What Are the Different Types of Christian Fiction?

I've read an interesting Christian fiction book. Interesting because it had a sci-fi flavor to it. If you get the time, check out "The Trip of a Lifetime".

@David09 - I see one problem with some so-called Christian science fiction. It’s not materialistic, like secular science fiction is.

That is, these Christian authors presume an ordered universe, governed by God who brought it into being through creation. That could present a problem for developing believable plot lines.

Science fiction usually follows evolutionary themes, with a bit of randomness thrown into the mix. That’s not to say that spiritual themes don’t have a place. If you recall the Star Wars movies, there were a lot of spiritual ideas in that film, the “Force” being one of them.

George Lucas himself admitted he borrowed from Eastern religion in his ideas. However, Eastern religion is more compatible in some ways to secular science fiction than Christian theology is I think.

@SkyWhisperer - I’ve never read the romance novels that have become the staples of certain Christian publishing houses. I’m sure such fiction is “clean” by contemporary standards, but I just don’t care for romance personally.

My wife likes to watch some inspirational romance films on one of the cable channels. It’s not a Christian channel but the romance movies have an inspirational feel to them, giving a nod to people and issues of faith.

I suppose this is how some of these novels approach their themes, with some being more overt in that regard than others. But I do prefer subtlety myself.

@MrMoody - In general I agree, but some Christian writers have been able to reach a mass audience without being too subtle. Think of the Left Behind series by apocalyptic authors Tim Lahaye and Jerry B. Jenkins.

I saw lots of people reading these books, and many of these people were not (at least to my knowledge) people of deep faith. Apocalyptic fiction is its own genre, and I think it can work towards gaining mass appeal, but you have to do it right.

Whether the Left Behind series will ever attain the status of a classic or just be relegated to pop fiction, I suppose history will tell. But there is no doubt the books were phenomenally successful, and of course they were adapted to film as well.

I think I must have read all of the Christian fiction books written by C.S. Lewis when I was growing up. The Chronicles of Narnia is my favorite series, and I loved the movie adaptation.

C.S. Lewis straddled what I would call a hinterland between fantasy and science fiction, although for all practical purposes his works were mainly allegorical. You could say that’s the reason they were so popular with so many people, regardless of their faith.

His stories were basically parables in that sense, and Lewis got a lot of his influence from J.R.R. Tolkien, I believe. I think that’s good company to be in. I like the allegorical approach myself – it’s subtle, yet effective in conveying the Christian message.

I am new to Christian fiction, to really reading in general. For a long time I just didn't read, it wasn't on my radar of things to do. But I seem to have been bitten by the reading bug because it's all I want to do lately.

Can anyone recommend some good Christian authors or series? Also, I have a kindle so any kind of Christian fiction ebooks would be great too. Thanks for the suggestions.

For a while I got really in to this series of Christian westerns. They followed a preacher as he traveled through the high plains. He often encountered rough characters and through his example and wisdom converted them to the faith.

There was not a lot of violence but there was a lot of adventure, horse riding, finding gold, run away wagon trains, that kind of thing. The books got kind of formulaic after a while and I fell out of touch with the series. But it was cool for a while. It was my first introduction to Christian fiction and I was impressed.

There are lots of "serious" or "literary" kinds of books that could be considered Christian fiction. Some of the greatest writers in the English language were devout Christians.

The stories of Flannery O'Connor all have a deep Christian theme. They are not sentimental, in fact many are quite dark, but all of them wrestle with issues related to the bible and living in a world with a God.

Graham Green also addressed Christian themes in many of his works, also through dark subject matter. Christian literature does not have to be as cheesy and simplistic as some other so called Christian art forms like Christian rock or Christian produced movies.