Sowing the seeds of change

If I was Archbishop Maikel one of the first things I would do in my tenure is rewrite the Charris children's catechism. This is because for most people what they learn as children about their religion becomes the foundation and the core for what is important and not important about their religious beliefs. By rewriting the children's catechism archbishop Maikel can redefine what in the mind next generation of Charrisians is their most important core religious beliefs.

I would create the new catechism in three logical parts. The first part would deal with an abridged version of the Writ. The official reason why the Writ is being abridged is that this is the catechism for children and much of the Writ is dealing with subjects that matter to adults and are not relevant to children and secondly the keep the catechism short enough that child will actually learn it. The unofficial reason for abridging the Writ is to have the children learn a much edited version as their core beliefs. One of the biggest areas of abridgment would be the prescriptions. This would be almost completely gutted. The official reasoning here is most of the prescriptions are irrelevant to what children do what will be left behind would be things like don't steal, don't cheat, I don't lie, etc. with basically a footnote saying “when you get older study the full version”. Now this abridged version of the Writ I would have written by a select committee of extremely scholarly and eminent orthodox theologians. The official reason for the select group of people to do the writing is to make sure that there is no reason for criticizing the orthodoxy of the catechism. The unofficial reason for this is the make sure it is dull as dishwasher water. In the general hopes that the young students will spend as much time as posible on other parts of their catechism or day dream, etc.

The second part of the catechism I think of as the tales. This would be a mixture of the stories of the lives of various Safehold saints, other Safehold religious stories and legends and parables. If I were Archbishop Maikel have Narhmann and Owl perform in-depth search of all of Safehold's Saints and other religious stories and and cherry pick them for the most interesting and exciting stories about really good, brave, wise people. In addition I would have Narhmann an Owl also go through all of the religious stories of human history looking for parables and legends that are full of wit and wisdom. These would then have the serial numbers filed off and reframed in Safehold's context. I would then have Archbishop Maikel get the best writers and story tellers he can fine to tell these stories. These would be told the matter that would appeal not just to children but to the general populace. The sort of stories that might be read aloud in the evening to the family. This should be the good part of the catechism that people read over and over again.

The last part would be at a collection of prayers this would be a mixture of a abridged traditional prayers and newly compose prayers. Officially the abridgments would be to make the prayer short enough for children to learn. Unofficially the abridgment will greatly reduce greatly reduce the reference to the archangels, in particularly by name. So for example, if there's a traditional prayer of 20 verses at which refers to God's creations for the first seven or eight verses talks about what the archangels did for 10 versus and then two or three verses of thanksgiving might be reduced to the seven verses praising God one verse with a generic “God sent forth his angels and archangels…” and then two or three versus of thanksgiving. If I was archbishop Maikel I would also commission new poems by the most inspired and lyrical poets he could fine rejoicing in God, asking for God's help and thanking God.

In addition to having this be the core to children’s religions training for the last several years, if I was Archbishop Maikel I would give a copy to each Charris solder or sailor before the shipped out.

What would you do in his place?

Sheila wrote:If I was Archbishop Maikel one of the first things I would do in my tenure is rewrite the Charris children's catechism. This is because for most people what they learn as children about their religion becomes the foundation and the core for what is important and not important about their religious beliefs. By rewriting the children's catechism archbishop Maikel can redefine what in the mind next generation of Charrisians is their most important core religious beliefs.

I suspect Charisian early religious education has been for many years - well before Armageddon Reef and all - fairly light on the fire and brimstone and with the Proscriptions treated as practical points for things not to do else you'll suffer specific unfortunate consequences. I'm not saying that they've already got a scheme like what you have detailed here, but rather that the likely emphasis within a conventional Safeholdian early education is in the same spirit. They haven't had many mainland priests moved in to preach otherwise, and creating orthodox, obedient serfs isn't anything most people on Charis even want.

I would create the new catechism in three logical parts. The first part would deal with an abridged version of the Writ. The official reason why the Writ is being abridged is that this is the catechism for children and much of the Writ is dealing with subjects that matter to adults and are not relevant to children and secondly the keep the catechism short enough that child will actually learn it. The unofficial reason for abridging the Writ is to have the children learn a much edited version as their core beliefs. One of the biggest areas of abridgment would be the prescriptions. This would be almost completely gutted. The official reasoning here is most of the prescriptions are irrelevant to what children do what will be left behind would be things like don't steal, don't cheat, I don't lie, etc. with basically a footnote saying “when you get older study the full version”.

Right. Much of the Proscriptions, the Book of Pasquale, etc., amount to occupational safety standards and should be treated as such. Thinking of them like that, the role of the Archangels is less the vehicle of the moral law, authoritatively delivered from God, and more very helpful guides provided by very knowledgeable teachers - which will be subtly different from moral imperatives. That's a critical distinction to start making.

The Writ has a lot of good stuff. It's a fantastic guide to agriculture, animal husbandry, medicine, psychology, terraforming, and geography. It's always going to have that practical value, and it's always going to have that solid practical value as a sort of character witness for its historical account and moral injunctions. The key thing is not to try to deny or even downplay the good, accurate (within its bounds) parts, but to try to cleave them off in people's minds from the parts that aren't true, so they can start entertaining the possibility that the truth - and beauty and compassion, for that matter - of the good parts doesn't strictly imply the truth of the rest.

But yes, still, much of the good parts along with much of the bad won't be something kids are going to get early. And when it comes to myths and stories, they can do better reading about mortals or angels and archangels who may as well be mortal, than more crap about Langhorne et al pretending to be divine beings.

Now this abridged version of the Writ I would have written by a select committee of extremely scholarly and eminent orthodox theologians. The official reason for the select group of people to do the writing is to make sure that there is no reason for criticizing the orthodoxy of the catechism. The unofficial reason for this is the make sure it is dull as dishwasher water. In the general hopes that the young students will spend as much time as posible on other parts of their catechism or day dream, etc.

I'm not seeing the use of abridgment for boredom value. For that, let them just open up the classic, full Writ to any technical specialist part. There's no work to bother with there, and even less appearance of unorthodoxy. It's enough to provide a basic catechism that's (1) accessible at least and hopefully interesting, (2) shapes perspective the way you want it, and (3) is still within the bounds of a big enough orthodox tent.

The second part of the catechism I think of as the tales. This would be a mixture of the stories of the lives of various Safehold saints, other Safehold religious stories and legends and parables. If I were Archbishop Maikel have Narhmann and Owl perform in-depth search of all of Safehold's Saints and other religious stories and and cherry pick them for the most interesting and exciting stories about really good, brave, wise people. In addition I would have Narhmann an Owl also go through all of the religious stories of human history looking for parables and legends that are full of wit and wisdom. These would then have the serial numbers filed off and reframed in Safehold's context. I would then have Archbishop Maikel get the best writers and story tellers he can fine to tell these stories. These would be told the matter that would appeal not just to children but to the general populace. The sort of stories that might be read aloud in the evening to the family. This should be the good part of the catechism that people read over and over again.

Some of this may be less part of the catechism than other parts of children's education - or, for that matter, popular literature. Still, that's just quibbling over categorization as far as I can see.

The last part would be at a collection of prayers this would be a mixture of a abridged traditional prayers and newly compose prayers. Officially the abridgments would be to make the prayer short enough for children to learn. Unofficially the abridgment will greatly reduce greatly reduce the reference to the archangels, in particularly by name. So for example, if there's a traditional prayer of 20 verses at which refers to God's creations for the first seven or eight verses talks about what the archangels did for 10 versus and then two or three verses of thanksgiving might be reduced to the seven verses praising God one verse with a generic “God sent forth his angels and archangels…” and then two or three versus of thanksgiving. If I was archbishop Maikel I would also commission new poems by the most inspired and lyrical poets he could fine rejoicing in God, asking for God's help and thanking God.

Gnarrr, that's leaving a whole lot of God-suppressing for future generations after a lot of work of Archangel-suppressing now.... Anyway, certainly prayers can be offered that embody virtues and moral sentiments that don't put Archangel veneration front and center.

There may be some worry, if you're heavy-handed enough about it, that the Church of Charis fears the mention of Archangels, or allowing the people under its domination to appeal to Langhorne. It may be a sleeping dog better left lying.

I would summarize my thoughts on this as:
"Tell the truth"
"Emphasize the personal relationship with God" (as Maikal already does so very well)

Then let the chips fall where they may.

Sheila wrote:What would you do in his place?

I'd hire you to run the project!

The stories might be the most important part. Stories stick in people's minds. Stories of courage, stories of defying unjust authority, and stories of people doing the right thing when everyone around them was wrong will be good soil for the seeds of change.