Christ The Lord: Out of Egypt
Copy write 2005
Anne Rice

Almost everyone I know is an Anne Rice fan, though some are sort of "in the closet" about it. Her Vampires are legendary. Like them or not, they're a cultural phenomena that can't be ignored. Since the publication of Interview With the Vampire in 1976 she has steadily improved the image of the undead in pop culture, making blood thirsty, night stalking, grave dwelling semi-immortals seem sympathetic, heroic, and, most of all, sexy.

And now she's written a book about Jesus Christ - in the first person, nonetheless, from Jesus' point of view. The publication of such a book must surely signal that it has finally happened in our society: truly, nothing is sacred. Time to pack up and look for the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

Well, before you drag your suitcase down from the attic and head for the highest hill on which to meet your maker, you may want to read the book first....

For those of you who are just dropping in, please know that your reviewer considers herself a devout Christian. Like Rice, I was raised in the pre-Vatican II tradition. Unlike her, I was at the tail end of that tradition. I can only barely remember the Latin mass. But old ways die hard, and, in my parish, the folk mass barely made a dent in centuries of tradition.

And, it is to that tradition, unequivocally, that Rice returns in this book which is as lyric as anything she has ever written. The field which Rice allows herself in this book is deceptively simple and narrow: she tells the story from the point of view of seven year old Jesus bar Joseph, the beloved only child of his mother, sacred obligation of his lawful father, and one among many "little ones" in his observant, loving, extented Jewish family.

Anybody with the least knowlege of Christian tradition who reads this book expecting to be shocked is going to be....well shocked. Because this is not a "revisionist" view of Christ's life, nor is it compatible with so called "liberal Christianity" which challenges, questions, or downplays the supernatural elements of the Gospels.

Anybody with deep knowledge of Christian tradition who reads this book expecting to find easy pickings of lazy scholarship is going to be shocked too. That could only be a first time Rice reader. Like everything else Rice has written this book has been researched to the teeth.

That's one of the reason's why Rice's novels are so popular. She puts in the time and does the research, so that when readers crack that cover and enter the world of her creation, we feel that we have been transported. Nevermind the vampires flying through the air, the socio-political climate, the architecture, technology or lack thereof, customs, and costumes are accurate, down to the folds of cloth and dust motes in the air.

In this regard, Christ the Lord does not disappoint, though it amuses me to see Rice side with those Bible scholars who posit that the historical Jesus' socio-economic status was something else besides dirt poor. Anyone familiar with Rice's work is aware of how much she loves luxury, and can barely keep her characters out of the best circumstances the world of their time and place have to offer for more than a few days.

But, when we start out with Jesus and his family in ancient Alexandria, we experience the wonders of that city. Likewise, we are shown the lure of Jerusalem, the glory of the temple, the pristine and deep natural beauty of Nazereth. Better yet, the socio-political climate - a complex and vitally important part of Jesus' story - is made clear. A person with no knowledge on the subject could pick this novel up and gain a pretty decent understanding of it, notwithstanding that this is an issue that has been debated by scholars within and outside Christian tradition since time out of mind.

So Rice fans can read it for thier "Rice fix" and maybe learn a little something about history as we always do. All but the most conservative Christians can read it for the story, which offers nothing more challenging to the Gospels than the inclusion of some lyric Catholic Apocrypha.

Indeed, a committed Christian can feel at home in these pages. Got a friend arguing that Jesus must have been married, because he was an observant Jew and his father would surely have found him a wife? Well, the Gospels make clear why that might not have been an issue ( though, speaking just for me, I don't find the idea of a married Christ troubling) - Joseph was wise to the whole deal from the beginning - remember? And Rice makes it clear too. Every supernatural element of the story, up to the point in Jesus' life where the book ends, is preserved and rendered both real and understandable.

Essentially, what Rice has given us - just in time for the holidays my cynical side must add - is a beautiful novel that is the Christmas story. This is not something to get excited about. In fact, it's hardly anything to write home about.

And that, unfortunately is the book's weakness. But, it can't be helped. Because Rice choses intellectual honesty over a wild and scattered scope, we learn more about the people surrounding Jesus in his childhood than we do about Jesus himself as a child. A seven year old boy, even one who is both God and man, is going to be more heavily influenced at that point in his life by those around him than he is going to influence their daily lives. Even the widely quoted excerpt in which Jesus curses another child and the child falls dead does not have lasting repercussions (of course, Jesus brings him back to life. He's JESUS after all!) The compassion is there, the wisdom is there, and the story is intact.

The book may, indeed, be a revelation to non-Christians who somehow got the idea that people like Pat Robertson are the real Christians and the whole crowd of us has just somehow slid back into the Old Testament for lack of trying. But,for members of the Christian faith, it's a central part of our story interpreted by one of the best story tellers of our time. It's worth the money for the hardback, worth the read, and okay to give to your Mom as a Christmas gift.

As for the four horsemen of the apocalypse, well, you might want to keep your eyes open for them anyway, just in case. Have you seen the news lately? There's plenty of scary stuff going on in our society, but this book is not it.