Whatever happened to Christian fiction?

[GracieRuth]

I am a collector of stories. They are my secret treasures, the flowers in my heart's garden. I enjoy fiction coming from a wide variety of cultural and religious points of view. My bookshelves contain anthologies from the Islamic world, Zen stories, Chinese folk tales, Native American myths, etc. I even am in love with Ursula le Guin, which is saying something because she's a secular humanist and secularism is the hardest POV for me to relate to.

Let me also say that I'm a long time lover of Christian fiction. JRR Tolkien's LORD OF THE RINGS is carefully enshrined, just below my Jewish books. I call it "my OTHER bible." The LOTR is clear evidence that christians are certainly capable of writing the best possible literature.

Now let's contrast this with the movie I just watched: TIME CHANGER. As a teacher, I give it a D-. The only reason it doesn't get an F is because it does raise the intriguing question: can the moral values of a religion be taught apart from the religion? A story can be incredible (sci fi, fantasy, etc) but it must be believable or it's trash. In the TIME CHANGER, thee characters are canned. The scenes feel contrived -- they are written to an obvious agenda. This movie is so devoid of depth that I would be embarrassed if I were a Christian.

And I have to say that all the recent stuff I've seen written by christians is just as hokey -- consider THIS PRESENT DARKNESS and its series of "tell all the scary last days stories you ever heard from a pulpit." In one word, christian fiction in the 21st century is TRIPE. Come on! Story telling is an art. You can't just throw together a plot that addresses the trendiest issues of the evangelical world and think it's automatically going to WORK as a story.

I would like to ask the Christians in the room, why does your faith community allow this SLOP to be published? I realize there are plenty of really awful aspiring authors in every group--but no where else do I see the publishers taking them seriously. The only thing I can think of is that they publish it because YOU BUY IT. I have a theory, and I want to run it by the Christians here, especially the Evangelicals (where the dearth of imagination seems to be the worst). In the TIME CHANGER, the main character twice makes the statement that good scientists should make sure their science agrees with the Christian Bible, as if THAT is what makes for good science -- which is nonsense. In an analogous idea, do you Christians think that any writing that has an altar call and a warning about the imminent return of Jesus is what MAKES good literature? And what would happen if a Christian just wanted to write stories for stories' sake? Would they be seen as valued assets to the Christian community, or would they be considered odd? Is imagination no longer valued unless it's used in the service of evangelism? And do you even realize that when your community produces literary garbage that it comes back against you in the long run, with no one taking you seriously?

I hope everyone realizes this is not an anti-christian thread, but an anti-bad-writing thread.

 

[arbygil]

I've actually argued this point for a very long time; I know most Christian fiction is dross. Also, Christian fiction today is written for one audience: Christians. Authors want to write books that get published in bookstores, so they'll end up publishing weak sauce novels that don't upset the Christian constituency. You can't write a blatantly Christian book and expect it to be placed anywhere but the religious section of the bookstore - or in the Christian bookstores. Christian books are a genre like Harlequin romance books, and "you don't break genre" if you want to be published.

But that's not doing anything new, or being creative with your talents. It's not breaking the mold and being original.

What I'd really like to see are more creative Christians. We don't have many who are willing to stretch those boundaries and who - God forbid - actually show real life happening. The closest people who might stretch the boundaries today are Walter Wangerin (Book of the Dun Cow) and others who are known as writers first, and Christians if you push them (Anne Rice, Stephen King). I think it's important to be a Christ-follower first and a writer second but you have to ignore all the people telling you what you "should" write because you're a Christian; you have to write because you know you're a Christ-follower, and you're following Him (not people). I think that's part of the problem. Also, there's a lot of people who want to just get published and they know that even if they write crap they can still be published if they follow a certain formula. It depends, I guess, if you want to be formulaic and published, or if you want to publish because writing gives you pleasure and you know writing's what you were born to do.

 

[GracieRuth]

Steven King is a christian? (blink... blink...) Wow. Well that's cool for you guys. I especially like his earlier stuff. Not all his writing is great, but hey he is a cut above.

I'm googling as I'm writing, and here is a Christianity Today artical about Stephen King. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/march6/31.82.html Sadly, you won't find any of Stephen King's books places like christianbooks.com Why isn't he recognized as a Christian author? I guess I'm reasking my quesiton about whether authors with real imagination are accepted by fellow christians as being of value or considered odd.

 

[arbygil]

Steven King is a christian? (blink... blink...) Wow. Well that's cool for you guys. I especially like his earlier stuff. Not all his writing is great, but hey he is a cut above.

I'm googling as I'm writing, and here is a Christianity Today artical about Stephen King. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/march6/31.82.html Sadly, you won't find any of Stephen King's books places like christianbooks.com Why isn't he recognized as a Christian author? I guess I'm reasking my quesiton about whether authors with real imagination are accepted by fellow christians as being of value or considered odd.

I think it's cultural, actually. In the United States and maybe the West in general, there is a Christian stigma. You have to look the part (and I'd say pretend) to act the part. If you're outside the mold you're considered heretical and therefore "not holy". But there are actually very odd (re: fun) genres of Christian fiction that you'd never see in a typical Christian bookstore, like Christian horror.

Now, I've never read Mike Duran's stuff, but he has a compelling argument why Christian fiction is as bad as it is. But he's right. Christians seem to want to look and act a certain way, so reading "certain types" of fiction is supposed to (wrongly) indicate this. It feels like a 1950s bubble. Living in that world, however, leaves a lot lacking and prevents the truth from actually coming out. If Dante's Inferno had been published today, you'd never see it in Christian bookstores.

 

[willow]

I think it's cultural, actually. In the United States and maybe the West in general, there is a Christian stigma. You have to look the part (and I'd say pretend) to act the part. If you're outside the mold you're considered heretical and therefore "not holy". But there are actually very odd (re: fun) genres of Christian fiction that you'd never see in a typical Christian bookstore, like Christian horror.

Now, I've never read Mike Duran's stuff, but he has a compelling argument why Christian fiction is as bad as it is. But he's right. Christians seem to want to look and act a certain way, so reading "certain types" of fiction is supposed to (wrongly) indicate this. It feels like a 1950s bubble. Living in that world, however, leaves a lot lacking and prevents the truth from actually coming out. If Dante's Inferno had been published today, you'd never see it in Christian bookstores.

I think you hit the nail on the head. Western Christianity is currently more concerned with being acceptable than being faithful and so it has lost the courage to take risks and create works of astounding beauty.

BTW, [MENTION=4576]GracieRuth[/MENTION]. You answered your own question regarding evangelical fiction and good writing. LOTR and the Chronicles of Narnia are both examples of evangelical fiction of high quality. Shakespeare though not a modern writer is a great example of a Christian whose writing wasn't evangelical though it pointed to great moral truths so, a Christian doesn't have to write Christian books.

 

[Gaze]

I've always enjoyed Christian romance fiction, at least the one's such a Grace Livingston Hill which my mother used to read. But it's been a while since I read any. I don't think there is a lack of creativity in Christian writers. I think they are constrained by the way the genre is defined. Maybe when they try to publish creative fiction, they are rejected, so they default to the formulaic stories. But I'm sure they're out there but it's probably not the same as Christian fiction from the past when there was regard and appreciation of Christian themes in literature. Growing negativity towards Christianity as a faith makes it difficult for Christian-themed novels to be widely accepted. I also think that some of the literature tends to be a bit too romantici ed or idealistic and doesn't really address realities of being a Christian today. Fiction today, has to be relatable. I think this is why Christian nonfiction is more popular since there is inclusion of personal experience and how to apply Christian principles to those experiences.

I also think there are writers in the fantasy genre, but because their work is not easily considered "Christian", a novel may not be recogni ed as having that theme or focus.

 

[GracieRuth]

arbygil!

Brava! Excellent artical. I followed it to "Why My Novel Will Not Sell," and ended up purchasing Athold Dicksons's Novel "The Opposite of Art." If nothing else is accomplished by this thread, it is officially successful because you led me to a new novel to read.

I can't beleive I just spent $13 (1/3 of it on shipping) for a USED PAPERBACK. Yigads!

 

[Lexi Schmidt]

I am a Lutheran myself, and write non-religious books. Of course, Lutherans tend to be a bit more relaxed than Christians, but we still are partially the same. I totally agree with what you said about this writing will come back and "bite us in the butt". And looking at some of the work in that section, it makes me embarrassed. And it takes a lot for that to happen! I wish people would just develop their own ideas, so many books out there are re-writes of each other! Some are completely creative, but it is seldom when I find such.
Unfortunately, all genres have some authors that get trapped in the completely non-inventive rut. Like the whole vampires thing. It was great at first, I admit. But after the first hundred (maybe a bit exaggerated) vampire books, they got incredibly old and boring. Seriously, if you've read two, you've read them all. Especially the fairy trap we are falling into now!

 

[GracieRuth]

Growing negativity towards Christianity as a faith makes it difficult for Christian-themed novels to be widely accepted. .

I can understand this. The anti-religious sentiment of the left does seem to express a particular hatred for Christianity. However, I wanted to commented upon your use of the phrase "Christian themed."

I think that upon reading the replies to my quesiton, and the URL's suggested, that there is a difference between what some people call "Christian themed" and other christians think. I consider Tolkien's work to be deeply catholic, expressed in the Middle Earth which he creates. But if you aren't very familiar with catholicism, I can see where one might miss that, because it is what I think of as DEEP catholicism: the power of the small, the sacrifice of the one, the people set apart, etc. But it lacks the "trappings" of superficial catholicism: prayers said to saints and archangels, seven deadlies, etc. The LOTR is not a catechism lesson. Anyhow, to return to the main idea, what appears to be happening is that there is a strong subsection of the Christian world who think that "Christian themed" means a virtual altar call. This is what Athol Dicksen had to say:

Christian fiction market in particular not only want all the questions answered in the end, they also seem to want the answers to include a message, a moral, or even #shudder# a clear doctrinal statement. http://www.novelrocket.com/2011/09/why-my-novel-will-not-sell.html

Here are some of the "Christian Themes" that today's audience LOOKS for:

• Warnings about traditional "religion"
• Warnings about the Last Days
• Demeaning of scholars and intellectuals as being arrogant
• Warnings about churches filled with mediocre christians and an implicit attack on Mainline churches and Catholicism #or preferably a direct attack on Catholicism# -- a general paranoid idea that most of those who say they are Christians aren't "real" Christians.
• An assumption that disagreement with Christian teachings is "lying" and "antichrist."
• Clear trumping of the message that just "knowing Jesus" is what makes a life significantly better without any objective standard or definition of "better life".
• An assumption that people behaved well in the "Christian" past.
• Must have a direct statement somewhere that the Bible is the best source for history and science since it is G-d's word.

See I would call ALL those things the superficial trappings of Evangelicalism, not themes of deep Christianity. DEEP themes would be things like the flawed nature of humanity, an incarnational view of G-d, and grace. These things are best taught when incidental to the plot, not artificially inserted in a quasi sermon given by a character.

 

[invisible]

from a purely literary perspective, i realise that the world of high art has been very impacted upon by the 20th century explosion of crises of religious morality following the second world war. these things had been building up for some time and were released with a great deal of increased force after these world events. i believe that the influence of these issues can't be underestimated in artistic terms; they changed everything in art. it seems to me that a trend i am encountering in art is an interest in resolving this crisis on its own terms while at the same time attempting to move on from a focus on renouncing religion as a possible source of meaning, leaving things open for people to find meaning in religion independently if they choose to do so. because this element has become so defining historically and so is of such vital importance to the forward movement of art, i think the majority of finer artists who have devoted their lives to a high level of technical and theoretical engagement with art and believe in it as very vital to the human condition may be directing their talents towards moving art forwards in this way, whether they are religious or not. of course, this is just a personal pet theory of mine.

 

[Gaze]

I am a Lutheran myself, and write non-religious books. Of course, Lutherans tend to be a bit more relaxed than Christians, but we still are partially the same. I totally agree with what you said about this writing will come back and "bite us in the butt". And looking at some of the work in that section, it makes me embarrassed. And it takes a lot for that to happen! I wish people would just develop their own ideas, so many books out there are re-writes of each other! Some are completely creative, but it is seldom when I find such.
Unfortunately, all genres have some authors that get trapped in the completely non-inventive rut. Like the whole vampires thing. It was great at first, I admit. But after the first hundred (maybe a bit exaggerated) vampire books, they got incredibly old and boring. Seriously, if you've read two, you've read them all. Especially the fairy trap we are falling into now!

Agree. I also think the public is a little spoiled and is sometimes not very patient with writers who try to do something different. Sometimes, as readers, we like the rut, and not expand our tastes to include other options. So, readers need to take some of the responsibility.

 

[willow]

I also think that some of the literature tends to be a bit too romantici ed or idealistic and doesn't really address realities of being a Christian today. Fiction today, has to be relatable.

I agree. Once again it's an attempt to keep up an appearance of holiness but they totally miss the point. Characters need to have convincing moral struggles if we are to be moved by them and if we are to be convinced that their only hope is Godly principles. The Holy Bible doesn't attempt to hide the nature of the human condition so I'm not sure why Christian writers think they should. I think at the root of this is a fascination with fundamentalism among some Western Christians.

 

[Gaze]

I agree. Once again it's an attempt to keep up an appearance of holiness but they totally miss the point. Characters need to have convincing moral struggles if we are to be moved by them and if we are to be convinced that their only hope is Godly principles. The Holy Bible doesn't attempt to hide the nature of the human condition so I'm not sure why Christian writers think they should. I think at the root of this is a fascination with fundamentalism among some Western Christians.

Agree. Hate to say this but the fundamentalist movement has had a negative effect on writer's creativity. As someone indicated, if you're not hitting someone over the head with the gospel directly, people think it's not truly Christian. For today's world, more subtle and indirect ways to address faith is more accepted.

 

[Flavus Aquila]

Some Catholic authors, off the top of my head:

C.S. Lewis - The Chronicles of Narnia, etc.
Ernest Hemmingway
James Joyce
Dean Koontz
John Henry Newman
Flannery O'Connor - great short stories
Anne Rice
Evelyn Waugh
Oscar Wilde

 

[willow]

Agree. Hate to say this but the fundamentalist movement has had a negative effect on writer's creativity. As someone indicated, if you're not hitting someone over the head with the gospel directly, people think it's not truly Christian. For today's world, more subtle and indirect ways to address faith is more accepted.

Well, I'm not sure that subtlety is what is needed. I don't think LOTR was subtle (the themes and values were clear and strong) but he made masterful use of symbols and literary devices. The audience that Tolkien targeted would easily recognize those symbols and his message. What makes Tolkien great was that he treated his craft as an offering to God. He made good use of his talents as Jesus expects.

Many Christians today think that once they believe in Christ it's over. They don't continually seek him so they don't grow in the faith and it shows in their mediocre works. They don't hone their skills. They don't want ministers who give difficult sermons or who speak for too long and in the same way they don't want to struggle with challenging books. They prefer milk to meat so that's what they produce and that's what they purchase. Sloth.

 

[randomsomeone]

I don't believe Lewis was Catholic, but Tolkien was.

 

[willow]

I don't believe Lewis was Catholic, but Tolkien was.

Lewis was Anglo-catholic (Church of England aka Anglican).

I totally agree with what you said about this writing will come back and "bite us in the butt".

It would be embarrassing but it would be a good thing if it makes us better Christians.

 

[GracieRuth]

Wow, this thread has generated some really fantastic responses. I can't begin to address each one. Thank you all.

Yes, CS Lewis, the favorite of Evangelicals, is an Anglo-Catholic. Tolkien had a hand in bringing Lewis into Christianity, but could never quite get him across the Tibor. Evangelicals are often shocked when they find out their darling believed in Purgatory.

from a purely literary perspective, i realise that the world of high art has been very impacted upon by the 20th century explosion of crises of religious morality following the second world war. these things had been building up for some time and were released with a great deal of increased force after these world events. .

I agree, although I'd say it started much earlier, and that art itself made Nihilism and Atheist Existentialism part of the common culture. I'm most familiar with the musical world, where things have degraded to rhymed shouting of violent intentions in popular culture, to really ugly music in the classical world. G-d forbid anyone using a steady beat and a melody should be labeled avante guarde. It's pretty much the same philosophy in all the arts today, that life has no meaning and that "true" art is simply what shocks us. It's a very sad state of cultural decay.

 

[Gaze]

Many Christians today think that once they believe in Christ it's over. They don't continually seek him so they don't grow in the faith and it shows in their mediocre works. They don't hone their skills. They don't want ministers who give difficult sermons or who speak for too long and in the same way they don't want to struggle with challenging books. They prefer milk to meat so that's what they produce and that's what they purchase. Sloth.

I agree somewhat but I do think there needs to be some balance and diversity of strategies used to get the message across. Literature has always been a great way to transmit a message in a way that engages the imagination. Challenging messages doesn't necessarily need to be transmitted in challenging ways. Helping people understand why the message is important instead of a "take it or leave it" approach makes it easier to receive a message.

I like Christian romance fiction because it used romance to communicate the meaning of love and lived faith in the context of a relationship. It shows indirectly the effects of living through difficult circumstances or situations and learning how faith operates to encourage survival and personal feeling of empowerment, accomplishment, and success rather than simple duty or obligation.

It's no longer just the message which needs to be considered but how to get it across. For example, those hell and damnation sermons may've been effective in getting people to convert but it also taught Christians in some ways to fear God in an unhealthy way, suggesting that God was only a God of judgment and punishment.

Don't mean to go off on a tangent here but to tie this back to Christian fiction, it is important to hear serious and uncomfortable messages if they are good, but it's nice to hear messages in a form which makes it more likely that we will not only hear them but listen.

 

[Gaze]

Hope my comments didn't kill this thread *cowers in fear* sorry [MENTION=4576]GracieRuth[/MENTION] if I veered too much off topic.

Great thread by the way.