Art & religious mystery.

John Savant's penetrating essay on metaphor, poetry, and jazz ("Follow That Metaphor," November 18, 2005) recalls Paul Ricoeur's argument that "literal falsity is thus an ingredient of metaphorical truth." One wonders why so many Christians hue to literal conceptions of religious truth as most indicative of the mind of God. Strict constructionists of the Constitution, the Bible, or of dogmatic and moral traditions all "fall short of metaphor" and hence fall short of mystery. Our great need today, as Savant reminds us, is for persons of moral imagination, improvisers even "in the very agon of our ultimate inadequacy." We need more poets like Savant, and fewer sacred managers.

PAUL E. DINTER

Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.