Filling in the Good Book's Gaps

WALTER WANGERIN is not averse to controversy. The author, who won the prestigious National Book Award in the United States for The Book of the Dun Cow, excited consternation and gave inspiration in equal measure when -- in l995 -- Lion published The Book of God ? his ?rewrite? of the Bible as a novel.

Critics said that he had embellished biblical narratives for effect- fans believe he helped to bring a sometimes incomprehensible collection of ancient writings to life for a post-Christian generation.

Now, the ponytailed literary scholar and multimillion-selling author, who teaches creative writing at Valparaiso University in north-west Indiana, has turned his imagination to the life of Jesus.

"I wrote The Book of God very conscientiously as an act of faith," he explains. "Not everything I write is immediately recognisable as ?Christian?, but every craftsman who is a Christian wants to put his or her craft into the service of their faith, just as a maker of stained glass might work in a cathedral.

The inspiration for Jesus had more to do with cinemas than cathedrals, however. "The impetus came not from me, but 20th Century Fox asking if I'd be willing to work with them on a filmscript of a movie on the life of Christ. They'd seen how Mel Gibson's film had brought in millions, and thought, 'Aha! A market!'"

He initially liked the idea, but feared that his script would pass through the hands of so many "whose faith did not matter to them" that it would not, in the end, be true to him. So it was agreed that he should write a book first, which Fox could "option?, should they so wish.

The idea of the film helped him to think in wide-screen colour, however. ?I wanted to start with Jesus at 12 years old, and start it large ? watching this relatively small town, Jerusalem, swell with all the bustling the smell, the smoke, the lambs being slaughtered. Jesus is there, remembering the Passover and the wonder of the history of God's people. I like the contrast between that and the end of his life.

In The Book of God, Jesus told his own story. "This time, I made a conscious decision to view Jesus's life through the eyes of two other people: his mother Mary, and the disciple called ?Beloved'. And those two visions forged this story.

"Ten years ago, Christians were perhaps more reluctant to apply any artistic license to the Bible or collective worship. Today, however, the air of open experimentation, as described by the Church of England's report Mission-Shaped Church, means that Jesus may well be widely welcomed. The art of storytelling is resurgent, through innovative practices such as "godly play", but it should never have left us in the first place, Dr Wangerin argues.

"It really is time that our church leaders, rather than saying 'I am preaching a sermon on John 7,' stood up and said, 'Let me tell you a story: the story of our faith, of our salvation.'"

"A story", he explains, "is powerful when it is an experience. People enter by their imagination, by their conviction and their faith, into another time and place. Story draws you from the 21st century into the first century ? as long as you're willing to go. It's a matter of faith, whether you're Christian or not."

Story is able to mould itself to an audience because "it's an organic, living thing"; but doctrine cannot: "It is neither living nor organic. It's very important, but secondary. It's in the experience that we meet Jesus."

That does not diminish the author's passion for accuracy, however; he admits to approaching stories about the Christian faith "with a little more trepidation". And by the tone of his deep, rich, storyteller's voice, he is serious. "I honour scripture, and I mean that word exactly: I honour it, and I obey it when I write. Scripture gives me the major events of the story, which cannot be changed; it also gives me the limits beyond which I cannot go. I can't imagine or invent anything that would, in any way, contradict scripture."

So, for instance, his portrayal of Mary exploits the gaps left by the Bible. "Scripture gives me openings for my imaginings. I have space to play with the relationship between Mary and Jesus in the book, because Mary is referred to very infrequently. In John's Gospel, for instance, she appears first at the wedding in Cana, and then when Jesus is on the cross.

"So I have an opening here: what would it be like to be the mother of a deity? And what does it mean that she remembers what the angel said to her: 'This is also the Son of God'? I allow my imagination to move deeper and deeper into what is, in effect, the relationship we all have ? the relationship between God-in-the-flesh and plain human beings like us."

Jesus is certainly a compelling read. Those who have not read the original may not perhaps fully discern the licence Walter Wangerin uses in his compassionate interpretation of Judas Iscariot's betrayal, for example; nevertheless, they may well be tempted to return to the source. And today, as both the Bible and the person of Jesus are so often misappropriated, this can be no bad thing. The misuse of the Christian story raises Dr Wangerin's blood pressure like little else.

"It causes me deep anguish. George W. Bush, for instance, talks in terms of "the story', but not the whole story," he argues. He talks in terms of good and evil. And when he uses language like that, it resonates; so he persists: "That's evil. These are evil nations. That's an evil person.' In America, when you start talking like that you fall into one movie after another in which you have a hero who, because he's on the side of good, can multiply his evil deeds. This is a bastardisation of the story.

"If that story were genuinely told and true, even in the light of our President, there'd be greater nuance and a better interpretation of human existence than this flat divide between good and evil. And what Bush does, people do all the time.

"Telling the story well, however, must start in the Church. "Worshipping the proper Jesus means worshipping a paradox, which is always going to be a mystery," reflects the author. "And the mystery is this: that he was fully human ? he found himself involved in pimples and farts, and all the things which, if we elevate Jesus, we don't want to hear about ? and yet he was fully God."

We should not, he suggests, rush to ask: "What is truth?" but ?Who is truth?" And if we do, we will hold more lightly to the doctrines that divide, and more closely to the person in whom truth is found. It's a good argument for someone who has rewritten the story so creatively. But then, as he says, "It's not unlike listening to Bach's St Matthew Passion, on the one hand, and U2 on the other. Both are responding to their times out of faith.?

It's a sacred process for a man who believes that any good art has, somehow, been co-created by the artist with God. "There is something divine about writing anything that comes as a gift," he muses. It will come as a gift, too, to those eager to hear the greatest story ever told afresh.

Portrait of an Artist of Words

  With his imposing height and build, deeply etched face and taut ponytail, Walter Wangerin would be intimidating if not for his easy smile and welcoming eyes. He may be an internationally acclaimed writer who has won many awards for his 35 books, but his pastor's heart shines through. Interrupting his reading of his new book Jesus: A Novel at the London School of Theology, he warmly acknowledged the latecomers to the packed room and pointed out the few empty chairs at the front - even though they were too embarrassed to take them.

Narrative has been a deep part of Wangerin throughout his life (he's 61). The eldest of seven, he would tell stories to one of his brothers before going to sleep in their shared bed. His siblings were sporty and made the natural transition from watching sport to playing it, while he made what seemed to him the natural jump from reading stories to writing them. But, he says, his parents never looked over his shoulder, exclaiming: "Wow! What a sentence!" He adds, "Not many people come around cheering if you're writing as they do for a football or rugby game." Wangerin wrote his first story when he was in the equivalent of year three and his first novel in year eight. When he was 17 he had his first real encouragement when his creative writing teacher said: "Wangerin can write the eyes out of a turkey at 50 paces." He may not have known exactly what his teacher meant, but the words were burned into his memory.

It would be another 17 years before he would actually be published. He sent his first novel off to 20 publishers and received 20 rejections. His 21st publisher also rejected it, but wrote a long letter saying why. It was enough to give him hope; he promptly wrote back to the editor and began to revise. After two long years Harper & Row published The Book of the Dun Cow. It soon became a success, winning the 1980 US National Book Award and the New York Times Best Children's Book of the Year. Wangerin was a pastor at the time, caring for a poor African-American inner-city church in Evansville, Indiana, and living on a pittance - his family of six existed with the help of food stamps. The church was proud of his writing but never actually read the books. In fact, he says with a hint of regret, he didn't even attend the award ceremony for the National Book Award because some of his congregation said he shouldn't go. Walt Wangerin may be a Christian writer, but he says that not all his books declare his faith or demand that his readers be Christian. He tells the students of his creative writing classes (which he teaches along with theology and English at Valparaiso University in Indiana) that if they write honestly and truly - according to the deep, axiomatic truths whereby they interpret the world - then what they believe will become clear in what they write. "For who we are is apparent in what we do spontaneously.

" Much of so-called "Christian writing," he says, is just plain silly. It turns into "a ritual activity where writers feel they must say a prayer before they can write, for instance, instead of using the fullness of their intellect and imagination." He believes passionately that writers who are Christians have a responsibility to publish books of value, and he wants his faith not to be a prison but a freedom to explore the fullness of the human experience. As he says, "I will tell the truth of this existence - the story of people - without preaching." Following the international success of The Book of God (with over 1.5 million sold) and his novel on the apostle Paul, writing about Jesus might have seemed a natural next step. But Wangerin hadn't planned on it and only considered the project when asked by 20th Century Fox to write the book and screenplay for a forthcoming film. Negotiations broke down when they wanted to hold the copyright and Wangerin wouldn't agree. As he says, "It's just crap what Disney and other companies do with religious material, and I didn't want my book to be subject to that." But a solution was found at the suggestion of his US publisher, Zondervan, who recommended that he write the book first and Fox could purchase the option to make the film; this has since happened.

Does he anticipate criticism for writing a novel about Jesus? "It's not idolatrous," he responds, "because my character is not the Christ but a rendition. And the Bible is the Bible is the Bible, and I hope my readers share that understanding. After all, we change the Bible with our nativity pageants, because the wise men didn't get there for two years. And our preachers retell the Scriptural stories and introduce imaginative details. We've been doing this blessed, faithful and flexible retelling of our Saving Tale since the very beginning. If we cease to tell our story, others will take the power from us." Has writing this novel on Jesus made an impact on his faith? Yes and no. "My relationship with Jesus is bigger than all my art; it is deeper than all I can imagine. Faith is not a doctrine or a body of truths; it's trust. And so this relationship of trust between me and the incarnate Son of God is so much bigger because Christ is so much bigger. Certainly as I write I have been struck by insights that deepen my intimacy with God. But the same joy of discovery can happen when writing a sermon. By writing I give expression to my faith, but my faith is a durable thing that is larger than all of my poetry and prose."

His presentation draws to a close and individuals queue up to ask their burning questions. It's late and Walt is nearing the end of a busy week promoting his book, but there's no sign of exhaustion in his countenance. Rather, animation and the sheer joy of talking about writing, faith and movements that can change the world. To the outsider, it seems there's no place he would rather be.