Superman!

Chatting with my friend Bob about Superman's Jewishness (invented by Jewish writers; destroyed planet and legacy; scmiel disguise; sense of election; American and yet not America, and so on). The crucial question nowadays, it seems to me, is The Alan Moore Reducto Ad Absurdam: ‘if you had godlike powers would you REALLY go round (in effect) rescuing cats from trees & chatting up Lois Lane? The Jewish line here might be: ‘if I were a God I would use my powers to help MY chosen people’ (one reason why Red Son was so disappointing was to do with this). But one of the interesting things about Christian God, as Christ, was that he did indeed spend his time rescuing cats from trees & chatting up Lois Lane -- or arranging the bread supply to a crowd of people and hanging out with Mary Magdelene. That's one of the strong lines of force of the Christian revelation: that God’s really not interested in kings, wars & glory: he’s interested in the trivia of life.  I mean 'trivia' here in a nonderogatory sense: the ordinary day-to-day, the mundanity.  That's where the important stuff happens.