Touched by a Vampire – Book Summary
Touched by a Vampire
By: Beth Felker Jones / Summary by: Stacey Tuttle
Note: Check out our additional Twilight Series resources – click here!
INTRODUCTION:
Twilight’s themes of love, romance, sex, family, femininity and meaning are not only central to the stories, but central to our lives. Therefore, Beth Felker Jones writes this book to offer tools, guidance and help to deal with these themes Biblically.
Jones provides a brief synopsis of the stories for readers of her book who have not read the stories.
Though Jones believes Christians can draw good lessons from non-Christian stories, she is a bit cautious about claiming the Twilight series is moral simply because characters wait to have sex until marriage. She says she is “doubtful about the way themes of morality and goodness work in the Twilight Saga.”[1] However, her goal is not to tell readers what they should or shouldn’t read, but to give them the tools to evaluate for themselves which stories nourish them and which stories do not.
CHAPTER 1: FORBIDDEN FRUIT—THE ALLURE OF DANGEROUS ROMANCE
DANGEROUS ROMANCE
The Twilight Saga is defined by intense and dangerous romance. The cover with the forbidden red apple, the reference at the beginning to God instructing the humans not to eat of the tree of Knowledge of good and evil lest they die in Genesis 2:17, and the forbidden romance between Bella and Edward tends to romanticize the idea of indulging in the forbidden fruit. Jones however, reminds readers that the decision to disobey God in the garden was a fatal one and cautions against the tendency to romanticize forbidden fruit.
Another concern is that the romance between Edward & Bella is both private/hidden and illicit—against the laws of man and vampire. Christians are to live in community and in submission to Christ and to each other. Therefore, Christians are not supposed to be rogue agents. Their lives are not their own, nor are they entirely private. They ought to looking for accountability in the area of romance from other godly people, not shunning any and all counsel. In real life, attraction to bad boys often causes a lot of pain—especially when wise counsel is ignored.
CONSUMING ROMANCE
In the Bible, God warns strongly against idolatry (it’s even one of the 10 commandments). Therefore, “as Christians, we have to be immediately suspicious of…[a] romance that consumes our entire being.”[2] Not only is the romance between Bella and Edward all-consuming for them (the book uses words like obsessed and consumed as descriptors), it’s consuming for the readers/fans as well. In addition to the Bella/Edward obsession is the werewolf imprinting in which is described as being without choice or control (despite appropriateness or the damage it may cause others).
The idea of fated romance which the Twilight Saga propagates has some dangerous consequences.
- Possibilities of choice and accountability disappear—I’m bound by fate, not my good choices.
- Fate is the only advisor I need, so there is no need to seek wise counsel/advise from other Christians about romance in my life.
- The ideas of fate and soul mate trump honor and commitment—so if a person finds his/her soul mate they are free to follow them no matter who they leave behind (like Sam left Leah for Emily)
THINK ABOUT IT/TALK ABOUT IT (selected questions)
- Who can you turn to for accountability?
- Even with no vampires around, how can romance become dangerous in our lives?
- What would it look like for romance to be about glorifying God?
- Talk about the concept of the soul mate. Do you think it’s problematic? Does it hold power in your life?
CHAPTER 2: DAZZLED—HOW LOVE WORKS IN THE TWILIGHT SAGA
SATELLITE LOVE
Edward becomes the true center of Bella’s life and she exists in orbit around him, but “Christians need to raise questions about a picture of love that assumes another human being can complete us, can be the rightful center of our world… We’re setting ourselves up to…find a new ‘center’ the moment our human center disappoints us.”[3]
FRIENDSHIP AND LOVE
Bella’s love triangle between Edward and Jacob leads her to self-loathing. “Because she thinks love is supposed to be an all-consuming, irresistible force, she sees her love for both Edward and Jacob as deviant.”[4] In the soul mate ideology, it is deviant. But, if that model is wrong, then her complicated feelings are simply normal and love is really about “good, healthy choices to remain committed to another human being.”
LOVE CAN DESTROY
To compare love to an addictive substance which causes people to “react viscerally, to want nothing else in life but to possess and to consume,”[5] to compare love to a substance like heroine which eventually kills, is to make a very dark comparison. Jones cautions that “we shouldn’t view the destructive power of the love between Bella and Edward through rose-tinted glasses… Death should not be taken so lightly. Death is a terribly enemy, a monster that leaves grief in its wake.”
LOVE THAT ISN’T LOVE
Jones cautions that there are an alarmingly high number of parallels between Bella’s love for Edward and the relationships of girls/women who are victims of abuse. Key signs of abusive relationships:
- Possessiveness and jealousy
- Trying to control the partner’s behavior
- Becoming isolated from friends or family
- The man tends to be violent, to lose his temper
- Constantly checking up on the partner, always wanting to keep an eye on her
- Threatening to commit suicide if the partner leaves the relationship
Control and jealousy are signs of something dark and dangerous, not of great love. Furthering the eerie parallels to abuse victims, “Bella wants to belong to Edward, whatever the cost…[rationalizing] all kinds of dangers and threats as part of what it means to love him. The whole scope of the books is about her desire to die for him, and eventually she does.”[6] Bella wants to have Edward’s venom poison her system, she wants him to destroy her, and when he does, she hides the pain so he won’t know how much he hurt her.
LOVE THAT SACRIFICES
“Twilight is compelling [because] it shows a love that’s very different from the bland me-first love we so often see.”[7] Love in the Bible is sacrificial too, but in a very different way. “Bella’s sacrifice is doable because she sees her life as so very trivial. In contrast, Jesus’ sacrifice is of cosmic significance because of who He is as God. If we hope to imitate Christ’s sacrifice, we cannot despise what we are sacrificing… Real love happens between two people of value, not between a girl who thinks she is nothing and the boy is everything.”[8]
A DIFFERENT KIND OF LOVE
We love the idea of serious love that Twilight offers (versus the random hookup, one night stand). However, there is a better, healthier example of serious love, love that builds up, honors, protects and never disappoints. It’s the love of Christ.
THINK ABOUT IT/TALK ABOUT IT (selected questions)
- What do you want from love?
- Where do you get your ideals about love?
- What aspects of love, as described in the Bible (I Cor 13 for starters) are most compelling to you?
CHAPTER 3: BODY AND BLOOD—TWILIGHT’S TAKE ON ABSTINENCE AND SEX
LIVING IN TENSION
The sexual tension in the Twilight books is only heightened by the anticipation of their choice to wait till marriage (not lessened because they aren’t having sex) such that “reading the novels is still very much an erotic experience.”[9]
DELAYED GRATIFICATION
“While Edward and Bella wait for marriage, they wait in a way that is all too common among Christians. As they wait, they allow [and encourage] the tension between them to build… They push borders and boundaries and they create a situation in which they’re always longing for more than they can or ought to have.”[10] Unfortunately, this mirrors the way many Christian couples decide to wait “engaging in all kinds of sexual activities while trying desperately to save intercourse for marriage.”[11] This encourages “anguished desire instead of freedom from temptation” and often becomes a “wasted effort.”[12]
FAITHFULNESS
Waiting for sex until marriage isn’t just an arbitrary rule or an old-fashioned ideal (Edward’s rather lame motivation). Christians believe it’s because God wants good things, better things even for us than we would choose for ourselves. (Bella hints at this as she reflects on sex after her marriage.) Sex within marriage is a beautiful image of God’s faithfulness to us. In our consumer society, it’s easy to go from choosing a favorite food or movie to favorite person to love—so, in our culture, exhibiting purity and faithfulness are dramatic witnesses to who God is.
DONE WAITING
Once they are married, Bella and Edward consummate their marriage with much bruising and injury done to Bella, but she begs for more. “Sex is something so powerful that they both ignore the danger. Sex is portrayed as intimate, intense and dangerous… It’s a terrible shame if this wedding night story serves to glorify violent sex or to suggest that sex should involve danger if it is to be intense and exciting.”[13] God created sex to be loving and mutual, never violent.
A GOOD GIFT
Jones fears “for people who picture marriage as an endless pleasure party”[14] fantasizing about limitless indulgence. While sex is a good gift from God, it’s not about endless personal pleasure, it’s about “the inevitable give-and-take of two sinful people trying to love and be faithful to each other through all kinds of difficulties.”[15] While it can easily become selfish, it’s designed to work against selfishness.
THINK ABOUT IT/TALK ABOUT IT (selected questions)
- Do you have someone you can talk with honestly about the way “waiting” for sex does or doesn’t happy for you and your friends?
- How can intimacy without commitment cause pain? Reflect on Bella’s feelings after her wedding night.
- What are your expectations for sex within marriage?
CHAPTER 4: THE SUPERHERO AND THE GIRL NEXT DOOR—GENDER ROLES IN TWILIGHT
Jones examines the assumptions and stereotypes of masculinity and femininity which Twilight at times challenges and at others reinforces.
AN ORDINARY GIRL
Both strong and weak, Bella’s competency and self-reliance is off-set by her clumsiness and poor judgment. However, she is more aware of her weakness than her strength as she constantly puts herself down. Edward’s over-protectiveness only emphasizes her fragility and weakness and reinforces her negative views of herself.
EXTRAORDINARY GIRLS
Edward’s vampire sisters represent different feminine ideals. Alice represents spunk, energy, girliness, fashion and parties, confidence, power, and the perfect girlfriend and sister. Rosalie embodies beauty, commitment to family, desire for motherhood, fierce protection (like a mama-bear).
MEANING OF A GIRL’S LIFE
Bella defies many feminine stereotypes—she’s not into clothes, parties or marriage. But, the one frightening way she reinforces feminine stereotypes is the way she is willing to erase herself for Edward—not just being willing to die for him, but being willing to disappear completely into his shadow, so absorbed in who he is she loses who she is. But because she is rather ill-defined, with no passions, hobbies or interests to begin with, we don’t really realize how fully she does this (we don’t see her giving anything up). The frightening thing is how many real women in the world feel they have lost themselves and lost their voices.
STRONG PROTECTORS
Jacob and Edward are both natural leaders, attractive, protective (especially of Bella) and ready to go to battle against any enemy—things the Twilight series suggests are typically male. Jones also notes that the third option for Bella is never even considered: Mike, the ordinary nice boy who can’t compete with the two superheroes.
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
“Edward is an impossible ideal… No real man is a marble statue of perfection.”[16] Further, Bella leaves all responsibility for self-control and for saving her to Edward, rather than taking some of that responsibility too.
NOT-SO-SIMPLE STEREOTYPES
The self-erasure in Bella and the crazy demand to be superheroes like Edward and Jacob are both harmful gender stereotypes that are a result of sin and not what God wants for his people.
CREATED MALE AND FEMALE
The fact that God created male and female lets us know that there is a distinction between the two and that to understand what it means to be male or female we need to seek God and his intention. Jesus’ life challenged male stereotypes, redefining the ideal man as someone who serves, sacrifices is humble and is not a lover of violence.
THINK ABOUT IT/TALK ABOUT IT (selected questions)
- How do characters n the books perpetuate and/or challenge gender stereotypes?
- How can stereotypes cause harm?
- Sin clouds our vision. What are things we accept as “natural”? According to God’s word, are they?
CHAPTER 5: BASEBALL AND LOYALTY—TWILIGHT AND THE IDEAL FAMILY
“The beautiful, eternal family of vampires stands in stark contrast to the ordinariness and weakness of Bella’s [broken family].” [17]
FAMILY DISAPPOINTS
Not only does Bella have an unreliable mother and a distant dad, but she takes the parental role in many ways in her relationship with her parents. While some families are far worse than Bella’s and some are far better, the point remains that none are perfect and all disappoint at some time or another.
A BEAUTIFUL, ETERNAL FAMILY
Gifted, immortal, bonded together, faithful, loving, wise, caring, kind, willing to die for each other…the Cullens represent the ideal family Bella never had.
MORMON FAMILY HOPE
“For Mormons, eternal hope is linked with family… Salvation happens in, through, and for families. Eternal life is family life, continuous with family life as it is known here and now.”[18] And family life here and now is supposed to provide stability, protection and happiness. Meyers captures both the disappointing reality that family on earth can be and contrasts it with a “glittering image of a family that won’t disappoint.”[19]
GOD’S PERSPECTIVE ON WEAK AND ORDINARY THINGS
In I Corinthians 1:27-29 Paul says that God chooses weak and ordinary things of this world to shame the wise and strong. Humanity and flesh are weakness, yet God the Son chose to come to earth clothed in flesh and weakness, and therefore we have to approach this weakness differently. We don’t have to be perfect or ideal for God to do good work in us or our family. We can give grace to the imperfections of others and ourselves, knowing that because of Jesus our weakness can be used for God’s power.
HOPE IN THE BIBLE
We need Jesus and not a perfect family to save us. “God gives us strength through our ordinary lives, not instead of our ordinary lives.”[20] While God will help us be better people and families, our hope is in Him, not in the perfection of each other.
THE RIGHT PLACE FOR FAMILY
Our hope is in Jesus, not mankind—be that in a mate, child, family, parent, etc. And loving each other in our limited, broken humanness is a far better witness to God’s goodness and mercy than loving something perfect and unbroken. We don’t have to be perfect Cullens to know happiness and love.
THINK ABOUT IT/TALK ABOUT IT (selected questions)
- Has family been a disappointment to you?
- Are you tempted to “check out” of your family life when it disappoints and annoys?
- How can ordinary, weak people reflect God’s goodness to the world?
CHAPTER 6: FOR ETERNITY—THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE REALITY OF MARRIAGE IN TWILIGHT
“Why would a girl willing to become a vampire for her love balk at the prospect of marrying him?”[21]
MIXED FEELINGS
Bella’s mother predisposed her to associate marriage (especially early marriage) with reduced opportunities, senseless tradition, an option that is beneath her intelligence, and something you only do because you get pregnant. Edward however believes you marry for love, commitment, the desire to be bound to another.
However, they agree to marry and “marriage is the condition and, in some ways, even the cause of her moving from ordinary to extraordinary, dissatisfaction to happiness, awkward teenager to gorgeous goddess.”[22] Jones notes that these are “high expectations to place on marriage!”[23]
DESPISING MARRIAGE
Our modern resistance to marriage is often due to a desire for increased opportunities and freedom for career, education, financial gain, etc. But this assumes freedom is being free from other people, responsibilities and commitments as they might interfere with our individual desires. It also assumes the highest opportunities are those which offer money, power, advancement and prestige.
Christian freedom is different; it’s freedom to love and serve Him first and others second (not the freedom to love and serve ourselves first and only). And Christian opportunity is that which allows us to have truly good and abundant lives, full of purpose and free from sin and selfishness. “This means that worry about lost freedom or reduced opportunity isn’t a Christian reason to avoid marriage.”[24]
Bella also looks down on marriage as being too ordinary/common/mundane for her extraordinary love. (Jones notes that Bella has a tendency to look down an ordinary human life.) In response, Jones reminds us that God loves and uses the ordinary, common and the mundane for his glory.
ROMANTICIZING MARRIAGE
Bella’s utter transformation once she is marriage presents a dangerous suggestion, that she needed marriage to be fulfilled—a thought which is all too common among women. Happiness and fulfillment are to be found in God alone and not a mate or our dreams of marriage.
ANOTHER POSSIBILITY
The concept of a significant and important single life is largely missing in our culture. Singleness is not a holding pattern, nor do our lives only begin once we are married. It is a special time to love and serve God and grow in our relationship with Him…and sometimes it’s a permanent calling.
THE GOOD OF MARRIAGE
God works good things through marriage: faithfulness between married couples, children, directing people to God. Marriage is tough and requires constant dying to self and dependence on God. The good of marriage isn’t just for the people involved, but is a witness to others of God’s love, goodness and faithfulness.
THINK ABOUT IT/TALK ABOUT IT (selected questions)
- What are the dangers of looking down on marriage? Of focusing all your dreams on marriage?
- Do you know inspiring Christian singles? Inspiring Christian marriages?
CHAPTER 7: MONSTER SPAWN OR PRECIOUS CHILD?—CHILDREN IN THE TWILIGHT SAGA
THE BABY WHO EATS HER ALIVE
Bella gets pregnant on her honeymoon with a vampire/human cross breed whose existence is killing her. While the men in Bella’s life (Edward, Jacob and even Carlisle) are determined to abort the baby to save Bella, she refuses, willing to sacrifice her own life for her baby. The birth scene is gruesome and grisly, but in the end, the baby lives and Bella’s life is saved by becoming a vampire.
LOVING LIFE
It is increasingly common for mothers to be advised to have abortions in the cases of babies who are “abnormal” in one way or another (as in Bella’s case). But the Christian approach to life is based on the fact that God is the creator of life, and commands us to protect life, especially those who are most vulnerable and defenseless.
PREGNANCY, CHILDBIRTH, AND MOTHERHOOD
While some fears about the effects of pregnancy and motherhood on our bodies, lives, freedoms are natural, Jones feels that “it’s hard to imagine a more terrifying portrait of pregnancy than the one we find in the Twilight Saga.[25] According to the Bible, motherhood is both a calling and a privilege—a gift from God. Twilight tends to focus on the two extremes, the glory and romantic ideal of motherhood, and the pain and horror of it. It’s an extreme situation, an extreme birth, painful and deadly, and yet, on the other hand, she has an unusual child who skips right over normal infant baby stages and is a perfect child with an adult-like nature. The normalcy of daily mother duties, dirty diapers, constant feedings, crying, drooling messes… these are not a part of the story.
LOVING CHILDREN
Three themes to shape our thinking and actions about children:
- Children are an important gift from God. (Therefore, giving birth/parenting is neither our right, nor the most important thing. God is. He will grant life or not according to his good will.)
- God places parents and children in a relationship that is supposed to be good for children and teach them about God.
- Jesus treasures children and shows us that there is something about them which reflects his kingdom.
CHILDREN OF GOD
Despite the good or bad of our biological families, we have the right, through Jesus, to become sons and daughters of God and members of the family of believers.
THINK ABOUT IT/TALK ABOUT IT (selected questions)
- Does the idea of motherhood lead you to romantic daydreams or terrifying fears?
- Does Bella’s story change the way you think about Christian attitudes toward life and societal attitudes toward abortion?
CHAPTER 8: INHUMAN STRENGTH—TWILIGHT AND THE GOOD LIFE
The Cullen’s striving against their thirst for blood has implications for the way we think about good and evil and implies we can hope to live lives that matter.
VEGETARIAN VAMPIRES
The desire to drink human blood is so strong that the Cullens’ self-restraint is extremely impressive.
VIOLENCE
The vegetarian vampires in Twilight know that clans whose relationships are held together with violence have tenuous bonds, easily broken. Violence destroys compassion and trust and any ability to form close ties with others. And yet, despite the Cullens’ rejection of violence, it is still a large part of the stories and assumed to be the natural response to threats. Compare this to Christ who, though everyone expected him to lead a bloody rebellion, died on the cross as the Prince of Peace. Jones encourages readers to think about how violence damages our world and how we can be representatives of God’s love and peace.
RESISTING WHAT THEY’VE BECOME
He didn’t ask to become a vampire, but Carlisle decided to do the best he could with the lot he was given by trying to save others through his medical skills, etc. He isn’t sure if it will make a difference, he thinks he is likely damned, but he hopes there is a point to his life.
HUMAN NATURE AND HUMAN EFFORT
The idea that we can overcome our own dark nature and any undesirable destiny is a dangerous one. We will be futilely trying to dig ourselves out of holes which only God can rescue us from. The Cullens hope to be rewarded for their hard work (this echoes Mormon theology). Christians hope to be rescued from their sinful nature, knowing they cannot change it. Their hope is in Jesus, not their good works.
GRACE, GRACE, GRACE
Despite our failings, God gives us grace to save, transform, and make us truly good.
THE GOOD LIFE
Christians believe the good life is something we live, not through our own efforts, but through the gift of God.
THINK ABOUT IT/TALK ABOUT IT (selected questions)
- What are the key differences between the good life in the Twilight Saga and the good life God promises in Scripture?
- In what ways is your life affected by constant effort and striving?
CHAPTER 9: MY TRUE PLACE IN THIS WORLD—BELLA’S SEARCH FOR PURPOSE
Bella’s struggle to find her place in the world and meaning in her life is something most readers identify with.
TROUBLE BEING HUMAN
Bella think she doesn’t really belong anywhere and is nothing special. She distains her humanity, her age/aging and her overall ordinariness. But, the Bible says we are made in God’s image. Jones reminds readers what a valuable claim this is. It means we have purpose and meaning as humans.
WANTING SOMETHING MORE
The longing for something more lets us know that something isn’t right. We are eagerly waiting for the day when we shall be transformed and reunited face to face with Christ.
TRANSFORMATION
Bella’s transformation into vampire ends her struggles with herself. She is now beautiful, graceful, extraordinary and she has found purpose, meaning and happiness. She says it was like she was born to be a vampire. She is finally what she was made to be, more fully herself than ever before.
HOPE FOR CHANGE
Christians have hope for change too. Our resurrected bodies will be set free from weakness, death and sin so we can worship God without hindrance, the thing we were created to do. And because there is continuity, because it is still our very self that is resurrected and perfected, it means God’s purpose for us isn’t only in the future, it begins now and is perfected in the future. God redeems these bodies, these selves and His ultimate purposes for us are continuous with who we are and His current purposes for us.
THINK ABOUT IT/TALK ABOUT IT (selected questions)
- Spend a few minutes thinking about the truth that human beings are created in the image of God. List some ways this should change the way we think about our own lives and the lives of all humans.
- What are the features of Bella’s transformation? Which ones might help us think better about Christian hope?
CHAPTER 10: PASSION FOR GOD—THE POWER OF DESIRE IN TWILIGHT AND IN REAL LIFE
LOOKING FOR LOVE (IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES)
Desire is a strong theme in Twilight. Most notably, Bella’s desire for Edward is so strong it nearly destroys her life. The danger is that no one human can fully meet another’s needs. Additionally, it leads to idolatry. When we become Christians, God changes our desires for sin to desires for the things of God.
WHAT WE WANT
Augustine wrote that there are two ways to love something: a love of use, or a love of enjoyment. Love of enjoyment belongs only to God because he is the only thing in which we can truly delight and be content (content with it as it is). Love of use is loving something because it does what it’s meant to do. He says we get loving wrong, thinking all of life that is really meant to love God and help us love God better, is meant to fulfill us instead.
PASSION FOR GOD
God doesn’t want to dampen or delete our passions/desires, he wants to transform them so that, “instead of longing for all kinds of stuff that disappoints, we can pour our love out on the one thing that will truly satisfy.”[26]
THINK ABOUT IT/TALK ABOUT IT (selected questions)
- Describe Augustine’s idea that there are two kinds of love. Does his explanation give you insight into your own life?
- What would your life look like if your love story were first about loving God? What unexpected things might God do?
EPILOGUE: JESUS THE LIGHT
The titles of the Twilight Saga are all about light and dark: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn. The Scriptures are full of promises about the light that Jesus brings. Jesus is the light and only He can satisfy all your desires and giving you lasting hope.
BOOK BY BOOK DISCUSSION GUIDE
Jones’ book by book discussion guide is “mean to get you thinking and talking about the events and characters in the books and your own reactions to them.
Don’t forget to check out additional Twilight Series resources – click here!
[1]Jones, Beth Felker. Touched by a Vampire. Colorado Springs: Multomah Books, 2009.
[2] Ibid., 20.
[3] Ibid., 31.
[4] Ibid., 33.
[5] Ibid., 35.
[6] Ibid., 39.
[7] Ibid., 40.
[8] Ibid., 41.
[9] Ibid., 48.
[10] Ibid., 49.
[11] Ibid., 50.
[12] Ibid., 50
[13] Ibid., 57.
[14] Ibid., 59.
[15] Ibid., 60.
[16] Ibid., 74.
[17] Ibid., 82.
[18] Ibid., 88.
[19] Ibid., 90.
[20] Ibid., 94.
[21] Ibid., 98.
[22] Ibid., 100-101.
[23] Ibid., 101.
[24] Ibid., 103.
[25] Ibid., 122.
[26] Ibid., 168.