Zan Maruke
Amarr
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Posted - 2008.12.03 17:50:00 -
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Edited by: Zan Maruke on 03/12/2008 17:55:01
I got into a bit of RP that involved theology in the Summit chat last night and brought up the subject of the sheer size, and for most people, incomprehensibility, of the Amarr canon - "More than a man could absorb even in a lifetime not to mention the commentaries that could consume many, many, more." After getting inspired to do some more reading I found this thread and realized where I'd gotten that notion in the first place. This is a great thread, Gaven. And everyone else.
But I just don't think it's very pat or orderly once you filter down from the Council. I get the sense that, given the titanic scope of The Empire and the role of scripture as detailed, niggling, almost Confucian guidelines for every day life along with the many different subcultures (however seemingly well integrated on the surface) as well as the unavoidable contacts with outside influences that new (and old) heresies and heterodoxies are introduced and evaluated all the time at different levels of society and in different places.
Add to this the pressure of practical politics, the demonstrably divergent goals of different Holder and Royal Houses and assorted other interest groups, and you've got a real recipe for Scripture being treated as we moderns treat secular Law. Only major controversies, or those championed for political ends, make it to the Theology Council but there must be many others out there lingering or overlooked or taken as local custom.
It's hard for me to think "liberal" Amarrians just take what's handed down at face value and evidently they don't as we can see how the Empire has changed over time. The interpretation of almost every element seems open to question if and when it suits someone's interest.
And given the broad way Scripture seems designed to infiltrate so many different specialized parts of society it seems likely to me there may be almost a Muslim model at work with many Imams out there handing out whatever interpretation is needed at any given time in a locale to achieve some practical (or selfish or ideological) end when what's at hand doesn't deal with it. This in turn would get appealed, if challenged, and move up to more senior specialists/theologians and so on.
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