Anne Rice, Vampires, and Jesus

 News this week that author Anne Rice died at the age of 80. I'm now inclined to consider 80 as "taken too soon" and it does seem early for someone who was wildly popular for writing about vampires which, fictionally speaking, can live for hundreds and even thousands of years. 

Rice became famous and wealthy writing the vampire novels but she also took a turn at writing about Jesus. She abandoned Christianity fairly early in life and returned to her faith in her later fifties, never having given up on Jesus. Her first Jesus novel was Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt which begins when Jesus was seven or eight. It was quite good in my estimation and got favourable reviews. I thought her take on Jesus' 40 days of temptation in the wilderness was imaginative and thought-provoking. 

Sadly, a decade or so ago she announced her divorce from Christianity once again. She was fed up with the institutional church which for her was Roman Catholicism. The interesting thing was that lots of Christians agreed with the aspects which caused her to quit the church again. J,S.Park, a chaplain tweeted a couple of Anne Rice quotes which are painfully honest:

I find this rather sad and I get it. I've been a Christian my entire life and between preparing for ministry and serving congregations spent well over 40 years involved in the institution. I still provide leadership as a retiree. I have to be honest in saying that at times I wanted to walk away from the "churchianity" which was too often petty and inane. I wanted to serve Jesus, the Christ, within a community of committed followers and that seemed beyond the ken of some people who treated the church as a club and a mean-spirited one at that. 

I can't give up though, even now, because as Anne Rice says "my faith is central to my life." Thanks Anne, for giving it your best shot, and I hope you've been welcomed home.