Erewhon Revisited · Concept
Religion and Credulity
The book explores how a single miraculous event can spawn a new religion, complete with temples, priests, relics, and exploitation of public faith, satirizing the development of religious institutions and the gullibility of followers.
The book explores how a single miraculous event can spawn a new religion, complete with temples, priests, relics, and exploitation of public faith, satirizing the development of religious institutions and the gullibility of followers.
Butler explicitly discusses how a single miraculous event can spawn a new religion, with temples, priests, and exploitation of public credulity.
The professors' debate over the Sunchild's prayer highlights how religious texts are altered to suit institutional and personal agendas.
The Erewhonians have deified Higgs and created a mythology around his balloon flight, showing how ignorance and myth spawn religion.
My father's reflections on the epitaph and Dr. Gurgoyle's pamphlet contrast with earlier Erewhonian critiques of heaven and hell, exploring beliefs about the afterlife.
Characters
Chapters
- Author's Preface
- My Father Overhears More of Hanky and Panky’s Conversation
- V: My Father Meets a Son, of Whose Existence He Was Ignorant; and Strikes a Bargain with Him
- X: My Father, Fearing Recognition at Sunch’ston, Betakes Himself to the Neighbouring Town of Fairmead
- President Gurgoyle’s Pamphlet “On the Physics of Vicarious Existence”
- XIV: My Father Makes the Acquaintance of Mr. Balmy, and Walks with Him Next Day to Sunch’ston
- XV: The Temple Is Dedicated to My Father, and Certain Extracts Are Read from His Supposed Sayings
- Professor Hanky Preaches a Sermon, in the Course of Which My Father Declares Himself to Be the Sunchild
