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.