The Twilight Gospel: The Spiritual Roots of Stephenie Meyer's Vampire Saga

by Dave Roberts

Stephenie Meyer's series has become a huge cult hit. The first film, "Twilight", was released November 2008; the second, "New Moon", will be released November 2009, with two more to follow. The level of interest has been compared to the "Harry Potter" phenomenon. Dave Roberts considers the power of the novels and the appeal of the self-disciplined vampire Edward. He brings to bear a biblical lens, showing that while there are important moral and spiritual lessons to be learned, there is also a naive promotion of vampire mythology and the cult of beauty. The central point of the book is to help teens (and their parents) discern what is good from what is unhealthy, helping to create robust, biblically literate young adults.

Genres: Nonfiction, Religion

160 pages, Paperback

First published December 23, 2009

Reviews

[BookMarc]

I have an alarm clock that is an effigy of former British Prime-minister John Major. Each night I will set the alarm and each morning I am awoken to his monotone voice blasting out, "Will the right honorable member, please rise?". I've never had a problem with my honorable member rising first thing of a morning, or anytime for that matter, but I digress. The way to shut Mr Major up is to pick up the clock and throw it at the wall or just smack his head against a hard surface at which point he sheepishly utters, "Oh dear!". If my John Major clock could read this book he would no doubt utter the same words as when he is thrown at the wall.
I've never read any of the Twilight novels or watched any of the movies and I was thinking that this book might be a steppingstone to actually taking the plunge and seeing what all the fuss is about. After trudging through the Meyer (mire/Meyer...fine, I thought it was smart anyway) of this offering I think I'll give it a permanent miss.
So where did 'The Twilight Gospel' go wrong?
Well, if you are a fan of the Twilight series of novels you will probably find most of this book irrelevant as it is steeped in explanations of the movie. Pages and pages and pages are devoted to summarizing various scenes before the author uses only a fraction of that amount of space to make a connection with spirituality. At a guess I would say at least 70% of the book is a summary of the Twilight novels. When the link to spirituality (and by spirituality we're talking Christianity) is made it's more to do with the author's opinion than any outright fact. A perfect example of this would be to point out that Mr Roberts first uses biblical scripture as evidence seventy-six pages into the book...just a couple of pages short of being exactly at the halfway point.
Thankfully this was a quick read and the writing itself is of a high standard although I found it to be lacking personality and to be very monotone in the delivery of the opinions it was giving. As such I certainly would not recommend this book and will leave the final words to my John Major clock...
"Oh dear!"

[Kaylea]

Initially, I’ll admit, I held off reading any of the Twilight books. Then, I was sucked into (pun intended) to reading at least the first book, simply to find out what my students were talking about.

I’ll be honest, while the saga isn’t my favorite, there was something in the books that made me keep reading. If anything, Stephanie Myers has created a series of books that have redefined things related to love, friendship and teenage angst.

So, when I was offered a chance to review The Twilight Gospel, I jumped at the chance. I was interested in seeing what Roberts found in the Twilight saga – beyond the obvious themes of sex and occult - and how he related it to the gospel.

I’ll admit, several of the things Roberts pulled out, made me stop and re-examine both what I think about the novels and the ideas my students may be taking away from the books, especially when he talks about themes of commercialism/consumerism, beauty and free will.

Agree with Roberts or not, his small but mighty work will cause you to examine the themes of Twilight beyond the love triangle of Bella, Edward and Jacob.

[Yvonne Powderly]

Following the popular, yet controversial, Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, The Twilight Gospel by Dave Roberts is an overview of the different ideas and values that Stephenie Meyers promotes. Roberts identifies different themes in the Twilight books and examines them from a Christian perspective.

A short book with clearly defined chapters, it takes no time to read.

Roberts points out that though the Twilight books promote sexual relationships, physical beauty, and the idea that these things lead to perfection, there are also other themes throughout, e.g. compassion, family…..

A good book for parents, interested teen and teachers as it contains some interesting discussion points.

[Giselle]

I won this book through goodreads first-reads!
I think this is a good book for parents who might be questioning whether or not to let their teenagers read the Twilight series, but as an adult reader of the series, The Twilight Gospel did not bring forth new material or ideas for me. It does, however, contain some interesting discussion points that would be fun to chat about with other fans.

[Cara]

let the sexy vampires be hot and rich god damn it

[Margaret Chind]

Having read and enjoyed the Twilight Saga, and then reading a different author's take on the idea of Touched by a Vampire: Discovering the Hidden Messages in the Twilight Saga I was hesitant to read this one. However, this was a refreshing book. Dave Roberts not only covers the parts that are temptation but also the parts that show a ray of hope and light. This book in more in line with my opinions and thoughts on the Saga series. I recommend it if you are searching for spiritual thoughts in a manner of "what's a Christian to do with..."

[Freda Mans-Labianca]

The Twilighters out there may or may not appreciate this book. There is a significant amount of opinion in it. The non-Twilighters may enjoy it since it contains spoilers to the next in line.
This book was a hard pill for me to swallow. I am not a Twilighter, though I did enjoy the movies. I am Christian, but don't see the connection in the book other than the authors own opinion. So for me, this was a pretty boring, but quick read.
It doesn't get any more honest than that. Sorry for the not so fond review.

[Misty Phelan]

This book is well written and focuses on the subject at hand. However, I still think it is a vain attempt at making money off the Twilight hype. If you are looking for the connections, be them religious or otherwise you are bound to find them.

[Michelle Daniher]

boring

[Jamie]

I also won this book from goodreads and will write back later.

[Laura Hartness]

Reading for @LitFuse review.