According to McKnee, what relationship did Dick's ideas have to (a) Christianity (b) religion and philosophy in general?
After reading the supplementary note, the following is what I came up with.
Despite the ever-shifting nature of Dick’s cosmological theories, Christ is absolutely central throughout all of his religious speculations. Dick constantly referred to Christ, the Holy Spirit, and countless other key Christian concepts and is often identified as a Christian thinker believing Christ to be the Saviour. He was Christian and was unable to accept Gnostic dualism itself. He directly denounced the Manichean view that the world of creation is evil and showed in his writing the anti-Gnostic theme. Dualism is a veil that conceals the fact that God underlies all existence. Dualistic theory is actually monistic and it describes the universe as a chess game God plays against himself. Dick repeatedly rejected the concept that evil is real and it contains tangible existence. He believed this world to be unreal not because it was evil or created by an evil deity, but because it is good, and a benevolent, omnipresent deity underlies it. This deity is in the process of improving the world. The God Dick believed in was the Christian God, and it was Christianity which his theories finally returned to.
Reference:
McKee, G. (2004). A Scanner Darkly: Dick as a Christian theologian. In Pink Beams of Light from the God in the Gutter: the science-fictional religion of Philip K. Dick. NY: U Press of America.
Reference:
McKee, G. (2004). A Scanner Darkly: Dick as a Christian theologian. In Pink Beams of Light from the God in the Gutter: the science-fictional religion of Philip K. Dick. NY: U Press of America.
So he is Christian but he is "unable to accept Gnostic dualism". As far as I know Gnostic dualism talks about both light and darkness, innocence and evil are needed to express "one-ness". This also been said in Yin Yan theory in the Eastern countries. However Dick believe Christ wholely devoted as a savior not like the way that the world is a game of God himself as mentioned in Gnostic dualism. Do you think that is because of his conservative perspective?
ReplyDeleteYou must realise that Dick's religious idea with its rich varieties, besides Gnostic dualism, could be described by his entire experience and process of interpretation. He does not hold a conservative perspective but a vibrantly changing one. He is a Christian, no doubt, but not the way we all believe in.
ReplyDeleteInsightful description of Dick's religious philosophy Joe - some reference to the way this might be captured in his creative work esp tMitHC or SC would have been useful.Importantly where do you think PKD's reference to, and use of, the i-Ching fits into this. Also as a matter of academic convention don't forget to make some references/quotes to the theoretical (and primary)texts you are drawing upon. An interesting comment from Simon and relevant response.
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