jejune harpoon

New poster here and treading lightly into the discussion. My take on references to 'the' or 'a' father puts me on a shifty kind of paradigm at the outset. The expression 'son of god' was a shibboleth. It was generally spoken with a wink and lecherous nudge to the ribs and applied to many such little units running about the landscape. I've long supposed that one such unit may have developed a notion that the appellation could be taken seriously, that is it sounded kind of important or that great esteem might accrue by demonstrating how what may have been a little social joke at the time could be transformed into something more respectable. All that would be required would be an adjustment of prevailing notions about what the concept of god actually means.

The dudes toiling away in the religion factories which produced the record or text we have to contemplate now may have experienced suprise that other cultures had a more mythical take on 'son of god.' Hence the incorporation into the more 'religiously manageable' neo-platonic realm or gnostic theme.

Vorkosigan

JH -- I've split this off into a new thread. If you want it back in the old one, let me know and I'll merge them.