In late 2005, novelist Anne Rice stopped by BustedHalo's® offices in New York to promote her book Christ the Lord, Out of Egypt, the first installment in her planned four-part "autobiography" of Jesus. What was supposed to be a brief interview with the legendary author—who has sold more than 100 million books worldwide—turned into a wide-ranging, hour-long discussion of her career and her re-discovered Catholic faith.
Her second book in the series Christ the Lord, The Road to Cana, picks up Jesus' life in Nazareth at age 30 just before he begins his public ministry. Like its predecessor, The Road to Cana eschews the lush style that marked Rice's Vampire Chronicles series for a far more spare prose. There is a simplicity to Rice's Jesus that will be entirely recognizable to anyone familiar with the Gospels. This is, of course, Rice's intention. Though she has filled in details of Jesus' life that aren't found in any of the Gospels—including frustrations with his "brothers" in the family's carpentry trade, and the pressure to take a young woman named Avigail as his wife—Rice's Christ the Lord books are ultimately deeply devotional works that testify to the strength and scriptural orthodoxy of her faith.
Rice, who is 66 and suffers from diabetes, no longer does promotional book tours. So, with the March 4th release of The Road to Cana the author invited BustedHalo® editor-in-chief, Bill McGarvey to interview her at her home in the desert near Palm Springs, California.
The following video segments are excerpted from an hour-long interview in which Rice once again spoke on a wide variety of subjects ranging from sexuality and the Catholic imagination to the possibility of a Christian Vampire novel and her outspoken support of Hillary Clinton.
The interview is broken into 9 different pieces that BustedHalo® will release over the course of the next week, so please check back for all of the remaining clips.
(Special thanks to Sue Tebbe and Becket Ghioto for all their assistance.)
The Catholic Imagination, the Sensual World, Women Priests & Change in the Church
TOPICS DISCUSSED:
What is the Catholic Imagination?
The long tradition of art in Catholicism
The belief that the sensual world is good
Controversy with her books
Women priests
Change in the Church
An Upcoming Memoir, Painful Memories, A "Tragic Mistake," Regrets & Advice for Seekers
TOPICS DISCUSSED:
Spiritual memoir Called Out of Darkness to be released in the Fall of 2008
Her childhood in New Orleans
Painful memories
Her faith “breaking” at 18
A tragic mistake
Advice for young adults regarding faith
Regrets
What being a Christian means to her
Thinking God was Catholic
How Her Son Saved Her Life, Quitting Drinking,
TOPICS DISCUSSED:
How her son saved her and her late husband’s life
Stopping Drinking in the late 70s
Her Public Persona vs. Her Real Life
Her Disagreements with and Dependence on Scripture Scholars
TOPICS DISCUSSED:
Controversies surrounding John's Gospel
Her interactions with scripture scholars
Admiration for Anglican scholars
Anne Rice at Home in Rancho Mirage, CA.
TOPICS DISCUSSED:
Author Anne Rice gives BustedHalo editor-in-chief Bill McGarvey a brief tour of some of the religious art in her home as well as paintings by her late husband Stan Rice
Jesus' Loneliness & Love, Taking on the DaVinci Code and Is the U.S. Post-Christian?
TOPICS DISCUSSED:
Her second trip to Israel
Who she’s been reading
Taking the Bible completely seriously as a writer
The loneliness of Jesus and dealing with his love of the character Avigail in her new novel
Taking on the DaVinci Code..."It was a hoot!"
The challenges in writing an exciting novel about a character who is sinless, celibate and didn’t marry
Why the United States is not a Post-Christian nation
