The Burr in the Burgh

Anne Rice is best known for her erotic vampire thrillers beginning with Interview with the Vampire which was later made into a successful film. I've read a couple of her vamp novels and seen the film. As a writer, there is no question that Rice is highly skilled. Her stories are filled with lush detail, romantic atmosphere and hypnotic characters. She expertly recreates exotic locales and times past with brilliant clarity. Her stories are also typically filled with sex and gore. And gory sex. You get the idea.

So you can imagine my skepticism when I first heard that she was writing a novel about Jesus Christ. All this world needs is another libidinous occultist opining on the Savior. (Note that I'm also trying to use as many 3-4 syllable words as I can.) But I'm going to reserve final judgment until I've actually read her newest book, Christ the Lord : Out of Egypt.

A few years ago, Rice recommitted herself to the Roman Catholic faith of her upbringing. As far as I could say, she is sincere in her dedication to the dogmas and practices of Rome. Insofar as I am delighted to see anyone becoming serious about Christianity, I commend her.

Though Christian orthodoxy was not exactly prevalent in her earlier writings, even her vampire books were filled with Christian-esque spiritual themes: sacrifice, atonement, immortality and damnation. The Bible says that the life of the flesh is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11) and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Hebrews (9:22). Somehow I think those ideas never left her. And perhaps after her soul became tired of exotic experimentation with those themes, the Holy Spirit brought her back to the base of the gory cross of the God-man.

Based on what little I've read (here and here) about Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, it's mostly fictional. History simply tells us next to nothing about the years the Holy Family spent in Egypt. My understanding is that Rice does draw somewhat from apocryphal legends about the childhood of Jesus. This troubles me because the sources of these tales tend to be gnostic pseudapigrapha. Knowing her style, however, I also imagine the book to be filled with thoroughly researched historical accuracy regarding the times depicted. The author states that she wanted to deal with the subject with reverance and authenticity, as a sincere believer. She derides liberal demytholigization characteristic of the charlatans in the Jesus Seminar. And that, in my eyes, earns her a hearing.