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The Sword Endures

With all the different kinds of speculative stories, with fantastic weapons and wars, why is the symbol and themes of the sword so transcendent? · Rebecca P. Minor

Speculative Faith Reading Group 6: Greed and Gifts

In these two chapters of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” we see good and evil even more clearly — along with God-exalting, reality-reflecting truths of what really causes evil, and the seriousness of fighting it. · E. Stephen Burnett

Why Christians Can Love Speculative Stories

“Popologetics” author Ted Turnau: Speculative stories give more space to explore reality, imaginative worlds that enchant, and reflections of our true home. · Ted Turnau

Speculative Faith Reading Group 5: Enter The Lion

Who is Aslan? Is he the same as Jesus Christ? An “allegory” for Him? Or something else entirely? Who would we ask? Also, what about that strange “Lilith” explanation for the White Witch, from “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”? · E. Stephen Burnett

Speculative Faith Reading Group 4: Reality and Narnia

Why did C.S. Lewis write about four children coming into the magical land of Narnia? Why not two, or three, or even one, in order to write a simpler story with a more-focused cast of characters? · E. Stephen Burnett

Speculative Faith Reading Group 3: Enter The Witch

For the real-life Speculative Faith Reading Group for LWW, this week we’ll pick up the pace. It helps that chapters 3 and 4 are short and follow one vital story development — Edmund meeting the White Witch. · E. Stephen Burnett

Speculative Faith Reading Group 2: Meeting Mr. Tumnus

Week 2 of the “Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” reading group. Goat-men, tree spirits, naked Greek gods, a drunk on a donkey, and an evil White Witch — how are these things in a classic story Christians love? · E. Stephen Burnett

Speculative Faith Reading Group 1: Entering The ‘Wardrobe’

This week I’m starting a reading group at my church for “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” You’re invited to join. How does this story honor God, and how can we learn from C.S. Lewis’s success at redeeming pagan myth for His glory? · E. Stephen Burnett

No Such Thing As Miracles

Author Athol Dickson: “Magical realism presents the supernatural as a matter of fact, almost as an everyday event, much as science fiction does. But like pure fantasy, magical realism refuses to explain itself.” · Athol Dickson

Spec-Faith Flashback: Jill Williamson

From our archives: Author Jill Williamson recalls how she actually wrote her YA sci-fi novel “Replication” before her fantasy “Blood of Kings” series. · Jill Williamson

Sex In The Story 6: Heroes and Heroines

Amidst belching sitcom dads, raging feminists, over-angsty teen-boy “chosen ones,” or inhuman “warrior princesses,” we find God-glorifying men and women in many stories. Here are a few. · E. Stephen Burnett

Sex In The Story 5: More Male Mythologies

We may always have sex caricatures in stories, and they may balance each other out. But how do we cure stock males, gender-neutrals, bad boys, men-children, faith-based supermen, and Prophesied Heroes™? · E. Stephen Burnett

Bringing The Personal To The Universal

Great fiction is made up of themes: Love and longing, coming of age, voyage and return, fathers, sons, daughters, mothers, overcoming the monster, death, birth, and more. These are universals, themes that can be, on one level or another, understood by any man or woman. · Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Lord Of The Fantasies: Beyond The Swordfights

In “The Lord of the Rings” films, elf-maiden Arwen almost joined the fight at Helm’s Deep, and King Aragorn almost dueled the dark lord Sauron. But the movie-makers chose otherwise. How come, and how does this show truly rare heroism? · E. Stephen Burnett

Lord Of The Fantasies: Beholding Middle-earth

Because I first read “The Fellowship of the Ring” only days before seeing the film version, I did not have time to form interpretations of characters, or expectations. Thus, the film blew me away, no disappointments. But how might I have been disadvantaged? · E. Stephen Burnett

Lord Of The Fantasies: Looking Back on ‘FotR’

Ten years ago, “The Lord of the Rings” still sounded too “classical” to me. I had my Narnia. Why add another fantasy world? Then, before reading the books or seeing the film, I heard Howard Shore’s film score. And I was drawn into Middle-earth. · E. Stephen Burnett

Jack And John In Conversation

In lieu of our planned article, then, I offer you a fascinating dramatization of a dialogue between C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, with thanks to Fred Warren who found it and passed it along to me because of its relevance to the just concluded series on Tolkien’s essay “On Fairy-Stories.” Enjoy! · Rebecca LuElla Miller

‘Hobbit’ Hopes and Other Happenings

“The Hobbit” teaser finally arrives, Gandalf’s and Dumbledore’s first-century ancestors seek the newborn King, the dangers of appearance-based book discernment, Christmas un-specials, and: why should Christians hype “The Hobbit”? · E. Stephen Burnett

The Making Of A Myth, Part 7 – Tolkien And The Gospel

Few people, even those not well-versed in fantasy, will argue against the idea that J. R. R. Tolkien is the master of the fantasy genre. In that he wrote his thoughts about this type of tale in his essay “On […] · Rebecca LuElla Miller

The Making Of A Myth, Part 6 — Tolkien On Romance

Would J. R. R. Tolkien, if he were alive today, be a fan of prairie romance? The question is appropriate because of what he wrote in his essay “On Fairy-Stories” regarding escapism. · Rebecca LuElla Miller
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