TOPICS AND QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSING J.R. LANKFORD'S THE JESUS THIEF:
The following are intended to enrich your conversation and help your reading group find new and interesting ways to approach this novel.
Note: Some of the following questions are spoilers that reveal the plot of The Jesus Thief. For your own enjoyment of the novel, please don't read the questions until you've read the book.
1. The DNA in the Shroud blood is, in fact, too degraded to be used, but we will soon have the technology to clone anyone, including the dead whose genes have survived. The legal debate has divided into three main camps: 1) Ban reproductive cloning 2) Ban reproductive cloning, but permit cloning for therapeutic purposes, and 3) Ban human cloning in all forms. What is your opinion? Since it's unlikely that all countries will ban human cloning, what challenges does this emerging technology present to the world?
2. The Jesus Thief is peppered with sumptuous descriptions. What were some of your favorite settings? How did the settings, both interior and exterior, help you to envision the events that happen in them?
3. How did Lankford's use of classical literature, historical fact, and more recent world events deepen her characters? Did you enjoy this aspect of the novel? Did the medical and scientific content make the novel's premise seem real?
4. In chapter one, we see Dr. Felix Rossi torn by a very personal crisis. What was its real source? Could you sympathize with his dilemma? Why or why not?
5. How did you feel about Maggie and her attention to fashion when you first met her? What details clued you in to the rest of her personality? Did you find Maggie endearing or not at the story's beginning? Did Sam's perspective on her (pages 45-48) add anything to your assessment? And what did you learn that expands or alters your opinion of her as the novel progresses?
6. When you first met him, what was your opinion of Sam and his view of life? What influenced Sam's opinion of Maggie more, his background as a merchant seaman or his relationship with his mother?
7. On page 90, Maggie gives Felix her interpretation of race and its influence on identity. Felix's reaction: "He looked at her as if she'd said something indecipherable." Why does Felix look at her that way? What are some implications of Maggie’s views?
8. On pages 65-66, Maggie is able to speak her mind to Sam because they're both in the serving class, while Sam is not permitted to tell Felix to watch his tone with Maggie because Felix is their superior. Does this class-based relationship between the "wealthy" and those "of modest means" signify anything in the context of the novel? How do the relationships between Felix and Maggie, Felix and Sam change, and why? Do you think it's possible for people of such different backgrounds to find common ground and remain loyal to one another in real life?
9. At the end of the letter that Felix's father wrote, disclosing the Rossi past, his father confides, "The truth is I love all of you more than any religion, any God, more than my own life. For you, I would risk the wrath of heaven and do the same again." How do those two statements encapsulate the theme of "love one another" that runs through The Jesus Thief?
10. What are some examples of Felix's debates with Roman Catholicism and with religion? How do you feel about the way he uses religion, on the one hand, to justify his scientific pursuits (likening himself to Moses, for example), but discounts elements of Catholicism (such as his rejection of the Church's position that pre-embryos are alive) -- all in the name of cloning Jesus?
11. Should ethical stances and religious belief guide scientific inquiry? Or must science be guided by its own rule of testing informed hypotheses to increase knowledge?
12. Mr. Brown was driven by fears based on an astrological prediction. In your opinion, why are astrologers still consulted by powerful people (e.g., Nancy Reagan and Princess Diana)?
13. Do you understand Adeline's reaction to Felix's request? Or should she be prepared to do anything to help the brilliant man she loves, like Frances puts aside her doubts at first to help her beloved brother? Which character's response do you admire more, Adeline's or Frances's, and why?
14. Why was Felix confused to realize that Adeline had loved him for so long? How would a clinical, monk-like man like Felix fall in love? How would Felix define love? Does his definition change over the course of the story and what makes it change?
15. What motivates Maggie when she goes to Felix and volunteers for his project? Would you say that her belief system is the same as Felix's? In what similar ways do they arrive at their conclusions? What are the differences between Maggie and Felix?
16. Sam Duffy isn't as religious as Felix Rossi. How would you compare their behavior in moral terms?
17. A wide variety of views about sexual intimacy and passion exist side-by-side in this novel. What are some of them, and how do conflicting views of the importance of sex influence the plot?
18. Coral steps into the story at a crucial moment to warn Sam that Mr. Brown knows everything. Do you think Coral loves Sam? Would she give up the financial perks of her life to be with him?
19. Sam is not an obvious good guy for the first half of the book. What qualities does he have that prepare you for his change of allegiance?
20. Felix protests that Maggie can't carry the clone because her mitochondrial DNA is African, not Semitic. Before that, though, he'd asked Adeline, a woman of Anglo-Saxon descent. In another scene, Sam uses Maggie's status as a black maid to keep Jerome Newton's attention from her, with Sam assuming, correctly, that Newton's inherent racism would prevent him from realizing that Maggie was the modern-day Mary. Given these negative examples, how is race a positive influence in the plot? What helpful perspectives does Maggie bring to her ordeal that come from her experience as a black woman?
21. The characters in The Jesus Thief reach critical moments where they act on their principles, dreams or desires. What are some of these moments? How are some of the characters changed by what they believe and what they do? What actions in life change our being? What internal moments change us?
22. One of Lankford's main points in The Jesus Thief is that avowing a religious creed can be different from actually loving people, which is what religion asks us to do. In the book, Felix has a reversal during the birth scene, a pivotal turning point for him. After that, he doesn't care if he was born Roman Catholic or Jewish, he only cares about the welfare of the people he loves. Did you expect Felix to make this change? Was his turning point believable? How does the novel's climax show the characters acting out Lankford's theme of "love one another"?
23. Another example of Lankford’s “love one another” theme is Felix’s father’s descripton of how the Italian people saved so many Jews from the Nazis . In WWII Italy, a willingness to love and a distrust of government and rules saved lives, but Italy also has a high a mortality rate from traffic accidents because, as Felix’s father mentioned in his letter, “In Italy, a red traffic light is only a suggestion.” The Italian distrust of government and rules has both positive and negative effects. Must this always be the case for any trait?
24. Lankford fashioned her three main characters, Felix, Maggie and Sam, to represent the three aspects of human existence: mind, body and spirit. Which aspect does each represent and how do their behaviors and world views play out each theme?
25. What did you think of the author's depiction of the miraculous in a novel otherwise grounded in physical reality?
26. One of Sam’s concerns was the spread of AIDS in Africa. Do you feel the rest of the world
has an obligation to help poor countries threatened with major disaster from acts of nature, famine, or disease?
27. If you could ask the author one question about this novel, what would you ask?
If you use these questions in your book club or to guide your own reading, we'd like to hear from you. Please send your comments and any additional questions you create to us at guide@greatreadsbooks.com
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