Bible thumpers, old and newuaker, Catholic,

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

I didn't say nothin' 'bout no Sanity Clause.

          For starters, because contemporary authors as diversely 
          brilliant as Tony Kushner, Thomas Pynchon and Michael 
          Chabon have all drawn on kabbalistic myth and imagery 
          in their work. Kushner's angels; Pynchon's use of the 
          Qlippoth, or "Shells of the Dead"; Chabon's appropriation 
          of the avenging Golem of Prague in "The Amazing 
          Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" -- all derive, if not from 
          the Zohar and other kabbalistic texts themselves, then 
          from more accessible books by the late 20th century 
          Kabbalah revivalist Gershom Scholem. Just as you don't 
          have to be a Christian to appreciate the Bible as literature, 
          you don't have to be Jewish to appreciate Kabbalah.

http://tinyurl.com/2utmpm

If certain themes appear repeatedly in an Author's books, portrayed in a 
certain light, the inferences one draws from those repeated leimotivs
is that the author is making a rather particular point. The degree of Quabalist
reference in Pynchon's work is at its apogee in Against the Day. The
presence of spirits of the dead functioning as characters in the plots of
Pynchon's novels is everywhere, and again at its peak in AtD. For whatever
reason, Our Beloved Author is practically underlining then highlighting
with florescent yellow markers, those pasages relating to all that
"crazy" talk, all that Ouspenskian nonsense. 

          Larry Daw:
          (5) We are taken to an Ouspenskian circle of sitters 
          transected into the realm of Dominus Blicero. In a 
          place called Snoxall's, Pirate Prentice puts them in 
          touch with Der Blecker, Der Bleicher, the Teutonic 
          Deity of Death who will one day launch the terrible 
          Rilkean Rocket 00000. Milton Gloaming presides, . . .

http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_grsumm.html

 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: malignd at aol.com
> I wrote:
> <Does anyone suppose that Tony Kushner actually believes in angels?>>
> 
> I also wrote --
> 
>   "(It's a rhetorical question, but I suppose there are some who would 
> answer 'yes')"
> 
>  -- then deleted it, as it sounded arch.  Alas.
> 
> robinlandseadel wrote:
> 
> "... Yes, I'm fairly certain that Tony Kushner believes in Angels. ... 
> And for that matter, so do I ..." -- because -- "... They are, after 
> all, an integral part of 'Occult' work."
> 
> Ah, yes; the occult.  Madame Blavatsky and all.  I forgot about that 
> rigorous source of evidence.
> 
> Nevertheless, I feel as certain as you that Kushner doesn't believe in 
> angels and base that opinion on that fact that he's not insane.