1. dmdutcher says:

    This is a good point, and not one easy to answer.

    I think in terms of church period, many Christian SF writers tend to do dystopian type novels, and a physical church is a sign saying “please attack or arrest us.”

    The tradition might be a generational thing. Thing is, much of modern evangelicalism or fundamentalism was a rebellion against that kind of cultural Christianity. The downside of having a strong web is that it’s possible to be a part of the culture with zero real belief in the thing that spawned it. This is part of what created the Reformation, and evangelicalism’s focus on a personal relationship with Jesus was in opposition to a certain collective relationship where people define themselves as good Christians by how they observe the sacraments and perform the cultural rites of the church.

    I think that this is changing, as people rediscover the web. They like the traditions, but they understand that they aren’t enough; you really do need a personal, knowing relationship with Him, too. This is how the old “frozen chosen” high-church denominations are now changing into fierce orthodox forces compared to the wishy-washy “tea with the vicar” cultural churches the Jesus generation rebelled against.

    The post-evangelicals ironically are doing the same thing. They are rebelling against the culture of evangelicalism more than the message (though many rebel against the message too)- they hate the homeschooling, bland, nicey-nice culture of wives in dresses and youth groups, because those things have become rites more than real experiences.

    I think there’s a long list of things Christian authors should include, though. Most of the books seem to be in a certain type, and you don’t see church because it’s not easy to include in it.

    • bainespal says:

      Good comment, D.M.

      I know that before I ran into “post-evangelicalism” on the Internet I longed for a faith with a sense of profound tradition like in fantasy novels. Which is kind of ironic again, because as McDermott notes regarding Christian fantasy, explicit religious traditions used to be pretty rare even in mainstream fantasy until recently I think. The fantasies that really inspired me as a kid — mainly LotR and WoT — had very minimal religious tradition in their worlds. However, the sense of living myth — of being real and really being descended from real legacy — felt so spiritual to me that it affected my conception of an ideal church environment anyways.

  2. Tracey says:

    Hmm, thought-provoking post. Now I’m inspired to go flesh out my storyworld’s religion(s)! 😉

  3. Funny you should mention that–I’ve noticed this problem in a Christian fantasy/religious persecution story I’m reading right now. For the most part, it seems like the characters are ready to die, “Because ‘God’ is real,” and that’s about it. Nothing about “I will not deny Him because…” No threat of eternal damnation, no creation story even, or real background to the religion or false religion or conflict between the two. Maybe there was more of that in the first book, but it’s sure not in the second book.

    I can’t explain why it happens, but maybe it’s a blind spot for some writers, along the lines of authors who are great with a plot, but can’t seem to develop their characters? I also think dmdutcher is right about the connection to the contemporary American church. The average writer isn’t going to write much (or well) about things they don’t think about in daily life. It may not even be something they realize they should research or ponder. Hence the supposedly medieval societies where everyone is “my lord,” horses are always galloping, and people head to church on Sundays to doze through a sermon.

     

     

  4. LadyArin says:

    Immediately i started thinking of authors who have included religion in some fashion in their speculative books — Richard Adams, Brandon Sanderson, Terry Pratchett — but you’re right, in general it’s neglected or not treated in-depth.

    Maybe that’s why i like those authors so much? Ha. Though it might be part of it.

  5. Julie D says:

    I didn’t know all that about eggs. Thank you for the fascinating information

What do you think?