Christ the Lord
one of the best things about my Christmas break was that i got to do some reading. someone had recommended to me that i read a book by anne rice entitled "Christ the Lord." So, i borrowed a paperback copy of the book and starting reading it, somewhat skeptically. i knew that anne rice was a kind of popular fiction writer, who has written a host of popular novels about vampires, including "interview with a vampire." i wasn't really into this thing, and tend to disregard most popular novels as airport and beach fare. but the person who recommended this book to me (one of my church members named j.b. wilcox) told me about anne rice, and about how she is famous for doing extensive and exhaustive research before she writes her novels. when she writes a vampire story set in 18th century england, she meticulously studies 18th century england so she can get the clothing and the food and the speech and all of the details as true to life as possible. this is something she is known for. he went on to tell me that she had experienced a conversion to Christianity, and had dedicated the last few years to studying and researching the life of Jesus, and this book was the fruit of all that research. so i read it.
it was awesome. so good. its just this well-researched, imaginative, fascinating look at a year in the life of Jesus as a seven-year old. it forces you to imagine what it was like for a boy who was human and divine. did he know his divinity? was his knowledge all at once, or did it come gradually over the years? what does it mean for us to claim that he was fully human and fully divine? this question has been asked for centuries, but we don't often think about the answer in terms of jesus' childhood. anne rice does an amazing job of creatively and purposefully exploring these questions. i would highly recommend this book. for me, it enhanced my relationship with jesus by helping me to more poignantly imagine him as a child, as a human child, complete with human emotion and human development. we need more imaginative Christians, who will help us fall in love with Jesus again.
one of the best things about my Christmas break was that i got to do some reading. someone had recommended to me that i read a book by anne rice entitled "Christ the Lord." So, i borrowed a paperback copy of the book and starting reading it, somewhat skeptically. i knew that anne rice was a kind of popular fiction writer, who has written a host of popular novels about vampires, including "interview with a vampire." i wasn't really into this thing, and tend to disregard most popular novels as airport and beach fare. but the person who recommended this book to me (one of my church members named j.b. wilcox) told me about anne rice, and about how she is famous for doing extensive and exhaustive research before she writes her novels. when she writes a vampire story set in 18th century england, she meticulously studies 18th century england so she can get the clothing and the food and the speech and all of the details as true to life as possible. this is something she is known for. he went on to tell me that she had experienced a conversion to Christianity, and had dedicated the last few years to studying and researching the life of Jesus, and this book was the fruit of all that research. so i read it.
it was awesome. so good. its just this well-researched, imaginative, fascinating look at a year in the life of Jesus as a seven-year old. it forces you to imagine what it was like for a boy who was human and divine. did he know his divinity? was his knowledge all at once, or did it come gradually over the years? what does it mean for us to claim that he was fully human and fully divine? this question has been asked for centuries, but we don't often think about the answer in terms of jesus' childhood. anne rice does an amazing job of creatively and purposefully exploring these questions. i would highly recommend this book. for me, it enhanced my relationship with jesus by helping me to more poignantly imagine him as a child, as a human child, complete with human emotion and human development. we need more imaginative Christians, who will help us fall in love with Jesus again.
Comments
I really liked her perspective and went into reading it with the same mindframe- Anne Rice? The Vampire lady?
Did you read the article relevant did with her? it was interesting.
I loved that she is so into the research and doesn't just plop ideas into the pages unless she's thoroughly thought them through. Does that make sense? It does to me.
anyway, a good read, not my favorite. But I loved how she helped me to pay attention to the little details of Jesus' life.
I'll probably read the next one as well.