I just finished reading Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt by Anne Rice. It was the second time that I borrowed it from the library. The first time, I read a couple of pages and put it down. The opening seemed to be preposterous. I won't spoil it for you because the book can (and did the second time I started it) grab you from the very beginning.
Mrs. Rice's book does a wonderful job of coloring in the area where the Gospels have left a gap in Jesus' life. The years between his birth and his being "lost" at the Temple when the family goes to celebrate the Passover. She brings a richness to Jewish community life in that era and gives a taste of the Judeo-Roman tensions that went on.
As a reasonably conservative Christian, reading the book requires you to give a bit of license to the author to take the subject matter where she will, but the further I got in it, the more I recognized the desire of Mrs. Rice to be true to the Lord and to the truths that Christians hang their faith on.
I enjoyed the book and recommend it as a good summer read. I am considering using it as the basis of the church's book study in the fall - we'll read it and discuss it as we go. If you want to "discover" the contents at that time, you'll have to exercise restraint to not read it before then.
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2 comments:
Thanks for your kind mention of the first book I wrote about Our Blessed Lord. The second one Christ the Lord, the Road to Cana, is making its way in the world. I appreciate your stressing that my approach is an orthodox approach, and be assured this is a vocation for me which I cherish. It is amazing to watch the response to books move through the internet world. Again my thanks for your comments, and I hope some day you will try the second book. Take care and be well, Anne Rice.
Mrs. Rice, thanks for your comments. I am looking forward to reading the second book and eventually the third when it is completed and released. Again, I enjoyed Out of Egypt very much.
If you have a moment, could you suggest some resources for people to investigate if they are interested in going beyond the Gospels in their study of Jesus? Also, do you think that those of us who have a protestant background are missing out on anything by overlooking the Apocrypha?
Thank you again for visiting and sharing your time! - John
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