Here are the book club discussion questions we used for "The Oath," by Frank Peretti.
Once again our book club selected a book without readily available discussion questions online. Im jotting down the ones we used because "The Oath" made an incredible book pick! It's an oldie but a goodie. It's fast-paced enough to get readers to finish it. It's meaty enough to provide at least two solid hours of discussion. Lots of good stuff here!
1) What do you think the dragon was? Sin? Hell? Satan? A demon? Did you think it was a real, living creature as you read the book or something else?
2) What do you think the black, oozing rash was? What changed in the lives and minds of the residents of the town as the black rash progressed?
3) It appears that Frank Peretti had a checklist of the 7 deadly sins next to his typewriter as he wrote this book. What characters and behaviors can you think of that demonstrate:
-- envy
-- gluttony
-- greed or avarice
-- lust
-- pride
-- sloth
-- wrath
4) Why did the dragon grow over the 100 years? What changes in his behavior as he grows? How does the dragon's life mirror sin?
5) The town charter signed in 1882 is a declaration of what? What sin is represented in it? Did The Oath create the dragon or did the first Hyde merely discover it?
6) Why didn't the residents want the dragon killed if it was killing them?
7) Why was Jules Cryor eaten by the dragon?
8) What sins did Steve show?
9) Alexander Pop in his "Essays on Man" wrote:
Vice is a monster of so frightful mein,
As to be hated needs but to be see;
Yet, seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.
Can you see this description of behavior in the book?
10) What was Ron the pastor guilty of?
11) Did you chafe at the seeming incongruity of the order in which the dragon selected his victims? Weren't Harold Bly's sins worse than others? What does the say to you about the nature of sin and it's punishment?
