Of Books and Faith
My good blogging buddy, Beck over at Frog and Toad are Still Friends has an interesting discussion going on about Christian fiction, some say a must read for Christian writers. I went over and couldn’t deny the truth to her post, yet it still saddened me to see that Christian fiction is still getting such a bad rap. There are many wonderful books and authors out there, but sadly we hardly ever hear about the good ones.
Her post starts off like this…
I was reading a book last night – and I won’t name it, out of kindness – and it was dreadful. Terribly plotted, self-indulgent, long-winded (I sound like I’m describing myself), poorly written – and then suddenly I realized that it was a Christian novel, which explained it. Isn’t that sad? I do occasionally read Christian fiction, and I’m almost always struck by how dreadful it is…
The Terrible Christian Novel isn’t a new thing, but I don’t think they do North American Christianity any good. Sappy goody-goodys, ackward hipsters (“Christianity is TOTALLY RAD!”), yucky hippie hymns from the 1970s… bleh. I think it’s partly the juvenile nature of modern Christian culture which makes the recent crop of Evangelical atheists seem like mental giants in comparison. If Christian art – schmaltzy, sugary, unrealistic books, the paintings of Thomas Kinkade – is THIS bad, what sensible person would want to align themselves with that culture? No, better to hang out with grumpy scientists – at least they seem like adults.
I can understand Beck’s frustration because it’s real. Many of the left comments echoed her sentiments, so how do we reach those who have been disheartened by badly crafted fiction? Or maybe they can’t be reached. Maybe the books we write are not meant for them to read, still does it mean as authors of inspirational novels that our books aren’t reaching people? That we’re not doing what we we’re called to do?
And maybe the biggest question yet, is how can we get publishing houses to see that there’s a huge market craving well-crafted literature with an edgy, 21st century message?
Why not check out the post and share your thoughts on the subject!
