Confession: I’ve been reading Francine Rivers lately. Yes, it’s true. Some of you had mistaken me for an erudite, discerning reader before that last sentence. You may now lay your former idealized perceptions to rest.
I know she has been criticized for having unrealistic characters, superficial or overwrought dramas and dialogues, a less-than-diverse vocabulary, and, at times, overly-racy scenes. And…she’s a romance writer. I don’t like Christian romance novels, mostly because they paint something other than Christ as being ultimately satisfying.
But I feel it’s been worth my time to read Rivers’ five books on the women in Christ’s genealogy. Several reasons: 1) I am not a book snob; 2) they were what I happened to find at my local library when I was browsing last week for a quick, easy read, and; 3) her fiction works that take place during the time of Christ always makes the scriptural narratives fresh for me and guides my imagination to consider the real people behind such narratives in their original contexts. This is definitely a worthwhile exercise. It took great faith for Mary to bear the son of God; her whole life was dramatically altered from her teenage years by bearing the son of God. While Catholics tend to exalt Mary, Baptists like myself tend to overlook her great faith and the fact that she found favor with God. She found favor with God! What must a teenage girl who finds favor with God be like? I would like to meet this woman someday on the Other Side. Or Bathsheba…a racy character, perhaps? And her son was honored above his step-siblings in becoming one of the strongest kings of Israel.
So, although I don’t necessarily resonate with River’s portrayal of every character or situation, I have found that taking the time to read these short little novellas has refreshed my perspective of old stories in Scripture with a view toward the original people in the narrative; people who exercised faith without the advantage of knowing, as Paul Harvey would say “the rest of the story.”
I understand your perspective! I’ve only read one of her books…and I liked it! =)
And I have an award for you on my blog (just because)! =)
http://discoveringthemeinmommy.blogspot.com/2010/09/award.html
I’m glad you posted this, Kristen. I find your perspective on Rivers to challenge my pre-conceived ideas about her writing. I like the idea of her contexts helping the biblical times to “come to life”–I think sometimes we get too lazy to try and repaint them.