Faith; fiction; Joss Whedon

I recently read a brief article in Christianity Today that dealt with issues some authors have encountered with faith-based fiction and Amazon reviews. These authors primarily self-publish using Amazon, and most of their books are free.* They have received a significant number of poor reviews because they apparently did not warn in their product descriptions that religious faith was a central tenet of their fiction. One giver of a negative reviewer summed it up by saying that religion is all well and good, but has no place in fiction.

I sat there for a minute after reading that sentence, blinked, and re-read in the hopes all the ongoing atmospheric pressure changes had performed some sinister action upon my vision. "Religion has no place in fiction."** The more I think about it, the more torn I am between pity and that kind of semi-hysterical laughter that makes people look at you skeptically and edge away like you're insane and contagious.

Let's clarify something here. I think most fiction that is labeled as "Christian" is terrible. The messages some of these books try to convey? They might be, at their core, beautiful and true. The vehicles by which they are all too often delivered, however, are trite, boring, preachy, and examples of bad art.  Nevertheless, history informs us some of the best books, both in quality, endurance, and popularity, are deeply religious or influenced by religion. Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, for example. While those who haven't read it might be under the delusion it is a popular text due to its delightful pastoral scenes or witty dialogue, a la Jane Austen, let me dispel that now. C&P is dark, brutal, and one of the most frightening studies of human nature across which I've come.*** It is also founded on principles of faith - Christian faith, in this case - and redemption. 

Granted, this is a huge book, and not something with which everyone is familiar. If one wanted to make the argument that authors such as Dostoevsky are inaccessible to the average person, I would not entirely agree, but would concede there might be an argument made there.**** I counter with Tolkien. I don't care if we want to reference the Lord of the Rings books or the film franchise.***** Very few are unfamiliar with the franchise by this point. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was staunchly Catholic. While Lord of the Rings is not blatantly Christian, it is implicitly Christian by virtue of the themes contained therein.

I move on from more time-honored and perhaps more "Christian" authors to modern authors such as Cormac McCarthy. The Road is possibly the bleakest book I've read. Nevertheless, there are "religious" questions posed, such as the purpose of man's existence, what defines man, whether God exists. These themes drive the characters and the plot.

Now I'm going to make the biggest leap here from literature to a short-lived but excellent television series. Before Joss Whedon finally, finally started getting his dues after directing the recent Avengers movie, he directed a television show about a decade ago. It was called Firefly, and is best described in short as a space western. Whedon himself is an atheist. This did not stop him from including the character of a preacher  in the cast. This character asks hard questions, but is a man of unflinching integrity, and I would argue his presence adds a nuance of sheer artistic depth that wouldn't be present without him. While Firefly is certainly not what one would call "Christian" television******, and it forces an even vaguely discerning or intelligent audience member to consider issues he might not otherwise.

Even from a perspective outside Christianity, I think it would be incredibly difficult to say without ignoring the history of literature, and even modern literature, that religion has no place in fiction. Fiction can be written without religion, and it can be popular. Some currently popular fiction such as The Hunger Games trilogy is set in a world in which God and religion are simply absent. I would argue this absence correlates to a lack of depth in certain areas.

I will conclude by saying that popularity does not indicate quality. I think all I need to say on that is Twilight. You're welcome, and good night.


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*I am far from saying one should accept a work of poor quality simply because it is free; however, an excessive amount of complaining about a free book seems a bit silly.

**I had to decide how to react at this point. My options were an instinctive Picard face-palm (see previous post), a gratifying but ultimately unhelpful moment of HULK SMASH, or a blog post that would hopefully blunder into being useful. We'll see how that last option goes. I'm waiting for the coffee to kick in. The caffeine boost will either give my mental faculties a kick-start, or turn me into the equivalent of Doug from Up. In the latter case, this will turn into a barely-controlled case study of temporary ADD. Hang with me.

***Granted, I'm young and have a lot more to read. If you haven't read Crime and Punishment, you need to. It's a huge book, and yes, there are a lot of Russian nicknames, but the time is absolutely worth it.

****More than a few high school English programs have juniors and seniors read Crime and Punishment. The whole thing. This can and will be expanded into a full post later, rest assured.

*****Extended versions, of course. And who's excited about The Hobbit this fall? Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch both appearing in a film outside BBC's Sherlock. *Snoopy dance of happiness*

******For one, it's far too interesting and well-written.