February 22, 2006

Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt
by Anne Rice
Alfred A. Knopf, 2005
Hardcover, 322 pages, $25.95

By LLOYD J. AVERILL
Contributing Writer

Meet the new Anne Rice!

Fans of the dark imagination that produced tales of vampires and witches may be startled by the light that permeates this strikingly different supernatural novel. As the result of a conversion experience at age 57 — perhaps better, a reversion experience — Rice renounced the faithlessness of her adult life and actively sought reconciliation with the Catholic faith of her childhood. As a result, she told a reviewer, “My mission now is to write… as a lay witness to the story of Christ.” The first fruit of this new consecration is Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt.

Fans of that earlier Rice should be warned that the book’s real pleasures are to be had by those acquainted with the Gospels, which tell us virtually nothing of the childhood of Jesus: What kind of a child was he? How did he see his world? What were the intimate details of his family life? How did he experience the larger intersections of politics and religion as they played out around him? After immersing herself in the extensive literature on the current controversial quest for the historical Jesus, as well as on the history and sociology of the first-century world, the monumental task Rice set for herself was to fill one of the major gaps in the biblical record. Joining the results of received scholarship with her own well-practiced imagination, she produced this first-person narrative in which a seven-year-old Jesus tells his own story.

It was a risky venture, and one measure of her success is found on The New York Times bestseller list, where the book has been listed since its November release. Are all those Rice fans disappointed to find a baldly religious tract? Perhaps for a week or two — but the word quickly gets around and soon readers are added who know what they are in for.

Anne Rice is a skilled storyteller, and for this remarkable tale, she needed all of the skill at her command. How to present a seven-year-old narrator without dumbing down or gratuitous condescension?

She chose a simple and direct style — gentle is the word that comes to mind — but leaves no doubt that this is a remarkable child indeed. Yet not so remarkable that he is still a child, subject to fears and uncertainties, who needs a strong father figure like Joseph and a nurturing mother like Mary.

How to deal with the fact that many readers will already know more features of the larger story than the narrator himself? His curiosity, teased by occasional hints of his origin and destiny, drives the story. As they’re gradually revealed, the family tries to ensure he’s neither frightened nor overwhelmed.

Though having returned to the church of her childhood, Anne Rice is nevertheless critical of some of the Church’s social teaching: on homosexuality, abortion, and women’s ordination. But by the evidence of this novel, she accepts its teaching on the miraculous birth of Jesus, on the astonishing events that surrounded the birth, on the perpetual virginity of Mary, and on the “brothers and sisters” of Jesus as the children of Joseph from a previous marriage.

And when it comes to the mystery and liturgy of the church, Rice says she has been fully confirmed in her “immense desire to return to the banquet table.” So, what’s next?