Sex, Death and Christian Fiction
May 23rd, 2007 by Debra Murphy
Christian sci-fi writer Simon Morden gave a talk at the 2005 Greenbelt Arts Festival entitled “Sex, Death and Christian Fiction” in which he (quite cogently, I believe) critiques “Christian fiction, its theology and its shortcomings” as it is presently being published, particularly by US publishers adhering to Christian Booksellers Association (CBA) guidelines.
Here’s a sample:
Discovering the actual guidelines for publishing with the CBA is actually quite hard work. Some publishers are upfront about what they do and don’t accept. Others are much more reticent. But for most there are a set of criteria involving content, plot and characters that include:
- A protagonist who is either Christian, or comes to faith as a result of their experiences in the book.
- A strand of spiritual development that has greater or equal weight to the other plot developments.
- The primary conflict in the book is resolved by spiritual, not earthly power.
- There is an bar on bad language, out-of-marriage sexual situations, the consumption of alcohol and other recreational drugs.
- Violence must be treated very carefully – they would rather it happens off-page than on.
Take a moment to think about those guidelines. Think about the type of books that would be possible to write, about those books that it would be impossible to write. If you’re a writer, think about the story you’re writing at the moment. Would it pass, or fail? Think about books and stories by your favourite authors. How would they fair? Think about fiction written by Christians in the past: books like Lord of the Rings, CS Lewis’ novels. Chesterton, Dorothy Sayers, Dostoevsky. Tolstoy.
Thanks to my colleagues at Catholic Writers Online for bringing this article to my attention. I highly recommend it to every Catholic fiction writer.
