Religious genre fiction

Seconding C.S. Lewis. The Chronicles of Narnia is one of the examples of children's fiction that I actually read when I was a child. I just wubbed the talking animals and all the carnage of battle. Reading the Last Battle is a different story. No spoilers though.

I recently read The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson. It gets a pass on the whole religion thing, because this God has revealed himself as such. Every hundred years, a baby is born, and on the day of the naming ceremony, a light shines through the window and a stone is magically implanted in the baby's bellybutton. So, this God totally and completely exists, without question.

However, what this God wants is totally up for debate. Christian/Muslim allegory out the ass.

The Name Of The Rose is an interesting example of religious genre fiction. It's a mystery novel set in a mediaeval monastery (Sherlock Holmes in 14th century Italy, basically). Unlike most of the examples here, there isn't an obvious Christian moral delivered - if there is a moral, it's one about symbolism and semiotics. The setting and mystery are overtly Christian (the latter as part of a trick), and the characters do spend long passages discussing the nature of heresy and various heretical groups, mostly in Latin.

"Doctor Who means never having to say you're kidding." - Bocaj

I've heard that sort of thing referred to more as Christian mysticism, which is a different beast. It's something more concerned with the trappings of Christianity and what being a Christian, especially a religious one, entails more than what it means. If that makes sense.

"Proto-Indo-European makes the damnedest words related. It's great. It's the Kevin Bacon of etymology." ~Madrugada

Well, there were mystics, heretics and mystical heretics. Much of Orthodox thought is devoted to mysticism, particularly the texts dealing with the paradox of the Trinity; Arian thought, which was considered heretical due to its rejection of the physical divinity of Christ, was for the most part not mystical at all; and finally, Docetism was mystical and heretical, being focused as it was on the absolute divinity of Jesus and personal enlightenment as the road to salvation.

In other words, it depends...

</didactic_mode>

edited 11th Apr '12 1:54:31 PM by JHM

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

^This sort of thing was basically the topic for both The Name of the Rose and Baudolino. For lack of a better name, I'll call them Christian genre fiction. Or maybe just plain weird fiction.

"Doctor Who means never having to say you're kidding." - Bocaj

Weird fiction's something else, but I agree that Eco is a strange, strange man. That's why I love him, after all.

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

There's also this kind of weird fiction. But I distinguish - "just plain weird" surpasses any genre boundary.

"Doctor Who means never having to say you're kidding." - Bocaj

Speaking of weird genre fiction with religion in it, I've picked up G.K. Chesterton's classic "The Man Who Was Thursday" to reread. If you don't mind overt Christianity in your spy thrillers, like WTF endings and somehow have never heard the It Was His Sled spoiler for the story, don't look up the trope page.

Find or reserve it at your local library, being careful not to read the description or discuss it with anyone. Once in your hands, do not read the back cover, the dust-cover flaps or the introduction. Allow yourself to experience the big twist in the manner the author intended.

Indeed. I'm quite fond of all of the above.

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

You mean like the book Left Behind? Because that was the only religious novel I've read. xD or do you mean fictional books with vaguely religious themes like the Chronicles of Narnia or His Dark Materials?

edited 12th Apr '12 9:19:55 PM by sabrina_diamond

In an anime, I'll be the Tsundere Dark Magical Girl who likes purple MY own profile is actually HERE!

Well, I'm pretty sure the OP is about more Left Behind-style things. Unles you mean recent discussions...

"Proto-Indo-European makes the damnedest words related. It's great. It's the Kevin Bacon of etymology." ~Madrugada

The recent discussion contains Umberto Eco; ergo, it is the best conversation so far.

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

Chesterton is fun as well. I read The Man Who Was Thursday late last year, I believe.

"Doctor Who means never having to say you're kidding." - Bocaj

Chesterton is one of the most quotable writers. I should read more of his.

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

Just a quick aside on the OP- I can think of at least one context where 'do you believe in God/good, then we can be friends' would actually make sense. In a lot of places, openly identifying as a Christian is a good way to get yourself hurt or killed. So as a simple safety thing, it could make sense. Of course, it could also just be lousy writing :/

And nthing Chesterton- he writes marvelous stuff. The Man who Was Thursday was a fun and rather interesting read, and The Club of Queer Trades was a blast... and I love his Father Brown mysteries. It's like Sherlock Holmes stuff where the protagonist isn't a Jerkass.

Or the kid's parents might forbid the girl from associating with non-Christians.

I'm not sure I'd classify that as 'making sense', even as a Christian myself -_-;

I have sadly seen this from certain parents—and a couple of times they forbid making friends with people from outside their specific denomination. It creates more problems for the kids long-run, but they think in the short run it will keep their children from being exposed to "incorrect ideas".

But back on topic—I reviewed a book titled "Board to Death" as a Goodreads giveaway, which was a trio of longish murder mystery stories aimed at middle-aged Christian women. Or I presume so, since all the protagonists were in that category. They ranged from mediocre to not half bad.

The treatment of religion was a bit wonky—in order to appeal to the widest Christian audience, the primary characters were all carefully non-denominational, and any non-Christian characters were completely secular. A moment that really gave me pause was when one of the secular characters called her protagonist friend a "religious fanatic." For, y'know, praying before meals and at moments of great need, and attending church on Sundays. Clearly the secular one had never met any actual religious fanatics.

Oh, and all three of the protagonists are surprised that their male love interests are also Christians, as though such people were thin on the ground.

Noone's mentioned Madeline L'Engle yet? The religious themes, at least in A Wrinkle In Time are a bit subtle but are more obvious in the sequels. She's also IMHGO probably the best writer of Young Adult fiction ever.

edited 15th Apr '12 12:33:45 PM by tricksterson

Trump delenda est

Thinking someone is a "religious fanatic" just for praying before meals and goes to church on Sunday, and being surprised that someone's love interest is of the same religion do strike me as strange. That's not how the non-religious tend to act.

It's like the author was sheltered hanging out only with members of the same faith and didn't bother to learn how other people lived and thought.

edited 16th Apr '12 6:32:50 AM by BonsaiForest

I read Crime And Punishment and to be honest, I felt that the Christian theme was too shoehorned. I'm a Christian, by the way.

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

Well, for a given value of religion, the Kushiel and Naamah books by Jacqueline Carey would fit in the genre. As they are set in a world that has fantasy counterparts of Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Islam and Buddhism.

Hmm. I saw it as part and parcel of the whole Übermensch theme which was the main point of the novel. If anything, I think Dostoevsky's flaw is that he made a false dilemma, in that Raskolnikov never considers any possibilities besides Orthodoxy and atheism with ubermensh ethics.

SKJAM: Came across this thread. Thanks for the recommendation of The Man Who Was Thursday, but I'll be damned if I understood even half of it on the first reading.

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