# How does Erewhon Revisited develop the theme of Religion and Credulity?

> Erewhon Revisited by Samuel Butler

## Answer

Erewhon Revisited by Samuel Butler develops Religion and Credulity across the chapters the companion marks for this theme.

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.

## Evidence

- [author-s-preface](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/erewhon_revisited_se/chapters/author-s-preface.md): Butler explicitly discusses how a single miraculous event can spawn a new religion, with temples, priests, and exploitation of public credulity.
- [iv-my-father-overhears-more-of-hanky-and-panky-s-conversation](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/erewhon_revisited_se/chapters/iv-my-father-overhears-more-of-hanky-and-panky-s-conversation.md): The professors' debate over the Sunchild's prayer highlights how religious texts are altered to suit institutional and personal agendas.
- [v-my-father-meets-a-son-of-whose-existence-he-was-ignorant-and-strikes-a-bargain-with-him](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/erewhon_revisited_se/chapters/v-my-father-meets-a-son-of-whose-existence-he-was-ignorant-and-strikes-a-bargain-with-him.md): The Erewhonians have deified Higgs and created a mythology around his balloon flight, showing how ignorance and myth spawn religion.
- [x-my-father-fearing-recognition-at-sunch-ston-betakes-himself-to-the-neighbouring-town-of-fairmead](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/erewhon_revisited_se/chapters/x-my-father-fearing-recognition-at-sunch-ston-betakes-himself-to-the-neighbouring-town-of-fairmead.md): 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.
- [xi-president-gurgoyle-s-pamphlet-on-the-physics-of-vicarious-existence](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/erewhon_revisited_se/chapters/xi-president-gurgoyle-s-pamphlet-on-the-physics-of-vicarious-existence.md): Gurgoyle's pamphlet reinterprets religious concepts of heaven and hell, arguing for a secular, influence-based afterlife, while criticizing popular credulity in literal resurrection.
- [xiv-my-father-makes-the-acquaintance-of-mr-balmy-and-walks-with-him-next-day-to-sunch-ston](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/erewhon_revisited_se/chapters/xiv-my-father-makes-the-acquaintance-of-mr-balmy-and-walks-with-him-next-day-to-sunch-ston.md): The chapter explores how a single miracle (the balloon ascent) uproots traditional beliefs and leads to the establishment of a new religion, despite the skepticism of its leaders.
- [xv-the-temple-is-dedicated-to-my-father-and-certain-extracts-are-read-from-his-supposed-sayings](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/erewhon_revisited_se/chapters/xv-the-temple-is-dedicated-to-my-father-and-certain-extracts-are-read-from-his-supposed-sayings.md): The dedication of the temple and the reading of fabricated sayings highlight how credulity and institutional religion can distort original teachings.
- [xvi-professor-hanky-preaches-a-sermon-in-the-course-of-which-my-father-declares-himself-to-be-the-sunchild](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/erewhon_revisited_se/chapters/xvi-professor-hanky-preaches-a-sermon-in-the-course-of-which-my-father-declares-himself-to-be-the-sunchild.md): Hanky's sermon manipulates the congregation's faith, presenting the Sunchild as either divine or a fraud, while exploiting credulity for institutional control.

## Links

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