Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt

[vison]

All of this will fascinate those who are interested in the minutiae of daily life in this culture, as I am.

Is it historically accurate?

[Whistler]

Rice prides herself on historical accuracy, despite the fact that she's known for fantasy. Even when the subject is vampires, the settings in which they prowl are as historically accurate as she can possibly make them. In this book, she writes of people whose lives were regulated by literally hundreds of complicated rules and traditions that had to be followed to the letter. Half of the narrative is devoted to detailing how certain things were done in order to fulfill the exacting requirements of Mosaic Law. This is the sort of thing that can’t be faked: It’s right, or it’s wrong. And if it’s wrong, it’s literary suicide.

It was Rice’s passion for history that led, ultimately, to her return to Christianity. When she decided to write about Jesus, she immersed herself in Bible history books, and books about Rome. She came away with the idea that much modern “scholarship” on Christ is irresponsible rubbish from people who are in fact hostile to Christianity and desire nothing more than to “disprove” some aspect of it in order to make a name for themselves. (Many of us who are long-time Christians came to this conclusion, long ago!)

Recognizing this prejudice, she plunged even deeper into history and finally came to the conclusion that the traditional Jesus, the Jesus taught in churches all over the world, is in fact the “correct” Jesus. This decision played a role in her conversion, and to an even greater devotion to historical fact as opposed to the “Jesus du jour” fancies that lead to such claptrap as The DaVinci Code.

The book contains an afterward which, in my opinion, is worth even more than the book itself. It details Rice’s quest for the real Jesus, and for the real world in which he lived. And it details her amazement to discover that this Jesus is the same Jesus she’d abandoned, long ago.

[vison]

Okey dokey.

Unfortunately, Whistler, the reviews I've read are not very complimentary.

The only reason I would ever read this book is because YOU like it.

My reluctance has nothing to do with the subject matter, please understand that. It's the author that sticks in my craw.

First Corinthians 14:8 - "For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?"

In my mind, Ms. Rice sounds a very uncertain trumpet indeed. Maybe she's had music lessons?

[Whistler]

Most of the reviews I've read (reader reviews, at least) have been largely positive, with Amazon awarding it 4 out of 5 stars. And at any rate I trust my own judgment as much as anybody's. Further, I know that anything that smacks of pro-Christian thinking will, in certain critical circles, automatically inspire condemnation. Some critics are bigots, pure and simple. I ignore them.

I am pleased that my opinion would influence yours even a little, as I know you to be a person who is not easily manipulated.

As to objections based on the author herself...who can say? Above all, as I read the book, I searched for evidence of insincerity or exploitation. I found neither.

I believe strongly in music lessons. I have known of vastly more "uncertain trumpets" who learned to play very fine music indeed. I will wait to hear Ms. Rice's entire performance before I declare the notes to be sweet or sour.

[truehobbit]

Well, I'd say that your positive response will at least make me have a look when I see the book in a store - I also trust my own judgement, and I can usually tell pretty soon, from reading a few pages here and there, whether a book appeals to me or not - I hope I'll come across a copy sometime soon.
What I had read about it before would have made me just ignore it - and I don't mean negative criticism, but things like this, which is an excerpt from an article in Newsweek, which Tinsel posted on b77:

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.

[Whistler]

What's remarkable is that the examples you list (study with Philo, plus the two miracles) are, in the whole book, just about the only digressions from descriptions of everyday life and well-documented history. What's remarkable is not that the book contains such material, but that it contains so little of it. Given the subject matter, she could have included a trip to Mars and justified it. But she never does anything so silly, and a lot of authors would have.

[IdylleSeethes]

Dan who?

I have not yet read it, but I know a few who have. Philo seems to have been unnecessary. Given the current interest in the Gnostics, I don't mind a minor nod in that direction with the miracles. She could have gone a lot farther in that direction legitimately. I expected her to.

It's on my list.

[Whistler]

Philo is unnecessary, but not distracting. He appears in only one minor scene.

I've read accounts of the "new" miracles in their original contexts, and I have always considered them rather silly and incompatible with those described in the accepted gospels. In short, I didn't buy them.

Rice places them in contexts that made me ask, "Why not?"

[yovargas]

I started reading this book this weekend and am about half-way through with it. Despite me being an atheist and Whistler being a Christian, I agree with almost every single word he's written in this thread. I particularly find the depiction of Jesus as the simple Jew that he would have been, in a family leading the life of simple, hard-working Jewish folks. The depiction of the Jewish view of life and God feel very earnest and, I dunno, it just has this earthy beauty to it. I don't think I've ever read something showing Jewish life this intelligent, respectful way.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I'm glad you are enjoying it, Yov. I liked it very much, too.