This is from my other website that I posted on
April 21, 2007
Where are the evangelical Christians in SF today?
Hiding, probably.
Most of the discussions I've seen on websites imply or baldly state that having a Christian world-view is a one-way ticket to writer's oblvion.
A general sense in the Christian evangelical world is that if you want to be published, you DON'T talk about the faith of your characters -- unless they are polytheistic Mayan human sacrificing priests, in which case, you can base your entire story on the gods they worship, why they're important and what they mean to your character's personal life -- as long as they're aliens.
The SF world's perception is often that Christians don't believe in the future (unless it's apocalyptic) or aliens (and in that case, C.S. Lewis was OK with what HE wrote -- but that era is past and "obviously" he was being allegorical -- wasn't he? (Check his essays in THE WORLD'S LAST NIGHT if you think he was using aliens allegorically.))
So, an evangelical Christian writing SF is going to get hurt whether she's coming or going: coming INTO the SF community with a Christ-centered world view or GOING OUT OF the evangelical community looking to a future on other worlds and the possibility of intelligent life Out There.
Seems like nobody likes an evangelical Christian SF writer.
I have two real words of response to that: so what?
The halls of SF are replete with wannabes who gave up after their first, second, tenth, thirtieth, fitieth, hundredth or thousandth rejection. Getting published in top-quality markets is hard. BUT if you tell a good story; make people think; entertain them; and have a thick enough hide to withstand editorial indifference or commentary, then you can make it. As Donald Maass says in his book, WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL, "Storytelling matters above all other considerations..."
The pews of the church are replete with people who heard the call to the jungles of Borneo and stayed home. If God has placed His call on you to be an SF writer and your faith is deeply part of your life, then you WILL have a Christian world-view in your futuristic, alien stories. There may very well be Christian characters in those stories, too. As Donald Maass says in his book, WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL, "Storytelling matters above all other considerations..."
No amount of editorial or pewtative disdain should be able to stop you if God's call to write powerful SF is on your heart and harddrive. The upshot of this is a simple reiteration of Jesus in Matthew 28:19, "Go therefore and make disciple of all nations..."
Quit hiding!
3 comments:
Well, there's Kathy Tyers and Stephen Lawhead, who've both published mainstream SF. They're evangelicals.
And there are plenty of other living Christians who write good, mainstream SF - Gene Wolfe, Tim Powers, Connie Willis, Elizabeth Moon, John C. Wright, Susan Palwick, Louise Marley and others. They're not evangelicals, but they are believing Christians of various denominations.
PS: I'd invite you to check out my blog if you get a chance - under "important posts" in the sidebar I have links to articles on Christians who write science fiction and fantasy and related topics. I also have links to a bunch of blogs exploring this area, from evangelicals, Catholics, and many other Christians. Some of it might be right up your alley.
PPS: Oh, it's http://clawoftheconciliator.blogspot.com/
Post a Comment