Book Review: Called Out of Darkness

While visiting Branson last week, I found myself in need of a new book and I wanted to depart from the standard fictional fare.  At the bookstore, I stumbled on Anne Rice's Called Out of Darkness:  A Spiritual Confession and decided to see what Rice had to say about her conversion from atheism and her career in the aftermath.  Despite my initial expectations, I found myself challenged and encouraged by the memoir.

In case you have been living under a rock, Anne Rice has authored numerous novels that deal with occult topics;  her most famous novel is Interview with the Vampire.  In the memoir, Rice tells of her childhood in New Orleans and her early years as a devout Catholic.  Despite her childhood faith, during her college years she begins to take issue with certain Church stances and determines that there is no God.  Like other works that I had attempted to read by Rice, I found the text belabored and sometimes difficult to follow.  Since I was intrigued with where things were going, I pressed on.

In 1998, Rice finds that she has been searching for answers and peace that can only be found in a relationship with Jesus.  Her words describing her return to the faith of her childhood resonated with me.

In the moment of surrender, I let go of all the theological or social questions which had kept me from Him [Christ] for countless years.  I simply let them go.  There was the sense, profound and wordless, that if He knew everything I did not have to know everything, and that, in seeking to know everything, I'd been, all of my life, missing the entire point.  (Rice, 183)

A highly intelligent woman, Rice had spent much of her adult life studying history and social theories.  As one who was constantly aware of the plight of the poor, underprivileged, and misrepresented, her final realization of the justice of God was powerfully written.

I didn't have to know how He was going to save the unlettered and the unbaptized, or how He would redeem the conscientious heathen who had never spoken His name.  I didn't have to know how my gay friends would find their way to Redemption; or how my hardworking secular humanist friends could or would receive the power of His Saving Grace.  I didn't have to know why good people suffered agony or died in pain.  He knew.

And it was His knowing that overwhelmed me, His knowing that became completely real to me, His knowing that became the warp and woof of the Universe which He had made. (Rice, 185-186)

Now THAT is what I call someone truly placing total faith in God.  For an intellectual person to admit that I don't have to figure out how things are going to take place since the Creator and Lord of the Universe has placed all of this under His capable control is a miracle in and of itself!  How I long to find myself expressing such confidence in my Heavenly Father's omnipotence in all circumstances and situations.  He is all I need and is faithful to take care of whatever concerns me.

Rice is an avid reader in addition to her career as a novelist.  After her conversion, she began to write a series of historical novels based upon the life of Christ.  Always interested in historical accuracy, Rice returned to the gospels and found a beautiful story that she had not fully explored before.

. . .The Gospels, once I plunged into them and let them really talk to me, came across as distinct and fascinating original works. . .

Also something else has happened to me in the study of these documents.  I find them inexhaustible in a rather mysterious way.

I'm at a loss to explain the manner in which every new examination of the text produces some fresh insight, some new cascade of connections, some astonishing link to another part of the canon, or to the Old Testament backdrop which enfolds the whole.

The interplay of simplicity and complexity seems at times to be beyond human control.

Picking up the Gospel on any given morning is picking up a brand-new book.

There is something so explosive about this body of work that it not only dwarfs the fragile assumptions of the skeptics, it dissolves them into nothingness.

And at times I have the feeling that I will die, with my face down in one of these books, on the verge of some new and momentous question or insight.  In sum, there's no visible bottom to this well of meaning.  It's unlike my experience with any other written text. (Rice, 221-222)

This was especially encouraging to me as I continue to launch into my own re-entry into the Word of God.  I have read daily for most of my life, but I have never allowed myself to simply be swept up into the story.  I am so thankful that I am seeing the Scripture this year with new eyes of faith, guided by the Holy Spirit's leadership and direction.

As Ms. Rice reflected upon her departure from the Catholic Church, she came to the conclusion that it was not issues or lack of faith that caused her to flee.  What could have kept her connected to the church, and ultimately aid her in her walk with Jesus, was love.

The more I study this, the more I listen to people around me talk about their experience with Jesus Christ and with religion, the more I realize as well that what drives people away from Christ is the Christian who does not know how to love.  A string of cruel words from a Christian can destroy another Christian.

Over and over again people write to me to explain why they left a church in bitterness and hurt, because of the mercilessness of Christians who made them feel unwelcome, or even told them to go away.

I'm convinced that it takes immense courage to remain in a church where one is surrounded by hostile voices; and yet we must remain in our churches and we must answer hostility with meekness, with gentleness, or simply not answer it at all!  (Rice, 227)

Few things can be more destructive than the spoken word.  After reading this passage, I was struck by the number of times I have witnessed this villany among Christians in the congregations I have attended during my life.  My prayer in regards to this is simple:  "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my Strength, and my Redeemer."  (Psalm 19:14, KJV)

Written from a Catholic point of view, Called Out of Darkness explores the mystery and ceremony of the Church in an inviting and interesting way for those not familiar with the tradition.  More importantly, Rice has written a beautiful chronicle of her personal journey from faith to doubt and the transformative return to the God of her childhood.