"Christopher Rowe - Another Word for Map is Faith" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rowe Christopher)

"Skip to the end, dear.тАЭ Sandy had little patience for the formalities of academic correspondence, and
less for the pretense at holiness the Agriculturalists made with their little fruiting Christ.

"'So, then, it is seen in these texts that Cartography has corrected the error so far as in our power, and
now the burden is passed to you and your brethren to complete this holy task, and return the land to that
of Jesus's vision.'тАЭ Carmen paused. тАЬThen you promise to remember the Dean in your prayers and all the
rest of the politesse."

"Good. Everything observed. Make two copies and bring the official one to me for sealing when you're
done."

Carmen turned to her work and Sandy to hers. The ashen landscape extending up the valley was still
except for some ribbons twisting in a light breeze. The ribbons were wax sealed to the parchment banner
her students had set at first light, the new map of the valley floor drawn in red and black against a cream
background. Someone had found the the blackened disc of the Forestry student's medallion and leaned it
against the base of the banner's staff and Sandy wondered if it had been Carmen, prone to sentiment, or
perhaps Lucas, prone to vague gestures.

By midmorning, the students had readied their gear for the march up the ridge line and Carmen had
dropped Sandy's package for the university in the mailbox by the bus stop. Before they hoisted their
backpacks, though, Sandy gathered them all for fellowship and prayer.

"The gymnasiums at the University have made us fit enough for this task,тАЭ and here she made a playful
flex with her left arm, earning rolled eyes from Lucas and a chuckle from the rest. тАЬThe libraries have
given us the woodscraft we need, and the chapels have given us the sustenance of our souls."

Sandy swept her arm north to south, indicating the ridge. тАЬWhen I was your age, oh so long agoтАФтАЭ and
a pause here for another ripple of laughter, acknowledgment of her dual status as youngest tenured
faculty member at the university and youngest ordained minister in the curia. тАЬWhen I was your age, I
was blessed with the opportunity to go to the Northeast, traveling the lands beyond the Susquehanna,
searching out error."

Sandy smiled at the memory of those timesтАФcould they be ten years gone already? тАЬI traveled with
men and women strong in the Lord, soldiers and scholars of God. There are many errors in the
Northeast."

Maps so brittle with age that they would flake away in the cold winds of the Adirondack passes, so
faded that only the mightiest of prayers would reveal Jesus's true intentions for His world.

"But none here in the heartlands of the Church, right? Isn't that what our parish priests told us growing
up?тАЭ The students recognized that she was beginning to teach and nodded, murmured assent.

"Christians, there is error here. There is error right before our eyes!тАЭ Her own students weren't a difficult
congregation to hook, but she was gratified nonetheless by the gleam she caught in most of their eyes, the
calls, louder now, of тАЬYes!тАЭ and тАЬI see it! I see the lie!"

"I laid down my protractor, friends, I know exactly how far off north Jesus mapped this ridge line to lay,тАЭ
she said, sweeping her arm in a great arc, taking in the whole horizon, тАЬAnd that ridge line sins by two
degrees!"