Biblical speculative fiction

Biblical speculative fiction is Speculative fiction that uses Christian themes and incorporates the Christian worldview. (It is thus distinct from speculations on the Bible and/or Christianity such as Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code.) The difference between biblical speculative fiction and general Christian speculative fiction is that the Christian nature of the story is overt. This represents the tension in the Christian fiction community between those who prefer stories that reflect a Christian worldview without explicitly Christian references (such as The Lord of the Rings), and those who prefer the more overt Christian material usually found in the works of G. K. Chesterton and C.S. Lewis. Current examples of these views may be found in the explanatory page of "Ray Gun Revival" [ http://raygunrevival.com/about.php/ "Ray Gun Revival" ] , a magazine that takes the non-explicit route, and the homepage blurb of the Lost Genre Guild [ http://lostgenreguild.com/ the Lost Genre Guild ] , a group dedicated to explicitly Christian speculative fiction.

Development

Modern biblical speculative fiction may be divided into two phases, though to some extent this reflects American Evangelical tendencies, not those of the world in general.

The first phase is a science-adventure story where the characters are generally devout Christians. They act on guidance from God, but no overt or miraculous divine intervention occurs. Like many other early Evangelical novels, there is almost always a non-Christian character who eventually becomes born again as a result of a formulaic process for getting saved. The emphasis is biblical and doctrinal. Theoretically, one could strip out the Christian content and simply get a moral, ethical science-fiction story, though some characters' motivations would be affected. A good example of this phase is Bernard Palmer's "Jim Dunlap" series from the late sixties, which was almost a Christian answer to Tom Swift, Jr.: Dr. Brockton, a godly former missionary, becomes a brilliant scientist, winning his young associates (including Jim Dunlap) to Christ as he produces various high-tech marvels, such as the wingless plane and a space station.

The second phase can almost be summed up in a single name: Frank Peretti. These stories still have a biblical and doctrinal emphasis, but they also feature miraculous intervention. Unlike the first type mentioned above, they are inherently Christian and would implode if the Christian content were removed. The salvation formula is not rigidly followed: a character's salvation experience is often more of a process than a formula-based event.

The importance of Peretti is likely that he showed other writers what was possible: "This Present Darkness" unapologetically featured demons, angels, and a non-human perspective on spiritual warfare. Much modern biblical speculative fiction derives from Peretti's approach or at least responds to it.

On the other hand, writers outside the American Evangelical community have produced some "modern" works for decades. G. K. Chesterton's "The Ball and the Cross", for example, has a science-fictional opening as critical of evolution as anything written today, provides a salvation without the usual "sinner's prayer", and toward the end features a miraculous divine intervention Peretti could have written. Likewise, C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia are non-formulaic in their approach to salvation and overtly miraculous in content. The same is true of Lewis' "Space Trilogy".

The Future?

A different view [ [http://ansric.blogspot.com/2007/05/baptist-pentecostal-charismatic.html Back to the Mountains: Baptist, Pentecostal, Charismatic ] ] of the sub-genre's development suggests that there is a trend toward increasing inclusion, just as evangelical Protestants in general seem to be opening up to other branches of Christianity. This view is based on stories from a recent anthology, "Light at the Edge of Darkness", and on cooperation in the field in general, such as promotion of non-Protestant works by Protestant writers, and vice-versa.

References

Further reading

* Dalton, Russell W. (2003). "Faith Journey Through Fantasy Lands: A Christian Dialogue With Harry Potter, Star Wars, and the Lord of the Rings". Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress Publishers. 160 pages. ISBN 0806645717
* May, Stephen (1998). "Stardust and Ashes : Science Fiction in Christian Perspective". n.p.: Society for promoting Christian knowledge. 160 pages. ISBN 0281051046
* Palmer, Bernard (1968). "Jim Dunlap and the Wingless Plane". Chicago: Moody Press. ISBN 0802443028

External links

* [http://lostgenreguild.com/ The Lost Genre Guild]
* [http://ca.geocities.com/[e-mail]/skysong.htm Skysong Press]
* [http://thewriterscafe.com// The Writers Cafe Press]
* [http://blog.lostgenreguild.com/ The Lost Genre Guild blog]
* [http://specfaith.ritersbloc.com/ Speculative Faith blog]
* [http://www.wherethemapends.com/main.htm/ WhereTheMapEnds blog]
* [http://www.marcherlordpress.com/ Marcher Lord Press]