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Edit inspired by this one, idea inspired by this post, final nail in the coffin by this and thank you @cicadadust for telling me what episode that frame was from :3
youre a fake Catholic if you cant acknowledge the horniness. Like you can say its "different" horniness because its divinely inspired ecstasy and is the more noble and higher form of its mortal earthly counterpart sure whatever but its horniness. St Theresa of Avilla described having a moment of religious ecstasy and during it encountering with an angel
I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron's point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it. The soul is satisfied now with nothing less than God. The pain is not bodily, but spiritual; though the body has its share in it. It is a caressing of love so sweet which now takes place between the soul and God, that I pray God of His goodness to make him experience it who may think that I am lying
There's literally a "long spear" with "a little fire" that is being thrust into her. Bernini made a famous sculpture about this and its in a church
youre not "reading into" something unintended when you recognize whats obviously happening
Historical Meta: Blackthorne and Mariko's Prayer in Shogun 1.6
So there's a moment in Shogun 1.6 "Ladies of the Willow World" where (spoilers) Mariko and Blackthorne are both praying, specifically they're speaking the Lord's Prayer.
Mariko recites the Lord's Prayer in Latin.
Blackthorne recognizes this and joins in, reciting it in English.
So far, I've seen all reactions to this scene focusing on the intense yearning it depicts between them and this moment of shared connection.
While I definitely do believe that emotion of connection and yearning is there, I think one thing many people in a modern audience wouldn't grasp is that there's an added shade of meaning to Blackthorne joining in English.
Specifically, it's a bit of a "fuck you" to Catholicism. Yes, even in this moment of shared connection and yearning with Mariko. Let me explain.
One of the points of contention between English Protestants and European Catholics was on the language that mass would be given in. The English Protestants believed (to vastly simplify an incredibly complex period in history) that the Bible and Mass and prayers should all be in the vernacular, because people should have an individual right to commune directly with God and save their own souls, so to speak, without priests as a favored intermediary.
Latin as a separate language that largely obscured the holy word from believers, was seen as emblematic to English Protestants of this sort of Church monopoly on access to God that Catholic priests were imposing on believers.
Mariko is a Catholic because she was converted to Christianity through Portuguese Catholic missionaries. The people Blackthorne hates. And Blackthorne hasn't been above insulting Mariko's Catholic faith to her face, let's be clear, so it's not out of the question for this scene that he continues in that vein even in a private moment.
But I don't see it entirely as a "fuck you" to Mariko's beliefs.
Rather, I see it as him in his usual, in-your-face way, trying to show her a better faith, his faith, a faith where prayer is said in a language the believer understands.
To Blackthorne's beliefs, Mariko should be saying the Lord's Prayer in Japanese. She should have a right to her own personal relationship with God that isn't dictated by Catholic priests represented by the prayer being in a separate language she doesn't speak.
So it's a bit of a "fuck you" as he tries to drown out her Catholic Latin prayers with his Protestant English ones but I think to some extent to, there's a sort of missionary desperation to his prayer, trying to show her an alternative, better (in his mind, I'm not impart a value judgement here just trying to explain a historical viewpoint) form of Christianity.
And just to be clear, the Catholic Church didn't allow mass to be in the local language until the Second Vatican Council in 1960.
And yes, in fact as part of the lead up to Protestants splitting away from Catholics, one of the major points of contention was the right to hear mass in the local language and leaders who called for this were often persecuted as heretics by the Church. I only mention this to explain some of the buildup of vitriol that Protestants like Blackthorne would have felt towards Catholic priests as these events would be much more recent history to them (along with Bloody Mary's persecution of Protestants in England in living memory, which is a whole other story).
It is imperative that you assemble a collection of tumblr mutuals who are vocal about their deeply specific, highly involved kinks that you don’t share at all. If you humble yourself with the diversity of the human experience enough you can become inoculated against reactionary puritanism permanently
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Fun Fact
Kazakhstan’s Minister of Communications and Informatics has blocked the Tumblr site because it contained 60 sites of terrorism, extremism, and pornography in 2015.