Things we learn from the Tudors
twelveoaks and I have been watching "The Tudors." Other than a few GLARING Historical Innacuracies (they misteriously edited out one of King Henry's Sisters and therefore Neither Mary Queen of Scots or the future King James will ever be born!) its not BAD historical fiction. There is plenty of eye candy. They get most of the characters right (although they
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This is a great and fun introduction to the Reformation and Wars of Religion - when the series ends you could continue with the Elizabeathen series or flip over to Queen Margot (another favorite of mine) to see what's going on in France as the extension of these conflicts in the late 1600's (just after Henry's death) right at the beginning of the St. Barthelomo's day massacare.
As for your larger question, I think the Queen is espousing a particularly medieval viewpoint (though perhaps one more common amongst serfs than nobility) - one of which the name escapes me. That this life is suffering, and in a way, that suffering is the test or the trial, wherein if we hold true to the Commandments and Christ's teaching, we are rewarded with eternal happiness in the afterlife. It's a far more conservative approach than what is coming down the road with Henry's Renassaince inspired Anglican reforms, or at least the religious flavor seen behind the reforms as displayed by some of their advocates, you'll see another taste of the Queen's philosophy when Moore tries to comfort his family during his trials.
I assume you're still in the first few seasons....but as it goes on there are some great religious arguments they expose that were contemporary to the reformation, and one of the underlying ones (deeper than transubstantiation or relics) is what role does God have in our lives? To Henry, it is part and parcel with a political role, his own power - but that's just one viewpoints.
To the larger question, there's an interesting phenomena that happens during times of suffering. I was reading in the Economist last night about how Egyptians deal with what is a shockingly appalling situation in terms of poverty, political repression - truly dystopian societies for which there is little real hope of change coming down the road. But I was amazed at how innovative and creative they were with the scarce resources they had. Perhaps comfort breeds, not contempt, but a lessened immediacy to leverage everything you have (tangible or intangible) to its maximum extent, and that may carry over to religion.
Why is it that there are no atheists in foxholes? Perhaps because all the layers of comfort and extra have been so stripped away that there is no room left except to engage that higher power. (I don't agree with the phrase as an absolute, but I think it's a good topic for discussion). You mention the economic downturn, I want to go back and catch up with some of the "excellence" evangelical groups I saw during the boom times, the ones who would pray for and thank God when they got a really nice car or the new kitchen table; not so much like your Pagan friends for unexpected good things happening, but almost more (it seemed to me) as a confirmation of their own merit and worth equated with wealth, blessed by God because they attributed purely material things to His works. Did their faith hold them through the hard times - like Job? Did they come to a different or deeper understanding?
The show prompts many many good discussions like this. Although it makes Henry Teh Sexy! it also does a great job, over time, of showing just how dysfunctional it can be to live in an environment of hierarchical power like that, how screwed up it can all become when everything (literally everything) is tied to the whims of an absolutist King.
Tim C.
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