On the iPod: Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt
The Pingers recently brought this book to my attention, as well as the fact that Anne Rice has returned herself to the Catholic Church and pledged that from here on out she will "write only for the Lord."This is her first major novel since returning to the faith of her youth, and she has a lot of Christians sitting on the edge of their seats to see what develops out of her extraordinary talent. Some are concerned, some excited, and some reserving judgment until they see the product. See here for a recent exchange on Adam's blog to see how some Christians have already been talking about it. Time was I wouldn't have given her much thought once I learned she was in favor of John Kerry and gay marriage, but I'm not as straight-line evangelical as I once was. I try not to confuse culture and politics with faith anymore.
So, I will listen and report. Stay tuned.
posted by Zeke @ 2:50 PM
13 Comments:
Wow, is this for real?
"Time was I wouldn't have given her much thought once I learned she was in favor of John Kerry and gay marriage, but I'm not as straight-line evangelical as I once was."
You've definitely been on a journey...
I wonder if she'll still be a proponent of gay marriage as time goes on - it'll be interesting to see how much she takes the church's party line on some of these hot button issues as time goes on.
Sure it's true and yeah, I have been on a journey. Not that I would vote for Kerry, though. That's not the point, the point is that I don't buy into the way that our Christian faith has been politicized and Americanized. Our agenda is not Jesus' agenda, and it's just arrogant to assume otherwise.
Whatever...;)
I am actually suprised to see that you would not/did not vote for Kerry...interesting.
I am actually suprised to see that you would not/did not vote for Kerry...interesting.
Adam, I do believe you just made my point about the things of the Church becoming commingled with politics and culture.
I am so finding myself dooubtful of the intention of Mz Rice. Shame on me maybe but there is alot of money in the Christian writing market. Left behind, LOTR, Passion of the Christ, Christian music and private record labales all have been growing at amazing rates. So much so that the big record lables are trying to buy up Gotee and Flicker records, asking the rights be sold to the left behind series, Want to put Purpose driven under contract for audibles and such.
Maybe Im getting old and I can't honestly say why I don't trust the motives but I don't.
Something I need to work on maybe.
Babe you voting for Kerry would have meant that *ell had frozen over and the world had come to an end.
That would be like me being locked in the same room as Benny, the Crystal Cath guy and anyone from TBN and a gun, if there was one bullet it would go in my head. But if I had a automatic and those flying things in tomb raider and a cool cycle like hers only one person is walking out.... but im about to go into goofy silly land so Im done.
Except for if we get the house done can we put those flying things in the living room cause I really really really want to fly around in those things and pretend to be tomb radier when Im home alone cause that would be about the coolest thing in the world.
Just say yes cause its not a logic kind of dream!
Oh I had a wonderful time with Steve and Josh and tacos but they don't allow "other" so I can't tell them so tell them please.
Your are simply the best man I know and I adore you!
If it's true, that's one hell of a publicity stunt. I certainly hope Ms. Rice is sincere. I willing to believe she is because, even with the increasing marketability of "Christian" media products, the numbers involved are still a tiny fraction of their "secular" counterparts. If anything, this could be a career-killing move.
Dorsey, you might be right. I hope I am wrong. Having some exp in the music world I know how much labels are trying to get there hands on the Christian labels. For the first time ever Christian music labels past Jazz in sales and there still going upwards. A samll part of the pie but getting stronger.
Again I hope I am wrong its not a bad thing to be wrong about :) Its just that little poke saying something is not right that is bugging me.
And Dorsey I might have to install spell check if I keep on posting as not to cause spelling havoc on the internet :)
Nice to hear you last night and thanks for making me laugh.
I have some of the same fears as Mrs. Zeke, although I think in general, Christian entertainment has not reached the levels of excellence that "secular" (I hate using that term) entertainment has. Perhaps Anne Rice will raise the bar a little, but then again, she might get called on the carpet by the Christian (sub)community for using non-biblical sources, essentially "filling in the blanks" about Jesus' early life, etc. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
Zeke, we should discuss calvinism sometime, I'd be curious to know your views on it...
And debate/discussion is good no matter what the topic. Personally I think it is one of the most effective means of learning.
“I do believe you just made my point about the things of the Church becoming commingled with politics and culture”
Not to be one to point out a dichotomy (well okay so I am one) but isn’t the whole issue of homosexuality in the Church a cultural issue?
BTW I’m in total agreement Zeke. Get politics and culture out of the way. ;-)
I don't know if anyone caught the Anne Rice interview on Charlie Rose last night, but it appears that whatever liberties she takes in filling in the blanks will not have that distinctly conservative evangelical flavor, so I suppose she's apt to become a target of the right-wing machine. As someone who tends to lean more right than left, I find that sad, and hope that judgmentalism will be tempered with grace, but who am I kidding?
But on both the far left and far right, it's politics and cultural reactionism that tend to inform faith instead of the other way around. How can we be so screwed up?
Not to be one to point out a dichotomy (well okay so I am one) but isn’t the whole issue of homosexuality in the Church a cultural issue?
My dealings with it have been strictly an issue of how Christians treat other Christians that have same-sex attractions. On the issue of how that relates to the culture, that's for each believer to decide and vote for themselves. I could express opinions but I donn't want to complicate the basic message.
For instance, it's too easy to read what I write (to use myself as an example) and think "He's a liberal that voted for John Kerry." Fact is, I'm a conservative that voted for Bush twice. But the church has been wrapping itself up in the flag on both the left and the right (sure it's easy to accuse the right of that, but ever notice all the "Kerry/Edwards" placards in the audience when they would speak at churches?). People are welcome to their politics, but we need to take great care not to spiritualize political positions.
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