A Christian Review of Anne Rice’s The Road to Cana

Posted by Anthony on March 30, 2008

Anne Rice’s “Road to Cana.”
Reviewed by Anthony Horvath

Buy on Amazon.com: Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana (Christ the Lord)

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Knopf (March 4, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400043522
• ISBN-13: 978-1400043521

Book Description:
Anne Rice’s second book in her hugely ambitious and courageous life of Christ begins during his last winter before his baptism in the Jordan and concludes with the miracle at Cana.

It is a novel in which we see Jesus—he is called Yeshua bar Joseph—during a winter of no rain, endless dust, and talk of trouble in Judea.

Legends of a Virgin birth have long surrounded Yeshua, yet for decades he has lived as one among many who come to the synagogue on the Sabbath. All who know and love him find themselves waiting for some sign of the path he will eventually take.

UPDATE: Anne Rice became aware of this review and liked it enough she had it published on her web page. That is quite an honor. It is the same as what is below, but if you want to read it there, it’s on this page here.

My Book, Fidelis was reviewed on WorldnetDaily.com!

When her first book, “Out of Egypt” was released, I was extremely impressed. She did a fantastic job. I wrote a review of that book which you can read here. I note that I was honored that she found the review and left a comment. You can read that, there, too.

So now we have book two. Titled “The Road to Cana” it picks up where “Out of Egypt” left off, more or less. I wondered to myself how she was going to get another book out of Jesus’ pre-ministry years, but sure enough, she did.One of the things that will catch people’s attention right from the start is Jesus’ attraction to a pretty young Jewish girl. What with that whole ‘Last Temptation of Jesus’ mess, I can see how Christian readers would recoil at the very thought. The attitude and approach makes all the difference. Anne Rice handles it with delicacy and reverence… and this is key… she handles it.

There is no hint anywhere in any of the documents available to us that Jesus had any feelings towards women and even attempts to read into Gnostic literature is unsuccessful at raising that possibility. Why would anyone even dream of including such a plot line then, especially if they are devoutly Christian? The answer is orthodox Christianity essentially demands it. Either Jesus was fully human and fully God or he was not, and if he was fully human- that is, a man, then such feelings almost certainly would have occurred.

I feel that our reverence for Christ often looks the other way concerning his humanity. Do we not realize that he ate, slept, drank, cried, and yes, even urinated? A disturbing thought to some. The whole glory of the thing to others.

Let us consider what it might mean that Jesus did not encounter such feelings. It is written in Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are- yet was without sin.”

It is on account of this fact that the writer continues, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and grace to help us in our time of need.” (vs 16).

Either Jesus was tempted in every way or he was not. Upon it appears to hinge how we approach the ‘throne of grace.’ If he was tempted in every way, we can be sure that sexual desire, which is built into the human being, was present in Jesus. We can also be sure that the Enemy tried to exploit it. For those who can’t imagine that it is possible to have sexual desire without sin I ask how you thought Adam and Eve were going to get along before the Fall of Man. If you don’t believe in that, well, I guess I got nothing to say. The point is that Jesus, being a real man, would have experienced such things, but unlike us, was the Master of them.

As I said, Rice handles the whole subject reverentially and I suspect that even if the above thoughts are ones that you as a Christian find uncomfortable, you will find that Rice resolves the issue admirably.

This leads into another area that I was wondering how Rice would handle. There is a lingering question as to how much Jesus knew of his own nature. As a one month old child did he recount to his parents how he had created the universe? Or did he sit there and kick his legs and feet and coo and cry? Rice already began laying out her answer in “Out of Egypt” and she continues in “The Road to Cana.” I think I might have a different answer then her, but not too different.

The great value consists in raising the question in the first place. Christians don’t tend to think all that deeply about that which they say they believe. Such thinking might seem to go beyond speculation and into heresy. How dare you question what Jesus, since he was God, could know? But then we have Jesus himself saying “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Matthew 24:36).

These discussions center around Jesus’ ‘kenosis’ and involve also what Jesus’ relationship as a man is to divine attributes besides omniscience. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenosis

The point is that even though Jesus was God, as a man and bound to time the way Men are, there were things he didn’t know. Rice does a fantastic job of talking over such issues in a way that orthodox Christians can enjoy and respect, even if they might disagree in some ways.

As in “Out of Egypt” this book is thoroughly researched on the historical details. 1st century Palestine is the background to the New Testament but it is easy for believers and skeptics alike to forget that we know more about that century then just from what we read in the New Testament. Having this background can help us greatly in understanding what we read in the New Testament, unless of course we are in the camp that scoffs at the New Testament by virtue of the fact it mentions miracles. When you know that there no God you know there can’t be miracles. But if you don’t know if there is a God or not then if miracles really happened then that helps answer the question. The miracles in the New Testament apparently occurred in a real historical context, and so understanding that historical context can dramatically affect your investigation.

There is a tendency, for example, to dismiss Christian theism as just one more fantastic mythology out of dozens that existed. This forgets, however, the Jews. The Jews were fiercely monotheistic. Fiercely. Violently. They were not opposed to miracles, of course, but the notion that a man could be God is literally the last thing a God-fearing Jew would have ever conceived of. Such a thing was blasphemy, and they knew it. It is amazing, then, that out of the very last group that could be expected to believe God had become man- the Jews- that very doctrine emerged. Nearly all of the first Christians were Jews.

CS Lewis expands on this point in his essay “What Are We to Make of Jesus Christ” found in God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics:

“[One approach to explaining the rise of Christianity is to say] that His followers exaggerated the story, and so the legend grew up that He had said them. This is difficult because His followers were all Jews; that is, the belonged to that Nation which of all others was most convinced that there was only one God- that there could not possibly be another. It is very odd that this horrible invention about a religious leader should grow up among the one people in the whole earth least likely to make such a mistake. On the contrary, we get the impression that none of His immediate followers or even of the New Testament writers embraced the doctrine at all easily.”

That is the historical reality to which skeptics tend to dismiss with hand waving as though it were not something that needs to be explained on other grounds if one rejects the explanation that Jesus really was God. The more you know the actual history of the Jews the more you realize just how significant this is and how much it demands an explanation. Those ignorant of that background can be dismissive. Those who know the background know they can’t dismiss it.

Now, I don’t know if Rice plans on making that argument or not, but she draws on some historical events and puts them in “The Road to Cana” that certainly paves the way for an appreciation of CS Lewis’s point.

For example, the arrival of Pontius Pilate and his move to put ‘ensigns’ in the Jewish temple caused a Palestine-wide riot. This is recounted by the Jewish historian Josephus. Rice drops bits and pieces of this famous story, including how it was resolved: thousands of Jews kneeling on the ground, deliberately exposing their necks to the Roman soldiers that Pilate had sent to ‘disperse’ the crowd. When Pilate saw that the Jews were willing to die by the thousands without even putting up a fight just because of some silly (from his perspective) banner hanging in Jerusalem, he relented.

It is from out of a people with this sort of fervor and passion for their monotheistic religion that Christianity emerged.

Rice also helps set the stage for how dangerous life was by pointing out how brigands roamed the hills and those who claimed to be Messiahs were about.

In my opinion, atheists, seekers, and Christians alike should read Anne Rice’s books just so that they can see historically how the whole narrative put together might have looked. When all we know about the context in which Jesus moved and breathed is the New Testament we rob ourselves of critical information that would help us understand what we are reading in the New Testament.

Now, just a few final notes.

One of the things I noticed in “Out of Egypt” was a robust understanding of how different languages would play out in this region, this crossroads of Empires. She continues to show insight into that subject in “The Road to Cana.”

The animosity that Jesus’ own relatives show to Jesus as seen in the New Testament is given a compellingly believable back story. It is my view that something very much as Anne Rice described is what it was like.

Rice is sensitive to the dispute about whether or not Jesus had any actual brothers, that is, through Mary, and not just Joseph. She comes down on the Roman Catholic side of things (ie, Mary had no other children, etc), which I can’t blame her for since she is, well, Catholic. I have no problem with her approach so long as she doesn’t conclude her series on the Christ the Lord with a final book with the Perpetually Virgin Mary as the Intercessor. I don’t expect her to do that.

As I sat back and thought about Rice’s series to this point, I contemplated how courageous it was to try to write something from Jesus’ perspective but upon reflection realized that in fact writing accounts of Jesus’ life where we don’t really have as much material is actually much easier than the task that is now set before her. With “The Road to Cana” completed, Jesus now enters his life of ministry and this is much more thoroughly documented and people are much more familiar with that documentation. I am deeply curious about how she will weave her narrative through well known and treasured stories of the New Testament.

If her first two books are any indication, she will continue to root her accounts on solid historical data. She will continue to be reverent and respectful to orthodox Christian teachings even as she creatively tries to imagine how those doctrines played out in real life. I plan on picking up each book just as soon as I can.

I suggest you do, too. I would even go so far as to say that the books to this point could be useful reading to children, since they often have questions about Jesus’ early life. While you will have to point out that some of it is impossible to prove, you will be able to provide a framework for understanding the context of what is going on. You will also have the opportunity to point to the historical nuggets that abound in the books and thus help them see that Christianity is no mere ‘ancient mythology’ but rather rooted in history. Either it happened, or it did not. And you can find out if it happened by examining the historical ‘fossils’ that are left behind. And if you conclude that it did happen, then we live in a world where God became man, lived, died, and rose from the dead. If true, that changes everything.

The Holmen Cross, Kristallnacht, and the Tyranny of the Minority: My Letter to the Editor in the La Crosse Tribune

Posted by Anthony on

I wrote a letter to the editor regarding the Holmen cross which sits on public property.  It was published today.  The power of the personal blog gives me the ability to comment further and even respond to other letter writers.  Let’s start with my actual letter.

Beware tyranny of the minority

It is not every day that Holmen has the opportunity to have an impact on the affairs of the entire nation. The decision to sell off the land that the cross on Star Hill stands on in order to avoid controversy is understandable in light of what happened in La Crosse.

However, is Eric Barnes happy with transferring it to private property? No. We might legitimately wonder if the only thing that would satisfy those with his views is a complete purge, public and private. Where would the “Freedom from Religion Foundation” stop? Where would Richard Dawkins, who believes teaching some religious doctrines is child abuse stop?

In light of the gulags, the concentration camps, the re-education camps, etc, the loving thing might be to take a stand. I know that there is an overwhelming urge to “preserve the peace” at all costs. History shows us that this approach could very well lead to our very own Kristallnacht. If it goes that far it is too late.

As citizens, not just as Christians, we should be concerned if a minority can inflict on the majority their own narrow view on what constitutes the ‘establishment of religion.’ If Eric Barnes should like to call for a referendum on the cross, I would support him. Put the matter before the people. Hear the arguments. Have the discussion. Have a vote. That is healthy conflict resolution.

The village should scrap its plan to sell the property. The Supreme Court has yet to issue a clear ruling that balances both the establishment clause with the free exercise clause. We could give them an opportunity to do just. If Holmen doesn’t face this issue communities around the country will continue to be subject to the “tyranny of the minority.”

I suspect that not everyone knows what I meant when I said Kristallnacht, so if you didn’t notice the link I added in the text, here is the Wiki article on it.  The basic concept is simple:  No one wakes up in the morning and says “Hey, I got an idea!  Let’s throw the Jews in a concentration camp and send priests to the gulags for re-education!”  Such decisions follow years of development of thought and circumstances.  History makes it painfully clear that even beliefs can have consequences and if you let those beliefs bear fruit without hindrance, there will be some beliefs that bear bitter fruits, indeed.

Martin Niemöller famously said (with variants):

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I am not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I am not a trade unionist. Read the rest of the entry… »

Christians Don’t Know How to Fight

Posted by Anthony on March 29, 2008

Over the last couple of weeks there have been a collection of issues causing dissension in the Church which I have followed a bit. One was the firing of Todd Wilken from Issues, Etc., and the other big one was the ELCA’s release that they had sorta but not quite decided that homosexuality was not Scriptural but they’re going to keep looking into it. Couple of others, too, but those were the big ones.

To me the problem here goes beyond the actual circumstances of these examples and more to the point that they are good examples of how the Christian community just doesn’t know how to fight. In the case of the ELCA, it is almost as though they are deathly afraid of anyone raising their voice. Heaven forbid someone might get angry or offended. In the Wilkens issue (LCMS) it’s more like someone took their toys and went home.

Now, it is common to speak of Christians as being in a family but there must be different notions about family going on. My family growing up was pretty tumultuous at times and there was a lot of speaking of one’s mind. Despite that, the family hung together because, well, that’s what you got to do. You can try to disown your brother if you like (sorry bro), but you can’t, really. Not really. I strongly suspect that for many Christians the idea that we are ‘family’ is just pure lip service. We don’t actually treat other Christians like family. If we cared for them, we’d speak our mind. If we cared for them, we’d hang together even in the face of differences. Read the rest of the entry… »

A Review of Why We’re Not Emergent, critical book on the Rob Bell, Brian McLaren Movement

Posted by Anthony on March 28, 2008

Why We’re Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Moody Publishers (April 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802458343
• ISBN-13: 978-0802458346
• Buy from Amazon.com
• Book web page: http://www.notemergent.com/

Book Description: “The Emergent Church is a strong voice in today’s Christian community. And they’re talking about good things: caring for the poor, peace for all men, loving Jesus. Kevin and Ted are two guys who, demographically, should be all over this movement. But they’re not. And Why We’re Not Emergent gives you the solid reasons why.”

 The Book

WWNE is not just a series of arguments for why the authors prefer traditional churches. It also spends a fair bit of time analyzing the writings of Emergent church proponents. The authors present two different perspectives reacting to the Emergent church. Kevin is a pastor at a church in Lansing, Michigan, while Ted is your normal layman in the pews. Kevin brings to bear many of the theological objections while Ted approaches the Emergent church as an ‘Everyman,’ so to speak.

I like this approach, but I confess I labored to figure out which part was written by which author. In the final edition, the table of contents tells you, but it isn’t fun to flip back and forth as you’re reading.

Kevin and Ted live in East Lansing, which is not far from the Mecca of the Emergent Church, Rob Bell’s “Mars Hill” in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It is easy to see how this close proximity has made the challenges from the Emergent church hard to miss for them.

The book begins (wisely) with a discussion of just what the Emergent Church is (Wiki) and lays out the methodology behind the book. Following this is a survey of the doctrinal positions of the Emergent Church… or more precisely a chapter where the two men practically beg the Emergents to tell all just where they stand on certain historic doctrines of the church. Somewhat autobiographical chapters follow where the authors examine some of the assertions about the Emergent church that the Emergent apologists do seem to agree on. The book doesn’t leave you waiting with how the gentlemen feel about those assertions. The authors give their response on the spot.

Certain areas of contention get worked over pretty good: the ‘virtue’ of tolerance, the doctrines of hell and punishment, the Gospel, Dogma in general, modernism and post-modernism, and differing perspectives on Jesus- who he was and what his goals and chief accomplishments were.

Throughout these chapters, the authors bend over backwards to make it clear that they actually agree with some of the criticisms that the Emergent Church has made. They aim to refrain from what might seem to be personal attacks on certain spokespersons in the movement. Despite the obvious fact that they are writing to criticize the Emergent movement, they still offer plenty of signs that they think there may be something of value in it.

That said, I have to imagine that the leaders in the Emergent Church won’t enjoy reading the book. For that matter, your average person ‘on the street’ who is ‘Emergent’ won’t like it either. The authors perceive that there are massive flaws in the Emergent movement.   Though I did feel like at times it was assumed that the reader would be aware of some of the bones of contention, this book might be helpful to the person who is new to the Emergent church and wants to hear ‘both sides.’ The book allows Emergent church writers some time to present their case in their own words. For those who want to go deeper, there are plenty of citations and most of the big names in the Emergent movement are covered such as Brian McLaren and Rob Bell.

My Reactions Read the rest of the entry… »

Church and State Separation Issues Strike Holmen and the Cross on Star Hill

Posted by Anthony on March 27, 2008

The national issue about religious icons (read: Christian symbols) on public land has struck very close to home. This link will give some background to the whole affair but there are a few other things of note which perhaps in due time I will speak to. I have strong feelings about such issues and have spoken about other areas. It doesn’t make sense not to chronicle the situation and opine on it on my own blog since I actually live in the vicinity of the offending cross. So here goes.

As the article explains, in a purchase for other purposes, the village of Holmen also acquired a cross positioned prominently on the same property, visible in many directions. Now, after decades of being a non-issue, after it was learned that it was now on public land, a certain Eric Barnes became offended and lodged an unofficial complaint. The village of Holmen plans to resolve the issue the same way that La Crosse (about 15 minutes away) did just a few years back: sell the land to a private entity which would then maintain the cross.

Honestly, I don’t have strong feelings about that cross being there, but I do have strong feelings about a single person having the capacity to make a whole community abide his thin-skinned whims. Skeptics and atheists wonder why they are not taken all too seriously by the Christian community and are offended when Christians don’t exhibit undying patience to atheistic demands. This is a case in point. It is extremely difficult to understand how a cross which was on a hill for decades caused no mental harm but the innocent transfer to public ownership now makes it a traumatic affair. One is left wondering if the cross had offended the individual(s) the whole time but only now can they do something about it. Read the rest of the entry… »

Prince Caspian and the Chronicles of Narnia Presentations for Churches, Grown Ups, and Youth Groups

Posted by Anthony on March 26, 2008

The Chronicles of Narnia for Grown Ups

A Presentation for Churches

View a sample of Anthony speaking- a graduation speech he delivered with Lewis and Tolkien themes.

Click Here for my review of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe movie. Prince Caspian is due out in mid-May, 2008. Here is one of my posts on the Christian themes in Prince Caspian. Click here for information about a bulletin insert on Prince Caspian.  This presentation is in line with my ministry that aims to apply the arts to the promotion of Christianity as described at my formal non-profit ministry page at www.athanatosministries.org

Details

Frequent attention is given to C.S. Lewis’s obvious Christian elements of his ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ series, especially in connection to helping children understand the Christ story with them and in them. Indeed, the Narnian tales provide a great opportunity to share the Christian story in a new way, even in some ways right under the nose of our secular society. The clearest example is “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.”

But there are six other books as well, and these too are packed with insight into reality from a Christian perspective. They receive far less attention then TLWW but provide as much interesting and usable material. However, before Christians can apply the lessons from these books the way we apply lessons from “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” adults must be made aware of them.

The Chronicles of Narnia recently came under ‘attack’ by the Philip Pullman series, “His Dark Materials.” Pullman wrote that Narnia disgusted him which is a reaction that most Christians would find surprising to say the least. (To read my responses to the whole “Golden Compass” mess click here) What the Pullman series really does is illustrate the world view gap between Christians and others, in particular secular humanists and atheists. Thus, even though the Narnia series is written for children, Christian adults must take an interest. Pullman did, and he wrote a response.

This presentation covers other important Christian themes in the Chronicles of Narnia as well as the obvious ones in the more famous “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.” All of these themes are ones that are fruitful for adults to explore and if Christian parents are familiar with them and their importance they can more effectively and deliberately transmit those principles to their children. Below are several of the themes that Lewis weaves into his tales that are covered in this presentation:

• Courage and Bravery
• Loyalty
• Moral Cause and Effect
• Greed and Avarice
• Fantasy and Adventure
• Accountability
• Myth
• Duty

These and more are matters that adults must think about as much as children need to. Sadly, our children do not hear much about such topics as deliberately and intentionally as they ought. However, adults- parents, teachers, and pastors- can use Lewis’s books to do just that in a way that is fun and entertaining to children. Fortunately, they are fun and entertaining for adults, too.

The presentation can be reduced to 90 minutes, or it can be expanded to up to four hours.

Here is the outline of the presentation, regardless of the time frame:

01. —- Introduction to C.S. Lewis, his works, and the “Chronicles of Narnia” in particular.
02. —- Special attention to the explicitly Christian material in “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.”
03. —- The Adventure of our Lives: Are we Narnians? Exploration of the themes in the Narnian Tales of Myth, Fantasy, and Adventure.
04. —- Morality is not All Negatives: Courage, Bravery, Loyalty, Duty, Devotion and Love- re-discovering the positive truths of Christianity.
05. —- Cause and Effect isn’t only for Physics: God’s System of Moral Cause and Effect. Greed, Avarice, Accountability.
06. —- Why we are Here: God’s purpose in delaying the End, and the End that is Coming.
07. —- Summary: What we adult Narnians can learn from Lewis.
08. —- Application: Connecting with an Entertainment Driven Society and the Children within it.
09. —- Application: Mastering Media, but not being Mastered by It: Using but not being Used. Teaching children how to discern.
10. —- OPTIONAL Application: Ideas for how to use modern media in our churches and homes to teach lessons about Christianity.
11. —- Conclusion: God is the master and maker of the universe, and we are his heirs. All good things are ours: courage to live in grace (adventure) and re-claim the good things (that our rightfully ours) that world has tried to take away from us.
12. —- Discussion

As you can see, cramming this into 90 minutes means being overly concise. Recommended is a 3 hour session, broken up into two 90 minute blocks, with a light snack provided by the host in between.

If you are interested in having me present this material, please email me at sntjohnny@sntjohnny.com, use this form Here, or call me at 202-280-7971. If you would like this or similar material covered (for example, discussion of The Lord of the Rings, as well) or have a specific format you need adaptation to, please do not hesitate to explain your situation.

I will travel nationally provided transportation is covered.

Click Here for more biographical material about me.

I have been involved in teaching and ministering for about 10 years. Some of these years were spent teaching in junior high and high school, but in two of those years I also taught at a college as well. I am a Christian that went through an intense time of examination, even to the point possibly where I could have called myself an atheist. My experiences have prepared me well for Christian apologetics.

The Wonder of Easter Foretold in the Book of Daniel

Posted by Anthony on March 23, 2008

In a blog entry noting that the book of Nehemiah had been corroborated by a recent archeological find, I explained the significance of that find as it pertains to a prophecy in the book of Daniel.  It is this prophecy that I would like to address in this entry in honor of the Easter holiday.

First I would like to present to the reader a mystery from history.   It is well known that in first century Judea there was rampant speculation that the arrival of the promised Messiah was imminent.   There were even many people claiming to be that Messiah.   The book of Acts records Gamaliel listing by name several such claimants and their fates:  Theudas was killed and his followers routed and Judas the Galilean was likewise hunted down and killed.  The Jewish historian Josephus also speaks of ‘false messiahs.’  The mystery is not why so many messianic claims would emerge but also why after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD they would cease altogether.

Not only that, but the entire shape of Judaism changed.  Prior to 70AD, Judaism centered itself around the sacrificial system but after 70 AD, the rabbis took over and Judaism became rabbinical in nature, the sacrificial system abandoned.  Judaism prior to 70AD was an entirely different Judaism then what came later and even what exists today.  This demands an explanation.

You might suggest as your explanation that the rise of the Messiahs was a natural outgrowth of an oppressed people, but interestingly after 70AD the Jews stopped looking for a Messiah- an anointed King who would vindicate their nation among the nations.   I suppose there must be some Jews who are still waiting for such a King (and if a third temple emerges in Jerusalem we’ll be sure to meet them) but in the main, the ‘suffering servant’ passages of Isaiah and apparent prophecies of the Messiah as a person have been replaced with interpretations suggesting that perhaps the nation of Israel is itself the Messiah.  The Jews did not stop being oppressed but they did stop looking for a Messiah.  Why?

Let me tell you why the first century Jews were looking for a Messiah with such fervor:  according to their math, the Messiah was due.  Now, they were expecting a conquering hero not a suffering savior, but nonetheless they were expecting someone to come.  What math you say? Read the rest of the entry… »