Edward Cullen as a Christ Figure?

As any teenage girl in the United States knows, the Twilight Saga: Eclipse came out yesterday. No, I did not wait in line dresses as a vampire at a midnight showing. In fact, chances are I'll wait for the DVD to come out at Redbox before I view it.

Today I was flipping through a magazine* when I came across this advertisement:

I feel I should begin by saying that I have not read this book and therefore any conjectures of mine are independent from this work. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all for books about God. I think it's great to look for God amidst popular culture. I support finding themes and representations of Biblical images in all areas of life. I even approve of reading books like Twilight and drawing whatever moral conclusions are possible from it's pages (though I would argue that a book like Twilight is best used for it's entertainment value). All of that being said, I'm not sure I can support the comparison of Edward to Christ.

Okay, so they both will live forever and both love unconditionally - though Edward only loves one person in this way. And I suppose Edward sacrificed himself for Bella, though once again he's only thinking of one single person. In other words, Edward is selfish. This is probably what gets me the most. He's also a blood-thirsty vampire who has to constantly overcome his nature (i.e. his desire to eat people) in order to even associate with humans. I feel like Edward's abandonment of Bella is also very problematic if he is a Christ figure. I will close out this post by pointing out Bellas extremely unhealthy attachment to and dependency on Edward.

*Christian Century, May 4, 2010