There is much evidence for a historical Jesus but not much is known about his life between birth and the time before his death. Kidd, best known for her earlier novel The Secret Life of Bees, imagines a very human Jesus - a Jesus who falls in love - a Jesus who marries. And although the Christian story Jesus is woven throughout the book, this is a story of Ana, the wife of Jesus. Ana lives a privileged life as the daughter of Herod's scribe but is still constrained by the traditional role of women. She secretly writes stories of brave women like Jezebel and Bathsheba on anything she can find - including broken pottery and stolen papyrus. Hoping to escape a marriage she does not want and fearing that her writings will be destroyed, she wanders the hills in search of a safe place to hide her stories. It is at the mouth of a cave that she meets Jesus. He is a thoughtful, gentle person who totally supports her desire to be a strong, educated, independent woman. This is a good thing since they are often separated for long periods of time. Neither lives a conventional life. Both experience the need to hide or run as they challenge the society around them. This is Jesus the zealot. This is Ana in search of the sacred feminine. We know how His story ends but Ana lives on with the support of a very enlightened aunt who has secrets of her own. There have been many attempts by both historians and theologians to fill in the life of Jesus. Although much research went into this novel, I doubt that being included in that particular body of work was Kidd's intent. It is a bit more fiction than history. But she raises interesting questions about how the lens we use to examine that time in history affects how we understand it. And (for a real teaser) you will never guess who Ana's brother is.
No comments:
Post a Comment