Lawrence's short and lyrical 1929 novel retells the life of Christ. Resurrected, he does not return to the heaven of his Father but enters into an erotic relationship with a priestess of Isis and conceives a child who will become--quite literally--his body and blood. THE MAN WHO DIED is a symbolic statement of one of Lawrence's overriding beliefs, that religion with its emphasis the afterlife is a denial of human life and love.