Christianity and Pynchon

[Paul Mackin]

Sorry. Make it read "Certain strains of Protestantism saw worldly success as
a sign of coming salvation. . . "

P.

Paul Mackin wrote:

> Penny is so right here IMHO.   Pynchon's sympathy for the downtrodden, and
> his using "preterite" to mean those passed over on earth rather than those
> rejected by heaven, do a pretty adequate job in covering  the Christian
> bases.  The meaning reversal  is in no way arbitrary.  Certain strains of
> Protestantism saw lack of worldly success as a sign of coming Salvation
> and worldly failure as the opposite.  Pynchon is as much as saying, No,
> this has to be  backwards. Whether or not he is any kind of Believer.
>
> N.B.  My use of the word "Christian does not refer to the worldly
> institution but to the deal including love one another.
>
> P.
>
> Jeff & Penny Harper wrote:
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > Though I can tell I'm fighting well out of my class intellectually, I'm
> > fascinated by this discussion and would like to introduce the
> > following points:
> >
> >  - The whole idea of Preterite and Elect, of course, fits neatly
> >     into the Christian ethos -- Jesus' entourage (even in the stripped-
> >     down Jesus Seminar version) consisted almost entirely of the
> >     Preterite of the day, and his enemies were the Elect.
> >
> >  -  Had I but world enough and time I would do a text search on
> >     "kindness" -- this quality illuminates some of the most moving
> >      passages of Pynchon's writing, and is of the essence of Jesus'
> >      single commandment "Love one another."
> >
> > Penny