Michael Dean Clark
I was instant messaging with a student of mine from a few years back and he asked me about a book I’m working on. When I described the main character – a guy named Diego who wants to destroy himself but can’t because the people he meets keep waylaying his problems with their own – my former student said, “Wow, that book sounds like me.”
Unfortunately, I don’t think he’d say the same thing about the vast majority of Christian fiction.
In its earliest form, Christian fiction was allegorical. Novels like Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress were built on the biblical model of the parable. The style persisted, finding a more modern version in Charles M. Sheldon’s 1896 sermon-as-novel, In His Steps. These stories, and the many like them, were merely vehicles for the lesson behind them – conduct instruction wrapped in a transparent story.
Sometime later, in general terms and by my estimation the mid-1980s, the pilgrim’s progress became the pilgrim’s egress (which, coincidentally, was an alternate title for Peter Kreeft’s 1996 book The Journey). This happened in a Christian culture increasingly alarmed by the idea that their beliefs were no longer valued and their stories followed. They are embodiments of the desire to flee from culture, reach the safety of the conversion moment, and escape into the light. And there it ends. In conjunction, the Christian fiction market grew as people looked for “safe” stories of belief and publishers increasingly focused on providing such middle-of-the-road fare. At this point, I don’t believe Flannery O’Connor’s classic Wise Blood would get out of the slush pile at most Christian houses given how “unsafe” a novel about a man’s desire to found the Church of God Without Christ would be considered.
This reminds me of a common description of the difference between the Victorian novel (which I would liken to a great deal of mainstream Christian fiction) and the Modern novel. The Victorian narrative ends with the wedding, a symbol of the achievement of the highest aims of that set of cultural norms. The Modern novel begins with the wedding because “reality” only happens when people move beyond the ceremony to the (often ugly) work that comes when you live (or fail to live) a life together. In a sense, the majority of mainstream Christian fiction sells short the day-to-day reality of living out beliefs in a sinful world by building most of its narratives around the conversion moment and failing to address the very real struggles of those who believe (which I would say is everyone).
The fiction of faith should instead be the pilgrim’s ingress, a daring genre considerably more focused on Christians in culture than believers escaping it. It should present pictures of faith in the ugliness, doubt, and circumstances of life outside the walls of assumed belief. Instead, we’ve raised those walls even higher to keep that same ugliness, doubt and circumstance out.
In essence, Christian literature needs an emergent movement just like the mainstream evangelical church needed (and still needs). Otherwise, how will nonbelievers see themselves inside Christian art? And more importantly, how will Christian artists and readers remember that their art should emulate their Savior – by addressing those who need the gospel most in a form that meets them where they are?
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Michael Dean Clark is an author of fiction and nonfiction and is in the final stages of earning a Ph.D. in Creative Writing at the University of Milwaukee-Wisconsin. His work is set primarily in his hometown of San Diego and has been known to include pimps in diapers, heroin-addicted pastors who suffer from OCD, and possibly the chupacabra.
I’m thinking my new release, Angela 1: Starting Over (the first of three set in a coastal Texas high school) is a step further in the process you are discussing. Without any preaching or proselytising, it shows the Christian in the post-modern culture being light and salt. Moreover, it is open-ended. If you would like to know more, please visit my website. Thanks!
CBA Publishing houses have been moving away from the “conversion scene required” idea of story-telling for at least a decade now. Christian Retailing covered this in, “Christian Fiction Gets Real” back in the 4/24/2000 issue and its been covered in many industry publications (Publishers Weekly, etc.) and consumer newspapers – this movement by Christians to paint realistic portraits of humanity. As Christians, it’s important that we stay abreast of these developments in order to paint an accurate picture with our own writings and representations of the industry.
A sampling of CF incorporating “reality” into the stories:
Watching the Tree Limbs (Mary DeMuth): child molestation
Walking on Broken Glass (Christa Allen): alcoholism
Missing Max (Karen Young): child kidnapping
There are other Christian authors whose books aren’t as easily confined to a simple topic heading, but whose writings will never be accused of painting a reality lacking inclusion of day-to-day struggles borne by those of faith:
Charles Martin
Jeanette Windle
Davis Bunn
Harry Kraus
And, for gritty thriller/horror stories, try Robert Liparulo or Ted Dekker. Want some forensic fiction? Tim Downs. Murder/suspense? Brandilynn Collins. Political thriller? Joel Rosenberg or Sigmund Brouwer. There’s even vampire fiction from CBA houses now – though I can’t speak to its quality yet b/c I haven’t had the chance to read it. John Olson’s Shade was published with B&H (the publishing division of Lifeway) and Tracey Bateman did Thirsty (Waterbrook). Want a fabulous story about a demon that had the media drawing favorable comparisons to The Screwtape Letters? Read Demon: A Memoir by Tosca Lee.
Reality is that Christian fiction changed by leaps and bounds in the past decade. The market responded, which is why we’ve seen an explosion of the genre in the past five years and NY houses snapping up CBA houses (e.g. Howard Books bought by Simon & Schuster in 2006).
It’s an incredible time to be a part of Christian fiction. We’re able to incorporate real issues, let our characters have authentic struggles and, in doing so, put Truth into the marketplace – not with a conversion scene or a sermon, but with a life lived out in story. We let the worldview speak for itself and craft stories that stand on their own as excellent stories.
Yes, there’s a market for stories that see reality through rose-colored glasses. That’s true regardless of faith (cozy mystery, anyone? chick-lit?) But the past ten years have brought dynamic change to Christian fiction. I encourage anyone to explore all the genre offers today!
Rebeca,
This is a great response (and, to be honest, one I was hoping for). I’m adding several of these titles to my list of books to read in the next few months.
A couple of points to clarify, however. First, I never said all Christian books, I said a vast majority. I would point to the authors you mention and then compare the numbers of titles released by such writers versus the mountain of books released with a more rose-colored tint. This is less true in secular houses (although, I guess the numerical case could be made that counting the two best selling genres – romance and Nicholas Sparks novels – the case could be made for there being a slight tilt in that direction).
But, in terms of the Christian maket in particular, the imbalance is drastic. For every one of the authors you mentioned, there are several who follow a much safer model. And that is because it is what the CBA privileges.
I read the Christian Retailing piece, and I have to contrast it with the panel I sat in a little over a year ago where four of five editors (three of which were from the largest Christian houses) said they won’t take books that don’t display “marked Christian characteristics.” Examples of those characteristics included, with emphasis, conversion and a model of evangelical repentence. The fifth editor said his company was looking not for works of Christian literature, but for works of literature written by Christians.
Do I think literature of faith should have Christian characteristics? Of course. But when the definition of those characteristics is as narrow as I have found, the majority of texts will remain in a much less challenging mode. I guess I just want more wide-spread bravery on the part of publishers.