“‘The trouble with those guys is they got no faith’ said Van Rijn. ‘I need a good fighter saint, who says God can’t improve the past and make me one?’l
Great post! And how intriguing that George is connected to the archangel Michael in connection with his multiple resurrections, but not, I guess, with Michael fighting the Dragon in Revelation?
I preach at a church a few times a year that has a splending etching of Michael fighting the Dragon on its glass doors. I thought of that while reading about George fighting his!
This is the kind of stuff I love! Thank you for weighing all the sides on this. It created at least two dinner time topics for my family. So interesting!
It seems the loudest “academics” are just dilettantes who haven’t a clue. And sadly people take what they say as truth. Look at the so-called biblical scholars of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. They have made themselves obsolete by explaining away the divinity of Christ. People don’t die for nice guys who say nice things.
For those interested, the ultimate St. George book is probably St. George--Hero, Martyr and Myth, by Samantha Riches. You can find it steeply discounted on Biblio. The ISBN is 9780750937672. Well worth a read!
The (suspect) Chestertonian quote rings a bell, but I thought it was Lewis who said something along the lines of, "In a world of monsters and dragons, let children at least have heard tales of brave knights in shining armour..."
My friend says it's from Neil Gaiman, misremembering or summarizing this Chesterton quote from GKC's Tremendous Trifles.
> Fairy tales, then, are not responsible for producing in children fear, or any of the shapes of fear; fairy tales do not give the child the idea of the evil or the ugly; that is in the child already, because it is in the world already. Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.
“‘The trouble with those guys is they got no faith’ said Van Rijn. ‘I need a good fighter saint, who says God can’t improve the past and make me one?’l
Poul Anderson, Satan’s World
"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
Great post! And how intriguing that George is connected to the archangel Michael in connection with his multiple resurrections, but not, I guess, with Michael fighting the Dragon in Revelation?
I preach at a church a few times a year that has a splending etching of Michael fighting the Dragon on its glass doors. I thought of that while reading about George fighting his!
This is the kind of stuff I love! Thank you for weighing all the sides on this. It created at least two dinner time topics for my family. So interesting!
It seems the loudest “academics” are just dilettantes who haven’t a clue. And sadly people take what they say as truth. Look at the so-called biblical scholars of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. They have made themselves obsolete by explaining away the divinity of Christ. People don’t die for nice guys who say nice things.
For those interested, the ultimate St. George book is probably St. George--Hero, Martyr and Myth, by Samantha Riches. You can find it steeply discounted on Biblio. The ISBN is 9780750937672. Well worth a read!
The (suspect) Chestertonian quote rings a bell, but I thought it was Lewis who said something along the lines of, "In a world of monsters and dragons, let children at least have heard tales of brave knights in shining armour..."
My friend says it's from Neil Gaiman, misremembering or summarizing this Chesterton quote from GKC's Tremendous Trifles.
> Fairy tales, then, are not responsible for producing in children fear, or any of the shapes of fear; fairy tales do not give the child the idea of the evil or the ugly; that is in the child already, because it is in the world already. Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.