Simply divine
Simply divine (Original title: Small Gods ) is a novel by Terry Pratchett from 1992. It is the thirteenth Discworld novel . It is about the story of the god Om and his relationship with the reformer and prophet Brutha. Simply divine works on topics such as religion, ancient Greece , the library of Alexandria , freedom and slavery , religious fanaticism and philosophy.
content
This novel is all about Om , a god who walks on earth as a turtle and can no longer transform himself into his true divine form. It quickly becomes clear that Om lacks true believers. Gods are made by people or created by faith. The more believers there are, the more powerful God is. A tyrannical church rules in Omnien. Countless people profess Om , but true faith can only be found in one person, the novice Brutha . The turtle falls into his hands and Om has to stage his revival with this not exactly bright fellow. A difficult task, especially because Brutha believes deeply in Om , but in no way believes in the fact that his God is revealed in the form of a puny turtle.
Brutha's special talent, an eidetic memory , brings him into the retinue of the exquisitor Vorbis, the gray eminence in the Omnian church hierarchy. The quisition and its exquisitors are the omnian variant of the Catholic inquisition and its inquisitors and do not differ from them in any way.
Vorbis, an ice-cold fanatic of faith, has long been planning an attack on the neighboring city-state of Ephebe . In the democratic and philosophical center of Discworld, Vorbis sees the root of all unbelief that needs to be destroyed. The ephebic seat of government is, however, protected by an extremely complex labyrinth system full of traps and is actually impregnable. With Brutha's help, Vorbis neutralizes the labyrinth, conquers the city and sets the library on fire. The main goal of this action is Didactylos, the author of the heretical work De Chelonian Mobile (The Turtle Moves) to get hold of. That fails, and while pursuing the culprit, Vorbis has a serious accident.
Accompanied by Om in the shape of a turtle, Brutha then carries the unconscious exquisitor back through the desert to Omnien. Om urges Brutha to get rid of the dangerous unsympathetic people, that is, to leave Vorbis lying in the desert. Impossible! Brutha cannot go against its peaceful nature. Shortly before the border, Vorbis wakes up , in turn knocks Brutha unconscious and triumphantly moves into the citadel as the new prophet. During the enthronement of Vorbis as the new cenobiarch, Brutha, who clearly knows too much, is to be executed. Om uses this moment for a divine deed. Vorbis dies, slain by a turtle dropped from the sky by an eagle. Suddenly Om has thousands of true believers again. He is transformed back into the Great God he once was; - with a small difference. He is ready to negotiate. Brutha agrees with him that he will let the usual godly doom for 100 years and instead believe in his people. Obviously, Om still likes this attitude to this day. Even 100 years later, after Brutha's death, he remains the most philanthropic and popular god of the Discworld.
classification
Simply divine is something outside the usual book series among Discworld novels; apart from death , various gods and the philosopher Xeno, who was also mentioned in the book Pyramids , no figure known from previous works appears. The librarian at the Invisible University also only appears in a small aside.
The aftermath and references of later volumes, on the other hand, are more abundant. So in 1998 calm blood settles down ! again with the Omnian religion, this time in connection with witch hunt . In addition, legends from the book of the prophet Brutha are quoted in this volume . Some actions also provide information about the apparent change in the Church through Brutha; The priest Hilbert Himmelwärts, mentioned in this later work, wears a pendant in the shape of a turtle around his neck. In the book Women's Regiment , the Borograwians, who obviously suffer from a confused god, are also recommended Om, with the indication that his religion has improved significantly.
The history monk Lu-Tze reappears in later volumes. He is only mentioned in the margin in this book, but evidently guides the story through his presence alone. Lu-Tze is one of the main characters in the 2001 volume Der Zeitdieb . He also plays an important and active role in The Night Watchmen .
Motifs
Characteristic of Pratchett's Discworld novels is the fact that all of the books are characterized by continuous motifs that come from the real world. Even Small Gods has several motives on which the narrative world is built.
The essence of gods and belief
Terry Pratchett portrays gods in their essence quite differently than their reception in the real world. He describes a polytheistic variety of gods for different "areas of responsibility" and also differentiates between high and low gods (hence the English original title Small Gods ).
According to Pratchett, the number of believers is also decisive for a god's power , since the gods receive power through intimate faith that allows them to perform miracles. A similar system can also be found in the computer game Populous .
In reality, some religions also strive for the highest possible number of believers; H. by members of their organization to increase the power of their god.
Religion and its Effects
The land of Omnien described by Pratchett can certainly be seen as a parable of great monotheistic world religions . Omnien is a theocracy in which the spiritual leaders also have secular power, which, however, is based exclusively on religious leadership. The only way to gain power is to work your way up the church hierarchy. This reference to a connection between secular and ideological power can also be interpreted in a totalitarian manner.
Furthermore, Pratchett describes a religion that commits crimes in the form of the Inquisition . These crimes, like the claim to power, are religiously legitimized; the victims are called heretics . An elementary logic of fanaticism is also taken up here: It is argued that the Inquisition, through divine work, only tracks down and punishes those who are guilty (quote: Suspicion provided the proof. ). The Inquisition by no means questions its actions, but relies exclusively on the religious determination of its actions.
Finally, Pratchett tries to make the point, often described by church critics , that the church is distancing itself from the essence of its teaching through its behavior and institutionalization. In Pratchett's novel, this emerges from the fact that the Omnian Church is mighty, but the God Om does not receive true faith. Rather, according to Pratchett, the believers were surrendered to the statues of God, the falsely transmitted works of the prophets and the power-conscious preachers.
Worldviews
Pratchett parodied in his work the contradiction between the worldview of Ptolemy and that of Copernicus and Galileo Galilei . Ptolemy was of the opinion that the earth was the center of the universe and that all celestial bodies ( sun , moon , planets ) revolved around it. Copernicus, on the other hand, took the view that the earth, like all other planets, is merely on a circular orbit around the sun, which is the center of the planetary system. Kepler and Galilei developed these theories further in the 16th century, as they could study the planetary movements with the help of telescopes . Since the Catholic Church represented the Ptolemaic system, Galileo came into conflict with the Inquisition, but formulated his famous thesis Eppur si muove ( Italian : And it moves ).
Pratchett's sentence The turtle moves alludes to this quote . Curiously, the Omnian Church represents a system very similar to the Copernican view of the world, whereas Pratchett's Discworld is actually (from the point of view of fiction) carried by four elephants standing on the back of the turtle Great A'Tuin , the turtle moving through space.
Another starting point is that of a flat earth , as represented by the Discworld. This is also the case, although the Omnian Church claims otherwise. In fact, the above. Worldviews do not make any statements about the shape of the earth as such, but only about its position in space. Contrary to popular belief, however, at the time of the Inquisition the real Church did not take the view that the earth was flat.
Ancient philosophy
When describing the city of Ephebe , Pratchett alludes several times to Greek philosophers of classical antiquity . In addition to names such as Xeno (cf. Zenon ) or Abraxas (e.g. Anaxagoras ), works, ideas and peculiarities are also repeatedly mentioned. Didactylos, for example, lives in a barrel, a property that, like its name, alludes to Diogenes of Sinope . Urn, his nephew, is also gifted in practice and researches not only philosophy but also the natural sciences; so developed z. For example, he uses a steam engine or a weapon that focuses sunlight and sets ships on fire. In reality, inventions are also mainly used for military purposes, according to a legend that the pulley system invented by Archimedes was also used for military purposes, in that it was possible to raise and sink fully loaded ships on one side. Towards the end of the book, Urn suffers a conflict of conscience because he can only think of military uses for his steam engine (quotation from Heraclitus : " War is the father of all things. ").
In addition to his philosophical work, Pratchett satirized some ancient ideas of science; so Urn claims when explaining the steam engine that the water in the boiler becomes angry from the heat and therefore steams.
Others
Andreas Brandhorst translated the first German-language edition . New translation, 2012, by Gerald Jung. Goldmann, 1995 ISBN 3-442-41566-7