Erewhon Revisited · Theme
Religion and Credulity
How Erewhon Revisited develops 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.
Where it surfaces
- Author's Preface
Butler explicitly discusses how a single miraculous event can spawn a new religion, with temples, priests, and exploitation of public credulity.
- My Father Overhears More of Hanky and Panky’s Conversation
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
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
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.
- President Gurgoyle’s Pamphlet “On the Physics of Vicarious Existence”
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
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
The dedication of the temple and the reading of fabricated sayings highlight how credulity and institutional religion can distort original teachings.
- Professor Hanky Preaches a Sermon, in the Course of Which My Father Declares Himself to Be the Sunchild
Hanky's sermon manipulates the congregation's faith, presenting the Sunchild as either divine or a fraud, while exploiting credulity for institutional control.
- George Escorts My Father to the Statues; The Two Then Part
The characters debate the truth of Sunchildism and the manipulation of religious belief for institutional power.
