Wednesday, September 08, 2010

A Pope paradox

The New Humanist magazine has an article which poses the question, "if you were given an audience with the Pope, what would you say to him?"; then it got a dozen or so well known people to supply their answers.


My own personal favourite is Philip Pullman's reply, but then I have a weakness for time paradoxes; Pullman asks,

"I would like to ask the Pope to imagine that he was taken back in time to Jerusalem in the last week of Jesus’s life, with the power to save him from the crucifixion that was rapidly approaching – perhaps by magically transporting Jesus to a distant city such as Athens or Baghdad. Would he use that power, with all its consequences for the future of the Church, or not? And if he wouldn't, if he would just stand back and let the crucifixion happen, how does that make him any different from Judas?"

Neat I thought, but then I guess that's why he sells so many books!

3 comments:

WodeWose said...

That's a superb question. The water voles have been scratching their heads all day. Not that that is terribly relevant - they haven't read the question. They've got ticks.

Elizabeth said...

Great question. I'm going to hear Pullman speak at the Cheltenham Literary Festival in October -- I probably should read his book about Jesus first. Have you read it? Is it any good?

Steve Borthwick said...

E, no I haven't, I must admit I have a stack of about 10 unread books by my bed at the moment, so much stuff, so little time!