answer but myself. Who shall be Pendragon in the time when Saturn descends from his sphere? In what world did he learn war?”
“In the sphere of Venus I learned war,” said Ransom. “In this age Lurga shall descend. I am the Pendragon.”
~That Hideous Strength
I’m sure a lot of you expect that since being in Oxford I’ve been seeped in classic philosophical texts and literature, expanding my vocabulary, and learning how to better formulate arguments in writing. Well, I’m sure some of that is at least partially true, but I thought I’d take this opportunity to share with you another side of me that has been growing since coming to Oxford, my imagination.
Many of you may not know this, but I really do have a fascination with myth and legend. I don’t know much about it at all. Unfortunately, teachers never really expose you to it because the majority of the academia shuns it as “childish.” You’ve probably all seen the History Channel specials on Bigfoot, and Sasquatch, the Loch Ness monster, dragons, Mokele Mbembe, and the like. I think where most people blow this off as impossible; I tend to buy into it. Well, I’ve been reading a lot of fantasy lately. I’ve gone through the Narnia books, The Hobbit, Lewis’ Space Trilogy, and soon I will have worked through some of George MacDonald’s fiction. Reading all these books have really brought out a suppressed side of my mind.
In Lewis’ spiritual autobiography, Suprised by Joy,Lewis talks about a Joy which he describes as an unsatisfied desire. For Lewis, it is almost a kind of inexpressible grief or pain, but it is a kind we want. Perhaps many of you have experienced this in the spiritual context while meditating on the things of God, or hearing a powerful sermon, or singing some beloved hymn. Perhaps you find yourself overwhelmed with a sort of grief which far exceeds any feeling you have ever tasted, and yet you want more of it. I know for myself this is the case.
For both Lewis and Tolkien, this Joy is the quintessential element in fantasy. If you don’t create this sort of longing or desire in the reader, then you probably have failed in your sub-creation of the mythical world. The problem with me, maybe its wrong to call it a problem, is that I really want these things I read to be true. I’ve just finished the Space Trilogy. I had read the third installment, That Hideous Strength, once before, but had never read either Out of the Silent Planet, or Perelandra. The first two are good books, but the third book is by far the best. I think even people who hate science fiction could really enjoy it. It was my second time reading it, and I loved it even more. The trilogy basically shows us one character, Ransom, who travels through space and visits other worlds to find they are inhabited by what we would call “aliens.” Most of the planets are ruled by eldila, what we call angels, and our own planet is basically under siege and infiltrated by fallen eldila.
I don’t want to give too much of the stories away, but I do recommend them. For myself, they’ve opened up a radically new idea that the Christian myth, or story, could be so much more than we can even imagine. Many of you might cringe at the idea, and there is sense in which I think one must be careful. But to say that the Scripture is our infallible, inerrant guide for doctrine and life is true in that it shows God’s plan of salvation for His people on this planet. I think it is certainly within God’s infiniteness to have many other worlds existing over which He is Sovereign LORD. I think it is at least interesting to ponder. I don’t think it is something that should distract our purpose here on earth, but it is at least intriguing to consider what possible beings could actually exist, what beings could have existed even in our own world. For myself, I find no problem believing in the existence, or past existence, of dragons and wholly “other” beings.
I came to Oxford hoping to expand my knowledge. It seems I’ve only added “aliens” to my list of crazy things I think exist.
1 Comments:
Some claim that dragons were actually seen as little as a few hundred years ago. And they seem to be a very plausable creature. I think aliens do exist, but they are fallen angels and that could explain why you can't seem to find any Christians that have seen them. The Lord protects His own from the powers of darkness. A few good books to read are "This Present Darkness" and "Piercing the Darkness" by Frank Peretti.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home