But I had never heard of the Son of God novel. Not until a few days ago at least, flipping through the Christian Book Distributors catalog. So to satisfy my slightly horrified curiosity, I searched online. And I found the publisher's description about it:
Though based on New Testament accounts, including the four Gospels as well as the book of Acts, Son of God reads like a contemporary novel, delving deeply into the character of Jesus and the personalities and motives all of those who surround him, both his followers and his enemies. Even minor Gospel characters (Mary Magdelene, the servant Malchus, the Jewish elder Nicodemus) come vividly to life in the book, and its portrayal of the political machinations behind Jesus's trial and death-the contest for power between the Roman governor Pontius Pilate and the high priest Caiaphas-is especially engaging.
On the front of the book, in a bright red bubble with a white polka-dot border, it says,
Based on the Major Motion Picture
I never blogged about The Bible miniseries. That's because its arrival neither excited me, nor surprised me. We live in an image-saturated culture. It didn't surprise me that people are looking to "innovate" the Bible, make it relevant and attractive to the culture at large. The Bible has no pictures, and today we find that a bit problematic. We crave images, whether it's through TV, the internet, photographs. "A picture is worth a thousand words," we say. In other words, we think a picture contains more value than a word.
But a novel about Jesus? This surprised me. A novel is a work of fiction, a creative story from an author's imagination. Perhaps it's based on a true story. Or in the case of the Son of God novel, it's based on a movie, which is based on the Bible.
My only question was, "Why?" Why do we need a novel about Jesus' life, when we have everything that God wanted us to know about it in the Bible? Why do we need something that "reads like a contemporary novel" to teach us about Christ, when we have His very words in front of us? Why do we need more words to capture the character of Christ than what God has given us?
Images are one thing. They are different than what we find in the Bible. It doesn't make it right, but it makes sense for people to want to create them. But language (words) was the unique medium God used to communicate His revelation to His people. It's one thing to write an instructive book about the Bible, explaining what it says and how it applies to life. But to write a work of fiction about Jesus Christ seems a dangerous work.
God's words are infallible, indestructible, unchangeable, incorruptible, everlasting, holy, practical, and very good. Why do we need more? My answer: "We don't." We do not need a novel about Jesus. We have everything He has already told us about Himself. And for that matter, we do not need a movie about Jesus. We have His very words.
What we need is the Word of God.