Anne Rice OpEd

[popetart]

An OpEd piece, written by Anne Rice, that was run in the NY Times. Pretty interesting stuff.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/04/opinion/04rice.html?ei=5090&en=ce2f33f8719dba9c&ex=1283486400&partner=rssuserland

[middletree]

An OpEd piece, written by Anne Rice, that was run in the NY Times. Pretty interesting stuff.


Gott abe honest with you. I have a hard time forcing myself to read something written by one of the most truly evil influences on American culture in the last half-century.

Anne Rice has become a zillionaire by writing stories about satanic practices (mostly vampires) and soft-core porn. I cannot imagine that she has something worthwhile to say.

[larryl]

Gott abe honest with you. I have a hard time forcing myself to read something written by one of the most truly evil influences on American culture in the last half-century.

Anne Rice has become a zillionaire by writing stories about satanic practices (mostly vampires) and soft-core porn. I cannot imagine that she has something worthwhile to say.


her newest book, coming out Nov 1, is called "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt"

amazon.com says....

"Having completed the two cycles of legend to which she has devoted her career so far, Anne Rice
gives us now her most thoughtful and powerful book, a novel about the childhood of Christ the Lord based on the gospels and on the most respected New Testament scholarship.

The book’s power derives from the passion its author brings to the writing, and the way in which she summons up the voice, the presence, the words of the young Jesus who tells the story."

interesting, yes?

[popetart]

I found the article interesting for a number of reasons....

She's originally from New Orleans. She just gives an interesting account of the history of the city and touches on the response (or lack thereof) to Katrina.

I am not endorsing her other work. Have never read it. But, thought this worth sharing in light of everything that has happened in the past week.

[TX3DFan]

her newest book, coming out Nov 1, is called "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt"

amazon.com says....

"Having completed the two cycles of legend to which she has devoted her career so far, Anne Rice
gives us now her most thoughtful and powerful book, a novel about the childhood of Christ the Lord based on the gospels and on the most respected New Testament scholarship.

The book’s power derives from the passion its author brings to the writing, and the way in which she summons up the voice, the presence, the words of the young Jesus who tells the story."

interesting, yes?

Wow...

Can you say "Last Temptation Of Christ"? That will probably look tame compared to this book by Anne Rice. I shudder to think what will be in this book. The link below is a Q&A with the author from Salon and the first question and answer should give you some idea where she's coming from when it comes to matters of God and Jesus.

Link (http://www.salon.com/oct96/questions961104.html)

[onaree]

Great article. Anyone who's ever been to New Orleans and taken city tour will know how much this city needs to be saved and rebuilt. There is so much history in the buildings and streets. Sure, New Orleans has it's "sin", but doesn't every town?

[ICarlson99]

Gott abe honest with you. I have a hard time forcing myself to read something written by one of the most truly evil influences on American culture in the last half-century.

Anne Rice has become a zillionaire by writing stories about satanic practices (mostly vampires) and soft-core porn. I cannot imagine that she has something worthwhile to say.

At first I wasn't sure if you were talking about Anne Rice or the NY Times :D

[ICarlson99]

Great article. Anyone who's ever been to New Orleans and taken city tour will know how much this city needs to be saved and rebuilt. There is so much history in the buildings and streets. Sure, New Orleans has it's "sin", but doesn't every town?

Having "sin" isn't the reason not to rebuild - it's the fact that it's below sea level and surrounded by water. Move it or raise it (a la Seattle), then we can talk about rebuilding it.

[Kyle's dad]

Wow...

Can you say "Last Temptation Of Christ"? That will probably look tame compared to this book by Anne Rice. I shudder to think what will be in this book. The link below is a Q&A with the author from Salon and the first question and answer should give you some idea where she's coming from when it comes to matters of God and Jesus.

Link (http://www.salon.com/oct96/questions961104.html)

Thanks for the link. I didn't read the whole interview but I did find this quote ummmm, interesting.

My books reflect my beliefs as a whole. That is, no one character speaks for me at any given time. But the whole book —its obsession — reflects my obsession: Why are we here? What does God want of us? Why does he let suffering happen? How could he have been so stupid as to create a bunch of people whose sin would necessitate God's own son being scourged, crowned with thorns and crucified? That's dumb!!!!

Kind of makes one think of 1st Corinthians 1:20-25

1:21
For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe.
1:22
For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom,
1:23
but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
1:24
but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
1:25
For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.

[popetart]

Devona, I knew you'd have my back on this one, girl.

Not all of New Orleans "problems" come from being built below sea level. It does not help things that the course of the Mississippi River upstream has been changed by man. It's just put more "stress" on the city where this is concerned.

I have been so outraged by those saying New Orleans shouldn't be "saved" or "rebuilt." Must you really poor salt on the wounds of the residents of New Orleans who are suffering right now? Let's do away with all cities that are built in "unsafe" areas. That would include most of California....too many earthquakes. Florida and the Eastern Seaboard...they get hurricanes, too. All the towns in Hurricane Alley. We don't want to get started down this slippery slope.

And can we please keep this thread on topic? It was not started to discuss Anne Rice and her other writings. It was started to discuss this single OpEd piece and what it means to New Orleans.

[jedi_amy]

Devona, I knew you'd have my back on this one, girl.

Not all of New Orleans "problems" come from being built below sea level. It does not help things that the course of the Mississippi River upstream has been changed by man. It's just put more "stress" on the city where this is concerned.

I have been so outraged by those saying New Orleans shouldn't be "saved" or "rebuilt." Must you really poor salt on the wounds of the residents of New Orleans who are suffering right now? Let's do away with all cities that are built in "unsafe" areas. That would include most of California....too many earthquakes. Florida and the Eastern Seaboard...they get hurricanes, too. All the towns in Hurricane Alley.

And can we please keep this thread on topic? It was not started to discuss Anne Rice and her other writings. It was started to discuss this single OpEd piece and what it means to New Orleans.

I personally thought the article was well-written and had a very good point. New Orleans is a vital part of America's culture, and I pray that when this ordeal is all over it can be rebuilt and continue to thrive. My heart goes out to the people of New Orleans, and don't think we should be focusing on their "sins" or whether or not they deserve to be rebuilt. All of us are just as sinful as any one of those people living there, and each and every day we are given a new chance to "rebuild" and be saved. The least we can do is try and offer them the same opportunity.

I am proud to be a fan of the band that is being Jesus to these people. I pray that as Christians we can continue to see where our help is needed and offer it freely. God Bless Third Day and all of their efforts to help these people, and God bless all the Gomers who are following God's lead.

[Kyle's dad]

And can we please keep this thread on topic? It was not started to discuss Anne Rice and her other writings. It was started to discuss this single OpEd piece and what it means to New Orleans.

No need to get excited. I wasn't trying to hijack the thread. I was just commenting on the interview. Didn't mean to upset anyone, my apologies.

[popetart]

No need to get excited. I wasn't trying to hijack the thread. I was just commenting on the interview. Didn't mean to upset anyone, my apologies.


I wasn't directing anything at anybody specific. Just trying to remind everybody why the link was posted at all.

[markie4u2001]

her newest book, coming out Nov 1, is called "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt"

amazon.com says....

"Having completed the two cycles of legend to which she has devoted her career so far, Anne Rice
gives us now her most thoughtful and powerful book, a novel about the childhood of Christ the Lord based on the gospels and on the most respected New Testament scholarship.

The book’s power derives from the passion its author brings to the writing, and the way in which she summons up the voice, the presence, the words of the young Jesus who tells the story."

interesting, yes?God can save out of the darkest of satanic influences but it sounds like her novel will be something along the lines of the Davinci code by Dan Brown where jesus marries Mary Magdelene and they have a daughter named sarah. It says it's about the childhood of christ, it probably talks about him living in india during his childhood. That's a muslim doctrine brought to india about 1000. AD. and it doesn't have anything to do with their religions. http://reluctant-messenger.com/issa.htm
The Life of St. Issa http://www.westarinstitute.org/Periodicals/4R_Articles/Tibet/tibet.html
Of these "missing years" stories, the only one worth dealing with here is that underlying Nicholas Notovitch's Unknown Life of Jesus Christ, since this one claims an ancient documentary basis, and has its partisans even today.

In 1887, Notovitch, a Russian Jew converted to Greek Orthodoxy and a war correspondent (possibly a spy), visited the city of Leh, capital of the district of Ladakh on the border of India and Tibet. He had a toothache and sought treatment at a Moravian mission station there. But his imagination got the better of him, and in 1894, he wrote a book which told a new and much improved version of the story. Now it seemed he had visited the Tibetan lamasery (monastery) of Hemis (also spelled Himis). Here he mentioned folk legends he had picked up about a prophet named Issa, who sounded strikingly like Jesus (in fact, it's the Arabic for Jesus). He was informed, he said, that the Hemis monastery itself housed a two-volume manuscript called The Life of Saint Issa ! He hesitated to ask for access to the sacred book, but announced he would return. This happened sooner than expected, however, when he fell from his horse and broke his leg. Carried back to the monastery, he arranged to have Saint Issa read aloud and translated for him as he recuperated. As the story unfolded, his initial suspicions were confirmed: this could be nothing less than a hitherto-unknown chapter in the career of Jesus. He listened carefully and made copious notes. He reorganized much of the material to make it suitable for Western readers and he finally produced The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ (1894). The book created an international furor.


Müller Refutes Notovitch's Story
The book did not escape the scrutiny of scholars. For one thing, Notovitch could offer no manuscript for examination, only an excuse for lacking one (he could not take it from the monastery). The great Orientalist Max Müller, editor of the epoch-making Sacred Books of the East series of translated Eastern scriptures, took an interest in Notovitch's claims. He pointed out that such an honored work as Notovitch described would inevitably have been included in the great canon lists _of Tibetan books, the Kanjur and the Tanjur — but it wasn't.

Plus, Notovitch's frame story itself smacked too much of the legendary, the fictive. For the Russian maintained that the Life of Saint Issa was first compiled when Jewish merchants, having journeyed to India, told the recent news of Jesus' fiery preaching and crucifixion in Judea. By a Dickensian stroke of luck, among the crowd of those who heard this tale just happened to be the very Asians who had themselves met Issa in India a few years before! And these people were somehow certain that this Jesus was the same as the Issa whom they had known.

[Gandalf]

Interesting Newsweek story (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9785289/site/newsweek/) about Rice and her new book. Seems to be a Dylan-esque turnaround. Certainly, it's fiction, but from what she says, it doesn't seem to be anti-Scriptural, just extra-Scriptural. Will be interesting to see how it goes.

[Werwanderflugen]

It's interesting to see how some of you were so quick to judge...

I saw an article in the paper of her turning to God, and I praised Him for it. You can never deny His power...

[larryl]

for what it's worth......

The Gospel According to Anne

The queen of the occult has been gone awhile. What's Anne Rice been up to? Getting healthy, finding God—and writing her most daring book yet.

By David Gates
Newsweek

Oct. 31, 2005 issue - Sometimes Anne Rice won't leave her bedroom for days on end—and neither would you. Glass doors open onto a terrace that looks over the red-tiled roofs of La Jolla, Calif., to the Pacific Ocean. A live-in staffer brings meals to the table at the foot of her ornately carved wooden bed, which faces an ornately carved stone fireplace. She exercises in a huge bike-in closet. She's got two computers and enough books to last her a year. Splendid isolation? Splendid, sure. But she's often got family visiting in a downstairs guest suite, she reads The New York Times every morning—"Nicholas Kristof is a hero to me"—watches news "till I can't stand it anymore," and spends up to an hour and a half a day e-mailing with her extraordinarily faithful readers.


They've been worried about her. After 25 novels in 25 years, Rice, 64, hasn't published a book since 2003's "Blood Chronicle," the tenth volume of her best-selling vampire series. They may have heard she came close to death last year, when she had surgery for an intestinal blockage, and also back in 1998, when she went into a sudden diabetic coma; that same year she returned to the Roman Catholic Church, which she'd left at 18. They surely knew that Stan Rice, her husband of 41 years, died of a brain tumor in 2002. And though she'd moved out of their longtime home in New Orleans more than a year before Hurricane Katrina, she still has property there—and the deep emotional connection that led her to make the city the setting for such novels as "Interview With the Vampire." What's up with her? "For the last six months," she says, "people have been sending e-mails saying, 'What are you doing next?' And I've told them, 'You may not want what I'm doing next'." We'll know soon. In two weeks, Anne Rice, the chronicler of vampires, witches and—under the pseudonym A. N. Roquelaure—of soft-core S&M encounters, will publish "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt," a novel about the 7-year-old Jesus, narrated by Christ himself. "I promised," she says, "that from now on I would write only for the Lord." It's the most startling public turnaround since Bob Dylan's "Slow Train Coming" announced that he'd been born again.

Meeting the still youthful-looking Rice, you'd never suspect she'd been ill—except that on a warm October afternoon she's chilly enough to have a fire blazing. And if you were expecting Morticia Addams with a strange new light in her eyes, forget it. "We make good coffee," she says, beckoning you to where a silver pot sits on the white tablecloth. "We're from New Orleans." Rice knows "Out of Egypt" and its projected sequels—three, she thinks—could alienate her following; as she writes in the afterword, "I was ready to do violence to my career." But she sees a continuity with her old books, whose compulsive, conscience-stricken evildoers reflect her long spiritual unease. "I mean, I was in despair." In that afterword she calls Christ "the ultimate supernatural hero ... the ultimate immortal of them all."

To render such a hero and his world believable, she immersed herself not only in Scripture, but in first-century histories and New Testament scholarship—some of which she found disturbingly skeptical. "Even Hitler scholarship usually allows Hitler a certain amount of power and mystery." She also watched every Biblical movie she could find, from "The Robe" to "The Passion of the Christ" ("I loved it"). And she dipped into previous novels, from "Quo Vadis" to Norman Mailer's "The Gospel According to the Son" to Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins's apocalyptic Left Behind series. ("I was intrigued. But their vision is not my vision.") She can cite scholarly authority for giving her Christ a birth date of 11 B.C., and for making James, his disciple, the son of Joseph by a previous marriage. But she's also taken liberties where they don't explicitly conflict with Scripture. No one reports that the young Jesus studied with the historian Philo of Alexandria, as the novel has it—or that Jesus' family was in Alexandria at all. And she's used legends of the boy Messiah's miracles from the noncanonical Apocrypha: bringing clay birds to life, striking a bully dead and resurrecting him.

Rice's most daring move, though, is to try to get inside the head of a 7-year-old kid who's intermittently aware that he's also God Almighty. "There were times when I thought I couldn't do it," she admits. The advance notices say she's pulled it off: Kirkus Reviews' starred rave pronounces her Jesus "fully believable." But it's hard to envisage all readers will be convinced when he delivers such lines as "And there came in a flash to me a feeling of understanding everything, everything!" The attempt to render a child's point of view can read like a Sunday-school text crossed with Hemingway: "It was time for the blessing. The first prayer we all said together in Jerusalem ... The words were a little different to me. But it was still very good." Yet in the novel's best scene, a dream in which Jesus meets a bewitchingly handsome Satan—smiling, then weeping, then raging—Rice shows she still has her great gift: to imbue Gothic chills with moral complexity and heartfelt sorrow.

Rice already has much of the next volume written. ("Of course I've been advised not to talk about it.") But what's she going to do with herself once her hero ascends to Heaven? "If I really complete the life of Christ the way I want to do it," she says, "then I might go on and write a new type of fiction. It won't be like the other. It'll be in a world that includes redemption." Still, you can bet the Devil's going to get the best lines.

© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.

[pintogator]

Wow...

Can you say "Last Temptation Of Christ"? That will probably look tame compared to this book by Anne Rice. I shudder to think what will be in this book. The link below is a Q&A with the author from Salon and the first question and answer should give you some idea where she's coming from when it comes to matters of God and Jesus.
Link (http://www.salon.com/oct96/questions961104.html)

The link is to a Q&A from 9 years ago?!?!

Are you in the same place you were 9 years ago?

I think the recent Newsweek piece may provide more insight about where Ms. Rice is at the moment. You can link to the Newsweek piece from the Drudge Report's page. Here's the direct link:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9785289/site/newsweek/

I would agree with Gandalf (the TD poster, not the LOTR character) that it clearly sounds like she is writing a set of extra-Scriptural novels about the childhood of Christ. Nothing anti-Scriptural.

[pintogator]

Thanks for the link. I didn't read the whole interview but I did find this quote ummmm, interesting.

My books reflect my beliefs as a whole. That is, no one character speaks for me at any given time. But the whole book —its obsession — reflects my obsession: Why are we here? What does God want of us? Why does he let suffering happen? How could he have been so stupid as to create a bunch of people whose sin would necessitate God's own son being scourged, crowned with thorns and crucified? That's dumb!!!!

Kind of makes one think of 1st Corinthians 1:20-25

1:21
For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe.
1:22
For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom,
1:23
but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
1:24
but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
1:25
For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.

Haven't we all asked these questions at some point? Why scoff at Ms. Rice for asking the same questions?

I don't think I am or anyone else is a fool for asking these questions. The answer only comes by asking the questions. A fool avoids the answer. A fool never asks the questions.

I think I Corinth. 1:21-25 describes every one of us at some point along our journeys. Searching for Truth (or wisdom) in everything but the One who created us and sent His Son to die for us.

[middletree]

It's interesting to see how some of you were so quick to judge...

I saw an article in the paper of her turning to God, and I praised Him for it. You can never deny His power...
Since I was the first to post something in this thread that was skeptical of Anne Rice, I'll respond. Your post about me being quick to judge is, in itself, judgmental.

I responded with what I knew at the time. Rice did not come out of the Christian closet until a few weeks later. At the time, she had a decades-long history of writing books that consisted of either soft-core porn, the occult, or both. There is nothing whatsoever that was "quick to judge".

I am happy that she now names Jesus as her Lord. Such a turnaround is huge, and could yield great fruit. I look expectantly at how God will use her.

[Nilknarf]

Has anyone else read it yet? Have I missed a thread here? I'm surprised it's not being discussed.

I thouroughly enjoyed it and was moved on several points. Any input?

[RevZeek]

The thread discussing this book is: HERE (http://www.thirdday.com/boards/showthread.php?t=82480)

[silly4HIM]

Haven't read it, but haven't heard too much about it either.

[prayercloth sis]

really not into fiction...


prefer the scriptures when it comes to Jesus...no disrespect intended...

God Bless

Rhonie

[Nilknarf]

Well Prayercloth, If you follow that line of thought rationally, you wouldn't be listening to Third Day either! ;) (That is officially my first use of a emoticon, I swore I'd never use them, but I have here because I don't want to come across as uptight about this) I respect your decision, that's great. However, the author has delved into years of research to write this and I believe that it is sound as far as respecting Christ as our redeeming substitue that was God/was sent by God/ etc... (trying hard not to open up the debate on the Trinity here) I know for most here, they are extra scriptural, but she did use the apocrypha (is that the correct term?) for all of the miracles she attributes to the young Christ. I took away some awesome lessons on servant leadership, spiritual leadership of a family, and examples of how Joseph and Mary lay aside any personal ambitions to follow the will of God. It was an invigorating book that pushed me deeper into my reading of the Bible.

thanks
Frank