Really, Christian fiction? The Atheist, Agnostic, Buddhist, Wiccan and even Christian people in my life ask this question; often after they take a step backwards.
They want to know: “Why not just regular literary fiction? Is that harder to break into?” I’m not trying to be the next Katy Perry – starting as one thing and blossoming into another.
Nope. I like this genre. And if they’ll have the likes of me, I want to be a strong voice within it, because all of us need to come together, and I feel like it’s my job, the Christian’s job, to do this facilitation of togetherness. Incidentally, I’m not talking about conversion here. I am talking about connection.
In my opinion, the Atheists are too skeptical for all this warm fuzzy nonsense, the Agnostics are too tolerant to insist on anything proactive, and the Wiccans are busy making jewelry (just kidding, Jenn). The real issue is that none of these ways of living have a unified vision and none of them are the majority in American society either.
Before you mock me, I realize Christians hardly seem unified either – we’ve got Mormons and Catholics and Evangelicals and Episcopalians and the UCC – but every denomination has Jesus. Period.
Therefore Christians have this calling to be Christ-like and that means a calling for togetherness is built into their rich ancient tradition and, best of all, they have a role model. THE role model for facilitating a better world through social justice, personal forgiveness, and love.
And so, I start my new manuscript today, all fired and filled up with hot air and happiness. As always, I am grateful for this luxurious life I’ve been given where I can spend hours upon hours tinkering with words and story and the big questions of life.
“It will be interesting to see if the Christians can come back.
They have really messed up an otherwise perfectly good religion.” -Sage
Really great book called UnChristian by the Barna Group. As Gandhi stated, “I like your Christ but do not like your Christians, they are so unlike your Christ.” I was right there for the longest time… now I’m a minister. Go figure. The drive to reclaim and restore a great religion is part of why I became what I became; why I do what I do.
Looking forward to reading this book!
Sending good vibes/praying for/meditating about/just plain hoping that writing is inspiring and fulfilling!
It will be interesting to see if the Christians can come back.
They have really messed up an otherwise perfectly good religion.
The loudest ones are the craziest ones. So they get all the attention and therefore they become the brand.
And even the normal-ish ones look pretty zany to the heathen.
I’m excited to see if you can do it, Rocko!