De Umbris Idearum (short story)

 was the thirteenth and final story in the anthology Burning with Optimism's Flames. It was written by Philip Purser-Hallard.

Publisher's summary
Wailing’s Lace, 2621: The Pope’s xenotheologian, Monsignora Tantry, investigates disturbing reports of a force disrupting the delicate balance of religious politics in the habitat – a cult known only as the Remote...

California, 2012: Concerned by the behaviour of one of his students, Father Gerard Evangelista attends a sinister party at the Theater of Memory – a party which is also, in a very real sense, a revival meeting.

London, 1584: The excommunicated heretic Giordano Bruno’s sorcerous experiments yield some surprising results, and the discovery that he holds the Church’s very future in his hands.

The Eleven-Day Empire: Father Self of Faction Paradox sets his alarm clock, and considers an intervention which will touch the lives of three priests – and, incidentally, shape a millennium of history.

Summary
to be added

Characters

 * Imogen Tantry
 * Gerard Evangelista
 * Giordano Bruno
 * Father Self

Continuity

 * Imogen Tantry will become Pope Beatrix II. (PROSE: Predating the Predators, Unification Theory)
 * The Remote appear, and Anathema is mentioned. (PROSE: Interference - Book One)
 * Father Self appears. (PROSE: Of the City of the Saved...)