Just a moment ago I posted this on Facebook (slightly edited here):

Folks who’ve read and enjoyed A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle: Help me out here. Reading right now seems a chore. The “uncanny child” thing is already wearing on me, the “Mrs.” characters a bit too forced-whimsical, and protagonist Meg is passive and uninteresting. Does it get better? Or is all this actually such literary genius that I simply haven’t recognized yet?

Instantly afterward, an email arrived from Fred Warren. He let me know that his final installment of his Legend of Intaglio comedy novella series will be (alas!) delayed.

This less-amusing replacement results from Becky’s May 28 question, Which [Christian Speculative Books] Are Required Reading? and my May 30 followup Define ‘Christian Speculative Story.’ Because, it turns out, not only is L’Engle’s debut yet beloved classic fantasy boring to me (at least four chapters in), but the author had questionable beliefs.

In starting this discussion, I will assume at least two presuppositions, as follows:

1. A “Christian speculative novel” must be written by a professing Christian. (This does not rule out other authors who work according to Christian worldview tenets, but it does seek to distinguish specific-Christian stories from general-redemptive stories.)
2. “Christian” is defined according to Scripture, simplified into the historic creeds and confessions that reflect Biblical truths. (Our faith statement borrows from these.)

Now, I want to recognize that historically, Christians have been sadly loose with the truth when it comes to fantasy novels and authors. Some Christians seem to flatly lie about, say, J.K. Rowling and the themes and content of the Harry Potter series. Others have wrongly concluded that C.S. Lewis was a universalist — that is, that Lewis believed Hell would only be temporary, if it exists at all, and that God is too “loving” to show His holiness for eternity.

Madeleine L’Engle (1918 – 2007)

So I may be wrong about this. Maybe Madeleine L’Engle was one of those folks who, say, are simply confused about one belief and somehow — perhaps out of ignorance — this does not infect their otherwise-orthodox faith. Maybe L’Engle recanted later. Still, there is this:

All will be redeemed in God’s fullness of time, all, not just the small portion of the population who have been given the grace to know and accept Christ. All the strayed and stolen sheep. All the little lost ones.

^{L’Engle, Madeleine (1974). The Summer of the Great-grandmother. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. pp. 164.}

With this statement, L’Engle would not be permitted to join Speculative Faith’s writing team. Far worse, it would mean that she could not rightly join a visible local church, part of the invisible Church, that seeks to teach and live out the Epic Story of Scripture, the Gospel.

Space doesn’t permit a full criticism, but here is why: Universalism is a well-intended but false belief, that tries to “liberate” Christianity from the concept of Hell by implying or claiming outright that eventually all people will be drawn into Heaven. What it does, though, is reject at least three truths:

1. The clarity, sufficiency, and truthfulness of God’s Word.
2. The nature of God Himself, by saying that He not only disregards justice but His own love (for being so rude as to be unclear in His Word about our eternal fates).
3. Man’s meaningful choice, by saying it doesn’t really matter what you believe about God or His Story in this world. God doesn’t care about your free will. So even if you hate Him and want nothing to do with Him, ever, He’ll make you like Him someday.

So with that in mind, am I wrong to believe that L’Engle was a lifelong universalist?

Would it be wrong to read her books?

I’ll go ahead and answer: no, not if I recognize her possibly wrong beliefs and practice discernment as I read.

Perhaps the most significant question: should we carry her books in the Speculative Faith Library of Christian speculative fiction? Especially when we already have books by authors whose personal theologies could be flawed (e.g., Catholicism, end-times-ism, etc.?).

Just so you know, no books will be “officially” removed or critiqued by the whole Spec-Faith team. This is merely my personal exploration.

I just started reading a book addressed to Christians about our role in the postmodern, post-Christian age. Some believers, according to this writer, respond by becoming entrenched. They dig in, hunker down, and make the best of the little space they’ve carved out for themselves.

That’s my simplistic interpretation of this particular view, but I mention it because I see a lot of similarity with those of us who declare ourselves to be fans of Christian speculative fiction. We have little interest in “evangelizing” other readers now that we’ve found a) some secular authors that feed our need for the speculative and don’t offend our Christian sensibilities (at least not much or not often); or b) a Christian imprint or a Christian author who provides the type of fiction we like best.

Because our reading preferences are met, the thinking goes, why should we care if Christian speculative fiction grows to include more books or bigger publishing houses or greater numbers of readers? I realize, of course, this description does not fit every fan of Christian speculative fiction or every Christian who is a fan of speculative fiction. Nevertheless, I find the attitude to be more prevalent than I’d like. Quite honestly, it troubles me.

I think there might be several possible causes for it. First is the idea that reading is simply for entertainment. Without a doubt, reading fiction is entertaining. But we do not exist in a vacuum. God did not create us as compartmentalized beings–over here we deal with work, over there with entertainment, and on Sunday’s in our churches, our spiritual well-being.

On the contrary, we are thinking, enjoying, relating, spiritual people no matter when and where we are, no matter what we are doing. Chatting with a co-worker, laughing on (or at 😉 ) the job, praying over a sticky issue–do we as Christians not do those things in the work place, along with reasoning and problem-solving?

Why, then, should we expect to leave our brains outside as we open up a novel? Why should we lay aside our core spiritual values, as if they have nothing to do with how we spend our entertainment time?

Another troubling aspect is the me-centric approach. Who cares about anybody else as long as I have what I need? I find this attitude on the rise in our culture, and we Christians seem to be going along for the ride. Of course, such thinking fragments society, but even more important, it violates Christ’s mandate for us to love our neighbor.

What??? I can hear the cries from here. Not telling others about Christian speculative fiction violates God’s command to love our neighbor? Kind of. The me-centric attitude certainly does. Finding a treasure and keeping it all for ourselves certainly violates God’s command to love our neighbor.

But there’s the last issue. Do we as readers value Christian speculative fiction to the point of seeing it as a treasure? What if there were no more Christian speculative fiction tomorrow? No self-published e-books, no more POD Marcher Lord Press paperbacks, not any from Splashdown Books either, and none on the shelves of Christian or general market stores.

Would it matter?

I suspect we would all survive, but I also think we’d lose something powerful–a vehicle that more accurately portrays the world than any other form of story. Speculative fiction paints good and evil in vibrant, living color. We see through story what we know to be true spiritually.

Western culture seems bent on separating Man from what’s most important. We are bombarded from eyes-open to eyes-closed with things to buy and fun to have and jobs to do. Music fills the few blank moments, and TV blares in the background of our conversations. We hardly have a chance to reflect that God matters, that Jesus is our Head, that the Holy Spirit lives within us.

And then we open a Christian speculative novel, and we have the chance to see beyond the bling, beyond business as usual, beyond even the adrenaline rush of entertainment.

So why, when we have Christian speculative fiction, do we keep it to ourselves?

Summer is here, school work is over, and rest has begun.  Most children, however, will not rest from enjoying stories this summer. They will hear about new movies, television shows, or even books. And with each new offering you, as a parent, may consider two choices:

1. You may take a mostly hands-off approach, letting your children read or watch whatever they like. Or, at best, you may rely on others (other children’s parents, librarians, friends, or Christian leaders) to let you know if a story is okay.
2. You may apply arbitrary, legalistic boundaries to your child’s story choices.

As a Christian, father, and pastor of a Baptist church, I definitely don’t encourage any kind of hands-off approach about what your children read or watch. However, I also do not want to encourage applying arbitrary legalistic boundaries to your children’s media choices.

Option 1: Fuzzy boundaries

I say this from experience. When I was growing up, I attended a Southern Baptist church. At this particular church, other youths and I were told not to listen to any secular music or watch any R-rated movies. We even had random youth events where the youth would burn CDs of secular music. And by that I don’t mean they were making copies. They literally burned the discs. We would have a “CD burning party,” then in a few weeks, all the youths would buy more secular CDs. To this day I’m not sure of the spiritual value of this exercise.

Throughout all of these practices, the “rules” were hanging in midair. None of the youth or adults that taught us these standards practiced them on a consistent basis. As a result, all of us went back and forth between liberalism and legalism, with no personal discernment.

Of course, this is not limited to my experience, or to questions about music CDs. Arbitrary legalistic boundaries abound in evangelical Christianity when it comes to enjoying media and storytelling. People tell themselves, other Christians, or their children: “you can watch this, but you can’t watch this.” But what ultimate standard is there for such discernment?

Often, the answer is simply that one’s own conscience is arbitrarily forced on others.

One example is Todd Friel (whom I respect), host of Wretched Radio. In one radio episode, dated July 19, 2011, he condemned any Christian enjoyment of the Harry Potter movie and book series, while speaking positively of the novel Pride and Prejudice. What was his basis to condemn Christians who enjoy Harry Potter? He said, “It’s a sin. Deuteronomy 18. God hates that stuff. I’m not going to ingest that stuff, nor am I going to let my kids [ingest it].”

Is Friel correct? Yes and no. Harry Potter indeed contains evil elements, and these evil elements must be rejected. But where he is wrong is in the fact that Pride and Prejudice also contains evil elements that God hates! Anyone reading the Jane Austen classic novel (or watching the popular 1995 BBC miniseries starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle) will see this. In fact, the story itself is named after two very common but dangerous sins, which the Bible condemns, but which the main characters (at least at first) practice!

This is what I mean by arbitrary legalistic boundaries. If one sins by enjoying Harry Potter, then one also sins by enjoying Pride and Prejudice. If a little evil corrupts the whole form of story, and the witchcraft corrupts Harry Potter, then disobeying the command to love one’s neighbor as oneself in Pride and Prejudice corrupts the whole as well.

Furthermore, in the same audio clip, Friel rejects the hero Harry Potter as a Christ-figure because Harry is sinful. Of course, Friel is correct that the character of Harry Potter is sinful. But so is every other Christ-figure in Scripture. Is there any Christ-figure in Scripture who wasn’t a sinner? Think of King David, the main Christ-figure of the Old Testament. He committed the sins of pride, deception, adultery, murder, etc. Does this disqualify him as a Christ-figure? No.

So here they are again: boundaries that are legalistic, arbitrary, and ultimately hypocritical. No one consistently applies these standards for engaging storytelling books or movies.

But the cure is not simply applying our strict standards more consistently, such as rejecting Pride and Prejudice just as firmly as we reject Harry Potter. Rather, Christians must understand that God hates legalism as much as He hates liberalism. Legalism and liberalism are two sides of the same coin. Christians should also be encouraged that we do not answer to men for our story enjoyments, but to God alone — assuming you are loving God and your neighbor through your enjoyments.

Option 2: Few to no boundaries

The other common practice in evangelical Christianity is to drink deeply of all forms of media. Often, well-meaning Christians see books and movies as “neutral.” They may say, “It’s just a story.” They believe that seeing or reading that story is only entertainment, nothing more and nothing less — as if this action, apart from any other practice, is somehow outside of the realms of righteousness and unrighteousness.

But the apostle Paul says, “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). Eating and drinking are the basic needs of all humans. From the foundation of human existence to the complexities of living in the twenty-first century, God expects Christians to live every second of every day in such a way that glorifies Him. Enjoying stories in books and movies does not escape this Biblical requirement.

Biblical balance: discernment and enjoyment

The answer to these two extremes of Christian story participation is to enjoy God through enjoying man’s stories. Our goal of participating in stories is not the absence of discernment or the mere enjoyment of “neutral” entertainment, but to glorify the Lord.

How do we do this? As with any spiritual habit, this takes study, practice, and help from others. I’ll spend this whole series exploring the concept. But I can summarize it here.

First, to glorify the Lord as we read or watch stories, we must learn to spot, and reject, Satan’s fingerprints. Second, we must learn to discern God’s fingerprints — the things that reflect His truths and beauties — and connect them to Christ’s creating, sustaining, and redeeming work.

For example, whether one enjoys Harry Potter or Pride and Prejudice, we must reject all of Satan’s lies in those stories. At the same time, we must also extract all that God has created true, and connect it to God through Christ. We must recognize truth, and bring more truth from the Word of God to all stories for the purpose of enjoying the Lord.

One day in the New Heavens and New Earth, we will enjoy the Lord without needing to fear Satan’s lies. There, we will always and forever participate in stories unto the glory of God. Of course today we live in this old Earth and old Heavens, but we are still citizens of the New ones, of that coming Kingdom. Our true citizenship is there. We must live that way now. And how we enjoy stories in this world is one way we either admit or deny that we are citizens of the New Jerusalem.

If we must live in an evil world, we must answer the question: “How shall we live unto the glory of God?” The answer is neither legalism nor liberalism, but the consistent application of a biblical worldview. This is God’s world, and all humans admit they live in His world. As we participate in stories, let us discern where they exhibit His fingerprints. Then, let us take these fingerprints and connect them to God through Christ as an act of worship.

For you, this may mean paying more attention to stories. First, you might start thinking about what stories you read or watch, and repenting of your sinful motives for doing so. Then, second, you might begin watching your children’s story-enjoyments more carefully.

Or your response to these truths may be more like mine: learning not to fear stories or to draw arbitrary legalistic boundaries, but to discern and enjoy stories for God’s glory.

As I have studied Scripture more and began to understand how all of creation, including humanity, serves to send humans running to God in worship, I have sought to participate in storytelling media for this purpose. Through over ten years of ministry, I learned that most Christians, regardless of age, are ill-prepared to live in a media-filled world.

To help remedy this problem, I wrote a book titled The Harry Potter Bible Study: Enjoying God Through the Final Four Harry Potter Movies. Its purpose is to help Christians exercise discernment as they view the final four Harry Potter movies. Yet the book also gives a blueprint for basic Christian interaction with any other stories unto the glory of God.

The principles in that book helped me to not only enjoy God through stories, but also to enjoy God through all avenues of life. An 85-year-old lady at my church, a lady who has been a Christian twice as long as I’ve been alive, read the book and rejoiced over enjoying God through all of life. It’s a tragedy that such a senior saint had never been taught that “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31).

Don’t force your hearers or children to wait until the New Heavens and Earth to enjoy God throughout life, and particularly in what media and stories they enjoy! Instead, start now.

To help, I’m writing this new Speculative Faith series: Teaching Story Transitions.

In part 2, we will explore these themes further. First, why do Christians often go from teaching “children, be sheltered,” directly to “parents, shelter your children”? What does the Bible say about what stages come in between? How might parents guide their children to discern and enjoy stories with God’s help?

(Editing and additional writing by E. Stephen Burnett.)

For those who don’t know, there’s a website called “The Top 100 Things I’d Do If I Ever Became an Evil Overlord.” The point is to poke fun at all the silly, clichéd and rather dumb things that fictitious overlords tend to do. In that spirit do I compose my list of things the Antichrist should avoid or implement. This is, after all, the place of speculation, fiction, and faith. I doubt I can get to 100 on my own, so feel free to add to this. (And I had a little help from some friends to get this list. The double asterisks are numbers contributed by people other than myself.)

1. I will not use a microchip or tattoo to brand my followers.
2. If I am somehow talked into this, I will not use my own name or insist that the microchip or tattoo be placed on the right hand or the forehead. The Christians are waiting for that.
3. I will make the state religion Christianity and create a Christian Hall of Fame.
4. I will not actively persecute Christians or any other religious persons.
5. I will not wear clothing that looks like something Jesus wore.
6. I will appear as pious and moral as possible.
7. I will not antagonize my girlfriend. When she dumps me, I will not antagonize her as my ex-girlfriend.
8. I will ban the numbers 666 and 616.
9. I will not use a guillotine to execute opponents.
10. In fact, I will put my opponents on my advisory staff. Opponents help me see blind spots.
11. I will not use the phrase “new world order.”
12. I will befriend Israel, insist their borders be returned to their pre-Exile boundaries, and build a Jewish temple where it’s supposed to go.
13. I will refrain from outright defiling sacred religious things.
14. I will not crown myself. That’s a bit arrogant.
15. My military arm will be civil and uphold justice to the best of their understanding, rather than persecute the helpless.
16. I will advocate social and political justice.
17. I will not antagonize the hero.
18. I will refrain from thinking playing with demonic creatures or things is a good idea.
19. If two prophets of the Judeo-Christian God show up, I will invite them to dinner.
20. If said two prophets turn out to be two prophets centuries dead, I will assume I should consider carefully before angering them.
21. I will not be the one to implement money-less economic systems. That’s a bit obvious.
22. I will not form a 7-year treaty with Israel only to break it halfway through. That’s likely to tip someone off.I will instead remain bound to my contract for the entire seven years.
23. I will seat my primary headquarters in Israel and chase out the Muslims.**
24. I will not slaughter a pig in the temple.** This is counterproductive to maintaining civic order on the streets and to proving to the world I am in fact a benign, competent,good leader.
25. My number of advisers shall be nine or eleven, not 10, just to throw everyone off.
26. I will hold all life equally valuable at all times.
27. I will be clear and honest in my speech and dealings; there will be no double meanings or underlying threats.
28. I will have an accountability structure in place so that in the event I begin to appear evil, I will already have measures in places to restrain me.
29. I will not be a satanist.
30. My spiritual authority will come from a religion everyone has heard of and considers legitimate, not kooky.
31. I will not lie to journalists, preachers, or social advocates.
32. My motto shall be fairness, equality, and justice.
33. I will not allow anyone to make a statue in my name.
34. I will not allow people to worship me.
35. If my personal mentor/accountability partner/priest decides to make himself a high priest of a new religion in which I am god, I shall feed him to lions.
36. I will memorize the entire book of Revelation and all eschatological texts of the Christian Bible and pay very close attention to the events in the book and do my best to avoid anything suspicious.
37. In light of this, I will plan for the pending judgments and set into place plans for sustaining human life during natural disasters, pandemics, wars, economic fallout, and political upheaval. This way I might last a little longer,and, even if I don’t, at least people know I cared and that I did my best to keep from making it worse.
38. I will enhance my own physical, social, and emotional flaws, rather than attempt to hide them, to make sure everyone is aware I am, in fact, human rather than divinity. If no such flaw can be found, I will either make one up or maim myself.
39. I will not fake my own death.
40. I will allow full investigation as to my origin and personal history, just so there is no confusion.
41. 41. I will not employ overly charming speech and behavioral patterns. My speech, behavior, body language, and clothing shall reflect the region I grew up in and convey that I am a normal human being.
42. I will attend a church, just to prove I don’t have a demon.
43. I will not abuse those weaker than myself, nor attempt to dominate them. They are human beings.
44. I will not tell any heroes my plans.**
45. I will not kill the prophets at the Wailing Wall. Again, I wish to prevent riots, not cause them.**
46. No intercourse with women who appear to be of celestial descent.** (Addendum: Apparently some people think the child born in Revelation 12 is the antichrist. This sounds a bit insane, but just to make sure even the insane don’t get suspicious…)
47. I will not call for worldwide disarmament. This is counterproductive to peace and security.
48. I will do my best to show mercy whenever possible.
49. I will allow nations to maintain their autonomy.
50. I will abide by the rules of war as stated in treaties made prior to my rise to power.

Community reading. Many Christians have forgotten this lost art. Instead they presume we show up at church to sing, listen, mingle, eat, and toss cash and checks into oddly shaped baskets — but reading the Bible? That’s something you do by yourself, in your Quiet Time, presumably just before Coloring Time and after Apple Juice and Goldfish Crackers Time.

Thank God it seems we’re recovering the lost art of reading God’s Story together, as church congregations (I hope without also losing the art of personal Scripture study). Yet what about other books? Should other storytelling, inspired by His Story, be only individual?

I think not. For Christian fiction, which is intended to challenge, entertain, encourage and flesh out the Gospel for readers, we need to recover community reading and discussion. We’re not “Lone Ranger” Christians here (a bad comparison, by the way, because the Lone Ranger had Tonto). So why grab a book like the classic fantasy The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, retreat to a bedroom, and then only talk about it briefly or on the internet?

If we truly believe such a story glorifies God, and that reading and enjoying it is an act of worshiping Him, then we shouldn’t keep that to ourselves. Enough of “hipster”-like niche mindsets. Enough saying “we’re weird.” And enough defensiveness. People love this stuff!

Last Saturday I was able to host my church’s first reading group for a Christian speculative story — and, as far as I know, the first event under the Speculative Faith name. Nine people, ranging in ages from 10 to older adults, discussed why Christians even read stories instead of doing good deeds or evangelism 24/7. Then, best of all, we took turns reading chapter 1.

Notes from Week 1

If you like, catch up on my chapter 1 discussion notes. And if you weren’t able to attend yourself, here are some quick observations. I hope they, along with the free study notes, help if you’re are considering starting a similar reading group at your own church.

• All four younger readers, ages 10 to 13, grouped themselves in chairs on one side of the circle in my church’s cafeteria/fellowship area. As my wife later told me, at first they were into their sketchbooks. Not 15 minutes later, suddenly those were boring. C.S. Lewis: over-hyped among Christians, but for good reason. His appeal is timeless.
• After summarizing a Gospel-driven view of story enjoyment, we held a “casting call” to read the book aloud. Together we ended up reading all of chapter 1. Edmund: a 13-year-old boy. Lucy: a female college student. Susan: a mom. Tumnus (in his last line of the chapter, and first line of the book): a male college student, whose exasperated delivery of Tumnus’s “Goodness gracious me!” sent the room into laughter and then applause.
• (I personally have dibs on Aslan when he arrives, and there will be a Patrick Stewart impression. Why Sir Stewart did not voice the Lion in the recent films, I have no idea.)
• We’d forgotten that in one edition of LWW, when the children are discussing outdoor exploring, Edmund exclaims that they might find “foxes!” and Susan exclaims “rabbits!” But in a later and American edition, Edmund says “snakes!” and Susan says “foxes!” (New copies have since reverted to the original British edition.) I am not sure why the change was made, but I suspect it has something to do with fairy-tale associations of foxes — their deviousness and slyness — being lost on American readers.
• Either way, this line tells us something about Edmund, and, as I suspected, means Lewis planned this. That’s contrary to readers who say his earlier Narnia characters were not well-developed. In fact, I can recall, before I knew there was any word change or that some thought the Pevensies shallow, thinking it suspicious that Edmund likes snakes.
• Note to self: the group needed more readings of relevant Scripture before reading LWW. For instance, we explored the topic of exploration, discovering the unknown, and why that honors God. One reader pointed back to God’s creation mandate in Genesis 1. In the next meeting, we’ll be sure to read that aloud. Thus we will make absolutely sure we’re not trying to justify our story enjoyments with mere spiritual talk, but with the Word.
• We didn’t get to chapter 2, about Mr. Tumnus — and other evidently unsavory figures! Thus my editing of that portion from last week’s column, and the restoration of that material here. I’ve also added more, to flesh out what could be a very tricky topic …

Week 2

Signs from the Epic Story

1. Read Genesis 1: 28-30. How does this inform our enjoyment of stories (even though only food and growing things are mentioned there)? How is this “creation mandate” changed, but not replaced, by the Great Commission (Matt. 28: 18-20)?
2. Read Exodus 28: 2-5. Why would God ask His Old-Covenant people to make priestly garments “for glory and for beauty”? In the rest of those chapters, why did He care to go into so much detail about tapestries, props, costumes, and architecture? It almost sounds like He is putting together a theater “set”! Next, read 1 Cor. 10:31 and James 1:17. How does these remind us that this isn’t just an Old-Testament idea?
3. Now, read Deuteronomy 18: 9-14. God is very specific here about the things He does not want His people to do. What do all these words mean? What do they have in common? (Answer: they are pagan methods of trying to control your life and predict the future.) How are they different from how God says He will reveal His Word, in the next verses?

Chapter 2: What Lucy Found There

1. (Break to read excerpts from the second chapter.)
2. Here we meet the famous Mr. Tumnus. Is he a good or bad character? Do you remember how you felt about him at first, and then at the chapter’s end? Was your reaction much like Lucy’s? What does this tell us about Lucy and how she sees things?
3. Consider this person’s website (to be only summarized for younger readers). In Greek mythology, fauns were evil creatures who did nasty things to people, including girls. Based on this, how are we to think of Lewis using a pagan creature, a “faun,” in this way? Is that okay? Can we overlook it so long as we know the story is a Christian one?
4. To make matters “worse,” what are “nymphs” and “dryads”? (Nymphs are female spirits of nature or waterways, and dryads are female spirits of trees.) Who are “Bacchus” and “Silenus” whom Tumnus mentions (pages 15-16)? You might want to look them up (do it carefully, because the Greeks liked to show them running around without clothes).
   • Dionysus was a made-up Greek god. Pagan worshipers made him into the central figure of their cults. He runs around without clothes, surrounded by fangirls, and makes everything wild and crazy. He is the “god of wine, theatre, and ecstasy.”
   • Silenus was Bacchus’s sidekick. He rides around on a donkey and is usually drunk.
   • In fact, their mention here is a foreshadowing of their arrival in Prince Caspian. (Spoiler.) When Aslan is restoring Narnia again, they show up directly, with wine and fangirls and hollering and craziness and all. This makes things decidedly awkward for some readers. To date, they’ve never been in the movie versions.
   • Should we also be concerned about these pagan characters? If not, why not?
5. What about the “White Witch”? God abhors the kind of witchcraft that follows after the wicked and seeks to predict the future apart from His appointed prophets (Deut. 18). Does it help you to know — at least for now — that the Witch is the story’s villain?
6. (Some partial answers about the “witchcraft” or “magic” questions.) If you are personally tempted to use imaginary “magic” in stories to try to control your life or tell the future, then you need to put away the books because they are a “stumbling block” for your weak conscience (1 Cor. 8 – 11:1). You may need to repent of your sin, asking God to deal with the sin that comes not from a book, or from hearing about someone else’s sin (or a thing that only looks like it could be sin), but from your sinful heart (Mark 7).
7. But if you are not tempted, or do not make that association, then you are free to read and enjoy the story. Only be careful that you don’t seem to be saying to someone else that you’re fine with sinning, and so make another person fall into sin (1 Cor. 10).
8. A hint: what does Tumnus say about the “four thrones”? (If you’ve read the book, you know who fills those thrones. Like the Creator in Gen. 3:16, Lewis is foreshadowing his happy ending.) Does he seem to believe they will be filled and the White Witch will be defeated? Does he also seem to doubt? What about how he views his old father?
9. (Answers.) What Lewis does with Tumnus is exactly what he does with other “pagan” creatures in Narnia. He redeems them. He takes these fun and imaginary creatures from their pagan stories, which are well-written but have some anti-Biblical themes, and says No, you can’t have it! This belongs to God! We see this later in Prince Caspian with the pagan figures Bacchus and Silenus, and we see it here with Mr. Tumnus. He makes the right choice, based on his hope in the prophecy and likely in Aslan himself. (That’s why I love how in the 2005 film, Aslan appears in the fire and roars angrily, which prevents Tumnus from completing the sinful action he had planned.) Instead of following after old “fauns” originally made up for tales of wickedness, Tumnus is redeemed for Aslan.
10. Redeeming myth, magic, and other things that people think irredeemable will be a key concept in this reading group. How about you? Were you “pagan” and evil (Eph. 2)? What did Jesus do to redeem us anyway? How does that make us feel, and how can it help us redeem other things, as Lewis did with fauns, fairy tales, and fantasy fiction?

Oops, I did it again. Oh, wait. Never mind. Here’s another video.

In our last episode, we left our wooden-headed puppet hero on Total Freedom Island, where writers are free to write freely in freedom. Totally. He had just gone in search of a day job, accompanied by his friend and fellow writer Marge, and guided by the town mayor, Bill Coventry.

If you’re joining us for the first time today, you may want to start with Part 1, as this mess tale is less confusing best appreciated when read from the very beginning.

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Intaglio had never worked a day in his admittedly short life, which was something of a liability in a town where everything was do-it-yourself. Marge, who’d grown up on a cabbage farm, was quickly placed in the village commissary at the salad station, but Intaglio had no discernible skills besides writing.

Bill the Mayor guessed the puppet might know something about wood, and though Intaglio hadn’t taken much interest in his father’s cabinetmaking,  he had a fairly decent grasp of routine maintenance.  Nearly everything on Total Freedom Island was made of wood, and all of it needed varnishing. Intaglio was outfitted with a small brush and a large can of varnish, and his employment was no longer a problem.

Three hours and three shiny doorways later, Intaglio went back to the Publication Acceptance, Promulgation, Evaluation, and Reimbursement Machine to collect his feedback and the handful of golden ducats he expected to come along with it. Bill looked on with a placid smile as Intaglio pressed the appropriate button and turned the crank. After a few moments of whirring and grinding, the machine ejected his manuscript and a single ducat with a pathetic burp. A black star was stamped on the manuscript’s front page in greasy black ink.

Intaglio was outraged. “This isn’t fair! It says my story stinks on ice! When I rated that other story a ‘1’, the machine let off with a siren, and everybody got mad. How come there wasn’t a siren or anything when somebody gave my story a low score?”

“Let me see that.” Bill flipped through the manuscript, humming a little tune as he did so. “Ah, here’s the problem. Classic rookie mistake. You didn’t follow the standard format, and that’s an automatic downgrade.”

“Format? I thought the whole idea of this place is that we’re free to write however we like. Nobody said anything about a standard format.”

“That’s because you strolled into town without registering at Town Hall first. It’s only a formality, but that’s where we give our new citizens a copy of the format. No worries, I’ve an extra one here.” Bill pulled a creased rectangle of paper from one of the many pockets of his blue frock coat and after several rounds of unfolding, handed it to Intaglio.

The instructions were brief:

One-inch margins all around, paragraphs single-spaced and separated by an extra space, no indents. Pages numbered at the upper right-hand corner beginning on Page 2. Times New Roman 12-point script. Title centered halfway down the first page in all-caps as follows:

FAIRY TALE ROMANCE #(insert random number): (insert title of your fairy tale romance)

IMPORTANT: All stories must begin, “Once upon a time…” and end, “…they lived happily ever after.”

Intaglio scratched his head, generating a loud squeak. “I don’t understand. No wonder that other story looked like it came out of Vinnie and Guido’s sweatshop. Why are you using the same format?”

“Excellence is all about expressing your creativity in a manner that is accessible to your audience and appropriate to the market. This community exists to help you flourish as a writer…to create the kind of stories we know people want to buy. I can show you a summary of the research, if you like.”

“I don’t care how many ducats you pay me, I won’t write like that. I won’t betray my creative vision. Or the Writing Fairy.”

“Then I’m sorry to say you can expect a great many more black stars in your future. I understand your passion, Intaglio. I felt quite the same way myself a few weeks ago. When you’ve gained more experience, I’m confident you’ll see our way is best. In the meantime, don’t quit your day job.” Bill tipped his hat and turned away. “Happy varnishing.”

In the following days, Intaglio began to appreciate the importance of his “day job.” When he wasn’t varnishing, he stubbornly churned out story after story, all the wonderful tales that were his legacy from the Writing Fairy. They all came back with a single black star smeared onto the cover, and a single ducat, and that wasn’t enough to live on, even for a wooden puppet who didn’t need to eat. Everything on Total Freedom Island cost money, and without the extra five ducats a day from his varnishing work, he wouldn’t have been able to afford writing paper, ink, and quill pens. He had to pay for his lodgings, too. Staying outside in the damp night air would have warped him horribly.

He found other ways to earn extra money on the side, like the occasional “poetry slams,” where writers slugged it out in a cage for the right to read their work in front of an audience, with the audience wagering on the outcome. Intaglio won several matches by knockout and was a crowd favorite until someone pointed out that fighting him was very much like fighting a tree, so he was summarily barred from that activity.

It was discouraging. He began to frequent the town’s cooperative tavern to drown his woes in homebrewed ginger beer, but it went right through him, which was embarrassing and did nothing to lift his spirits. He wondered how Marge was coping.

As he left the pub one evening, someone abruptly yanked him into an adjoining alley. He struggled to identify the face of his assailant in the dim moonlight, and being soaked in ginger didn’t help. “Margie? Oh, Margie, I been misshing you. Hey, looksh like you put on a coupla poundsh. ‘S good. You were alwhaysh too schkinny.”

Marge clapped a hand over his mouth. “Hush! I’m getting out of here, Intaglio. Tonight. This island is nothing like what I expected. I can barely survive on what I make shredding cabbages, and I got so desperate yesterday I actually wrote one of those awful fairy tales. You know what the score was?”

“I am schurre it wassh a berry, berry good sschhore. Becaush you write good.”

“I got five stars. Five whole ducats. It was the lousiest story I ever wrote, and I got the highest score they give. Something screwy is going on here, and it’s not just the writing. I think they’re putting something in the food and water. I’m living on cabbages, and I’m always hungry, but I’m still gaining weight. Today, I started breaking out in a weird rash. Besides that, at least five people I know of have just…disappeared. All their stuff is still in their rooms. Nobody knows where they went.  I’m getting off this island before I disappear too.”

“The boat only goesh one way. I think it doesh. Doeshn’t it?”

“I made a raft from some scrap wood.” She looked over her shoulder toward the empty plaza, lit at the margins by flickering lantern light, and shivered. “Come on, let’s both of us get off this rock while we still can.”

Intaglio shook his head, which made him even dizzier. “But I got lotsh an’ lotsh o’doorsh to varnish, and lotsh an’ lotsh o’storiesh to write. I got it aaallll figured out now. Gonna make lotsh an’ lotsh o’money now.”

“Well, I’m leaving right now. Are you coming with me, or not?”

“I think…I need a nap. Or schumthing. G’night.” He curled up into a ball on one side of the alley and lapsed into unconsciousness.

To be continued…next time, a horrifying revelation, and the thrilling conclusion of The Legend of Intaglio!

A month ago, we ran a poll here at Spec Faith, asking how you get the books you read. The results are in and by a nose, online outlets beat out the library. (You can see all the results here). At the same time, I ran a poll on my personal site, A Christian Worldview of Fiction, asking what’s changed our book acquisition habits most in the last five years. E-readers nosed out Amazon in that one. (Here’s the poll giving those results).

I find the answers to these questions interesting. The book business is in flux. What was a decade ago, no longer is. What instructors once taught as The Way Things Are Done, is evaporating.

More and more, readers are faced with Choice. But how do we filter through the thousands of books to find the ones we actually want to read?

I’ve seen my own book buying and reading habits change over time. One of the biggest factors was my becoming a writer. When I started writing The Lore of Efrathah, my four-book (yet unpublished) epic fantasy, I immediately stopped reading fantasy. I was too fearful that what I read would bleed into my subconscious and I would end up writing derivative fiction.

Some time later at a writers’ conference, Gary Terashita, then editor at Broadman & Holman (now B&H Publishing), challenged those of us in attendance at his workshop to educate ourselves about the industry we wanted to be a part of. Read, he said. Read the books in your genre so you know what’s being done. Read so you can improve your own writing.

Until that time, I was pretty ignorant about Christian fiction. Yes, I’d read Frank Peretti and a handful of others, but nothing published recently.

I took Mr. Terashita’s admonition to heart and began a quest to read as broad a sampling of Christian fiction as I could. As Christian speculative fiction began its slow growth, I soon focused my reading in my chosen genre.

Over the next few years, Christian fiction expanded rapidly, and I realized I could not read all the books I wanted to. For one thing, I couldn’t afford them and even if I could, I was running out of shelf space on my bookshelves.

More and more independent publishers were cropping up. More and more people began self-publishing. And then e-readers hit the market.

Once I’d had an established hierarchy, choosing primarily to read traditionally published books that had been “vetted” by editors. Of those, I had my list of known authors at the top. These were ones whose books I’d already read, so I knew what kind of writing I could expect.

With my e-reader, however, I now had many more choices. I could download classics for free–books I’d been meaning to read but had never gotten around to them. I could also get freebie self-published books by authors I’d never heard of or new releases by authors looking to get a rating bump with a promotional give-away.

Books, books, books. With e-readers, space isn’t a problem any more, and money less of one.

But not all books are equal.

How do you find the good ones? How do you find the keepers, the ones you want in print?

I find that I still rely on the same influences I did before the revolution.

1. I read books by authors I know. Some of these are people I actually do know or have met, but primarily I’m talking about “know” in the sense that I’ve read their work before and trust their writing.
2. I read in my genre. I want to read as many books that come under the Christian fantasy umbrella as possible.
3. I read books trusted friends recommend. The thing is, “trusted friends” have expanded. Now trusted friends might include people I’ve never met in person but whose blog I may have read for the past three or four years. Trusted friends might also be friends I’ve reconnected with on Facebook or ones I’d previously never thought to talk to about books.

In days gone by, publishers said the best promotion for a book was word of mouth. In that regard, I don’t think much has changed. It’s just that “word of mouth” has expanded. Now we chat about what we read on Facebook or Twitter, we post our reviews at Amazon or Goodreads. Our word of mouth has expanded.

Of course, with this expansion comes the familiar problem–so many voices giving us so much information. How do we know who to listen to?

One professional at a writers conference, looking ahead to the book revolution, suggested that readers would eventually form a type of coop in which they share their recommendations. Spec Faith is just such a gathering. We are, above all, readers, even those of us who are writers.

Thanks to Stephen’s hard work, our 3.0 version is much more than visually pleasing. We now have a viable way of sharing reviews and recommendations with each other. The Spec Faith library is not only a place where you can find book blurbs, but now visitors can find out what readers think of those books.

No, we’re not selling the books, so this isn’t one stop shopping. It is, however, the place for readers of Christian speculative fiction.

Have you read any Splashdown books? What, you didn’t know there was such a publisher called Splashdown? Spec Faith has that information for you.

Publishers, authors, sub-genres, age levels, series, subject matter–you can look for books in the library in any of these categories.

The reviews and recommendations part is where we need your help. We regular columnists will add our reviews as often as possible, but if you’ve been privy to the discussions just this past week, you realize we do not always agree with each other, even when it comes to the definition of Christian speculative fiction or which books are the most influential or the best.

One or two reviews, then, are little more than starters. What we really need are Many Voices.

No time to write a review? I understand. Full reviews aren’t the only beneficial contributions. Anyone can add a recommendation in the comments to a book post.

So which is most effective, a book blurb with no review or recommendations, a book blurb and one review, or a book blurb with sixteen recommendations?

At any rate, we have the opportunity of becoming The Place for readers of Christian speculative fiction. But only with your help. Have you recommended a book today? 😀

This site began in reality. Our readers enjoy Christian speculative stories and want to talk about them. That’s developed into what is, for our readers, mostly online-only discussion. On other sites, people seem to assume we already know why we love these stories, and have moved on to over-limited conversation about Speculative Writing Tips and Tricks.

With this series I want to pull back a bit. Go back to basics. Back to the simple fantasies that most of us discovered, as children or children at heart. Back to the over-discussed but still vital role of C.S. Lewis. Back to Narnia. And of course, back to the famous Wardrobe.

I hope to do this over the summer, in this new eight- to nine-part series. And unlike other series, this one, in this world, will correspond roughly to the passage of time in my world.

At my church, I’m hosting the first (to my knowledge) Speculative Faith Reading Group.

You may have heard what to avoid in stories. But how can we discern and enjoy fantasy novels to the glory of our own Author?

Anyone who loves to read and discuss stories is welcome to join this new Speculative Faith Reading Group. It begins at this church (in Lexington, Ky.) this Saturday, June 2, at 3:30 pm.

This class will actually be nine weeks long, until July 28. All group sessions will be based on “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” by C.S. Lewis. We’ll enjoy reading two chapters of the classic fantasy per week. (If absolutely necessary, you can recall it from memory, but reading along is strongly encouraged.) We’ll also discuss how Christians can discern and enjoy stories for God’s glory.

Though I wish all Speculative Faith readers could join us, you’ll likely not be able to attend reading-group sessions. That’s all right. My plan for this series is to post each series of class notes two days in advance of that Saturday, every Thursday. Inside: snippets of thoughts, discussion-starters, questions, perhaps excerpts from the books themselves to read aloud.

Thus, if Aslan is with us, this virtual reading group will somewhat parallel the real-world reading group. One can inform the other. And each set will, perhaps, be able to interact.

Before each set of notes, I may summarize the real-world discussion of the previous week.

I hope you enjoy it. Yet I also need something from readers — your intense prayers. This is an activity I’ve hoped to arrange for a long time, and now more than ever I recall that these stories aren’t simply about moral entertainment. We’re discussing worship. New ways to enjoy God, new “songs” to “sing” for Him, or new understandings of old “songs.” We’re also aiming for truly Biblical enjoyment and discernment, versus “it’s just entertainment” or “if it even appears to be bad, avoid it” notions that are hidden deep inside all of us. And our own sin-shrapnel, jabbed by the Devil, surely rebels against Taking Things So Seriously.

Yet as Lewis himself wrote, in The Last Battle: “There is a kind of happiness and wonder that makes you serious.” And in this “seriousness,” based on the worship of God, is true joy.

Now, as the old read-along cassettes (after the chimes rang!) used to say, “Let’s begin now.”

Class 1: Lucy Looks Into a Wardrobe / What Lucy Found There

Opening discussion

1. First question: Why are we here? What are your hopes for this reading group?
2. Second big question: Why should we read stories anyway?
   • Summary of the Beauty and Truth series’ mention of the possibly greatest challenge to enjoying stories. Don’t we have better things to do? Aren’t Christians supposed to do missionary work and proclaim the Gospel, not sit around enjoying fun fiction?
   • The Gospel is greater than only “we get saved to get other people saved.” It touches on every life area, including what we eat, how we work, how we spend our time.
   • All that we do should be worship. (Romans 12: 1-2; Col. 3:23.)
   • God isn’t only silent on stories. He shows and tells why stories uniquely honor Him.
3. Third big question: What is the purpose of story?
   • How would you answer? Some would say “To be entertained.” Or “To spend time if there’s nothing else to do.” Or “To teach good morals in a memorable way.” Some Christians also say, while noting apparent legalism of others who seem to shun all fiction (or secular fiction), “We read stories to understand and engage our culture.”
   • All these are good reasons, but not the reason to enjoy a story.
   • The Westminster Shorter Catechism says:
     

     Q. What is the chief end of man?
     A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.

   • Man is not the only being who gives glory to God. Nature honors Him (the Psalms). Even fallen creation points to Him, enough to make people guilty and “without excuse” for ignoring it, even if they haven’t read the Bible (Romans 1). Creative art honors Him (Exodus 31-28). Even unsaved people, by punishing evil (Romans 11) or giving good gifts to their children (Matt. 7:11) show God’s common grace.
   • With this in mind, we can say about stories:
     

     Story’s chief end is to glorify God, and to help us enjoy Him forever.

4. So story is not only to entertain, or to be moral, but to reflect God. More evidence:
   • The Gospel is first and foremost a Story. It is supported by truthful statements (often analyzed by books of doctrine and theology). It tells how Christ begins His Gospel (the Hero and plot or quest), to fight and/or redeem His enemies (supporting characters and villains) in a fantastic world (our reality). (More on this, later.)
   • Throughout the Epic Story’s “smaller” stories — Moses, King David, Daniel, etc. — we see God approving the creative works of man. God inspired whole collections of literature that aren’t “systematic,” but weave works of truth and beauty.
   • Of course, Jesus told parables, stories about His Kingdom. He told different kinds of stories, not only allegories, and not only about how to practice good behavior.
   • We’ll discuss this more in coming weeks. But enough telling. Let’s experience it.

Stepping into the Wardrobe

1. How did you first read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe? Or is this your first time?
2. If you have read it before, what were your impressions then?
3. By contrast, how and why do you like the book now? How have your experiences (in real life or with other stories) changed your views?
4. In your view, what kind of story is this? a) allegory, b) child’s fantasy, c) morality tale, d) memorable reminder of the Gospel? (Answer: all of the above?)
5. To know, we’d need to understand the author — just as we should do with the Bible. Otherwise, we may be reading the story in a way that he didn’t mean it to be read. So as we read, we’ll also discuss C.S. Lewis and what he has said about his intentions — and what he might not have said, but which seems clear and consistent with his worldview.
6. A definition to keep in mind: Christian speculative stories are fantastic tales that are written, or otherwise shown, clearly yet naturally from a Christian worldview.
   • The hero and plot reflects Christ and the Gospel.
   • Characters reflect real people.
   • The story-world and style reflect reality and God’s truth, beauties, and creativity.
   • The author is a Christian and isn’t ignoring that for his story. (Non-Christian authors may write stories that include Christian truth, but by “accident,” as common grace.)

Chapter 1: Lucy Looks Into a Wardrobe

(Break to read excerpts from the first chapter.)

1. Leaving out for the moment what the movie helped fill in — much of which was helpful — do you know the historical setting? Lewis barely mentions it. How come? How do we apply the same methods we use to read the Bible (keeping in mind its original audience and seeking the author’s intent) helpful as we picture what Lewis does and doesn’t say?
2. Some people have said the four Pevensies of LWW are shallow. (They’re not trying to be critical, because they also praise the later Chronicles as having better characters.) Even if true, is that bad? Do good books maybe start “slow” and help us grow into them?
3. Page 4: What do we first hear the children say? What do they say about them? Which child do you like or identify with most? (Note also the animals they mention on page 5.)
4. Do you think Lewis did this by design? It helps to know that by this time, Lewis had already written a lot of fiction, such as the Ransom Trilogy of high fantasy/science fiction for adults. He knew how to write characters well and use dialogue to show what people are like. So it’s not like he didn’t know how to do this, and only learned later.
5. How do you feel when you go “exploring” with the Pevensie children? Do you remember your own childhood, exploring someplace new, maybe even an old house? How can these enjoyment of that real experience and this story’s experience, glorify God?
6. Here Lewis incidentally shows us what any good book does: invites us to explore a new world. But note how Peter says “Nothing there!” (p. 6) and leads them off. How might this remind us how we think of “ordinary” things like an old wardrobe in a spare room? Or like books that people think are “just stories,” but have fantastic wonders inside?
7. How do you feel, going along with Lucy into the wardrobe? How does the author, without saying what’s inside (and even though we already know!) heighten our anticipation for what fantastic place lies beyond? How does this feeling honor God?
8. For later: how do you feel about imagining “magic” that is not only in Narnia, but extends into “our” world to find the children? Is this really our world?

(Note as of Sunday, June 3: A previous version of this column went on to include discussion questions for Chapter 2, “What Lucy Found There.” Because in the group we actually ended discussion before exploring that chapter, I’ve since removed those questions. Next week’s column will offer an expanded version of them.)