It’s been a busy summer, brimming with summer activities like hiking at our local nature preserve and writing in the margins and slivers of time between pool/beach time and painting with children.
This is such a great question, and one that I think of a lot, especially since I am in a Catholic writers club and we all write so differently. I think about it, too, in terms of content. What level of "content" is okay in a Christian work?
Ultimately, I'm still pondering these things. But I think two fundamental aspects of Christian fiction are that 1. It will glorify God by proclaiming the truth about the human condition. 2. It will engage the reader's imagination in a way that points him towards truth/beauty/goodness.
I think both of those aspects are necessary, because even though some stories tell the truth, they don't point us back towards anything good, or they fill our minds with things that are harmful and damaging. For that reason, they seem to fail specifically as "Christian works."
Yes! I agree too about revealing the truth of the human condition, so we can’t dismiss the “difficult” characters who challenge us in hard ways. I’d love to go more in depth with this too, but I’ve only just started pondering this topic. I think it’s so important for us to think about as readers.
This is such a great question, and one that I think of a lot, especially since I am in a Catholic writers club and we all write so differently. I think about it, too, in terms of content. What level of "content" is okay in a Christian work?
Ultimately, I'm still pondering these things. But I think two fundamental aspects of Christian fiction are that 1. It will glorify God by proclaiming the truth about the human condition. 2. It will engage the reader's imagination in a way that points him towards truth/beauty/goodness.
I think both of those aspects are necessary, because even though some stories tell the truth, they don't point us back towards anything good, or they fill our minds with things that are harmful and damaging. For that reason, they seem to fail specifically as "Christian works."
Yes! I agree too about revealing the truth of the human condition, so we can’t dismiss the “difficult” characters who challenge us in hard ways. I’d love to go more in depth with this too, but I’ve only just started pondering this topic. I think it’s so important for us to think about as readers.