Into the Fire

Messages, agendas. These words define the basis for criticism of some Christian Fiction. Conversions, evangelism—these characteristics assumed to be included in every Christian novel that comes from the printers. And these four words aptly describe a good chunk of the general genre but not all of it.

Somehow from the early writings of Frank Peretti, Christian Fiction evolved—or devolved depending on how you look at it—to Bonnet Books and the types of stories from the Love Inspired imprint as their predominant offerings. Add Historicals (some would insist Historical Romances and probably be correct) to that group and you have the bulk of Christian fiction. Those of us who read Thrillers, Suspense, Mysteries, and the darker fare publishers refuse to call Horror, can find a fair portion of novels to read. Legal, Medical, and Procedural novels occupy a small place in the mix. Fantasy and Science Fiction barely exist in a tiny niche, a lot of the Fantasy supposedly geared to Young Adults. Usually the Supernatural Suspense slides in and out of the horror category and might be the most prominent of the speculative genres.

During this dour economy it appears from multiple comments by professionals in the industry the safe, which translates to the guaranteed saleable, now preside, those who lead the industry content to stick with their perceived audience and not expand.

So what do parables and novels have to do with these assertions? Well, I explained here why I think the similarities between parables and novels are more like comparing grapes to watermelons, but apparently many writers disagree and frequently use the fact that Jesus told these mini illustrative stories as the basis for their reasoning why faith issues in novels can be oblique.  ??? First of all, I don’t think it’s arguable that Jesus’ parables most certainly contained both message and agenda. Nothing he said or did was without the purpose of conveying the reality of His arrival to demonstrate the Kingdom of God and to point toward the coming redemption. The parables used common examples to make His analogies practical.

Spiritual issues in fiction get handled subtly, overtly, or not at all. If you can find anything in the first three Bug Man novels by Tim Downs to remotely “illustrate” any Christian faith examples, you’re far more observant than I. Examples of subtlety exist in the Patrick Bowers Series by Steven James, an outspoken “opponent” of the Christian Fiction label. In fact, Patrick Bowers is not only an unbeliever, he’s a resentful unbeliever. The infrequent references to his dead wife imply her faith, but both Patrick and his step-daughter struggle with spiritual issues in the background of the main story.

Jesus focused on conversions-slash-evangelism because God is unwilling that any should perish but that all should come to repentance and forgiveness. I mean, come on, it’s why He came. So to insinuate that Jesus had no agenda in His parables is to suggest He was merely shootin’ the breeze and sharing His imagination. No way.

Agenda-driven, message laden novels from any venue demonstrate heavy-handed propagandist literature. Whether it’s done with soft-strokes or angry rants, few readers get through the reading experience without noticing the point. Some approve but probably more disapprove.

As novelists, we can write however we choose. If we write “Christian Fiction”, we select the genre and place the emphasis of our stories wherever and however we want. If we choose to minimize or maximize the faith issues, we risk accusations of having an agenda by the unbelieving crowd and by some of our own. The concern isn’t really the message of the story, the come-to-Jesus moments, or any other spiritual element. It’s the writing. How well do we communicate the story? Novels aren’t spiritually-laced short-form illustrations of the Kingdom of God. They’re long form tales of life in the here and now, the then and before, the totally fabricated in make-believe, the future, the scary, the hilarious, the romantic, the you-name-it. Maybe they’ll enlighten us about spiritual things and maybe they won’t. Writers choice.

God, I want to write what you want me to write. Nothing else matters to me. I want to give my best to you even though my best is putrid without you. With you I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. And inspiration. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.