2008 Woodie Awards
Think!
Can't judge a book by its cover
Issue date: 11/9/05 Section: Opinion
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Editor-in-Chief
The first time I saw Interview with a vampire I was in Gatlinburg, Tenn. on a youth retreat. I was in the sixth grade and staying in a hotel room with three older guys. Throughout the movie there were several times they forced my head under the covers to block my view of the screen. Later I discovered the reason behind those actions and was embarrassed to think of how naive I must have been.
Now it seems that Ann Rice, author of the book that movie was based on, as well as the movie's screenwriter, is looking for a new audience - one closer to the above description of myself.
Rice, long time vampire-romance author, has returned to her roots in the Roman Catholic church and has released a new book, "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt."
A departure from her normal fare of debauchery and the living undead, Rice's new book deals with Jesus as child as the family is returning from Egypt to Nazareth, and what it must have been like to be God and man as a child.
After her last vampire novel, "Blood Canticle," Rice returned to the church expressing "'a yearning, a nostalgia, a grief toward Catholicism" telling the Associated Press she "wanted to write only for Jesus Christ."
Does it mean that one more has been snatched from the enemy's side? Maybe. It will mean a little less blood and gore on the shelves of Barnes & Noble.
Perhaps Rice was correct when she said, "Maybe this is inevitable after years of popular atheism dominating our culture. Maybe people are hungry." The truth will set you free.
Should she be fully accepted into the Christian community as a writer? Especially since she is writing on such a sensitive subject - the boyhood of Jesus, a period scripture doesn't dwell on.
To dismiss Rice's revisited faith as being one that isn't sincere is a disservice both to her and the Savior. But to approach her work without a critical eye makes my sixth grade naivete seem nonexistent.
How often in the Christian community are a writer's words accepted without a critical eye because the writer is a preacher or because the publisher has slapped a Christian label on the book? Christian writers should all be held to a much higher standard in content, style and ability, whether they are writing about Jesus or a war hero from World War II.
The Christian community should not dismiss Rice's work because of her background. However, her work shouldn't be accepted only because she has suddenly found faith. We have to use our minds and not allow ourselves to be blinded by our enemy.