"Anne Rice: From Fantasy to Faith"
It had been only one and a half years since I put down The Vampire Chronicles from Anne Rice. Following the release of the movie "Interview With the Vampire" I became obsessed with her writing. After putting them down for a few years I re-read her chronicles and was sure to finish the series in my deployment in Iraq. Following the book Memnoch the Devil, I stopped reading once again due to the more graphic sexual depictions in The Vampire Armand. She was always on the verge of stepping over the bounds in that arena in her first 5 books, but allowed me my comfort zone by staying away from outright admittal, so I stuck it out. This time it was too much for me.
The disappointment was heavy. She was by far my favorite author of modern fiction. Her passion in her characters, the integrity of thought and feeling in Lestat, the search for God with the most honest yet critical view, I loved the darkside. It is easy to love to read of the darkside, when you know the truth and the path to God. If only she was writing with a message that led to the truth itself.
I GOT MY WISH!
Anne Rice found her way back into the church and found faith in 1998. In an interview done by the San Diego Union Tribune, Anne says: "Once you really convert, if you really are meaning this, then I think you can perceive the whole world as permeated by his divine providence," she says. "God is as much with the person who drowns in a boating accident as he is with the person who is saved."
She is a Catholic and her belief in the sovreignty of God is evident in her comments. She still tows a liberal line in politics and over views like homosexuality. This is to be expected from a lifelong athiest with a homosexual son. This article is not going to judge her. God's speed is the only way we are allowed to move in our faith.
Back to the point...Anne Rice has written a book called "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt." It is a novel that portrays the missing years of Christ. Being halfway through the book, I have seen that Anne is putting a big emphasis on the Jewishness of Christ and the termoil of the day, a fact that is over look or dismissed by the majority of the dispensational Christian community.
Not only has Anne seen the light of Christ through the cross, Anne appears to hold at least a partial view of the fulfillment of all things. Her independant studies through the historical truths of Christianity has led to a unique mix of view, not always in line with the Catholic Church. She has not limmited herself to their teachings. While on the road to Christianity, Anne has read and believes some preterist interpretations.
"All these skeptics insisted that the Gospels were late documents, that the prophecies in them had been written after the Fall of Jerusalem. But the more I read about the Fall of Jerusalem, the more I couldn't understand this.
The Fall of Jerusalem was horrific, and involved an enormous and cataclysmic war, a war that went on and on for years in Palestine, followed by other revolts and persecutions, and punitive laws. As I read about this in the pages of S.G.F. Brandon, and in Josephus, I found myself amazed by the details of this appalling disaster in which the greatest Temple of the ancient world was forever destroyed...Before I leave this question of the Jewish War and the Fall of the Temple, let me make this suggestion. When Jewish and Christian scholars begin to take this war seriously, when they begin to really study what happened during the terrible years of the siege of Jerusalem, the destruction of the Temple, and the revolts that continued in Palestine right up through Bar Kokhba, when they focus upon the persecution of the Christians in Palestine by the Jews; upon the civil war in Rome in the 60s which Kenneth L. Gentry so well describes in his work Before Jerusalem Fell; as well as the persecutions of the Jews in the Diasporia during this period -- in sum, when all of this dark era is brought into the light of examination -- Bible studies will change. Right now, scholars neglect or ignore the realities of this period. To some it seems a two-thousand-year-old embarrassment and I'm not sure I understand why."
My favorite modern author, the "Queen of the Damned," the first to take on the historical and divine Christ in a fictional series, "GETS IT!!" Her books are sure to lend a more accurate view on the life and times of Christ, and shed a more accurate light on the events of His death, resurrection, and return in AD 70. She may not be fully sold on the complete fulfillment in that day, but we will see. It will be exciting to see the transformation and growth of one of the worlds best authors as she explores, and interprets, the life, divinity, and accomplishments of Christ.
Praise God!!
Nate
It had been only one and a half years since I put down The Vampire Chronicles from Anne Rice. Following the release of the movie "Interview With the Vampire" I became obsessed with her writing. After putting them down for a few years I re-read her chronicles and was sure to finish the series in my deployment in Iraq. Following the book Memnoch the Devil, I stopped reading once again due to the more graphic sexual depictions in The Vampire Armand. She was always on the verge of stepping over the bounds in that arena in her first 5 books, but allowed me my comfort zone by staying away from outright admittal, so I stuck it out. This time it was too much for me.
The disappointment was heavy. She was by far my favorite author of modern fiction. Her passion in her characters, the integrity of thought and feeling in Lestat, the search for God with the most honest yet critical view, I loved the darkside. It is easy to love to read of the darkside, when you know the truth and the path to God. If only she was writing with a message that led to the truth itself.
I GOT MY WISH!
Anne Rice found her way back into the church and found faith in 1998. In an interview done by the San Diego Union Tribune, Anne says: "Once you really convert, if you really are meaning this, then I think you can perceive the whole world as permeated by his divine providence," she says. "God is as much with the person who drowns in a boating accident as he is with the person who is saved."
She is a Catholic and her belief in the sovreignty of God is evident in her comments. She still tows a liberal line in politics and over views like homosexuality. This is to be expected from a lifelong athiest with a homosexual son. This article is not going to judge her. God's speed is the only way we are allowed to move in our faith.
Back to the point...Anne Rice has written a book called "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt." It is a novel that portrays the missing years of Christ. Being halfway through the book, I have seen that Anne is putting a big emphasis on the Jewishness of Christ and the termoil of the day, a fact that is over look or dismissed by the majority of the dispensational Christian community.
Not only has Anne seen the light of Christ through the cross, Anne appears to hold at least a partial view of the fulfillment of all things. Her independant studies through the historical truths of Christianity has led to a unique mix of view, not always in line with the Catholic Church. She has not limmited herself to their teachings. While on the road to Christianity, Anne has read and believes some preterist interpretations.
"All these skeptics insisted that the Gospels were late documents, that the prophecies in them had been written after the Fall of Jerusalem. But the more I read about the Fall of Jerusalem, the more I couldn't understand this.
The Fall of Jerusalem was horrific, and involved an enormous and cataclysmic war, a war that went on and on for years in Palestine, followed by other revolts and persecutions, and punitive laws. As I read about this in the pages of S.G.F. Brandon, and in Josephus, I found myself amazed by the details of this appalling disaster in which the greatest Temple of the ancient world was forever destroyed...Before I leave this question of the Jewish War and the Fall of the Temple, let me make this suggestion. When Jewish and Christian scholars begin to take this war seriously, when they begin to really study what happened during the terrible years of the siege of Jerusalem, the destruction of the Temple, and the revolts that continued in Palestine right up through Bar Kokhba, when they focus upon the persecution of the Christians in Palestine by the Jews; upon the civil war in Rome in the 60s which Kenneth L. Gentry so well describes in his work Before Jerusalem Fell; as well as the persecutions of the Jews in the Diasporia during this period -- in sum, when all of this dark era is brought into the light of examination -- Bible studies will change. Right now, scholars neglect or ignore the realities of this period. To some it seems a two-thousand-year-old embarrassment and I'm not sure I understand why."
My favorite modern author, the "Queen of the Damned," the first to take on the historical and divine Christ in a fictional series, "GETS IT!!" Her books are sure to lend a more accurate view on the life and times of Christ, and shed a more accurate light on the events of His death, resurrection, and return in AD 70. She may not be fully sold on the complete fulfillment in that day, but we will see. It will be exciting to see the transformation and growth of one of the worlds best authors as she explores, and interprets, the life, divinity, and accomplishments of Christ.
Praise God!!
Nate
posted by Nathan DuBois | 10:48 AM
1 Comments:
Nate,
I have been in correspondence with Anne regarding preterism and her new book on the life of Christ.
In response to my own declaration of having adopted a "preterist perspective," she writes: "I have ended up in the preterist camp through my own historical discoveries, yes, believing that the End Times have been continuing since Golgotha." It is clear that, for Anne, there remains a future bodily return of Christ.
I suspect that her preterist views will be refined as she continues to study, but I do not expect her to leave partial preterism. Regardless, I pray that God will continue to bless her unique ministry.
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