In this chapter, Foster discusses the portrayal of Christ-like figures throughout literature. An allusion to Christ may include: uncanny knowledge of scripture, being good with children, being alone in the wilderness and being burdened with the task of redeeming a sinful world - all of which are traits that Nathan Price from The Poisonwood Bible exhibits or distorts. Nathan Price serves as an ironic depiction of Christ. Like Jesus, Nathan is intimately familiar with the Bible and can summon any portion of it from memory to support his arguments, such as when Anatole tells the Price family why the Kongolese people are not receptive to Nathan’s family. However, Nathan is abusive and dismissive towards anyone who disagrees with him, especially his children and wife, a perversion of …show more content…
However, despite his tenacious attempts to separate himself from a godless world and live in purity, Nathan continuously perverts the Word of God, thus demonstrating his failure to defeat his enemies. He clings to the Apocrypha, a collection of books that Jews and Protestant Christians generally reject as canon; he boldly proclaims “Jesus is Bangala!” during his services, warping both the Kongolese language and his audience’s perspective of Jesus Christ; he acts ashamed when he has sex with his wife, much like the shame that Adam and Eve felt when they realized they were naked after disobeying God. In fact, Nathan behaves as if every encounter with other human beings is his reenactment of Jesus being tempted by Satan. He uses the Bible as a weapon, or a punishment; he is defensive and