[percy-l] Debt Forgiveness and Lancelot

Michael Larson larsonovic at gmail.com
Wed Jul 1 18:37:13 EDT 2020


 Debt forgiveness is for the ignorant (those who know not what they do) and
for the repentant, those who are sorry for their wrongs and aim to amend
their lives. This latter implies a belief in an objective moral order.

In *Lancelot*, three ways are proposed (p. 255-57): 1) Sodom: the way of
the modern world (i.e. rejection of an objective moral order), 2) Lance's
way (i.e. a return to an objective moral order, enforced with an iron fist:
a new version of the Old Law), 3) Percival's way: the way of the Church
(i.e. acceptance of an objective moral order, but mercy for the penitent: a
return to the New Law, a.k.a. Christendom).

The world at present is in the final throes of the first way, but Lancelot
and Percival agree that the future of humanity cannot continue in this way.
They agree beyond any doubt that it will be either the second or the third
way, but not both. And we know which of the two Percy, the author, is
asserting by the final words of the novel, when Lancelot asks Percival, "Is
there anything you wish to tell me before I leave?" and Percival, who has
been the silent hearer of Lance's 255-page confession, responds, "Yes."

Probably he will tell Lance that without sorrow for his sins, the new
beginning he envisions is as doomed as the modern world.

Mike Larson
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/percy-l/attachments/20200701/b1713152/attachment.html>


More information about the Percy-L mailing list