This has been bubbling up inside me for a while, so please indulge my rant.
I think it’s evident that I enjoy secular art. I talk about anime and manga here because I truly enjoy them, for themselves. I also read and enjoy secular fiction, and read very widely and eclectically. This being said, there’s something weighing on my mind. It may take some explanation.
I’ve noticed a trend where Christians feel they need to go to the secular market in order to write the way they want. Whether it’s an effort to be more realistic, or a harsh reality where certain genres of fiction won’t get published in the Christian market, the reason’s aren’t invalid given the difficulty of getting anything published or making a living as a writer. I also understand why many readers, who are turned off from the nature of much of the Christian fiction out there, seek better written works from the secular market. They even find latent or crypto-Christianity in books from there.
While I get this, I’m a little worried that it’s gone too far. I’m worried that there might be a subconscious Christian Inferiority Complex going on; where any work that’s explicitly Christian is bad, but we tolerate it for the weaker brother while any secular work is artistically sound and a proper venue for Christians to write. So our best and brightest try to work in the secular world to the exclusion of the Christian one.
I know, the point is to minister to others. But can I be blunt here? I’ve read a LOT of secular-market science fiction and fantasy, and I can count on two hands the number of books where Christianity mattered in any visible form. Yes, not everything needs to be overtly preachy or Christian. I’m not arguing this. But it seems more often than not, the Christianity is latent if it even exists, and only knowing the author believes a certain way is how you classify the work. This is from Christians who read them.
If it’s nonbelievers, do they really notice? Lewis’s Narnia books many do, but a lot of the buzz about Tolkien’s faith is purely driven by Christians who try to claim him as one of their own. I’m also reminded of all the crossover acts. Sixpence None the Richer; did anyone really get that they were Christians from “Kiss me?” Amy Grant’s Heart In Motion also, or Michael W. Smith’s pop airplay. I think Christians put a lot more stock into this than the actual audience they intend to target.
I don’t say this to tell people to stop, but there’s a lot of illusions about how much we can influence others. More likely than not, Christians seem to wind up encoding or making latent their faith to such a degree that there’s little difference from secular works. Yet this is seen as more of an honest ministry than writing for believers.
I also understand the CBA market sucks right now. I really, really do. I don’t like going into a Books-A-Million and seeing four whole shelves of Christian fiction and zero targeted for men. I don’t like even the tiny amount of Christian spec-fic they used to release dry up. It doesn’t help that they chase the money so much that they are comfortable with ignoring entire genres and men themselves to chase after disposable romance/historic/romsuspense dollars. But this has to change, and we really do need explicit Christian works. Just better.
As much as I like anime, there’s something missing. I can always enjoy it for its human virtues, but I’m watching something from a culture where Christianity is so weak as to be non-existent. A whole side of my life is neglected. Even in American secular culture, you don’t see people pray, or go to church, or talk about God much in works of art. Maybe we’ll get a hint, or a taste of it, but it just isn’t enough. Explicitly Christian works are desperately needed, if just for non-marginalization of practices billions of people across the world actually do.
There’s a point about how Christian works can be technically inferior. Yes, on a case-by-case basis they can. People tend to cherry-pick though; you compare Left Behind to the Da Vinci Code or Clive Cussler, not Jonathan Lethem. But the idea of an explicitly Christian work as a concept isn’t, and it’s an inferiority complex to give in to the idea that Christianity should be muted in a work in order to be palatable.
I’ve not seen that work well. Not for reading, and not for writing. Not for evangelism, either. I’m still thinking about what this means and ways it can be done when it seems both Christian and secular publishing resist it (in various genres.) But I worry about this mindset continuing. I’d like to read something that I’d enjoy, and that actually might have a Christian praying in it.
Feb 14, 2013 @ 21:28:34
“I’m worried that there might be a subconscious Christian Inferiority Complex going on; where any work that’s explicitly Christian is bad, but we tolerate it for the weaker brother while any secular work is artistically sound and a proper venue for Christians to write. So our best and brightest try to work in the secular world to the exclusion of the Christian one.”
There’s obviously no shortage of dreck clogging the secular market as well, and many of our best and brightest *are* writing at least some explicitly Christian stories. I fear we spend far too much time griping about the left tail of our bell-shaped curve than steering folks toward the right side, because griping is more fun, I suspect, and some good stories and writers wither on the vine for lack of attention.
One thing the secular market does offer is a deeper pool of writing talent. Stiff competition offers a powerful incentive for building skills, and the cream does tend to rise. A problem with the Christian fiction market is that it’s effectively restricted to stories written by Christians for Christians. We spend more time evangelizing ourselves than engaging with the wider world.
“But the idea of an explicitly Christian work as a concept isn’t (inferior), and it’s an inferiority complex to give in to the idea that Christianity should be muted in a work in order to be palatable.”
I think it’s a question of balance. I don’t think there’s much genuine hostility to an explicitly Christian story or characters–and I think people admire the portrayal of an honest faith that doesn’t candy-coat reality or offer simplistic panaceas for complex problems. When the reader detects he’s getting a thinly-disguised sales pitch, an illustrated sermon, or is being offered a picture of Christianity or Christians that doesn’t square with real life, the story loses its credibility and sense of relevance, and people push back. There’s a difference between a story and a tract, just as there’s a difference between journalism and propaganda.
Feb 14, 2013 @ 22:08:55
“I fear we spend far too much time griping about the left tail of our bell-shaped curve than steering folks toward the right side, because griping is more fun, I suspect, and some good stories and writers wither on the vine for lack of attention.”
Yeah. but a lot of times it seems we’re more into finding spiritual meanings in secular books than doing so too. It’s not just griping, but I’d guess I’d call it U2 syndrome-choosing the secular or weakly Christian over the robustly one.
“I think it’s a question of balance. I don’t think there’s much genuine hostility to an explicitly Christian story or characters–and I think people admire the portrayal of an honest faith that doesn’t candy-coat reality or offer simplistic panaceas for complex problems”
I don’t know man. I don’t even see nominal Christianity in many secular books, except when they dragoon fundamentalists into being the villain. Something as simple as praying doesn’t seem to register. It doesn’t even get to the portrayal of an honest faith part.
One example I can think of is John Bellairs. He wrote kids supernatural mysteries, and Catholicism featured in them. Not entirely in an orthodox sense, as there was magic and mysteries in them. But it was there. Same with Alexander Key’s Escape from Witch Mountain books. Neither really preached, but neither hid faith entirely.
Feb 15, 2013 @ 17:42:25
“Yeah. but a lot of times it seems we’re more into finding spiritual meanings in secular books than doing so too. It’s not just griping, but I’d guess I’d call it U2 syndrome-choosing the secular or weakly Christian over the robustly one.”
I agree. It may be that it’s easier to find *interesting* Christian allusions in secular works, while Christian fiction seems to beat the same drum over and over again, as ReGi noted. Thump, thump, thump, thump. Romance, apocalypse, romance, apocalypse.
Finding an apt faith-related metaphor in a secular story is like finding a lone seashell on a beach where you rarely see them. In a Christian story, it’s more like finding one in a basket of identical shells at the shell store. It doesn’t mean the Christian story is bad, but it can feel more exciting when you encounter truth in a place you didn’t expect to find it.
“I don’t even see nominal Christianity in many secular books, except when they dragoon fundamentalists into being the villain. Something as simple as praying doesn’t seem to register. It doesn’t even get to the portrayal of an honest faith part.”
You’re right…it’s hard to find many examples in secular stories where this has been handled skilfully and respectfully. Stephen King’s The Stand takes a stab at it, though you get the religious wacko stereotypes in some of his other stories, like Carrie.
It’s hard to expect balance from a non-Christian writer who lacks a positive encounter with Christianity somewhere in their background. I’d love to see a more nuanced portrayal of Christian life that at least grants it the dignity routinely provided to other religions, whether real or imaginary. Christian authors, on the other hand, have difficulty avoiding the other extreme, idealizing the Christian experience to the point of caricature.
*sigh* Nobody seems to be able to articulate what “right” on this issue looks like, though we don’t seem to have any trouble finding “wrong.”
Feb 15, 2013 @ 20:49:50
This is true, and positive solutions need to be discussed. I’ll think on it.
Feb 15, 2013 @ 00:24:27
Well, as a reader, I’m not into romanctic fiction or stories that use heavy speculation on end times prophecy as the basis for their plot. As far as I can tell, I just wiped out most of Chritian fiction. I don’t even bother looking for “Christian” fiction anymore. I don’t write it very often, either, but that’s mostly because I find it intimidating.
Feb 15, 2013 @ 02:07:49
Yeah, I get this, but I’m worried at times what it can mean. Fred on his website has a sobering post about the state of Christian fiction from Publisher’s Weekly, and it seems like a double whammy. I wish we could have a vibrant enough Christian culture where you can find what you want to read.
Feb 15, 2013 @ 04:36:39
I think the problem for writers lies not so much in an “inferiority complex” as in how easy it is to offend so many Christians. There are just too many toes to step on. If I write my dragon character as a Christian, someone is sure to start calling me a Satan worshiper because of the whole beast/serpent thing. If I write a children’s book where fairies, which have their origin in paganism, go to church, someone will accuse me of animism. If I write a zombie apocalypse, I must have bad end-times theology, right?
Feb 15, 2013 @ 16:50:55
Re. ReGi’s comment – that’s the bane of Christian science fiction and fantasy. Stories inevitably get racked and stacked by readers and reviewers based on the orthodoxy and quantity of Christian content (“Is it *really* Christian?” “Is it Christian enough?”), and departure from prevailing fashion on things like end-times narratives or symbolism/allegory can draw a lot of criticism.
Feb 15, 2013 @ 20:48:18
It feels like we’re getting hammered from both ends, then. I don’t know. I think at times a focus on orthodoxy like this is born out of fear and fragility, and maybe if we just had enough books, that fear would fade. For regi’s comment, one of the first books I was bought as a young christian was Jeanne K. Norweb’s The Forbidden Door, which predominantly featured dragons and fantasy, and it was written by a Catholic nun! I hope that this fear is more perception than anything.