Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Toto · 10-28-2005, 12:10 AM

Quote:

In two weeks, Anne Rice, the chronicler of vampires, witches and—under the pseudonym A. N. Roquelaure—of soft-core S&M encounters, will publish "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt," a novel about the 7-year-old Jesus, narrated by Christ himself. "I promised," she says, "that from now on I would write only for the Lord." It's the most startling public turnaround since Bob Dylan's "Slow Train Coming" announced that he'd been born again.

. . .

she sees a continuity with her old books, whose compulsive, conscience-stricken evildoers reflect her long spiritual unease. "I mean, I was in despair." In that afterword she calls Christ "the ultimate supernatural hero ... the ultimate immortal of them all."

To render such a hero and his world believable, she immersed herself not only in Scripture, but in first-century histories and New Testament scholarship—some of which she found disturbingly skeptical. "Even Hitler scholarship usually allows Hitler a certain amount of power and mystery." She also watched every Biblical movie she could find, from "The Robe" to "The Passion of the Christ" ("I loved it"). And she dipped into previous novels, from "Quo Vadis" to Norman Mailer's "The Gospel According to the Son" to Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins's apocalyptic Left Behind series. ("I was intrigued. But their vision is not my vision.") She can cite scholarly authority for giving her Christ a birth date of 11 B.C., and for making James, his disciple, the son of Joseph by a previous marriage. But she's also taken liberties where they don't explicitly conflict with Scripture. No one reports that the young Jesus studied with the historian Philo of Alexandria, as the novel has it—or that Jesus' family was in Alexandria at all. And she's used legends of the boy Messiah's miracles from the noncanonical Apocrypha: bringing clay birds to life, striking a bully dead and resurrecting him.

Anyone know the scholarly authority for giving Jesus a birth date of 11 BC?

Time magazine article on Rice's Jesus: "Junior Jesus"

Quote:

Young Jesus is largely unaware of his origins, and much of the book is taken up with his daily life and that of his extended family as they make their way from Alexandria, in Egypt, to Nazareth, where they settle down and go into business. Rice does a thorough job of re-creating the domestic realities of 1st century Judaea: the babble of languages--Greek, Aramaic, Hebrew, Latin--the labor of carpentry; the regular visits to the synagogue (he's a very Jewish Jesus); and above all the turbulent politics of the time, some of it Jews rebelling against Roman rule, some of it Jews against Jews.

This is, in fact, an intensely literal, historical, reverent treatment of a year in the life of Jesus, son of God. It's written in simple, sedate language that steers clear of both clanging anachronisms and those King Jamesian ye's and unto's and begats.

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Joke

From the Amazon link above,

Quote:

Rice provides a moving afterword, in which she describes her recent return to the Catholic faith and evaluates, often in an amusingly strident fashion, the state of biblical studies today. (Nov. 7)

Malachi151 · 10-28-2005, 12:28 AM

In other words, either she or her publsher realized that there was a lot more money to be made in Christian based publishing....

Who knew?.....

Javaman · 10-28-2005, 03:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Malachi151

In other words, either she or her publsher realized that there was a lot more money to be made in Christian based publishing....

You mean like South Park's 'Christian Rock Hard'?:

Cartman: Wait! [Token stops, Cartman rushes over] Walk out that door, Token, and you'll regret it the rest of your life! Christians have a built-in audience of over one hundred and eighty million Americans! If each one of them buys just one of our albums at twelve dollars and ninety-five cents that would be- [points to Butters]
Butters: Two billion, three hundred and thirty one million dollars.
Cartman Still want to leave, Token? [Token thinks a bit, then resumes his place] Thank you.

Ann Rice has an interesting theological viewpoint for a Catholic but I suppose you have to take liberties when writing any fictional account of a character where nothing 'official' is known about their developmental years.

Javaman · 10-28-2005, 03:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toto

Anyone know the scholarly authority for giving Jesus a birth date of 11 BC?

From below, she apparently only has one source and I think the source might be wishful thinking to tie into Halley's comet:

Quote:

Rice chooses 11 B.C. as the date of Jesus' birth. While she said she found one scholarly precedent for doing so, she uses the earlier date mainly to allow the 7-year-old Jesus to arrive from Egypt in time to witness the well-documented violence that erupted in Judea and Galilee after Herod's death in 4 B.C. --from here--

I think she doesn't care much about it but tracking down her single source may be difficult.

gregor · 10-28-2005, 06:10 AM

I've never read a book from Ms. Rice, but there's a strange parallel between being a Catholic, writing obsessively about vampires, (apparently) possessing quirky personality issues, then deciding to devote you life to writing for God. Methinks a psychologist could spend a career with this one.

darstec · 10-28-2005, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregor

I've never read a book from Ms. Rice, but there's a strange parallel between being a Catholic, writing obsessively about vampires, (apparently) possessing quirky personality issues, then deciding to devote you life to writing for God. Methinks a psychologist could spend a career with this one.

Just wait for Stephen King's conversion. Then there will be more collaborative data. :Cheeky:

Malachi151 · 10-28-2005, 06:38 PM

Actually Jesus and Vampires have a lot in common, they are both urban legends from thousands of years ago that have captured people's imagionations throughout the ages.

She wrote fiction about legends before, and now she continues. Makes sense....

mata leao · 10-28-2005, 07:30 PM

It is my understanding that she suffered some life threatening illnesses and as a result began to reevaluate her religious faith. Having worked many years in hospitals when I was younger I found that this is a very common human reaction. It is quite common for people to begin to hedge their bets concerning God as they get older and as they face their own mortality. That is also another plausible alternative to the "remunerative" one. Also, many of her current followers are new age and occultic and it is quite likely that she will lose a substantial part of this group.

Chris Weimer · 10-28-2005, 10:00 PM

If her Jesus is anything like her vampires, I don't think any version of Christianity will approve.

GakuseiDon · 10-28-2005, 11:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Weimer

If her Jesus is anything like her vampires, I don't think any version of Christianity will approve.

I loved her early vampire books. In a lot of ways, the demons in those books were very similar to how first and second century writers portrayed demons - creatures living in the air that pretended to be gods. But doesn't she have Lestat imply at one time that Christ was also a vampire? I was hoping this thread was to announce that she had followed up on that idea!

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10-28-2005, 12:28 AM	#2
Malachi151 Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Colorado Posts: 8,674	In other words, either she or her publsher realized that there was a lot more money to be made in Christian based publishing.... Who knew?.....

10-28-2005, 06:10 AM	#5
gregor Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Texas Posts: 932	I've never read a book from Ms. Rice, but there's a strange parallel between being a Catholic, writing obsessively about vampires, (apparently) possessing quirky personality issues, then deciding to devote you life to writing for God. Methinks a psychologist could spend a career with this one.

10-28-2005, 06:38 PM	#7
Malachi151 Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Colorado Posts: 8,674	Actually Jesus and Vampires have a lot in common, they are both urban legends from thousands of years ago that have captured people's imagionations throughout the ages. She wrote fiction about legends before, and now she continues. Makes sense....

10-28-2005, 07:30 PM	#8
mata leao Banned Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: tampa,florida Posts: 342	It is my understanding that she suffered some life threatening illnesses and as a result began to reevaluate her religious faith. Having worked many years in hospitals when I was younger I found that this is a very common human reaction. It is quite common for people to begin to hedge their bets concerning God as they get older and as they face their own mortality. That is also another plausible alternative to the "remunerative" one. Also, many of her current followers are new age and occultic and it is quite likely that she will lose a substantial part of this group.

10-28-2005, 10:00 PM	#9
Chris Weimer Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: none Posts: 9,879	If her Jesus is anything like her vampires, I don't think any version of Christianity will approve.

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