BOOKS: "Christ the Lord" - Ann Rice

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Does anyone have any thoughts on this book? I saw it in Target a couple of days ago. I think the back of the dust jacket noted a good review from the Catholic Register.
 
Not bad, nothing un-orthodox–though she does work in some incidents from the non-cannonical “infancy gospels”

Not the most exciting read, but a very good charecter and soceity study
 
BeeSweet said:
What do you mean, her resources? Specifically the Gnostic gospels?
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She wrote a whole series of vampire books (somewhat anti-Catholic, at least the one I read). She seems in recent years to have undergone a reversion and probably wrote Christ The Lord as an atonement of sorts.
 
LilyM said:
She wrote a whole series of vampire books (somewhat anti-Catholic, at least the one I read). She seems in recent years to have undergone a reversion and probably wrote Christ The Lord as an atonement of sorts.
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Oh, I’m quite familiar with her vampire series. She has the strangest cult following in New Orleans, or at least she did when I visited there more than ten years ago. Folks dressed up as vampires pacing thru the French Quarter… it was quite creepy. Dunno if the vampire crowd is still there, they may have melted with all that Katrina water. Oh wait, that’s witches, not vampires… 😛
 
AND she wrote an erotic trilogy based on the “Sleeping Beauty” fairy tale. From what I’ve heard about it, she HAS undergone a major conversion!
 
She got a couple things wrong, like Jesus’ age when he stayed behind in Jerusalem, and she put Elizabeth (John the Baptist’s mother) in the tribe if Judah rather than the tribe if Levi, but I thought it was a good read, and it gave me a better insight into what it must have been like for Jesus growing up.

DaveBj
 
As far as Christian Fiction goes, I thought it was really well done. I was a fan of her Vampire Chronicals so I like her writing style. Her conversion coinsided with mine, so Christ the Lord, Out of Egypt was a refreshing change from the Vampire books.

I thought she did alot of things well in the book. She missed on a couple of points but we gotta remember that it’s fiction. Much better than Dan Brown stuff.

I’ll keep you posted on the new one, (Road to Cana.) I have to wait till grandma finishes it before I can read it.
 
Our deacon talked about her two post-vampire books last night in Bible study. He said that the first one, Out of Egypt, was pretty good and he bought the new one but hasn’t read it yet. He told us about her conversion story and that she has apparantley dedicated the rest of her life to writing about the life of Christ and/or Biblical things. She also apparantley does quite a bit of research and he did say that some of the facts were a little off but he stressed the fact that it is fiction but it is also quite a good read from a (new) Catholic author. I’m looking forward to reading them actually.👍
 
I thought it was a great read. Obviously not 100% adherent to the gospel, but come on, we all know this is a work of fiction. I thought the sentiment behind it was good though. It did draw on gnostic works like the gospel of Thomas, but just kind of in passing. I’m looking forward to the new one.
 
I love Anne Rice!

Much of her earlier work did have anti-Catholic sentiment in it. But you know what? You’ve got to read deeper. In every book, her deep faith was always there. I think she never really stopped being Catholic. I think she struggled against the culture she and her husband lived in, and against her husband’s atheism, which she allowed to take over her life for a long time. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that her reversion took place soon after her husband died. I think if you read her books, you can actually watch much of her faith journey and struggle happening. Especially in the Vampire Chronicles, Lestat is her alter-ego. She has called him that. Well, what does Lestat insist upon that the other vampires constantly make fun of him for? Truth, beauty, and the existence of God, a desire to be seen as good and the fear that he will be condemned for his evil. In her Mayfair Witches series, she dwells on the beauty and depth of Catholic ritual, and its strength to exert a hold even upon those who forcefully reject faith. (Foreshadowing?😉 )

She is still very liberal. I once e-mailed her, welcoming her back to the Church and expressing my happiness for her, and to ask about a book I had heard she was writing. She actually e-mailed me back! She said she still struggles in general, and with the Church’s sexual ethic in particular. Her son is gay, so there is a lot of cross to bear for her there, in terms of Church teaching, as I am pretty sure he is not living celibately. She loves her son, she obviously loves her Church, and between those is the tension caused by the Church saying her son is living a sinful life. She has to do with that what she can, and it’s certainly none of my business to tell her how to reconcile one to the other in her own mind and soul. But after decades steeped in an atheistic ethic of sexual free-for-all, I imagine that transition could take years, decades, or forever.

I read Out of Egypt and am looking forwad to reading Road to Cana. I thought her portrait of the young Jesus was very humanizing and credible. It is fiction, and that must be borne in mind. But there is nothing harmful in exploring these mysteries using human intellect and experience, as long as one gives proper place to official Church teaching and what we absolutely do know about Jesus from it.

Dang… now I wanna go and read the Vampire Chronicles all over again! 😃
 
I read Christ the Lord Out of Egypt. I wasn’t very impressed. I thought it was REALLY boring, and the non canonical stuff annoyed me.

BUT I just read the second one, Christ the Lord Road to Cana…and it was GREAT!! I loved it. There is some stuff about how Jesus is supposed to like some girl, but it’s not that bad. I would highly recommend the second book to any Catholic.
 
Oren said:
. There is some stuff about how Jesus is supposed to like some girl, but it’s not that bad. I would highly recommend the second book to any Catholic.
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Hey, let’s remember, he was **fully human **and fully divine. I am sure he noticed cute girls… just noticing them is not sinful.
 
Oren said:
I read Christ the Lord Out of Egypt. I wasn’t very impressed. I thought it was REALLY boring, and the non canonical stuff annoyed me.

BUT I just read the second one, Christ the Lord Road to Cana…and it was GREAT!! I loved it. There is some stuff about how Jesus is supposed to like some girl, but it’s not that bad. I would highly recommend the second book to any Catholic.
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So if one has not read the first, would you recommend they read that one first, or not at all?

I’m thinking about getting Road to Cana for my sister in law for Easter. They’re driving in from Austin, and one of their habits is for her to read aloud to my brother on long car rides. I thought it would be a nice gift for them and put the focus back on Christ and away from egg hunts and chocolate bunnies… My brother is non-religious, and she’s a Baptist who’s searching. I’m positive my brother is an Ann Rice fan.

What time frame does Road to Cana cover? Up thru the entrance into Jerusalem, or does it go that far?
 
BeeSweet said:
So if one has not read the first, would you recommend they read that one first, or not at all?

I’m thinking about getting Road to Cana for my sister in law for Easter. They’re driving in from Austin, and one of their habits is for her to read aloud to my brother on long car rides. I thought it would be a nice gift for them and put the focus back on Christ and away from egg hunts and chocolate bunnies… My brother is non-religious, and she’s a Baptist who’s searching. I’m positive my brother is an Ann Rice fan.

What time frame does Road to Cana cover? Up thru the entrance into Jerusalem, or does it go that far?
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Judging by the title of Road to Cana, which refers to the miracle of the wedding at Cana at the beginning of His public ministry I’d guess that it covers the rest of the so-called ‘lost years’ before His baptism by John.
 
In Christ the Lord there is a scene where Jesus is threatened by a bully and kills him then brings him back to life. Ummm Thinking that’s a bit heretical… Not really comfortable with a Jesus who could get so upset he kills someone.Even the child Jesus.
 
I read Out of Egypt and enjoyed it. I’m glad others are liking Road to Cana–I just got it from the library.
 
duskyjewel said:
Hey, let’s remember, he was **fully human **and fully divine. I am sure he noticed cute girls… just noticing them is not sinful.
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Do you think he thought to himself “Wow Dad did a good job in making that one?” 😃
 
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