Anne Rice and JESUS?????

[FireFeet]

Can you believe that Anne Rice has written a novel about Jesus? It's due to be released in November.

From Amazon.com, " Anne Rice gives us now her most thoughtful and powerful book, a novel about the childhood of Christ the Lord based on the gospels and on the most respected New Testament scholarship.

The book’s power derives from the passion its author brings to the writing, and the way in which she summons up the voice, the presence, the words of the young Jesus who tells the story."

I have to admit I'm excited about this book because in my BC days I LOVED her stories of the Mayfair Witches. She's a phenomenal writer...she just had subject matter that I've learned to avoid. But can the Queen of Vampires and Witchcraft really do justice to the story of Jesus?

This makes my brain hurt. :p

[AngelAzariah]

_____Chris perades around with bucket in hand.
_____"Puke for sale! Fresh puke! Get it while it's warm!"
_____Chris pauses to test the temp.
_____"I can wait," Chris thought. "This is still warm enough."

[Nessa-Ciryatan]

I was going to say - isn't Anne Rice the author of all those vampire novels... :confused: Weird.

I hope she doesn't stuff it up. I hope that it's borne of real passion for Jesus, but as far as I know, she's not a Christian. I hope she meets him, if she's not. :rolleyes:

[FireFeet]

I’ll do anything to get it out there — to the Christians of which I am one, to my gay readers who are the Children of God, to my regular readers who may think they can’t care about this “character” who made the world. It’s a vocation; it’s an obsession. It’s an evangelism. And a line connects it to Interview with the Vampire which was a song about being without God, a song about the darkness in which you can somehow cling to beauty, fragile and inescapable beauty. And now I’ve come the full length of the journey, and want to stand with the one who made the stars. I’ll take the slings and arrows. It doesn’t matter. In Interview with the Vampire, “a terrible beauty was born.” In Christ the Lord, a magnificent beauty I hope and pray is born. Anne Rice, July 31,2005

She re-embraced her Roman Catholic faith in 1998. It's interesting to note that her last "dark" novel was published in 1999; maybe she really DID "get religion"?

[Merry]

Uh, Angel...sure am glad FireFeet loves you, cuz otherwise your post sounds sort of rude..and I'm certain...something just tells me this is sure to be fact, that you have been threatened with enough frying pans in your life already.

Wow, Anne Rice though, that's almost like getting used to Jane Fonda's conversion...see? I told you conversions were just weird!

[AngelAzariah]

_____My post was directed at Ann Rices idea of writing out Jesus's child hood. I dispise just about anything that adds bull to the truth. Read the Bible if you want to know about Jesus's. Anyhow, I would make the same comment about any sort of writen work. Oy, I hated the left behind type movies. What a load of crap, no one is going to stop the end times.

[Merry]

Okay, I see what you're saying... :cool:

[Nessa-Ciryatan]

She re-embraced her Roman Catholic faith in 1998. It's interesting to note that her last "dark" novel was published in 1999; maybe she really DID "get religion"?
Well, that's really great to hear. :) It's always strange when someone lives such a different life to oneself and says they become 'Christian'. You always have to wait and see whether their actions confirm their words. As it is, I don't really know anything about Anne Rice, except that she's the author of those Vampire series. I saw Interview with the Vampire the movie, and I can kind of understand what she means by it being about being without God...

Very interesting. I hope it's all true, because it's beautiful if it is. :)

[FireFeet]

Anne Rice is by far not the first person to attempt a re-telling of the story of Jesus. Check out this list (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/listmania/list-browse/-/241IOX28J0SZR/ref=cm_aya_av.lm_more/102-2097345-9000929) I made after several hours of research.

I think the one I found most shocking was DH Lawrence, author of classic erotic literature, in whose story Jesus has an affair with a priestess of Isis. Sheesh, that's as bad as if Anne Rice were to make Jesus a vampire. :eek:

[FireFeet]

I WON I WON I WON! I won an Advanced Reader Copy from EBay. Usually ARCs are pretty easy to find around the Net....this was the ONLY copy I was able to find of Christ Our Lord.

So I'll be posting my review in a week or two. Although I seem to be mostly holding a conversation with myself here. :rolleyes:

[Hisart]

An Advanced Reader Copy of Christ Our Lord. Is that the name of the book? :confused:
I don't think I've ever read any of her stuff. :rolleyes:
Let us know if it's, real.

God Bless!
Hisart (http://www.hisart.us) :cool:

[spiritualsister]

Yes, please let us know! The list is great, too. There are quite a few authors there who should have skipped to the next novel.

[FireFeet]

OH
MY
GOODNESS!!!

In my Googling around about this book and the author, I came across Anne Rice's e-mail address, as well as a few comments about how amazing and unusual she is known to be for communicating with her readers. So, I decided, "Why not?" And can you believe it? SHE E-MAILED ME BACK!

I'm sure that to share the contents of the e-mail would violate, if not copyright laws, most certainly privacy laws....so I'll just say this...either I've lost every particle of discernment I once had...or she REALLY got religion.

Wowzers. I CANNOT WAIT TO GET THE BOOK.

[Hazelrah]

It is quite possible that Anne Rice has really changed for the better, as God is able to change anyone. In fact, it is often the unexpected conversions such as this that have a big impact on the unsaved world - and even the Body of Christ, as often we need a reminder that with God nobody is "too far gone" or "too bad" to be saved by His love and Grace. I hope that in the case of Anne Rice it is an authentic relationship with God as opposed to mere religion or wanting to write a book about Christ "just for fun." This will show in the writing where her heart really lies.

It's great that you were able to contact Anne Rice. I look forward to reading your review of the book. Gob bless.

[MichaelDevitt]

[QUOTE=Hazelrah]It is quite possible that Anne Rice has really changed for the better, as God is able to change anyone. In fact, it is often the unexpected conversions such as this that have a big impact on the unsaved world - and even the Body of Christ, as often we need a reminder that with God nobody is "too far gone" or "too bad" to be saved by His love and Grace. I hope that in the case of Anne Rice it is an authentic relationship with God as opposed to mere religion or wanting to write a book about Christ "just for fun." This will show in the writing where her heart really lies.
[QUOTE]

(insert applause audio clip)

I was feeling an urge to say the same thing, Amen and kudos for speaking the truth.
Yahweh knows the truth of her heart

[Tash]

Hey All,

Wow i'm so late that means the book is out already i'm sure its been read and re-read is it any good ? What do you think where can i catch your review FireFeet? :confused:

Maybe since you have her e-mail address you can have her pay us a vistit i think we all can only benefit from such an accomplished writer and not to mention her testimony must be "WOW". :eek:

Let us know,

Much Luv
Tash!

[Lana]

waweee i would love to know her story for real..how she moved on from writing the vampire Chronicles to a story of Jesus. That would be really interesting.

[FireFeet]

I can't believe this is Anne Rice.

I always considered her a brilliant writer (I was quite a fan in my BC days)...capable of writing deeply and mysteriously and profoundly, yet succintly and meaningfully. Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt is horrible. The plot is thin, the story wanders around and never quite says anything, the syntax and grammar is appalling.

I really hoped Anne Rice would use her gift to glorify God and her notoriety to draw people to Christ. This book is going to do neither of those things.

[ProfessorAlan]

I can't believe this is Anne Rice.

I always considered her a brilliant writer (I was quite a fan in my BC days)...capable of writing deeply and mysteriously and profoundly, yet succintly and meaningfully. Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt is horrible. The plot is thin, the story wanders around and never quite says anything, the syntax and grammar is appalling.


I found the last few Vampire books (which I read after my BC days ended :eek: ) to have the grammatical shortcoming you describe here -- I understand that her last few publications were strictly first drafts, unedited, no word changed. Sounds like that has not changed here.

I'll read it anyway.

[Tavish]

Sounds like a very interesting read.

[Gumpngreen]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9785289/site/newsweek/

[FireFeet]

Thanks for the post, Gump. I enjoyed the article...Anne Rice is such an interesting person.

[agentangel]

This is surely "off the wall", yet interesting. We'll see...

[agentangel]

OK, I just saw your message now. I guess we'll no longer have to wait and see. Thanks for posting this. Now I won't email my daughter and tell her to check it out.!thumbsup!


I can't believe this is Anne Rice.

I always considered her a brilliant writer (I was quite a fan in my BC days)...capable of writing deeply and mysteriously and profoundly, yet succintly and meaningfully. Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt is horrible. The plot is thin, the story wanders around and never quite says anything, the syntax and grammar is appalling.

I really hoped Anne Rice would use her gift to glorify God and her notoriety to draw people to Christ. This book is going to do neither of those things.

[Gumpngreen]

http://www.infuzemag.com/reviews/books/archives/2005/11/christ_the_lord.html

The Infuze writer seemed to like it.

[kevbayer]

I can't believe this is Anne Rice.

I always considered her a brilliant writer (I was quite a fan in my BC days)...capable of writing deeply and mysteriously and profoundly, yet succintly and meaningfully.

I could never get into her style of writing. I tried 2 or 3 times to pick up "Interview" and just couldn't do it.

[Annie D]

I pray that her new book and her salvation leads many to Christ. There are many who follow her dark side books. What an opportunity! Wow. She can reach people that many of us may not be able to reach just because they are her audience. God knows what He is doing!

[Tash]

I heard this recently "God does not waste any of our lives ,not even the part before we got saved"

She has a great responsiblity now those that read her work before will gravitate toward anthing with her name on it lets hope and pray that they are led in the right direction ....UP.

Much Luv
Tash

[NuWriter]

What did she mean by this phrase?
"I’ll do anything to get it out there — to the Christians of which I am one, to my gay readers who are the Children of God," (taken from Firefeet's post) I find her choice of words confusing. Can anyone enlighten me please?

[DrRita]

I just came from Dave Long's blog F*I*F (http://faithinfiction.blogspot.com/) and his post about Anne Rice's new book Christ Our Lord. I appreciate his comments and if anything, I want to get the book (again) from the library and read the author's notes. But I am bothered by her book, perhaps it's just the theologian in me, and wanted to know how many people here believe that Jesus didn't know who he was as a young boy? I had a difficult time getting past the opening pages. After many years of study, I just can't believe Jesus didn't know who he was from the moment of conception. If she would have written the story from the view that he DID know who he was instead of a kid like another other kid except with super powers, I think it would have been much more interesting. THAT would be a challenge. But perhaps for her this was a safer route. Oh well, back to the drawing board. I do hope her own personal life grows in grace and knowledge however.

[noodlegirl]

DrRita, I have to agree with you. John the Baptist recognized Jesus from the womb (womb-to-womb, actually), which would lead me to believe that Jesus in human form knew exactly what was going on at all times.

[ProfessorAlan]

I try to not let theological minutae effect how I read fiction. Easy to get distracted by that stuff away from the heart of the drama.

[DrRita]

I try to not let theological minutae effect how I read fiction. Easy to get distracted by that stuff away from the heart of the drama.

I wholeheartedly agree with you Prof Allen. 99% of the time I don't either except when it comes to the authenticity of the scriptures and where the Bible is clear. I don't like to see a twisting of truth for the sake of fiction. If the scripture was silent on this, no problem but I don't think it is and therefore, it jeopardizes the credibility of the fictional scenario. Something in my innards (spirit?) cries out and I struggle to let myself be swept up in the story. Maybe I'm just too bull-headed when it comes to certain theological issues. And I'm not saying that everyone should feel as I do!!! In fact, that's what makes for diversity and good discussion. Just call me pig-headed and ignore my rantings.:D

[rmchairqtrback]

Agree with the statements about God's love and salvation is able to save anyone who abandons themself to Jesus.
But a word of caution about the subject matter of her book. If she is attempting to write about the childhood of Jesus beware because its been tried often in the past by people who insert the ancient Gnostic doctrine into the narrative. The Bible does not elaborate on the childhood of Jesus because in first century times, a biography of one's life centered on what they taught and did, not on how they grew up. Typically, these Gnostic biographies of Jesus place him in Egypt for far too long, or even India, where He was supposed to recieve "ancient wisdom" and then repackage it as "Christian wisdom" during His ministry. If that is the flavor or implication of Ms. Rice's book, I would recommend you not endorse it.
The Bible states that Jesus grew up in Nazareth and like any Jew in Isreal, would attend the 4 yearly feast in Jerusalem. The earliest record of that habit was when He was left behind in the Temple by Joseph and Mary. Also, Joseph and Mary, being devout Jews, would never have raised their son in Egypt, the historical enemy of the children of Isreal.
Having said that, it is possible that her conversion is genuine, but the Bible tells us that we can recognize true conversion by the "fruit" of their life. So let's see what fruit she produces in her book and if that fruit matches up with one who has the highest regard for the Divine Inspiration of the Bible and the Lordship of Jesus.
Blessings to you.

[Lithiell]

It is quite possible that Anne Rice has really changed for the better, as God is able to change anyone. In fact, it is often the unexpected conversions such as this that have a big impact on the unsaved world - and even the Body of Christ, as often we need a reminder that with God nobody is "too far gone" or "too bad" to be saved by His love and Grace.

I'm extremely behind on the news...comes from not watching TV I suppose. I just heard today that Anne Rice has given her heart to God and let out a whoop of joy for her...I just hope that it is true and that she doesn't get so caught up in writing about Jesus' fictional boyhood that she misses His true nature.
I'd write more, but it's very late (10:00 PM is late to a Mommy who has to feed her little one two or three times in the night ;) ).
And I very much agree with Hazelrah. Brian (Head) Welch, lead guitarist for the rock band KoRn, got saved a while back. And that ROCKS because I pray for the band members of KoRn all the time...along with several other bands and famous people...including Anne Rice. At any rate, I'll get the book and read it. I read the review on this board about the book. I've noticed that her most recent Vampire novels had begun to be written poorly. They lack the mystery and luster of her first novels...so perhaps she is just getting old and can no longer grasp the thoughts and tendrils of words that weave through her mind as well as she used to. *shrugs*
Well, g'night and may God hold you in the palm of His hand for all eternity.

[Lithiell]

What did she mean by this phrase?
"I’ll do anything to get it out there — to the Christians of which I am one, to my gay readers who are the Children of God," (taken from Firefeet's post) I find her choice of words confusing. Can anyone enlighten me please?
NuWriter, perhaps this will help clear things up:

[Where Rice probably breaks most from her Catholicism is when it comes to her real-life son, Christopher, who is gay. "As for my son, this novel is dedicated to him. That says it all," she writes in an essay at the end.

The Catholic Church teaches that the practice of homosexuality is a sin; "grave depravity" are the words it uses. Rice couldn't disagree more. "I love my gay brothers and sisters. They are the children of God."

Instead, she likens the debate to one years ago over science and religion. She predicts there will be a similar decision that accepting something new doesn't diminish the authority of Scripture.

"I think we'll see a time when the church opens its doors to homosexuals and accepts them completely as the children of God. I don't think Jesus said one single, solitary syllable about homosexuality. I don't think he did. I can't find it."] ~Quoted from an article on SignOnSandiego.com.

Personally, I can easily find at least one verse in the Bible that is against homosexuality, i.e. sodomy. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because they were so horridly overrun with sodomy and other wickedness. Now tell me God isn't against homosexuality. It is a disgrace to the human race, unnatural and a lie of Lucifer. And I pity and pray for the Christians who are accepting it as normal, for they are letting the evils of this world choke them. I also fear for America, which is one of the worst countries to accept such abominations...along with the murder of unborn children, pornography, ect. ect.

[godimus]

It may not be for me to say but you have to love anyone who has been saved by the grace of god and know there heart runs to share there thoughts and feelings peace and love to all may god bless you

[LivingByGrace]

Hi All:

I'm new, and this is my first response in the Forum. In regard to Anne Rice, someone above has stated that maybe Anne Rice has found religion. Finding religion and finding Jesus are two completely different matters. I know people who attend church regularly who still haven't found Jesus. Like some of you have said, I do believe that no one is "too bad" to find Jesus and enter Heaven; but even the devil/demons can masquerade as angels of light.

Just be cautious. Remember, we are not to add to or take away from the Bible. I'm not too curious to read the book, as I can learn all I need to about Jesus from the Bible.

God Bless!

Living By Grace