I'm gonna ask the question....

[Paul Mackin]

On 4/12/2011 4:08 PM, Erik T. Burns wrote:
> A very common reaction to religious chatter!

A touchy subject for sure.  More so in America than Europe, where 
religion is mostly a museum piece (except for new entrants). Correct me 
if I'm wrong.

Where I live religion isn't a very big factor.  There are a few 
Episcopalians but they keep quiet about it.

I sort of got  interested in early Christian history a long time ago.  
Don't claim to know that much, but back in the 50s when I was in a TB 
sanatorium run by the Maryknoll  sisters one of the good ladies provided 
me with books from the little library they had there.  The selection was 
limited but one of my favorites was the Catholic Encyclopedia.  She 
brought it to me volume by volume.  The books were heavy but she was a 
husky girl. What a stormy past the Church of Rome had had.  Perhaps 
Gaddis had a similar experience to help develop his interest.

P.



> On Apr 12, 2011, at 20:44, Charles Frederick Abel<cfabel at sfasu.edu>  wrote:
>
>> Hogwash.
>>
>> On 4/12/11 12:45 PM, Paul Mackin wrote:
>>> On 4/12/2011 1:29 PM, Ian Livingston wrote:
>>>> Setting aside personal faith and claims to religious orientation, I
>>>> would say anyone educated anywhere in the West after about 500 CE is
>>>> Christian, at least in their thinking. Watching Western Buddhists
>>>> loudly proclaiming that they are Buddhists and nothing else, while
>>>> they set about reducing everything to binary terms of good and evil is
>>>> downright comical. Even if by some miracle (!) someone made it through
>>>> some occidental education w/o hearing the Jesus myth, their teachers
>>>> (and theirs and so on) were taught by the same system of thought. It
>>>> will take millennia, not just generations, to get past Constantine's
>>>> endowment to Europe.
>>>>
>>>> Thus, it doesn't really matter, does it? It just is.
>>> I hadn't read your post yet when I pressed send for my latest but my
>>> thinking is much along the lines of yours.
>>>
>>> P
>>>> On Tue, Apr 12, 2011 at 9:48 AM, Erik T. Burns<eburns at gmail.com>   wrote:
>>>>>> And I'm going to be difficult and ask those
>>>>>> gaddisites who may know not to answer....
>>>>> I'm going to answer because my answer is "I don't know".
>>>>>
>>>>> And to be honest, I don't care.
>>>>>
>>>>> There is a man in _T R_ who proclaims his religion. I am bridled from
>>>>> revealing it, but it is funny.
>>>>>
>>>>> A-and as far as I am concerned, that's Gaddis' religion: comedy.
>>>>>
>>>>> etb
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Tue, Apr 12, 2011 at 3:35 PM, Mark Kohut<markekohut at yahoo.com>   wrote:
>>>>>> And I'm going to be difficult and ask those
>>>>>> gaddisites who may know not to answer....
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Spoiler.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Let's see what the reading brings.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> So far, I'd say he's anti-Christian BUT it has
>>>>>> been said of John Milton, Christian, he was on
>>>>>> Satan's side in his major work.....
>>>>>>
>>>>>> And then there is Gaddis Eliot love----
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ----- Original Message ----
>>>>>> From: Richard Ryan<himself at richardryan.com>
>>>>>> To: Pynchon-L<pynchon-l at waste.org>
>>>>>> Sent: Mon, April 11, 2011 10:10:34 PM
>>>>>> Subject: I'm gonna ask the question....
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ...since we're all begging it: is Gaddis a Christian author?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> Richard Ryan
>>>>>> New York and the World
>>>>>> ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
>>>>>> Thanks to everyone who saw VTM's new production!
>>>>>> www.kingstheplay.com
>>>>>>
>>>>