argh- that's craziness. Austen needs to go somewhere else, and stop going down the religion road.
I mean, a little casaul reference is good and all, but it's all too heavy handed for my taste. And it's not really appealing to the religous, it your not Christain, it contradicts your religion, if you are Christain, it's most likely blasphemous. If you aren't religous at all, you will likely find not interst in it or find it based on some far off fanciful ideas that you likely all ready feel like you're being drowned in. The only people it's likely to appeal to is those that like the idea of Christainity as a myth. Since it's still widely practiced, I doubt it has the same sort of draw as the classic myths of Grecian/etc. times. (at least, for me, i doesn't. But then again, I'm still a practicing (at times struggling..) Christain.) And I would think if some body did want to see themes of Christainity in a myth form, they'd prefer it done in a way that had some subltleness and substance and reasoning. I just don't get what Austen is trying to do with this whole bit.....
I can see some of the things he does, but this aspect of his writing really turns me off of him.