in the search for christ figures chris pyle suggests THE RULING CLASS in which "Peter O'Toole plays a nobleman who thinks he's God" . . . to which "Byrnes Weir objects: God is not Christ" . . . which leads don larsson to comment that "If you believe in the Trinity, both are part of one and the same!" . . . now i hate to disagree with don larsson but i think that his comment misses the point . . . whether or not christ and god are one and the same [or even three and the same] is first of all a matter of theological doctrine probably not suitable for this listserv; and second and more important, does not address the current question which is not about christ but about CHRIST FIGURES . . . so far as i can tell the figurative christ is the one who dies for the sins of others in order to cleanse them of their sins . . . and also so far as i can tell this is not true of the god figure [as opposed to the christ figure] even in orthodox christian theology . . . in fact it might well be argued that one of the reasons for or achievements of trinitarian thought is that it allows the metaphysical deity [it itself beyond human figuration] to be figured in three different ways . . and when we're discussing the christ figure [a figure who appears in narrative or linguistic rather than theological discourse] the difference between these figures is critical . . . billy budd may be a christ figure but i don't imagine many will want to see him as a god figure mike frank ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]