The following is the foreword I've been asked to write to Timothy Wood's novel The Curse. Chapters of The Curse can be read online at http://sarejess.journalspace.com
Foreword To the Curse
Salvation. Damnation. You don't hear those two terms bandied about much in public discourse these days. But at one time they were the topics of fierce debate in barber shops in 4th Century Constantinople and Athens where it was argued whether the Son was homoousious (of the same Substance) or homoiousious (of like substance) with the Father. Which one the Son actually was ultimately an important issue when it came to one's personal salvation in the thinking of that century.
England in the 17th Century. Charles I and Archbishop William Laud vs. the Puritans. Was there any goodness in man? Was there any goodness in the world? Were the fruits of the earth to be enjoyed for their own sake or was it just something only to sustain life on a person's journey to salvation or damnation which had already been decided before the dawn of time according to the Calvinist? The world views of Charles I and Archbishop Laud were ultimately radically different from that of the Puritans. And the worldviews shaped the government and society of the day. The reign of Charles I. The Puritan ayatollahism and demagoguery of Oliver Cromwell. One country but two totally different Englands.
But here in the opening years of the 21st Century, nary a peep is heard about salvation and damnation. And it has been that way in public discourse in the Western world for at least 50 years. Quite ironic that a war fought against a society that was quite literally Hell on earth (Nazi Germany)- the post-War years would see society, politics, culture and even most mainline Churches give up belief in the doctrine of Hell.
Subconsciously under the surface of minds everywhere, the lyrics of John Lennon's song Imagine bubbled, "No Hell below us, Above us only sky". Or if anyone held to belief in an afterlife, they subconsciously subscribed to Origin of Alexandria's teachings of Universalism (which had been condemned at the Second Council of Constantinople in 553 AD) which was that ultimately everyone was saved.
At Oxford University in the 1930s, there was a group of scholars and academics who used to meet in the Eagle and Child Pub. They called themselves the Inklings. Among the most famous Inklings were C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and Charles Williams.
Charles Williams is the least known of the 3 Inklings. He was the author of 7 Supernatural thrillers. Now a horror novel if it is well-written I have always been able to finish.
But I have never been able to finish a Charles Williams novel. And it is not because they are not well-written. It is because the horror in them is ultimately one of damnation- what it is like to lose one's eternal soul. The thought of damnation doesn't really ultimately frighten most people today. And maybe that's because most writers have never fully captured the horror of what damnation must feel like. Perhaps a reading of Charles Williams might be the answer to the blase malaise in theological thinking on the afterlife in the 21st Century. If anyone can get beyond the third of fourth chapter of a Charles Williams novel, I take off my hat to them. I really don't want to go on and read what damnation must be like.
Some theologians have expressed the opinion that when Christ cried out on the Cross, "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?"- at that moment in time, Christ was feeling what a damned soul in Hell must feel like. The feeling is obviously a terrible one because after that, Christ "gave up the ghost". He died. The feeling of what it must feel like to be truly and hopelessly damned had killed Him.
The Roman soldiers had to break the legs of the other two Crucified so that all could go home before the arrival of the Sabbath. But not the legs of Christ. He was already dead.
For most of us, we probably don't think of ourselves as Saints. But neither do we think of ourselves as particularly bad either. We're basically good chaps who enjoy the passions of the flesh a little once in awhile. A little wine. A little comraderie. A night of lovemaking with a beautiful woman.
Samuel ben Ezra is a chap much like us. A basically good man. A hard working businessman. He gives the tribute due to God and he helps out his fellow man. He's a great chef. A great cook. He runs his inn very well and he takes care of his guests.
Like all of us, he has his ups and downs. Like all of us, he has his bad days.
On one particularly bad day, Samuel is overwhelmed by too many guests. A fight with the wife. Disaster boiling over in the kitchen. Another knock at the door. Another guest demanding a room. Can't these morons see that there's no vacancy?
But I have a pregnant wife, the man begs.
So, is Samuel's attitude, what's that to me?
An attitude that will cost Samuel dearly.
For the man knocking at the door is Joseph of Nazareth. And the pregnant woman is Mary of Nazareth. The Mother of the Christ Child.
And so what was just a day for Samuel turns out to be what must feel like eternity.
For Samuel is cursed to wander until the end of time. He must come to know what ultimately it means to be saved before his soul is finally released from this earthly plane. His body may be killed now and again but it rises phoenix-like although not in an Resurrection body but another earthly body carrying his earth-bound soul.
Down the corridors of time he wanders. A visit with the Chinese Emperor Wu in the early 3rd Century AD. Attending one of the last of the ancient Olympic games in Greece before the Emperor Theodosius the Great finally bans the games in the late 4th Century AD. Burned at the stake by the Spanish Inquisition. A friend of Charles II and Samuel Pepys in the late 17th century. Helping Johann Sebastian Bach compose the score for the musical piece Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring. Fighting the good fight with Bonnie Prince Charlie in the gallant '45-'46. Running an inn in Boston in the 1870s. Fighting in the trenches of World War I. Seeing firsthand the horrors of Auschwitz. Watching the execution of the courageous Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In Dallas on the day Kennedy is shot. Putting together an major international hotel business deal at the dawn of the 21st Century only to have his plans suddenly go awry.
Such is the life of Samuel ben Ezra.
Condemned to wander the earth until the end of history until he can work out what salvation is.
For unless he can work out what is the answer of salvation before the end of time, he shall be confronted with... damnation.
And that truly is a curse...
worse than the one he has now.
-Christopher Milner.
