1. Kaleb says:

     Fiction Christians from Another Planet!
    Part 1, 2, 3, or 8? 
     
    I haven’t noticed this before, but I’ll probably start paying more attention now to see if I can find them. 

  2. Johne Cook says:

    You had me at Han Solo.  (It is perhaps no mystery that my favorite OT character is the bold, earthy Elijah, taunting the prophets of Baal and fleeing the wrath of Queen Jezebel and being ministered to in his desperation by perhaps a pre-incarnate Christ.)

  3. Jill says:

    So it seems you are simply looking for a different archetype than the most popular ones in Christian fiction?? I’m not sure I’ve read the same books you have, and I may be misunderstanding you. Are you saying the heroes of Christian spec-fic are anti-heroes with no growth or spiritual arcs? I can’t imagine telling a story like that. I know you don’t want to bash Christian authors in your article. Still, it would help if you gave some examples.

    • So it seems you are simply looking for a different archetype than the most popular ones in Christian fiction?

      Not a replacement, but as I phrased it: “an appealing ensemble cast of accomplished heroes along with newcomers.” In some novels, the author limits himself to a Christian cast of “farm boys who never leave the farm.” That sells himself and readers short.

      I refrained from some specific examples here because of a need to summarize the issue. In future installments I hope to explore more in-depth some specific tenets.

      • Jill says:

        I, for one, would love to see a great Christian male warrior archetype.  It would be even cooler if were a warrior scholar. He could mentor a team of up and coming warriors. That, I’m sure, had nothing to do with anything.

      • I, for one, would love to see a great Christian male warrior archetype.  It would be even cooler if were a warrior scholar.

        Hear, hear!

        • Eldar says:

          What about Teo from “The Chiveis Trilogy” by Bryan M. Liftin? He’s both a warrior and a scholar…

          • Jill says:

            I haven’t read it. I might add it to my growing reading list, however.

          • Lauren says:

            I think Teo did meet most of the characteristics in the article.
            But the women in the series . . . Well, they were disappointing. It’s a little bit depressing to read about a young woman who becomes the Proverbs 31 woman as soon as she reads a Bible for the first time. In fact, every woman was either Proverbs 31 or Jezebel.
            But Teo was great!

  4. Esther says:

    I understand the need for a hero, but I also understand the need for the child-hero. We all often FEEL like children, even if we are grown-ups with lots of grown-up problems to try to solve, and that is why we identify with them. Furthermore, we enjoy thinking that if the breaks would just come our way, we could be the hero even though we’re really young and stupid!
    Part of that is our current culture’s emphasis on self-esteem: tell ’em they’re special even if they’re not–we’ve all been effected by that and we all believe that we are just a little more special; that we could pull off a heroic action just by being us.
    So it’s not all good, that child-hero thing; but on the other hand it’s not all bad, either. I do prefer having BOTH a child-hero that occasionally wins the day even though the adults in the room ignore or abuse him, and also a grown-up, mature, godly hero to whom the child-hero can aspire.

  5. Keanan Brand says:

    Gotta admit, one reason I don’t read a lot of fiction aimed at the Christian audience is the immaturity of its characters or its theology.
    I, too, want robust heroes who aren’t afraid of “boldly going”, even if no one goes with them, even if the counsel doesn’t consent, even if he (or she) is seen as politically or culturally incorrect. Pure and impure motives may mingle in the same character. Pride and humility may struggle inside her. Fear and courage may get all tangled up in his head. Sometimes they view God rightly, and sometimes they need a course correction. That’s the way with most real folks; why not fictional? I’m weary of the too-nice heroes who are almost inhuman, they’re so perfect in speech and behavior and choices. Or who are so cute that they set my teeth on edge.
     

    • Kaleb says:

      “I’m weary of the too-nice heroes who are almost inhuman, they’re so perfect in speech and behavior and choices. Or who are so cute that they set my teeth on edge.”
       
      Yes! I have the same problem. It drives me insane. Those characters are so unreal it kills any enjoyment I have for the rest of the series, and I definitely have no inclination to read any of the author’s other books. 

  6. Gotta admit, one reason I don’t read a lot of fiction aimed at the Christian audience is the immaturity of its characters or its theology.

    That’s what I’m after, Keanan: not characters who are legitimately immature or still growing — such as, say, a Luke Skywalker — but someone who is in effect comic relief — a Jar Jar Binks — or worse, a naive character who is held up as the ideal Christian.

    Jesus endorsed the humility of a child, but also urged being “shrewd as serpents.”

  7. Galadriel says:

    I have to say, I haven’t seen Anakin or Wesley, but I found similar elements to be annoying with some Doctor Who companions. I don’t know if I’ve noticed similar elements in Christian works, but those characters without adult examples can be very annoying.

  8. I just finished reading Diana Wynne Jones’s Reflections, a collection of her essays. One thing she says that fantasy fiction ought to do is to present a problem that we all encounter–an abusive parent, racism, whathaveyou–and set it someplace so strange that the reader can get outside the problem, walk around it and look at it from a different angle. The abusive parent becomes the monster in the wood the hero has to deal with. Racism becomes the story of the people who burn witches, even though the witches are born that way and can’t help being what they are.
     
    Aspects of Christianity ought to be the same way–get outside them, walk around them, and evaluate the bizarre claims of the Gospel without all the man-made trappings that have built up over the centuries. But people don’t seem to have the imagination for that–they drag the trappings into the story, rather than getting outside them entirely.
     
    One of the things that totally put me off Ted Dekker’s Green was the “church” service”. I’d been reading other fantasy, and that “church service” would have been an orgy in any other place. But instead it was a bunch of polite, Christian people celebrating love in the woods with no sexuality whatsoever.

  9. D.M. Dutcher says:

    It will be interesting to see where you will go with this. I tend to like skewed characters, so I’m not so much the best at commenting on the desire for Picards or Solos. Looking forwards to see your next post.

  10. Alassiel says:

    Actually, I liked and related to Wesley when I first watched TNG. I was a teen at the time and enjoyed the idea of a bright youngster getting a position of responsibility on this prestigious and sometimes overly serious starship. It wasn’t until I got further into the world of Star Trek that I learned that Wesley was almost universally reviled and criticized. Of course, that only made me like him more.
    I think I see your point anyway. I’ll have to wait until your follow-ups for it to be fleshed out and see if we’re on the same page.

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