Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt by Anne Rice (New York: Knopf, 2005)

Anne Rice is well known for the Vampire Chronicles. It must have surprised many a faithful reader that she chose to write about Jesus. Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt is the first book in a trilogy on the life of Jesus. Next week I will review the second book, Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana. The third book hasn’t been released yet.

Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt is a revelation. Rice paints a believable portrait of Jesus’ childhood. In the afterword, she describes an exhaustive process of research for the book that covered the full range of New Testament scholarship. Her goal was to make Jesus come alive for readers:

She is wildly successful. Jesus’ emotional struggle with his identity, even as a child, is insightful and moving. His relationships with his mother and father, other family members, and a large cast of historical and fictional characters, draw out his personal and public struggle over the relationship between his humanity and divinity.

Rice writes so beautifully I felt as if I had become another character in the novel. That’s the sign of a brilliant writer. Readers not only feel the emotions of characters; they live through the characters. We are challenged to wrestle with the same conflicts. The conflict between the desire to use violence to overthrow hated rulers and the longing for peace. Or the conflict between the struggle to faithfully live out their identity as Jews and the struggle to live harmoniously with Romans, Greeks and other peoples. A book like this allows us to grow with the characters.

It’s possible for us to identify with Jesus’ thirst to know the truth of his infancy. A truth that his parents and family have hidden from him. The mystery at the center of Jesus’ life radiates outward affecting everyone he touches. Rice’s delicate, elegant handling of this mystery makes every page compelling. We know and we don’t know. We want to know as much as Jesus wants to know.

People don’t like living with ambiguity. We want answers to the great mysteries of life. Geez, I want to know why the streetlights always turn red every time I come to an intersection. Now that’s a mystery I know I will never solve.

It’s easy to apply the word mystery to matters of faith when we are confronted with difficult questions. Or we can choose to cram mystery into a neat little box of certainty. But Rice invites us to stay with the tension of mystery so we can discover a deeper truth about faith – just as the young Jesus had to wrestle with the ambiguity of being fully human and fully divine. It’s the story, not the answers, that makes life interesting. And Rice is one hell of a storyteller.

Mysteries get crucified. We live in polarized times. There are persons of faith from the great religious traditions who make no room for people, even of their own faith, who have different perspectives. This polarization extends into the political sphere and our social and cultural life. At times, listening seems to be a lost art.

In Rice’s book, Jesus learns to listen deeply to the inner dialogue between his human and divine sides. He makes room for the dialogue. It’s the reason that he develops as a human being and a sacred being. Are you listening to your own inner dialogue?

The polarization that is poisoning dialogue in our world stunts our development as human beings and sacred brings. Rice’s book is hopeful because she points out a different path. So I’m heading to the bookstore soon to buy the second book in the Christ the Lord trilogy. Red lights or not.

“A Closer Walk with Thee.” Sung by Mahalia Jackson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9Qq_cVoLzs