I read Hammered by Kevin Hearne, which is quite bad! I was sort of planning on reading Story of a Soul next, which is something of a whiplash. But the copy that we have at the house is barely holding together, so I did not want to take that as the book to read on my lunch break, else it would get accidentally stained or fall apart in the car. So it was Bone: Quest for the Spark, Volume 2 for that day.
We’ll get to Story of a Soul sooner or later.
In other news, I started watching Warrior on Netflix. A bit different, but I have high hopes after the first episode. We’ll see!
On Jesus in Fiction
Hammered, which is the third book of Kevin Hearne’s Iron Druid Chronicles, is bad. I knew that going in. There’s a lot wrong with it, and hopefully one day I’ll expound on that better. We’re going to focus on one aspect, though: the inclusion of Jesus as a character. In a world where every mythology is true because people believe in them (yes, Hearne stole this almost wholesale from American Gods), Jesus is of course someone who may pop up. And he’s old drinking buddies with the protagonist.
Hooray.
I want to make it clear that my issue here isn’t, “This is an inaccurate depiction of Jesus! BLARGGLEFARG!” I mean, it isn’t, to be clear, but that’s not the issue I’m taking with the depiction of Jesus. It’s that Hearne made Jesus a character in his massive mythology crossover, and…. Tried to make Him into a chill dude who uses his power to do little party tricks. Benevolent party tricks, like giving people food and money, but not, like, people who are starving or anything. Just guys at the bar.
And this might have worked as a parody of Jesus, perhaps, but it’s clear that a parody is not what Hearne’s going for here. Very often, he’ll have Atticus, the narrator/protagonist, tell the audience about mythology or religion, and insist that he’s right, when most people are wrong about whatever topic. It’s like that guy or gal you know who talks about how, “Not a lot of people know this, but aKshuALLY ‘Ring Around the Rosie’ is about the Black Death!” And it’s not, by the way. Condescending about having superior knowledge that he picked up off the Internet or pop culture, while also being completely and demonstrably wrong.
I recognize that writing about Jesus in fiction (or nonfiction!) is hard; someone is going to be offended no matter what you do. The Chosen, for instance, has a Protestant minister and a Catholic priest as consultants, and so you can see them skillfully dodging any issues that might cause inter-denominational conflict. Like Jesus comes home and asks about two guys who Protestants generally consider His ‘brothers’, and Mary just mentions that they’re out of the house right now. Or the scene where Jesus has the whole ‘I will give you the keys to the Kingdom’ talk, is somewhat vague and can be read as given to Peter or to all of the Apostles. Doesn’t matter! Someone’s going to get offended, and I’ve seen some Catholics act like this was a spit in the face of the Church rather than a kind of obvious ‘We’re not going to face this issue head-on’ kind of thing.
[The “Pilot”/original Christmas special was filmed before Dallas Jenkins was working on The Chosen, for his church at Christmas time, so the depiction of Mary having birth pains was not something he had any reason to think anyone would find objectionable–he mentions how he didn’t realize Catholics would have a problem with this in one of the behind-the-scenes features on the first season.]
You also have Aslan, who is A) not an allegory, and B) an interesting, but I think very good depiction of Jesus in fiction, if not a fluffy one that I think a lot of readers really wanted. He is kind and merciful and noble, but He is also not tame. He doesn’t fit a lot of characters’ (or readers’!) expectations, and He will not hesitate to shame people if they’re doing the wrong thing. But He still forgives and lets people grow–the cast of The Silver Chair mess up pretty much all of His instructions, except the last one, and it doesn’t mean He disowns them, just that they need to learn from their mistakes, and can do His will even when they’ve fallen far away from what they’re supposed to be doing.
So yes, while I’d prefer for depictions of Jesus in fiction to be respectful and well-researched, I cannot say, “You have to do it to avoid offending people!” You will offend people no matter what you do with Him in the story.
The Problem with Hearne’s take on Jesus is that he’s just there to prop up Atticus as a character and validate his own views. Jesus pops in, tells Atticus that he’s his drinking buddy, and that he’s one of the few people who really gets him, you know? That people pray to him only when they want something, and he’s tired of that. That he’s so sick of people using him as an excuse to be a jerk. He also swears somewhat liberally, though not as much as Atticus himself, and helps the protagonist when he’s attacked by a group of evil Jewish wizard fanatics.
No, I’m not making that up. Kevin Hearne wrote a book published in 2011 with fanatical Jewish wizards as villains. I don’t get it, either. That’s a problem to cover another day.
Hearne is using Jesus the same way an idiot douchebag politician does–to prop up his own position as legitimate and a good cause. There is no depth, or care, or research involved–for Hearne in this book, Jesus is there to A) warn Atticus about the dangers of the Plot, B) protect him from physical harm, and C) assure us that this protagonist is a swell guy. After all, he hangs out with Jesus! This isn’t parody, either, and despite assurances by fans who have read later books in the series that we’re meant to find Atticus a little bit dickish at this point, Hearne’s done this before. In the previous book, Atticus (who is immortal) tells the audience pretty much out of nowhere that during World War II, he helped escort refugee Jewish families out of Europe, and that he was better at it than any of the other agents working on the same cause.
This is not how you introduce characters or Plot elements: to be quick references to make your characters sound like better people, as transparent symbols that the audience is supposed to like them. This is certainly not how you use Jesus as a character, either. Heck, The Chosen has Jesus be friendly and open to a lot of people who are seemingly painted in unflattering lights to the audience, because while it has its flaws, it has a better understanding of writing complex characters than Hearne ever did (although the bar is so low there).
More important, this is not how you put Jesus in a story. Look, I’m not going to demand sensitivity at all times, but I am going to demand weight. There’s a reason that Jesus doesn’t appear in the novel American Gods (though the anniversary edition has a deleted scene, towards the end), and only in the finale of the television adaptation: this guy is a Big Deal. Treating Jesus as if it’s just another vaguely nice guy with magic powers, and not being a parody, is just… it’s really dumb. You included the core figure of one of the most widespread and influential religions in human history, and the only thing you can think of to say with its, “Yeah, he thinks my wish fulfillment protagonist is cool.”
No. Please, no. Treat these topics with the appropriate weight; not necessarily making them serious, but making them impactful.
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