1. Jeremy McNabb says:

    I don’t think Tolkien was suggesting that our only two options are a heroic escape or a cowardly desertion. I think he was just saying that critics often confuse one for the other. Not every flight fits into the category of one of the two options.

    Additionally, I don’t think that every instance of a Christian engaging secular culture can be compared to a fight or battle. Many times, the world is facing in Christ’s direction, but having trouble finding their way around the obstacles. Those are  the unbelievers we don’t engage in battle-dress, but in the uniform of a scout or guide.

    • Jeremy, I’m not sure how else to read what he wrote. The point is, however, he was speaking distinctly to critics of fairy tales who said people had no business escaping into a fantasy realm. Tolkien’s argument was that this world they called “real” was actually a prison, confining readers, keeping them from living life and engaging reality. To flee into fantasy, then, was to flee into truth, not into escapist nonsense.

      My question is, ought we not be interested in bringing others along with us into truth? I think C. S. Lewis  did. I don’t think an allegory like Pilgrim’s Progress would do that any longer, though it undoubtedly once did. Instead, a story with such clear Christian overtones gets labeled “for Christians.” I think that’s a sad state of affairs, but that’s where our culture is at.

      Consequently, I think we need to engage the culture, to  bring others along to the truth we know — in a different way, perhaps a more Lewis way — instead of finding a place that suits us just fine whether others encounter truth or not.

      Just wondering. 😉

       

      Becky

      • Jeremy McNabb says:

        I’m not sure how else to read what he wrote.

        I wish I knew how to fix that for you. Tolkien wasn’t setting up a dichotomy. He was pointing out that critics were confusing the meaning traitors and heroes. To make an analogy, Tolkien was saying “They’re confusing the color red for the color green.” That doesn’t mean those are the only two colors to choose from.

          I don’t think an allegory like Pilgrim’s Progress would do that any longer, though it undoubtedly once did. 

        Perhaps not in the original format, but the storyline has been made into a speculative fiction movie called The Wylds, which does an excellent job of getting across Bunyan’s point (with rocket-wielding robots to boot). 

        I think there are all sorts of ways to impact people for the gospel. The bible talks of those who plow, those who plant the seed, those who water it, and those who harvest. I think there’s room for us to say that Christians can do all three. There are those who plow the unbeliever’s mind, readying him for something other perhaps without ever mentioning Jesus. Then there are those who name the name of Jesus in an introductory way, without ever leaning in with a convicting word. There is a place for those who water–who sustain an attitude of reverence for God. There is a place for a harvester, who bridges the gap between recognizing a need for Christ and showing the way to him. Not all novels (or even all Christian authors) need to take an unbeliever out of his world, change his paradigm, convict him, and save him in 90,000 words.

      • Maybe it would help if Christians made the definition more explicit about to what and where good fantastic stories should help readers “escape.” Too long, perhaps, we’ve spoken about escaping into wonder, etc., a lot of high-sounding verbiage that understandably “escapes” (ha ha!) the practical person’s grasp.

        But what Tolkien, and non-Christian writers, present in their stories as an Unknown Desire for something, Scripture and the Gospel makes plain to us.

        It makes this plain: that in our hearts, all people should desire God and His Place, but substitute those longings with sin’s filth, and that ultimately this world — as it is now — is not our home; the New Earth, remodeled and cleansed of sin, will be Home for all those who love the Creator.

        So what should we “escape” from? Not from this world and its artificial constructs to some kind of unknown Ideal. Instead, to imagining the New Heavens and New Earth, where the fantastic will be contemporary, for everlasting time.

        I think there are all sorts of ways to impact people for the gospel.

        Great stuff, Jeremy, and very encouraging. Just the other day I was exploring this, in another nonfiction project, trying to tie this in with the Biblical view of vocation. The fact is, no Christian can specifically present the Gospel at all times; every Christian, even the soapbox street-preacher, spends time glorifying God and echoing the Gospel in other, more subtle ways.

         

        With all those challenges of how and when it’s best to show and tell the Gospel in our real-life stories for non-Christians, it’s no surprise that we debate how we do this in our made-up stories. But I’m convinced that those who love Christ and want to share stories with non-Christians have more than one equally God-honoring way to do that.

        Going undercover

        Some Christian storytellers may share stories with nonbelievers that emphasize common-grace elements, such as beauty in the world, self-sacrifice, and clear good versus evil. Their stories may not mention God, or the Gospel, or Jesus Christ’s true sacrifice. Instead they have pulled back the overt references to the Epic Story, to draw others into a story that only subtly echoes the Story’s truths, but doesn’t contradict them.

        Often a Christian who finds success in story-making in secular fields — such as novels or movies — may want to glorify God in true and beautiful ways “on the inside.” Such storytellers are like double agents or spies, behind enemy lines, but who also want to help save their enemies by de-mystifying Christianity or removing some of its jargon.

        Many of these storytellers will also include messages that only Christians will pick up on, especially when it comes to good-versus-evil conflicts or themes of self-sacrifice that are ultimately based in Scripture. Jesus Himself was a master at this, and many more-recent Christian storytellers, such as C.S. Lewis, followed that approach.

        These storytellers may find chances to witness more overtly, in other ways. But they may also face greater challenges of not conforming to anti-Christian influences.

        Going public

        Other Christian storytellers will do what most Christian fiction readers expect: include the Gospel, or at least mentions of God and Christian morals, more directly. Often these stories are about characters, Christian or non-Christian, who have crises of faith and are confronted with the Gospel. They may end, or have a turning point, with a scene showing the character converting to Christianity. Some of the best examples include the Sherwood Pictures movies Fireproof (2008) and Courageous (2011), and other Christian movies that share stories about contemporary people, but are mainly meant to promote a more-direct Christian message like a preacher would, and persuade others.

        These storytellers may enjoy practicing their faith more out loud. But they may need to resist guilt when they cannot witness every moment, or temptations to set up cliques.

        Later I hope to build on my case that both of these options — going undercover and going public — are equally valid for true Christian storytellers. If they sincerely want to give glory to God and show how He should be enjoyed in all kinds of stories, and are also following His revealed will in His Word, other Christians, including those who may have other callings or talents, shouldn’t jump to judge them for their choices.

         

    • Replying to your reply, Jeremy, which doesn’t seem to allow a reply. 😛

       

      To make an analogy, Tolkien was saying “They’re confusing the color red for the color green.” That doesn’t mean those are the only two colors to choose from.

       

      If you’ll recall, that was one of my original questions in the article (“Are those our only two choices — giving in to our culture as traitors or fighting against it as a lover of what is right and true?)

       

      I think there are all sorts of ways to impact people for the gospel.

       

      I agree, and was hoping to generate some discussion about how writers, specifically fiction writers, can impact our culture for the gospel.

       

      Not all novels (or even all Christian authors) need to take an unbeliever out of his world, change his paradigm, convict him, and save him in 90,000 words.

       

      If you thought I was saying this, then obviously I wasn’t clear. I understand what you said about the various ways in which a writer can engage people for Christ — soil prep, sowing, watering, harvesting. I’ve written articles here at Spec Faith and at my own site that have covered this topic to a degree, stating, for example

      There are any number of moral values that Christians share with others in our culture, and it’s right for us to encourage the propagation of those values — not as a means of salvation or as a primary focus over proclaiming Christ, but as a part of “soil preparation.” I wonder if Christians have been so focused in the last fifty years in sowing seed — the word of God — that we’ve neglected the main point of Jesus’s parable. The critical factor that insured much fruit was what kind of soil the seed fell on.

       

      I guess I was hoping this article would bring this subject to the forefront again. I think it’s important for Christian writers to think about what it is we’re trying to do and why we’re trying to do it.

       

      Becky

  2. Adam says:

    Doesn’t Tolkien go on to say that the escape actually provides an escape back into reality? It was either him or Lewis. Either way, neither of them used “escape” in the same way we think of “escapism.” Rather, I think it meant a breaking free from the enchantment of materialism and the ills of our culture, not an escape or flight from all of reality in that unhealthy way we tend to associate with the term.

    • I think it meant a breaking free from the enchantment of materialism and the ills of our culture, not an escape or flight from all of reality in that unhealthy way we tend to associate with the term.

       

      Adam, that’s how I understand him, too. But I think there’s a danger of us escaping, even in this way. It’s a selfishness — that it’s important for me to free myself from the ills of our culture without concern for the fact that I end up leaving others wallowing in that culture.

      I’m trying to explore the Christian writer’s responsibility to our culture.

       

      Becky

  3. Galadriel says:

    Seeing things as they are meant to be seen–Recovery! And Lewis mentioned that one does not despise ordinary forests, because one knows some are enchanted, and that makes them all a bit enchanted.  Same goes for wardrobes and police telephone boxes.

  4. Julius says:

    What exactly does “engaging the culture” mean? No one has ever explained that adequately. What culture? Mainstream culture isn’t some homogenous stream you can just connect your little estuary to. It’s made of groups, who don’t share the

    What would the choice in the middle be?

    Besides, who better to lead people out, under the barbed wire and out of the enclosure, through the woods to freedom then those who have gotten out? The escape is a roadmap in a thousand pieces leading the way out.

  5. Kessie says:

    Why do Christians need to escape? Why do any of us need to escape? From boredom, from routine, from disappointments and hardship in our lives. We can run off to a fairyland and have adventures and forget our lives for a little while. And if visiting that fairyland makes us appreciate our real lives a little more, then the trip was worth it.
     
    I think if Christians just work on telling a good story, and not trying to convert every last reader, our Christianity will bleed through anyway. I’m always sniffing out ‘stealth Christian’ authors, who aren’t writing overtly Christian books, but their faith comes through anyway. It’s always encouraging and fun.
     
    As opposed to a Christian writing a disgusting, sexual-tension story with a heavy dollop of God at the end, hoping to appeal to secular readers. C’mon, people. Feeding the flesh much?

  6. Kessie, I agree with what you say about Christian writers who try to appeal to secular readers on the basis of secular passions. It really strikes me as the wrong approach. It’s like the people who say if Jesus were here today, we’d find him hanging out in the gay bars. Well, no. I suspect Jesus would do what he did in the first century — start in the house of worship and then take to the streets and the open areas where He could accommodate the crowds.

    He’s the example we should use for engaging culture, I think.

    And Julius, I think your question is a good one — what exactly is “engaging the culture”? No “the culture” is not homogeneous, but there are definite threads that characterize America today that stand in contrast with America fifty years ago, that stand in contrast with eastern culture.

    We are a celebrity culture, for example, as witnessed by American Idol, Celebrity Apprentice, Dancing with the Stars, and any professional sport you want to name (college sports too, more and more). So what does that mean for the Christian? Are we to run from that? Hide our heads because we think that counterfeit fame is harmful?

    What about feminism? We’re a culture that has embraced the “rights” of women. Are we as Christians to ignore this? Also embrace it without examining it in light of Scripture, or run away into our stories where we don’t have to deal with such a troubling issue?

    I hope that helps.

    In light of that explanation, Kessie, I’d have to disagree with your statement that if Christians just work on telling a good story, and not trying to convert every last reader, our Christianity will bleed through anyway. In contrast, I tend to think our culture will bleed through into our Christianity because we spend a lot more time interacting with our culture than we do with our Christianity.

    My thinking is that we need to bring our Christianity to bear on what we deal with out there in our culture. And in the same way, we need to bring our culture into our stories and put those mores up against our Christianity — overt or subtle, however we wish to include it.

     

    Becky

  7. Jeremy McNabb says:

    It’s like the people who say if Jesus were here today, we’d find him hanging out in the gay bars. Well, no. I suspect Jesus would do what he did in the first century — start in the house of worship and then take to the streets and the open areas where He could accommodate the crowds.

    I’m not so sure that’s true. Jesus preached in the Jewish synagogue, yes, but it wasn’t exactly a paragon of holiness in the first-century. He and his disciples also hung out and dined with tax-collectors and prostitutes, and he did it with enough regularity to be called their king. He allowed whores to wash his feet. Paul preached in pagan temples, argued with secular philosophers, went before kings and princes to preach in their own court, and said that he would be all things to all men.

    I’m not saying that we should limit ourselves to the gutters, whorehouses, gay bars, and adult film stores. But we shouldn’t limit ourselves to churches and Christian fellowships, either. The point isn’t to figure out where we can’t name the name of Jesus,  but to realize that the name of Jesus may be named anywhere by a person who is called to do so.

    • Jeremy, the point isn’t whether or not the Jewish synagogue was a paradigm of virtue or not. Jesus wasn’t coming to heal the well, but the sick, and that took Him to the synagogue. That’s the place where people should have recognized Him and embraced Him.

      I suspect a lot of people who suggest Jesus was hanging out with prostitutes and … whatever else they think — in today’s parlance it would be corporate shysters, I suppose, though you rarely hear people say Jesus would be off hanging out with bankers and lobbyists — are missing a key point: the prostitutes and sinners were those who repented. They weren’t hanging out with Jesus on the Sabbath and then hitting the streets the next night looking to turn a trick.

      Their lives were changed. And if they weren’t, well, Jesus told his disciples on their short term mission trip to shake the dust off their feet and move on.

      Mostly we have Jesus’s success stories, but there were places where Jesus found closed doors, and He moved on. That fact reiterates the idea that the harlots and tax collectors and other publicans and sinners were not still what they had been.

      No matter that Rahab was an ancester of King David and in Christ’s genealogy, she is still known as “Rahab the harlot” (see James 2:25), but I doubt very much that she was a practicing prostitute after Jericho fell to the Hebrews.

      The point is, it’s an error for us to keep repeating this idea that Jesus would choose to hang with those who hate Him and who rebel against God’s Word. We should stop saying it because Scripture doesn’t bear this out as true.

      Colossians 1:21-23 a puts this into perspective, I think: And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel . . .

       

      But we shouldn’t limit ourselves to churches and Christian fellowships, either.

       

      If you think this is what I was saying, Jeremy, then I definitely failed to communicate my point. I guess I’ll have to try harder next time.

       

      Becky

       
           
           

What do you think?