History Main / CrystalDragonJesus

** The Andrastian Chantry is somewhat a mix of the Byzantine Orthodoxy and the Catholic Church, however. The church is lead by a "Divine" (IE: Pope) who, much like the Pope in real life, takes on a different name upon being beatified. As a departure, only women are allowed in the upper echelons of the order: there are no "Revered Fathers", only Revered Mothers (bishops), male Grand Clerics (cardinals), or any male Divine in the history, except for the schism of the religion in the [[TheRemnant Tevinter Imperium]].

** The Andrastian Chantry is somewhat a mix of the Byzantine Orthodoxy and the Catholic Church, however.

* Fiona Patton's Branion historical fantasy series, set in an alternate Europe in like manner to Guy Gavriel Kay's works, has two fictional faiths which very loosely parallel the conflict between Catholicism and Protestantism and have many deliberate similarities to Christianity:

* OrsonScottCard's Alvin Maker is basically Joseph Smith plus magic.

** Lucas always claimed to be re-interpreting traditional forms of myth. But ''redeems his father'' is interesting because it is not standard Christianity but may well fit some Gnostic Christianity where the True Divinity is beyond comprehension using the normal intellect of the 'created' world and the 'creator' Jehovah is a kind of schizophrenic subpersonality or, in some versions, lesser deity that got away like the (corrupt) universe of its creation. A prayer (or meditation) attributed to Valentinus has the believer 'redeeming myself' from 'this Aion' (order of existence) through the Divine Incarnation (stereotypically in Jesus, but standing for in all of us in Gnostic belief) 'as did IAO', that is, the Greek version of 'YHWH'. So reversing the orthodox (and most other Gnostic!) belief that Jehovah's incarnation as Jesus 'redeemed' mankind, in the Valentinian view, Jehovah's incarnation as Jesus redeemed the demi-urge Jehovah by bringing him into awareness of the greater divine spark in humanity. I have heard devout Roman Catholics say something similar that "God understands us because he became one of us" - which raises the question of why experience was necessary for the Omniscient.
** For further reading on this massive subject, consult the nonfiction book ''The Hero With a Thousand Faces'', a study of Messiah and hero figures across cultures and history, the author of whom was consulted extensively by George Lucas when writing the original stories.
** Also see ''The Power of Myth'' by the same author (Joseph Campbell). In it, Campbell mentions that the one thing that an omniscient, omnipresent being lacks is "limitation." Without limitations, such a being regards everything impartially; all things are equal and good. The only way it can understand human suffering (or experience any novelty at all) is to become a mortal and finite individual.

* ''Webcomic/{{Digger}}'', being a FantasyKitchenSink, has not only a CrystalDragonJesus called the Good Man, it also has an equivalent of Virgin Mary. And [[spoiler: an evil version of said Virgin Mary figure made from certain people's belief that {{God}}, wherein the two universes are merging, [[GodIsEvil is evil]]. She murdered her myth's version of the Good Man, and looking at her face drove one of the characters partially insane.]]
* ''AnsemRetort'' considers {{Batman}} to be a god. WordOfGod assures us that Zombie Superpowered Batman is indeed terrifying.

* A number of works by K.J. Parker are set in a vaguely Byzantine setting, and while there isn't a clear "verse", they share some common background references. One such reference is a religion which worships the "Invisible Sun", and has seminaries, Bishoprics, and the like.

* Thorarinn Gunnarsson's "Dragonlord of Mystara" includes one of the few literal examples: The protagonist grows up as a human orphan, but is secretly [[spoiler: a polymorphed gold dragon, son of the only dragon god and his chief cleric. In book 2, the crystal dragons of D&D are described as [[TranshumanTreachery transdragonists]] who enhanced themselves magically and tried to conquer the word; they had been trying to achieve [[AGodAmI godhood]]; in book 3, the protagonist - once again, the literal son of a god - apotheoses into a crystal dragon to save all mortal life from a soul-enslaving alien evil.]] However, in spite of there being a literal crystal dragon Jesus [[expy]] involved, it subverts every other defining aspect of the trope.

* In VideoGame/{{Civilization}} V: Gods and Kings expansion pack, you can found religions and choose the beliefs of the religions. It can range from playing this trope straight, with your Shinto religion having a Papacy, making Cathedrals, and believing in a Messiah, or invert by having a Christian state religion where you believe in a Sea God, have Mosques, and think religious idols are holy.

* In ''HauntedJunction'', Haruto Hojo is selected to be one of the three members of the Holy Student Council (the others being a Shinto miko and the son of a Buddhist monk) because his father is a Christian priest. The denomination is ''extremely'' vague... the priest's vestments are similar to a Jesuit's robes but in all white, he can marry and have a family, has the icons in his church that bear a strong resemblance to the Virgin Mary, and is skilled in the ways of HermeticMagic with no qualms about teaching his son enough to make a spirit trapping spell. (Note that some rites in the Catholic Church allow priests to marry; just not the Latin rite, which is the largest. I doubt that was what was intended, though.)

The name itself is a DeadUnicornTrope as few writers are willing to literally use a Crystal Dragon, but it does get the idea of random in-universe creatures. Furthermore there's the belief that [[NewAgeRetroHippie new-age]] [[PowerCrystal crystals do everything]] and it's conveninent for writers who want to make a [[MessianiacArchetype Christ figure]] come across.

The name itself is a DeadUnicornTrope as few writers are willing to literally use a Crystal Dragon, but it does get the idea of random in-universe creatures. Furthermore there's the belief that [[NewAgeRetroHippie new-age]] [[PowerCrystal crystals do everything]] and it's conveninent for writers who want to make a [[MessaniacArchetype Christ figure]] come across.

** Also, if you stretch it somewhat, the attributes of the Triforce are similar to a biblical principal. TheBible states that "God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of love, a spirit of power, and a sound mind." It also says "perfect love casts out fear." So, the Triforce's attributes--courage, power, and wisdom--basically equate to the spirit of love, the spirit of power, and a sound mind respectively.

** Illustrations of Hugonon Ridcully (Chief Priest of Blind Io in Ahnk-Morpork) in Discworld/TheLastHero depict him in vestments that look very Bishop-y, and include plenty of crosses (which is especially odd as his god's symbol is a hammer).

* Monte Cook's "World of Praemal", in which he sets most of his popular "Arcana Unearthed" series of products for the D&D game, features a "Mother Church" that's basically Catholicism with the serial numbers filed off.
** Praemal is the world in which "Ptolus" and associated products are set, and they have the Church of Lothian. "Arcana Unearthed" has very limited religious presence and no large organized religions. There is no Mother Church in Monte Cook's products.

** Offlerism (despite being a crocodile who fits thematically with Egyptian gods) has some elements of Christianity, such as showing one temple having a collection for fixing the roof, a common phenomenon in old English churches, but the religion also has elements of Islam. It's particularly common in some parts of Klatch, and there's a throwaway reference to devout Offlerians avoiding alcohol. Riffing on Muslim and Jewish dietary laws, Offler forbids his followers from eating broccoli - which is easy to follow, since no one wants to eat broccoli anyway.

* An interesting version in one of HarryTurtledove 's Crosstime Traffic books, were the religion is an alternate universe version of Christianity. In the alternate universe the Black Death lasted longer, and in the aftermath a Christians began worshiping Henri, God's Second Son. Just like with Jesus, Henri's followers use the device that killed him as their symbol. (A wheel, as Henri was stretched on a wooden wheel and rolled down a hill, crushing him.)

** Omnianism is more of a ''parody'' of aspects of Christianity, but does worship Om as a bull or an eagle (or, later, a tortoise). More obliquely, in the novel ''Feet of Clay'', Pratchett writes about a conflicting dead religion from the same region as Omnianism, which, given the fact that its "priests" make Golems, might be the Crystal Dragon Jesus version of Judaism. Omnians in later books have also picked up similar habits to Jehovas Witnesses and the Salvation Army.

** Offlerism has some elements of Christianity, such as showing one temple having a collection for fixing the roof, a common phenomenon in old English churches, but the religion also has elements of Islam. It's particularly common in some parts of Klatch, and there's a throwaway reference to devout Offlerians avoiding alcohol. Riffing on Muslim and Jewish dietary laws, Offler forbids his followers from eating broccoli - which is easy to follow, since no one wants to eat broccoli anyway.

* ''Inverted'' in Creator/JRRTolkien's book ''Literature/TheSilmarillion''. Eru (God) has a lot of similarities to the Christian deity (as to be expected from a Catholic author), but the way in which his creations worship him is very different from traditional Christian practice--if you want to technical about it, he '''is''' the Christian deity. There are very few ceremonies, only a couple per year. And worship is never carried out in buildings; indeed, temples and churches are associated with evil by worshippers of Eru. In Númenorean worship, only the King or Queen could speak to Eru directly and make (bloodless) offerings, and most prayers or hymns seen in the mythology are addressed to one of the Valar (who roughly correspond to archangels or pagan gods).

** It's strongly implied that in the short story "The Last Church," Christianity managed to survive at least towards the very dawn of the Great Crusade, the Emperor only visiting the titular church (the last Christian one) out of respect before destroying it. The irony that the Ecclesiarchy would later on use Christian imagery, aesthetics symbolism in promoting worship of the God-Emperor is lost to no one.