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124. How Should Christian Novels Help Secular Readers?
Fantastical Truth Podcast, Aug 9, 2022

Shasta’s Meeting with Aslan in ‘The Horse and His Boy’ Helped Me Embrace God’s Sovereignty
Elijah David in Articles, Aug 5, 2022

100 Cupboards
Reviews, Aug 5, 2022

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Blood Secrets, Morgan L. Busse
When Legends Rise, Daphne Self
The Withering, P. S. Patton
The Wonderland Trials, Sara Ella
Shadow of Honor, Ronie Kendig
Lost Bits, Kerry Nietz
Rats of Dweltford, Matt Barron
Vivid, Ashley Bustamante
The Godot Orange, Bruce Roberts
My Soul to Take, Bryan Davis
Into Shadow's Fire, Mark Castleberry
Deceived, Madisyn Carlin
Arena (2022 edition), Karen Hancock
Kurt Nickle-Dickle of Whiskers, N. J. McLagan
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100 Cupboards
“With thoughtful narrative voice and emotional honesty, N. D. Wilson’s 100 Cupboards (2007) opens doors to worlds of mystery and adventure.”
—Lorehaven on Aug 5, 2022

Blood Secrets
“Blood Secrets charts a satisfying conclusion to the Skyworld duology, with dashing prose that draws readers into this world of steam and mystery.”
—Lorehaven on Jul 22, 2022

Jabberwock’s Curse
“In Jabberwock’s Curse, R.V. Bowman blends different elements from Lewis Carroll’s classic into a quick-paced coming-of age story whose three heroes must learn who they were created to be.”
—Lorehaven on Jul 8, 2022

The Governess of Greenmere
“Obscure Arthurian and Celtic references blend with biblical imagery and high heroism in this brief yet old-souled story.”
—Lorehaven on Jul 1, 2022

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124. How Should Christian Novels Help Secular Readers?
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Yes, Speculative Faith Is Closed, At Least For Now
E. Stephen Burnett, Dec 30

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How Christian Must Christian Fiction Be?
Rebecca LuElla Miller, May 24

Gender In Fiction: The Implication Of Failure
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Making a Story Visual UPDATE: Behind the Scenes of the Animal Eye Comic
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What Does “Woke” Culture Have To Do With Christian Fiction?
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Lorehaven helps Christian fans explore fantastical stories for Christ’s glory: fantasy, science fiction, and beyond. Articles, the library, reviews, podcasts, gifts, and the Lorehaven Guild community help fans discern and enjoy the best Christian-made fantastical stories, applying their meanings to the real world Jesus Christ calls us to serve. Subscribe free to get any updates you choose and to access the Lorehaven Guild.
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On CAPC: ‘S.H.I.E.L.D.’ and The Subversion Of Human Nature

Given a chance to share its superhero world on the small screen, Marvel chose to subvert naïve optimism about human government and humanity itself.
E. Stephen Burnett on Jun 5, 2014
4 comments
One of these S.H.I.E.L.D. agents was not like the others.

One of these S.H.I.E.L.D. agents was not like the others.

If you didn’t stick with the full first season of “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” to the season finale, you missed a lot.

Some non-spoilers include:

  • A backlog of Whedonesque story-trope subversions, culminating in kaboom.
  • Poignant explorations of the true nature of non-super-heroism versus supervillainy.
  • Agent Skye, the “boring one,” is no longer boring and is instead sympathetic.
  • Agent Ward, the other “boring one,” is also no longer boring.
  • As in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Nick Fury deus ex machina for the win. Then another win. And then another.
  • Human evolution — by name and with all the religious connotations right alongside. And it’s not a good thing.
  • How Coulson got his gun back.

But you’ll get more S.H.I.E.L.D. exploration — spoilers included — in my May 30 article at Christ and Pop Culture.

Thanks to the May 13 season 1 finale of “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”, I feel vindicated about my hopes for the series and encouraged by its honest look at human nature.

Marvel, when given a chance to take its unprecedented shared-universe superhero films to the small screen, chose to write stories that subvert naïve optimism about basically-decent government agencies and even human beings themselves.

What does this say about humans?

Clearly we do not believe our own press.

We may vote for real-life political leaders who promise basically-decent bureaucracies that only want to do some good. But we don’t trust big-government agencies in our fiction.

We may cheer for real-life heroes as if they’re beyond evil. But we understand completely when poser heroes in our fiction reveal their evil nature—and we favor their punishment.

Read more at S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Subversion of Human Nature at Christ and Pop Culture.

E. Stephen Burnett
E. Stephen Burnett creates sci-fi and fantasy novels as well as nonfiction, exploring fantastical stories for God’s glory as publisher of Lorehaven.com and cohost of the Fantastical Truth podcast. As the oldest of six, he enjoys connecting with his homeschool roots by speaking at conferences for Christian families and creators. Stephen is coauthor of The Pop Culture Parent: Helping Kids Engage Their World for Christ from New Growth Press (2020, with Ted Turnau and Dr. Jared Moore). Stephen and his wife, Lacy, live in the Austin area, where they help with foster parenting and serve as members of Southern Hills Baptist Church.
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  1. Tim Geore says:
    June 5, 2014 at 12:47 pm

    I almost gave up on S.H.I.E.L.D half way through and my wife did. The story line redeemed itself over the last few episodes and yes showed where ficiton is best served – asking big questions and leaving us to wrestle with he answers.

    Reply
    • Christian Jaeschke says:
      June 6, 2014 at 1:38 am

      The TV series was very average until almost 2/3rds of the way through. It’s disappointing that AoS took so long to get there, but when it did, wow – what a ride to the season finale!

       

      Reply
  2. Joanna says:
    June 5, 2014 at 12:55 pm

    Oh. Well I never watched it beyond the first episode… or was it the second? It just didn’t hook me and draw me in. Maybe I should go back and watch it now….

    Reply
  3. Julie D says:
    June 5, 2014 at 4:14 pm

    It definitely took things to the next level around episode seventeen, though even at episode ten the arc tightened.

    Reply

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Lorehaven helps Christian fans explore fantastical stories for Christ’s glory: fantasy, science fiction, and beyond. Articles, the library, reviews, podcasts, gifts, and the Lorehaven Guild community help fans discern and enjoy the best Christian-made fantastical stories, applying their meanings to the real world Jesus Christ calls us to serve. Subscribe free to get any updates you choose and to access the Lorehaven Guild.