Into the Fire

It was apparent from the responses to the Question/Poll who “approved” of the Christian Fiction label and who did not. The nuances in definitions and the outright insinuations of those who tend to dislike the label were put forth respectfully and, except for the stretching of three sentences in some cases, made their points. Those who wanted to adhere to the instructions and obviously held no malice to the term also expressed their opinions thoughtfully. Those who relegated it to a basic black-and-white matter gave succinct responses. All in all, I do think those who participated covered a large and diverse area of Christian Fiction/publishing and slightly beyond it.

“Christian worldview” turned up predominantly in definitions as one would expect, but that might be a project for another day since I’m sure what that means to some is far more specific than what it means to others. Nevertheless, the gist of the meaning suffices to create a common thread of understanding for the overall genre.

Personally speaking, those who harbor a kind of resentment toward “Christian” being used as an adjective don’t quite resonate with me. The reference is often used as a shortened form to describe a particular worldview of an individual in any given field or of a thing (i.e. Christian fiction, song, etc.). The disdain for admitting that, yes, it’s convenient to refer to someone (or something) with this adjective who emulates the belief system commonly known as Christianity puzzles me. Although anyone can attach that “title” to their person, place, or thing (business, etc.) and bring either praise or disgrace to it doesn’t nullify the truth of what’s at the core of its meaning. We all know hypocrites or have acted like one, so the attachment of Christian as an adjective is really a matter of inconsequence to me. Plus in the realm of fiction it clarifies a few things to readers.

This clarification can be difficult for many Christian writers simply because it’s less likely for some to use the overt methodology of the worldview in the telling of their tales than it is for others. Some of the authors who responded to this poll could easily have their novels placed in the general market genre categories without a stir (i.e. Robert Liparulo, Steven James, J. Mark Bertrand). Others’ novels might bring out the militants protesting the “religious” content if put into the general market fare—and more than likely would sell less rather than more books if infiltrated with general market novels in their genres. However, for any of our Christian novels to be placed in the “Religious” fiction areas of bookstores seems like a mark against them from the get-go. “Inspirational” bodes slightly better, but plain old “Christian Fiction” seems ultimately easier and a whole lot clearer if they must be separated from the rest.

There are a lot of us who write Christian fiction who might never receive a contract from so-called Christian publishers because of content presentation restrictions. Christian fiction has no problem revealing evil subject matter—it’s the way the topics/situations/conversations are written which makes for controversy and debate and, yes, disagreement.

Content in novels written by Christians should have the freedom to present evil and reveal truth while contrasting the world to the holy. The means to how this is done is determined by individual publishing houses. The result as we know it is classified as Christian Fiction. And although different houses cater to different tastes, the ideal circumstance—and the challenge—is to provide for all readers who gravitate to the labeled Christian Fiction market instead of a limited few which are perceived to be the not-so-silent majority.

I’m grateful for all of those who responded to my Question/Poll regarding the definition of Christian Fiction. Each one presented logical, thoughtful, honest, and meaningful responses. It doesn’t get any better than that. I appreciated seeing that really the similarities far outweighed the disparities.

Thanks to all of you both in the body of the posts and in the additional comments.

Father, we all need you to do any and all of what we do. We belong to you and our first priority is obedience to your call. Help us to be good servants. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.