WE> Quoting short biblical excerpts isolated from context is Christian
 WE> custom.
   Depends on what and who you mean by "Christian."  What you are describing
is, as far as I know, the habit of untutored (I'm being kind) "Christian"
Fundamentalists, bible-thumpers and assorted other types.  On the Fidonet
echoes it MAY be the only "Christians" you've encountered because they tend 
o
be the noisiest and most vociferous.  That can be misleading.  
 WE> Bible as literature?  What a demotion from infallible divine
 WE> inspiration.
   "Bible" is already a loaded word which designates a "canon" however, the
"canons" differ in content and have different assortments of apocrypha
included in the published texts.  "Bible" actually implies "infallible divine
inspiration" but even those who use it as a shorthand title often do not
necessarily consider it to be "divinely inspired" and even THAT term is open
to dispute as to meaning.  Was whoever wrote the Shakespeare plays "divinely
inspired?"  Well, suppose one considers consciousness to be a tension between
the poles of divine - human?  Then one might say that the writer of a
beautiful hymn (many of which I love and even play using chords) was 
divinely
inspired."  
   I've known purely secular (State universities) institutions of higher
education to offer accredied courses in English entitled "The Bible as
Literature."  Perfectly legitimate educational curricula.  
   There are also several different brands of "Atheism."  I don't find the
term any more descriptive for my purposes and thought than "Christian" except
that "Christian" designates in some contexts a historical movement. 
 FM> Vesuvius caught them like a snapshot right in the middle of what they
 FM> were doing just as one crumbling of levies coud do to New Orleans or
 FM> shifting crust could do to California.  In fact, old Pliny was killed
 FM> because he tried to get too close to Pompey to study the phenomenon.
 WE> Indeed, this exemplifies the Jehovah archetype, grumpy old man coming
 WE> from on high, throwing fire and brimstone at people who bothered him.
   You lost me on this one.  Since Pompey was destroyed during the Flavian
period of Roman emperors it is unlikely that there were TOO many "Christians"
around though there might have been some.  The body molds only tell the
archaeologists something about where the person might have been from, not
her/his/its particular myths while living.  Jung designated the "wise old 
an"
as an archetype but the only "grumpy old men" I know were the characters
played by Jack Lemmon (sp?) and Walter Matthau!  I know some "grumpy old men"
but they were also "grumpy young men" once.   Of course if you disagree with
the proposition that age brings SOME increased wisdom then the archetype 
ould
have no meaning anyhow, for you.   Pliny was a scholar in the field of
geography("natural history"). He was a scientist whose curiosity drew him too
close to the eruption he wanted to study.
    There had probably been destructions at that site before.  Volcanic
eruptions enrich the soil and people risk going right back to settle there
just as they move back into flood-prone areas.
Sincerely, 
                                     Frank
                                                                              
                                                       
 
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