Anne Rice and Jesus

by Joe Thorn on October 24, 2005

I don’t know how I missed this one. Anne Rice’s newest work of fiction, Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, follows the life of Jesus as a seven year old boy. Christ the Lord, one of four books in a series following the story of Jesus, may cost her some readers, but it may also attract many more. It will be interesting to see what she does with this.

She says after this she wants to start a new kind of fiction, something different from her earlier books. She said, “It’ll be in a world that includes redemption.”

Check out the MSNBC story here.

About Joe Thorn

I am the Lead Pastor of Redeemer Fellowship in Saint Charles, IL, and author of Note to Self: The Discipline of Preaching to Yourself. Jen is my wife, and Katherine, Elias, Madeline and Kilian are my kids.

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  • http://www.michaelfoster.typepad.com Michael

    Wow. I grew up on Rice (King, Koontz, and many others of that brand) thanks to my mother’s interest in occult-based fiction. Sounds like, according to the Newsweek report, that she has a slew of bad sources that are already leading her into the wrong direction.

  • http://fufiwords.blogspot.com/ marc

    I’ve read this book. My favorite part is where 7 year old Jesus sucks the blood out of the pharisees in training.

  • http://www.doneydepot.blogspot.com Marcguyver

    It seems she is being greatly influenced by apocryphal writings and embellishing quite a bit into what Christ’s life was like here on earth even though there is no biblical basis for her views.

    Hopefully she has had a genuine encounter with the risen Lord and this is not just going to be another series of books that will lead to her ‘brand’ of Christianity along with the other non-biblical writers.

  • http://www.byfarthersteps.com Tim Etherington

    I’m withholding anticipation/joy/excitement/judgement until this thing hits the ground. First it is fiction. Second it is when Jesus was 7. Third if she has been converted, she’s been recently converted. I wrote trash when I first came to Christ. She would need a bunch more Bible under her belt. And some sound teaching would be a good thing.

    We shall see.

  • http://matthew.journalspace.com Matthew

    So… Anne Rice has converted to Roman Catholicism and written a fictional book (from overtly liberal sources) that conjectures about the character of our LORD in His youth?

    Um… how exactly is this a good thing?

  • http://www.joethorn.net Joe Thorn

    Matthew, who said it was a good thing?

  • http://www.stevekmccoy.com/ Steve McCoy

    Hehe, Joe, I was going to say that. I think it’s a very interesting thing, and I don’t really know what’s in Rice’s heart or mind other than what the articles are saying. But it does make me want to read her and see where this is all going, and I’m all for more thinking redemptively.

  • http://jackblogs.typepad.com/integrity/ JACK

    I’m all for withholding judgment about the book. (I’m a little surprised by the parade of blogs promoting a book that they know nothing about, assuming that it is going to be worthwhile.) But what is with the scepticism about whether she’s encountered Christ? One would think that the book itself is pretty good evidence that she has, because she could make plenty of money writing yet another book of one of her best-selling series, versus taking a risk on something like this. The book may suck — I personally am leary of any fictional work that’s going to dive into the incredibly complicated area of Christology — but I see no reason on what is being reported for the skepticism some are expressing about whether she’s truly encountered Christ.

  • http://www.byfarthersteps.com Tim Etherington

    What’s with the skepticism? It isn’t because I’m skeptical of the power of the gospel, I’m concerned that she’s Roman Catholic, which someone can be and name the name of Christ and still not be truely converted. I know. I was. And I was truely converted while a Roman Catholic.

    Also, I’m waiting to see what the book is like. The Gnostics worte about that same period of Christ’s life. Very imaginative, very wild, very untrue. If she’s embraced Gnosticism or some modern version of it she might be interested in writing something in that vein. Then again, she’s a fiction writer and might be genuinely converted and chose to write the same thing.

    And other things I haven’t tought of.

  • http://www.doneydepot.blogspot.com Marcguyver

    Hypothetical: So let’s say this book just ends up being another extra-biblical writing that is not based wholly in scripture…..think it will get great reviews from the secular commentators and reviewists?

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  • http://www.pigeonriverchurch.org Toby

    I was a huge Anne Rice fan in high school. Great books…well, they were then anyway! (lol) I listened to the excerpt and I don’t know, I kinda am interested, and will probably read it.

    Heck, it will at least give all the apologists in our land another source for a book to fill their coffers from. “The hidden errors of Anne Rice’s Fiction”, by Dr. So-in-So. Just what we need…

    Or, if it’s a hit, maybe Outreach can do the promotion material and the new sermon series on it…*gags*

  • http://jackblogs.typepad.com/integrity/ JACK

    Tim:

    I agree with your concern about the refs to Gnostic writings. Same concern here, which is why I don’t understand why some in the blogosphere have posted things like “Sounds like a great Christmas gift!”, etc., about a book they have never read.

    But, when you write:

    “What’s with the skepticism? It isn’t because I’m skeptical of the power of the gospel, I’m concerned that she’s Roman Catholic, which someone can be and name the name of Christ and still not be truely converted. I know. I was. And I was truely converted while a Roman Catholic.”

    couldn’t this be said of any denomination?

  • http://www.joethorn.net Joe Thorn

    Yes Jack, it can be said about most denomintions. I will go so far as to say the greater percentage of Southern Baptists have not encountered Christ in a saving way.

  • http://www.byfarthersteps.com Tim Etherington

    Perhaps Jack. The reason I specifically mentioned Rome is because that’s where she is and it is where I came from. My experience with Rome is that since they don’t preach the gospel most people are not converted. They do Rosaries, they pray to saints, the venerate Mary and the Communion wafer and they do penance for their sins. Lost in the midst of the Sacred Heart and Mary’s Immaculate Conception is Jesus the Savior.

    None of that implies that Protestantism hasn’t lost its way in many places. In many Protestant churches there is self-help, family focus, practical preaching, youth groups, men’s retreats and pot lucks. Jesus can get lost and overlooked in those things just as much as in a novena to St. Jude. To be sure.

    Again, I’m dealing with where Rice is.

  • http://jackblogs.typepad.com/integrity/ JACK

    Tim,

    But it seems worth noting that you are approaching your examination of this based upon your already drawn conclusions about the nature of Catholicism and not based on the evidence and indications she’s given about her religious belief.

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