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Thread: Christ in Literature?

  1. #1
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    Christ in Literature?

    Hey guys, I was hoping you guys could help me out. I'm doing an essay on Christ and Christlike figures in Literature but I'm not sure of all the novels that are out there. I know a few, like Moorcock's BEHOLD THE MAN or Callaghan's A TIME FOR JUDAS or even Milton's PARADISE REGAINED.

    Are there any others? I'm specifically looking for American, Canadian, and British authors/novels. I know of others outside of these three nations, like THE IDIOT or Nikos Kazantzakis's THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST.

    This would help me greatly. Thanks, guys.

  2. #2
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    A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving.

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    Registered User kiki1982's Avatar
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    The Gospel according to Jesus Christ by José Saramago. Interesting...

    Some people have argued that in Jane Eyre, Jane can be seen as a Christ-figure...

    Jean Valjean in Les Misérables can also be seen as Christ. There are lots of papers written about that.

    That's it for now.
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    Ataraxia bazarov's Avatar
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    Bishop Myriel from Les Miserables, Zosimov from Brothers Karamazov, Sonya from Crime and Punishment.
    At thunder and tempest, At the world's coldheartedness,
    During times of heavy loss And when you're sad
    The greatest art on earth Is to seem uncomplicatedly gay.

    To get things clear, they have to firstly be very unclear. But if you get them too quickly, you probably got them wrong.
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    Registered User Judas130's Avatar
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    all you need is a good text written from a thoroughly theocentric viewpoint and time. Like the middle ages.

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    Haribol Acharya blazeofglory's Avatar
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    Christ is a symbol and nothing else. God is a word and symbol and notning else and of course there are volumes of books written on Christ. The new testaments that has many stories pivoting around the life and deeds of Jesus.

    “Those who seek to satisfy the mind of man by hampering it with ceremonies and music and affecting charity and devotion have lost their original nature””

    “If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind! The mind of the sage, being in repose, becomes the mirror of the universe, the speculum of all creation.

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    Card-carrying Medievalist Lokasenna's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Judas130 View Post
    all you need is a good text written from a thoroughly theocentric viewpoint and time. Like the middle ages.
    Entirely agreed, and I would suggest looking even earlier. The Anglo-Saxon poem The Dream of the Rood, which can be easily found in translation, offers a fascinating depicition of Christ in heroic terms.

    Also, because I was reading it to my god-son the other day, Oscar Wilde's The Selfish Giant is a truly beautiful portrayal of the Christ-child.
    "I should only believe in a God that would know how to dance. And when I saw my devil, I found him serious, thorough, profound, solemn: he was the spirit of gravity- through him all things fall. Not by wrath, but by laughter, do we slay. Come, let us slay the spirit of gravity!" - Nietzsche

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    Exiled Pre-Raphaelite Gustavo L.'s Avatar
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    Christ and Pilate appear in Mikhail Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarita".

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    Try Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea."

    "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest" has it too.

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    Registered User pagebypage's Avatar
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    Aslan the Lion in The Chronicles of Naria series by C. S. Lewis
    George Giles in Giles, Goat-boy by John Barth
    Some make a case for Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings series by Tolkien
    Uncle Tom in Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
    Last edited by pagebypage; 03-21-2009 at 05:37 PM.

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    aspiring Arthurianist Wilde woman's Avatar
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    Galahad in Le Morte d'Arthur
    Simon in Lord of the Flies
    Reverend Casy in The Grapes of Wrath
    Sydney Carton in A Tale of Two Cities

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    Registered User NikolaiI's Avatar
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    Father Zosimov is a Christ character, from The Brothers Karamazov.

    Oh Bazarov beat me there.

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    dafydd dafydd manton's Avatar
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    How about a literary classic written by someone who was there at the time, and a close friend of the man - the Good News According to the Apostle John. Eye Witness accounts.
    Dafydd Manton, A Legend In His Own Lunchtime!! www.dafydd-manton.co.uk

    My Work Has Been Spread Over Many Fields!

  14. #14
    spiritus ubi vult spirat weltanschauung's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kiki1982 View Post
    The Gospel according to Jesus Christ by José Saramago. Interesting...


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