Bestselling novelist Anne Rice has shed light on why she has shifted from writing vampire novels to the Jesus Christ.
As the movie adaptation of her novel "Christ Our Lord: Out of Egypt" is scheduled to hit the theaters on March 11, the author wrote a guest post for The Hollywood Reporter addressing the long time question of curious fans.
"The truth is that I've always been fascinated by the early life of Jesus and as a writer, I felt it would be the greatest challenge I could face. My deep devotion to Jesus prompted me to try to contribute to the responsible fiction tradition with regard to Him," the Interview with the Vampire author said.
Rice revealed how touched she was with the impact of her novels on her readers, who have sent her countless emails, saying that the books have given them a deeper sense of reality for Jesus as a living breathing person.
For her part, Rice admitted that she faced the challenge of balancing writing fiction and making sure it did not violate the image of Jesus in the Bible. To this end, she did extensive research about Christ using other sources apart from the Bible. In this case, she also consulted the Apocrypha and the apocryphal gospel and imagined what kind of childhood Christ would have had.
"The primary lessons of Jesus' life are a matter for each person to ponder on his or her own. For me, they are that we must love our neighbors and our enemies and that we must seek to bring the Kingdom of God to earth by loving others. Jesus offers these words when He gives us The Lord's Prayer: 'Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.' For countless millions, Jesus provided a way for this to take place, both for the individual believer, and for the whole world," she explained.
The title of "Christ Our Lord: Out of Egypt" has been adapted to "The Young Messiah" for the big screen in order to focus on the life of the young Jesus Christ.
