I'm amazed at the amount of Christians who don't read Christian fiction. I worked in a Christian bookstore for five years. I saw how many people went to the fiction section, tracked sales for inventory. Obviously enough people buy it for there to be a market, but there are more people who don't read it, than do.
I've gone to
church with people who spoke with a derisive sound in their voice when
mentioning the Christian novel. I'm not sure how prevalent that attitude is,
but there are probably several people with that attitude. And yes, there are
Christian novels that are light and fluff...... and that is OK. We don't have
to sit around and read John Wesley, John Calvin, and other writers of the past
24/7.
I love Christian fiction. Really love it. I read secular fiction so rarely, you could almost say I never read it. I don't like the language that is in most of them for one thing. Another reason, is I miss the Christian element. In Christian fiction, there is always hope, and God is presented as the ultimate source of help and hope, even if it isn't majorly stated. I miss that when I read a secular book.
I guess that is why some things bother me that are becoming too common. One is an attitude I've noticed from a lot of people who leave book reviews/comments: That a book is too preachy, or they were glad it wasn't. Uh, it is Christian fiction... if you don't want a Christian message, go read a secular book. The other: the too common practice of inserting curse words, vulgarity, and/or inappropriate content. Last year, a Christian author did a blog post cheering on another Christian author for daring to push the envelope on some language she used in her book. I thought it was sad. How much cursing can be in a Christian book before it isn't Christian? To me, the answer is easy: don't put any in. People say it isn't realistic..... if you want realistic, the Christian way isn't for you. If you want realistic, you'd better ignore Jesus and what He did.
For those who scoff at the idea of Christian fiction being worth reading, you must not know your Bible very well. It is full of stories. Jesus Himself told a lot of stories. Ever hear of a parable? I hate to break it to you, but some of them were fiction, from what I understand. He used them to make a point. There is power in a story.
I love Christian fiction. Really love it. I read secular fiction so rarely, you could almost say I never read it. I don't like the language that is in most of them for one thing. Another reason, is I miss the Christian element. In Christian fiction, there is always hope, and God is presented as the ultimate source of help and hope, even if it isn't majorly stated. I miss that when I read a secular book.
I guess that is why some things bother me that are becoming too common. One is an attitude I've noticed from a lot of people who leave book reviews/comments: That a book is too preachy, or they were glad it wasn't. Uh, it is Christian fiction... if you don't want a Christian message, go read a secular book. The other: the too common practice of inserting curse words, vulgarity, and/or inappropriate content. Last year, a Christian author did a blog post cheering on another Christian author for daring to push the envelope on some language she used in her book. I thought it was sad. How much cursing can be in a Christian book before it isn't Christian? To me, the answer is easy: don't put any in. People say it isn't realistic..... if you want realistic, the Christian way isn't for you. If you want realistic, you'd better ignore Jesus and what He did.
For those who scoff at the idea of Christian fiction being worth reading, you must not know your Bible very well. It is full of stories. Jesus Himself told a lot of stories. Ever hear of a parable? I hate to break it to you, but some of them were fiction, from what I understand. He used them to make a point. There is power in a story.
As I said, there are a lot of books on the Christian market that are fluff and light, but there are many that are not. I am 100% convinced that God can use Christian fiction just as much as non-fiction books, or even a sermon in church.
Mark goes on to give some specific examples in his blog. The rest of his article can be read here:
http://thoughtsofasojourner.blogspot.com/2013/05/why-you-should-read-christian-fiction.html
What are your thoughts? Do you read a lot of Christian fiction? If so, have any particular books made an impact on your life?
I recently posted about the same thing here: http://thoughtsonbookss.blogspot.ca/2013/04/the-value-of-fiction.html
ReplyDeleteand shared a link to an article Russell D. Moore wrote, about reading fiction. I think you may enjoy his article. :)
Cathy, I enjoyed Dr. Moore's article and appreciate you sharing it with me. I'm also going to encourage my readers to check it out.
ReplyDeleteYou and I have something else in common, because I just saw that you liked "Edenbrooke." It's a book that I will read again.
Glad you enjoyed reading 'Edenbrooke' too! Just read your nice review. I loved the characters in the book and I agree with the author that Jane Austen would be shocked at what modern authors have written in her name. Happy to see this author stayed clean. I'm really looking forward to her next book. : )
ReplyDelete