/ New resources
/ SpecFaith / Topics: Doctrine and theology

Refuting ‘universalism’ Slanders Of C.S. Lewis, Part 3

Lewis was not a universalist. He was not a closet compromising-with-Satan “pagan” either. He believed the essentials of the faith: that he was a sinner and that Christ, by grace, saved him. That, at the core, makes one a Christian. · E. Stephen Burnett

Refuting Universalism Slanders Of C.S. Lewis, Part 2

In C.S. Lewis’s “The Last Battle,” the character Emeth did not at first believe in Aslan, yet still somehow crossed over into paradise. Christians get confused about this. Some use it to reject Lewis as a universalist. Is that a right reading? · E. Stephen Burnett

“Christian Speculative Fiction” Is Not An Oxymoron

In Friday’s guest post, “Is ‘Christian Speculative Fiction’ an Oxymoron?” debut novelist Mike Duran (if I “got” him correctly 😉 ) hypothesized that a Christian’s theology may get in the way of speculating about our world — that which is […] · Rebecca LuElla Miller

Refuting Universalism Slanders Of C.S. Lewis, Part 1

Some Christians are just nutty, and nuttiness does not revoke salvation. But many carefully discerning Christians have been deceived into believing they should fear C.S. Lewis because he supposedly held heretical belief in universalism. · E. Stephen Burnett

Can Christians Write Novels Without Evil?

Our choices are to accept the Bible as the authoritative, infallible, inerrant Word, including its violence, or not. I for one choose the former and think it is high time we quit making excuses for it. · Marc Schooley

Salvaging Scripture For Our Own Story Parts

If human authors’ intentions and genre guidelines are worth respect from readers, then surely God as Author, His intentions and reading Scripture rightly, are all worth even more. Yet some novels’ flagrant misuse of Scripture and Biblical concepts, using only scraps of it to fit sporadically into another story, is dubious. · E. Stephen Burnett

Deus Ex Machinas and The Doctor

A deus ex machina — a surprise twist at the last second to save one’s characters or story — need not always be wrong, for at least four reasons. · E. Stephen Burnett

How God Saved Me While I Read A Novel

I doubt that Thyra Ferre Bjorn was making a statement about abortion when she wrote her book in the 1950s. I don’t think she intended to prick the heart of a young woman, some thirty years later, who had purposefully killed two of her children via the abortionist’s table. But God used her book to save my life. · Sally Apokedak

Fear, Festering and Faith: The Artist’s Contract With Honesty

Apologies for tardiness. I confess to being deathly ill, but that doesn’t usually stop me. This week, I was trying to find something honest to say, and nothing wanted to come out. The notion of faith and fictional speculation didn’t […] · C.L. Dyck

The ‘priesthood Of Artists’ and Godly Criticism

In which the author copies a previous lengthy comment and fashions it into the column it should have been, about problems with “priesthood of artists” notions. Last week I mini-ranted about Derek Webb’s interview. A lot of bloggers have been […] · E. Stephen Burnett

Observations: Speculating Faith

In the interest of a prelude, before Christmas I wrote a piece called Inherently Religious, in which I argued that some events and symbolism are by nature religious, and, therefore, they cannot properly be used in any other way – […] · Kaci Hill

Artist ‘priests,’ God-centered Definitions and More

You know those infamous “clip shows” television sitcoms sometimes have, perhaps at the end of a season when the financial and ideas budgets are both running low? This will not be like that. Rather I present here a roundup of […] · E. Stephen Burnett

Redeeming Santa Legends For Delighting In Grace

At Christmas, when it comes to Santa and other issues, do reflexive “we’re to be different” lines jump to our minds? We need to balance that half-truth with enjoyment of God’s good gifts — including celebrating holidays and feasting, which Scripture does support, for God’s glory. · E. Stephen Burnett

Defeating Man-Centered Monsters With Greater Stories

For the Christian, the choice seems easy between God-rejecting and God-centered stories. But if I had to choose between stories that ignore God and those that (despite frequent hints of God-centeredness) include Him wrongly, I must admit I would prefer the God-ignoring ones. · E. Stephen Burnett

Fighting Man-Centered Monsters In Christian Fantasy

Stories like “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” that make a Christ-figure a means to fulfilling one’s destiny are little better than atheism. · E. Stephen Burnett

How Do We Love A Fiction Legalist? Part 3

Three ways to love a fiction “legalist” — that is, a Christian who opposes fantasy or fiction, or more often simply considers them pointless, useless and unnecessary to Godward growth. · E. Stephen Burnett
  1. Pages:
  3. 1
  4. ...
  5. 51
  6. 52
  7. 53
  8. 54
  9. 55
  10. 56
  11. 57
  12. 58
  13. 59
  14. 60