The Theologians
Encyclopedia
"The Theologians" is a short story by Argentinian
writer Jorge Luis Borges
. It was featured in the collection Labyrinths
. It was originally published in Los Anales de Buenos Aires in April 1947.
(as that history is more or less a mish-mash and hodge-podge of speculation by first, second and third hand accounts anyway), instead sparse, tightly crafted sentences set a stage on which an author competes with a rival author of orthodoxy, by writing different versions of truth. Both fictitious characters are denouncing heresies. Upon this landscape of self-doubt and right and wrong Borges brilliantly brings to life the very real struggle one faces in life, specifically in one's own pursuit for spiritual truth.
A strict reading of the story deals with morality and heresy, but a broader reading deals with the internal pathos man struggles with when questioning truth and one’s own life's importance. The obolus
, along with the mirror
, is a symbol of one of the new schisms in the story, perfect symbols to appear in a compilation already possessing the title of such a potent esoteric symbol as a labyrinth
. After all, the mirror is not simply a device that creates a double, but an object that one uses to examine oneself. The obolus, the coin used to pay the Ferryman Charon
of Greek myth to reach the Land of the Dead, is demonstrative within the story of one heretical sect's belief in the transmigration of the soul through several bodies. However, the obolus is additionally a symbol of a journey (such as the main character's introspection, and thus the reader's own journey of introspection). The author uses a quote of Luke 12:59, that points to reconsiling with one's apparent enemy, translated as "no one will be released from prison until he has paid the last obolus." These symbols of self-examination and of death (be it a quest into eternity, or simply a voyage without end) are used in this short story that ultimately concerns the main character's pursuit for personal recognition competing beside another man. Both men are in the business of denouncing heresy, or, in other words, are authors of Truth.
Meditating over the author's use of symbols is not overindulgence into speculation or academic over-analysis because Borges' attention to symbols in the story appears purposeful. The story's premise, that the orthodoxy of ancient Christianity feared groups breaking away from the Christian world, is first expressed in the story by stating that certain symbols were being exalted by a group of people ("In the mountains, the Wheel and the Serpent had displaced the Cross. ...all were afraid...."). Use of a different symbol is not just the author visually explaining that one group in the mountains has a different version of Truth. The author's attention to symbols (such as the wheel, the cross, the mirror, the obolus
, and even the "iron scimitar") suggest that the battle between orthodoxy and heresy is a war between these physical objects that provide a doorway to esoteric spiritual truth. The author Henry Corbin wrote that symbol was the clothing that must not be robbed from us, nor ignored by us, as the symbolism of the physical world is our only entry way into intellectually the divine. The stark physical nature of the world is expressed in the story's first symbol, the "iron scimitar" worshiped by the barbarians as a god. Such a preposterous and seemingly ridiculous notion is asserted at the story's beginning so that the reader carelessly overlooks it, only to re-examine one's own reaction later. "The Theologians" is a story about our own reactions to Truth, and our own reactions to competing ideologies concerning Christianity, but well-beyond such strict versions of dogma, and into we are similar to the main character, and are in competition with our fellow man in our struggle to discern truth, and the folly that befalls us when we casts aside other notions of truth, however barbaric, only later to see that we had cast our own selves into the flames countless times into eternity.
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
writer Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...
. It was featured in the collection Labyrinths
Labyrinths
Labyrinths is an English-language collection of short stories and essays by Jorge Luis Borges.It includes "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius", "The Garden of Forking Paths", and "The Library of Babel", three of Borges' most famous stories. Many of the stories are from the collections Ficciones and El...
. It was originally published in Los Anales de Buenos Aires in April 1947.
Description
In typical Borges style, the author weaves a web of historical and semi-historical references of Christian heretical sects into a palimpsest on which orthodoxy and heresy overwrite one another. Borges does not commit a travesty of muddling the history of Christian GnosticismGnosticism
Gnosticism is a scholarly term for a set of religious beliefs and spiritual practices common to early Christianity, Hellenistic Judaism, Greco-Roman mystery religions, Zoroastrianism , and Neoplatonism.A common characteristic of some of these groups was the teaching that the realisation of Gnosis...
(as that history is more or less a mish-mash and hodge-podge of speculation by first, second and third hand accounts anyway), instead sparse, tightly crafted sentences set a stage on which an author competes with a rival author of orthodoxy, by writing different versions of truth. Both fictitious characters are denouncing heresies. Upon this landscape of self-doubt and right and wrong Borges brilliantly brings to life the very real struggle one faces in life, specifically in one's own pursuit for spiritual truth.
A strict reading of the story deals with morality and heresy, but a broader reading deals with the internal pathos man struggles with when questioning truth and one’s own life's importance. The obolus
Obolus
The obol was an ancient silver coin. In Classical Athens, there were six obols to the drachma, lioterally "handful"; it could be excahnged for eight chalkoi...
, along with the mirror
Mirror
A mirror is an object that reflects light or sound in a way that preserves much of its original quality prior to its contact with the mirror. Some mirrors also filter out some wavelengths, while preserving other wavelengths in the reflection...
, is a symbol of one of the new schisms in the story, perfect symbols to appear in a compilation already possessing the title of such a potent esoteric symbol as a labyrinth
Labyrinth
In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth was an elaborate structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos...
. After all, the mirror is not simply a device that creates a double, but an object that one uses to examine oneself. The obolus, the coin used to pay the Ferryman Charon
Charon (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon is the ferryman of Hades who carries souls of the newly deceased across the rivers Styx and Acheron that divided the world of the living from the world of the dead. A coin to pay Charon for passage, usually an obolus or danake, was sometimes placed in or on...
of Greek myth to reach the Land of the Dead, is demonstrative within the story of one heretical sect's belief in the transmigration of the soul through several bodies. However, the obolus is additionally a symbol of a journey (such as the main character's introspection, and thus the reader's own journey of introspection). The author uses a quote of Luke 12:59, that points to reconsiling with one's apparent enemy, translated as "no one will be released from prison until he has paid the last obolus." These symbols of self-examination and of death (be it a quest into eternity, or simply a voyage without end) are used in this short story that ultimately concerns the main character's pursuit for personal recognition competing beside another man. Both men are in the business of denouncing heresy, or, in other words, are authors of Truth.
Meditating over the author's use of symbols is not overindulgence into speculation or academic over-analysis because Borges' attention to symbols in the story appears purposeful. The story's premise, that the orthodoxy of ancient Christianity feared groups breaking away from the Christian world, is first expressed in the story by stating that certain symbols were being exalted by a group of people ("In the mountains, the Wheel and the Serpent had displaced the Cross. ...all were afraid...."). Use of a different symbol is not just the author visually explaining that one group in the mountains has a different version of Truth. The author's attention to symbols (such as the wheel, the cross, the mirror, the obolus
Obolus
The obol was an ancient silver coin. In Classical Athens, there were six obols to the drachma, lioterally "handful"; it could be excahnged for eight chalkoi...
, and even the "iron scimitar") suggest that the battle between orthodoxy and heresy is a war between these physical objects that provide a doorway to esoteric spiritual truth. The author Henry Corbin wrote that symbol was the clothing that must not be robbed from us, nor ignored by us, as the symbolism of the physical world is our only entry way into intellectually the divine. The stark physical nature of the world is expressed in the story's first symbol, the "iron scimitar" worshiped by the barbarians as a god. Such a preposterous and seemingly ridiculous notion is asserted at the story's beginning so that the reader carelessly overlooks it, only to re-examine one's own reaction later. "The Theologians" is a story about our own reactions to Truth, and our own reactions to competing ideologies concerning Christianity, but well-beyond such strict versions of dogma, and into we are similar to the main character, and are in competition with our fellow man in our struggle to discern truth, and the folly that befalls us when we casts aside other notions of truth, however barbaric, only later to see that we had cast our own selves into the flames countless times into eternity.