Thread drift: Shootingstar, your comment about questioning why you were part of a literature program that used a lot of religious/biblical allusions brought back a memory of a course I took in the 80s. After I got my master's in special ed, I took some summer courses to get certified in English. One was in American lit before 1850. I swear, I didn't get half the stuff the professor was discussing because it was all New Testament allusion. Although I wasn't an English major, I did have a minor in the subject, and I felt prepared when I started. One day, during a break I was feeling miserable and struck up a conversation with another student, and I discovered she also was not Christian and felt the same way.
Of course, this was the professor who thought I was a "19 year old single, pregnant student," when I was a 29 year old pregnant, married teacher with a graduate degree and several years of teaching experience. Yes, I looked young, but really.
I guess I know what values he had.