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Reviews
The Chemical Wedding by Christian Rosencreutz: A Romance in Eight Days by Johann Valentin Andreae
abject_reptile's review against another edition
5.0
Note (since this site insists on mashing translations into an undifferentiated whole): I read John Crowley's lively rendition.
books_and_keys's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
anotherpath's review against another edition
4.0
One of those Alchemical (but really Christian) texts that gets mentioned quite often everywhere. It's short and a fun read.
John Crowley suggests this is the first Science Fiction novel. I think it's more of an Alchemical expansion of Jesus' Bridegroom parable from Matthew.
The purported author said later in his life that he thought the tract was ultimately silly, which I agree with. It is silly. It shows the silliness of the Christian theology as it was taught to me. From a crowd of hundreds, only nine men are worthy of salvation! God is constantly testing and punishing you for your shortcomings! Grace isn't earned! God withholds from most, and punishes the majority! I'm not one to say that this is wrong, and that this God doesn't exist, he may, he's just not worthy of worship if this is his method. And I'll take eternal damnation in order to tell him so.
If it's a parable for Earthly enlightenment, I can accept the one in a hundred success rate, but for salvation, I just cannot accept a God that burns the chaffe from the wheat. How can a father burn his child eternally and be good? Also this God is a book burner, and that's lame.
So yeah. Silly. But with some really vivid imagery that kind of sits with you in the way childhood indoctrination does. At one point CR is chained up in a mass of men (Earth) who will scramble over one another for a momentary respite, unwilling to help or coordinate with one another, since they're all stuck together.
"The world's determined to be cheated," he said, "and can't listen to those who want to help."
Apparently it can also be read as a defence of the Gospel of John, at least according to Wikipedia's really poorly written article on it, which is about as informative as a fart.
John Crowley suggests this is the first Science Fiction novel. I think it's more of an Alchemical expansion of Jesus' Bridegroom parable from Matthew.
The purported author said later in his life that he thought the tract was ultimately silly, which I agree with. It is silly. It shows the silliness of the Christian theology as it was taught to me. From a crowd of hundreds, only nine men are worthy of salvation! God is constantly testing and punishing you for your shortcomings! Grace isn't earned! God withholds from most, and punishes the majority! I'm not one to say that this is wrong, and that this God doesn't exist, he may, he's just not worthy of worship if this is his method. And I'll take eternal damnation in order to tell him so.
If it's a parable for Earthly enlightenment, I can accept the one in a hundred success rate, but for salvation, I just cannot accept a God that burns the chaffe from the wheat. How can a father burn his child eternally and be good? Also this God is a book burner, and that's lame.
So yeah. Silly. But with some really vivid imagery that kind of sits with you in the way childhood indoctrination does. At one point CR is chained up in a mass of men (Earth) who will scramble over one another for a momentary respite, unwilling to help or coordinate with one another, since they're all stuck together.
"The world's determined to be cheated," he said, "and can't listen to those who want to help."
Apparently it can also be read as a defence of the Gospel of John, at least according to Wikipedia's really poorly written article on it, which is about as informative as a fart.
hankspecter's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
informative
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Fascinating read
paraguaytea's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.5
Any version of the mysterious 1616 original is worth reading, but John Crowley keeps the action particularly fast and exciting in this version of the book he describes as 'science fiction'. The illustrations also add enormously to this edition, as does the introduction and the footnotes.
_cristina's review against another edition
3.0
All of a sudden a terrible wind blew up, so strong that I thought the hill my little house was built on would be blown apart—but I’d seen the Devil do things as bad as this before (the Devil had often tried to harm me), so I took heart and went on meditating.