Pagan Poetry

Just a brief rant, and then I'll get over it.

So, I love The Dark is Rising. It's beautifully written and incredibly exciting. And yet it, like so many books that are now being written thirty years on, seems to think that, because paganism came before Christianity, it is somehow a purer form of spirituality, unfettered by religion, and so on...

Now, I'm not going to get too caught up in issues of truth, and who's right, who's wrong, etc. That's not the point. My issue today is the way that, at every age, there is some new reason developed for why that age knows better than to believe in God; and each reason usually contradicts the last one. 150 years ago, Christianity was discarded because science had "disproved it". Then it was discarded in the twentieth century because it was too "Modernist", and based on objective ideas of truth; that is, it was rejected along with science. Now that we're over the whole postmodern thing, we reject it because paganism came first and was thus better than empiricism, science and, yes, Christianity, which has never had anything to do with empiricism, and has always had an uneasy relationship with science.

Come on guys, make up your minds.

And, to annoy me that little bit more, there's that suggestion in The Dark is Rising that the really important things exist outside of time; which, from memory, is part of how most Christians see God - not belonging to a set time, but outside of time, and of all times, and, most importantly, the creator of time. And yet there's still this implication that the "Old Ones", who carry knowledge, wisdom and lore that predates Christianity, somehow know better. If the most important knowledge exists outside of time, why is it so important to predate anything? Surely dates are constructs that have little to do with anything?

And yet I know that the viewpoints Susan Cooper described in this, admittedly fictional, and still wonderful, fantasy classic in the 70s, are only growing in popularity today. And it just serves as a reminder that, while the world will always say that Christianity belongs to a "previous age" and is "now outdated", no age has ever really accepted it. It has always contradicted many of the values and assumptions of each age, and has required each age, and the people of that age, to change; something that few are willing to do. Yes, it has a date in history: Jesus' appearance on earth 2000 years ago. And yet he wasn't accepted then, and still isn't accepted now. He was not of that age any more than is of our age today. And every age will find reasons to reject him, for that precise reason; he will never sit comfortably in our living rooms, unless we are willing to change - if necessary - everything to fit him in.

That's my rant. I'll get back to reading the book now.