Christian Fiction, part 2

Patricia St. John

Elementary readers will love Patricia St. John's stories. I still do. St. John skillfully presents the gospel in every story, often tying it to particular Scriptures by showing how God saves us from darkness, death, fear, or other aspects of man’s sinful condition. The books rarely, though not never, preach; the characters are identifiable and likable. Each has an interesting setting or plot, too. A few may be more interesting to girls than boys, but many will appeal to both.

Her best work, Treasures of the Snow, takes the reader to the Alps and climbs up among the goats and flowers. Annette and Lucien, the main characters, learn lessons of forgiveness, both God’s forgiveness of us and our forgiveness of others, when Lucien is responsible for crippling Annette’s little brother. Other fun settings include England, North Africa, and New Testament Palestine. While showing some serious situations, St. John keeps the tone of her works appropriate for children.

Foreign missions is depicted from several different angles. In two separate books (The Tanglewoods’ Secret and Three Go Searching), children are raised apart from their parents because the parents work as missionaries. This may require some discussion. Other books also show missionary work.

Another reason I love St. John’s works is because she actively demonstrates in many of the books how and why all Christians, even children, should evangelize the lost. Each protagonist has a family member, friend, or community that needs the same Savior that the child himself finds. Again, without being preachy, St. John shows the gospel active in lives and hearts.

Christian Fiction, part 1

I have mixed feelings about Christian fiction. There is value in explicit references to God, the Bible, and living a faithful life; all these help with understanding and learning from a work of fiction. The problem lies in the many works of “Christian” fiction which do not represent Christ well. Either they are extremely secular in content or worldview, or the author presents orthodoxy in an unflattering light. In the following series of posts, I want to examine a few varied works which fall into this category.

Christian Romance

In general, I have come to believe that this is a terrible genre. Nevertheless, here are two exceptions to my general dislike of authors in this category. The first is Janette Oke. Oke’s romances for the most part are wholesome, but more importantly, the theme of her stories does not center on the romance, but on living the Christian life. In a simple way, she writes of various trials in life, and—without being preachy—shows how faith brings her characters through each. The lessons learned in each story are not very profound, but are nevertheless worth telling. An intermediate reader would be mature enough for her works.

The second author I enjoy is Francine Rivers. Many of the topics discussed in her novels are mature, so readers should be advanced (maybe even married in some instances). Yet she deals with these mature topics with honesty and adheres to essential Christianity (for example, showing man’s sin, but also the greatness of God to forgive and change His people, showing the difficulty Christians may have in obeying Christ). Her novels often focus more on the application of Christianity to difficult circumstances than on romance, yet her character development suffers no lack as a result.