Tag: Edgy Christian Fiction

What's one thing you'd like to see more of in Christian fiction? Why?

Bookish Question #116 | What’s one thing you’d like to see more of in Christian fiction?

Jesus.

You’d think that Jesus Christ would be a central feature of a genre called “Christian fiction”.

Yet he’s not. An increasing number of Christian fiction publishers are owned by multinational media corporations, so they have no moral or religious compunction to ensure that “Christian fiction” actually shares Jesus Christ. As a result, I’ve seen an increasing number of “Christ-lite” titles from the larger traditional Christian publishers.

Don’t get me wrong: there is a need for “Christ-lite” titles.

A non-Christian isn’t going to pick up Redeeming Love or This Present Darkness. They’re reading The Da Vinci Code and Fifty Shades. There is a need for Christian authors to write books that appeal to the unsaved, but which thread Christian messages into their stories. There are many Christian authors writing in the general market, sharing messages of love and hope that reference Christianity lightly and will hopefully plant a seed or two.

But I expect more from Christian publishers.

I expect Christian fiction—novels with characters who are definitely (and sometimes defiantly) Christian. Characters who make mistakes and sin, but who experience God’s grace and change. Characters who look to God first, who show what it means to be a Christ follower in an increasingly secular world. Characters who teach us how to better live as Christians—either by what they do, or by what they don’t do.

Once upon a time, Christian fiction that included Jesus was normal. But at some point, it became abnormal, to the point where Christian fiction with an active spiritual thread is practically edgy.

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That’s why I’d like to see more Jesus in Christian fiction.

What about you? What’s one thing you’d like to see more of in Christian fiction? Why?

Do you read edgy Christian fiction?

Bookish Question #115 | Do you read edgy Christian fiction?

Do you read edgy Christian fiction?

If so, how do you define edgy? Who are your favourite edgy authors?

Yes, I read edgy Christian fiction, and I’d like to read more.

How do I define edgy? It’s Christian fiction that isn’t the safe, samey feel-good Christian fiction that dominates the bestseller lists.

Traditional Christian fiction has been safe. Christian fiction is written from a Christian world view, and it’s something you could happily share with your daughter and your mother (and even your grandmother). It reinforced biblical values and even challenged them sometimes—in a biblical way. Christian fiction has traditionally portrayed a solidly white middle class American version of Christianity.

But traditional Christian fiction hasn’t done a good job of portraying the edges.

I want to see different cultures and different races. I want to see people like me. People who don’t live in North America. People who live in multicultural towns and cities and societies. People who don’t speak English as a first language. People who are struggling financially or emotionally or spiritually. People who are held hostage by the mistakes of their past, who can’t see a way to their future. 

Christ died for all of us. I’d like to see Christian fiction better reflect the “all of us”.

What about you? Do you read edgy Christian fiction? How do you define “edgy”?