Christian Fiction Isn’t about What It Isn’t

My friend, Wayne Thomas Batson–I call him “friend” because I once talked with him on the phone for an hour when I was playing around with podcasts–had a really good week. He just finished an bonafide book tour that ended with some rousing good exposure on the front page of Washington Post last Wednesday:

Christian Fantasy Genre Builds Niche Without Hogwarts, Muggles or Spells

Then he got a call that he needed to stay in New York City one more night so he could appear on Fox and Friends.

(Which happened on the east coast as I was posting this.)  I checked their site, but the video isn’t posted yet. I’ll try to find it later tonight.

It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

But here’s the thing. Did you notice the Washington Post title. It defines Christian fantasy by what it doesn’t include. No muggles. No spells. No hogwarts.

Well, who wants that? I love Harry Potter just as he is. And my wife and I reserved our book at the local store just like millions of others. We’re planning on seeing the film as soon as we can.

In the midst of Potter mania, the Washington Post headline makes Christian fantasy sound like a bunch of late-comer, ne’er-d0-well, genre-critiquing, theater-closing, Cromwell-loving Puritans.

Wayne’s reasonable quotes add some much needed normalcy to the Washington Post picture of us wacky Christian writers. But Ms. Salmon still has comments like this one:

Steeple Hill, the Christian fiction imprint of romance publisher Harlequin, will churn out 128 titles this year while hewing to strict standards followed by many Christian book publishers: No swearing (not even “gosh” and “darn”), no dancing or drinking by Christian characters, no gambling, no mention of intimate body parts. And forget sex scenes, even if the characters are married to each other.

Those are some strict standards people! Even the Chronicles of Narnia can’t live up to them. Lewis’ children’s classics have got swearing, dancing, and drinking.

And don’t you love that vague phrase. “Followed by many Christian publishers.”

Speaking of Lewis–and his buddy Tolkein by implication. Christians aren’t latecomers to the fantasy genre. We invented it, dude! Who read Beowulf before Tolkein? Where was Tor before Tolkein? They didn’t exist.

So why does our culture insist on presenting a charicature of Christianity? Sigh. I can’t be really angry with Ms. Salmon. After all, she’s right. Many Christian publishers embrace the charicature.

Thanks, Wayne, for being a real person. An honest person, writing good books, in a way that doesn’t make Christ look like a clueless nerd.

You and me, we’re still nerds. But at least we’re not clueless.