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Showing posts from December 12, 2008

Theological Fiction

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There is a term, Theological Fiction , that doesn’t seem to heavily used, but it’s used to describe a subset of Christian Fiction. We can think of theological fiction as being similar to science fiction , but where science fiction is centered around scientific theory, theological fiction is centered around theology. As with science fiction , theological fiction tends to fit within the realm of speculative fiction . Randy Brandt says that “[ theological fiction ] seeks to teach us something about God and Christianity, not just about people who are influenced by Christianity in some way.” I’m not sure that his definition sufficient, but it works for now. Much of the Christian Fantasy that is hitting the shelves is Theological Fiction . Compare something like The Shack with a pure work of Fantasy like Inkheart . Young has a clear agenda to change the reader’s view of God. He spends a high percentage of his book having “God” explain what is wrong with traditional Christianity. Of co...