On Tue, Nov 26, 2002 at 04:38:05PM -0600, David Rodemaker wrote: > I will also say that I do not think that T. had the goal as L. in writing a > specifically NT/Christian allegory, merely that his writings are rich in > Christian mystic/mythic imagery. But also Norse/Germanic imagery. And "Christian imagery" should be careful to distinguish between actual Christ-related imagery, and stuff related to monotheism and angels which is shared with Judaism (maybe?) and Islam and owes a lot to general mystic interest in the Middle Ages. For example, there's a comic right now, "Lucifer", with much the same cosmology as Neil Gaiman's "Sandman". God, angels, heaven, hell. Christian, right? Only, there's no _Christ_. Not a hint. (At least not these days, I've heard of one in some Swamp Thing. But Gaiman implied Christ was just one of the Great Stories, and Carey doesn't touch it at all.) (Uh, whoops. Okay, Lucifer does mention the "triune godhead" at one point. But that's it.) And heaven and hell don't work the way most real-world Christians would expect. Actually that's true for other stuff, like _Good Omens_. A lot of stuff seems to use _Paradise Lost_ as its mythic background, while stopping before the Messiah entered the scene. -xx- Damien X-)