T-bird: I do have Robin Lane Fox's Pagans and Christians and it's quite good (I haven't finished it yet, I keep getting distracted by fiction, music, etc.) It focuses mainly on Greek and Roman society and religion for a couple centuries to either side of Jesus' life, and it's pretty interesting; I'm just also interested in the areas outside of Greece and Rome ...

Peg: I don't think I know Rob or Linda -- are they in this area, and do you know what team they dance(d?) with? The dancing on Lilac Sunday is in the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain ...

MMario: For what it's worth, the first time I saw the abbreviation "xtian" (actually, I think it might have been "xn" and "xty") was in a discussion among religion scholars who were mostly christian -- I was browsing a medieval religion discussion list looking for info on this pagan history question ... they were just using it to save typing on a fairly long word that they used a lot. I certainly wouldn't dispute that "me" has taken a pretty anti-christian stance; just wanted to mention that I've also seen "xn" used without offensive intent, and by "xns".

JZG