“I think that someday the bishops must get together and see about breeding up a new class of curates.” I think that this passage is less about imagery and metaphor than it is about practical application to the novel. However there is one word in this passage that does add metaphorical meaning to it – “breeding”. The word puts the curates into class of their own, which they rightly are a class of their own. But the word breeding conjures up images of animals. The story does have some mention of animals like werewolves but mainly it deals with angels and demons. He uses the passage in this way to make the curates sound dispensable. It’s the diction of this passage that carries that peculiar message. This passage has no real aspect of Christian mythology as it more closely follows Christian doctrine. What he’s saying about religion here is that the doctrine is not what defines religion. What defines religion is history, practice, community and faith amongst other things. What he is saying about Christianity is that it must adapt and must change. That there will all ways be new classes added to society and for Christianity to survive it must make changes and adaptations.
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