Why Christian Historical Fiction?

“You’re a writer, that’s so cool! What do you write?”

It’s a question I get a lot.

My response–Christian historical fiction– gets varied reactions, but often I get the follow-up question: “Why Christian historical fiction? Why not just historical fiction?

I’ve got an answer, but first . . . what do we mean by Christian fiction?

The definition of Christian fiction is: a story based on a Christian world view and has a plot, characters, or themes that are Christian in nature. Some people define Christian fiction by what is does not contain: explicit sex, bad language, gratuitous violence or implicit acceptance of destructive behaviors such as drinking and drug use. That is true also, but neither definition is the full reason I call myself a Christian fiction author.

The simple answer is because I’m a Christian.

When I write a story, I want to delve into the minds of the characters. And because I believe that each person is created by a loving God, I believe that every character is somewhere on their path of faith. Whether they are at the beginning, strayed off into the woods, or far along in their journey, their faith–or lack of it–is a vitally import facet of their personality. Thus, I must write about it. To ignore it would be to leave my characters flat and underdeveloped and frankly . . . not very interesting.

Does that mean that every story I write, the character becomes a perfect Christian by the last chapter? Far from it.

In some stories, like The Tomb, A Novel of Martha, Martha’s faith undergoes a great transformation. She goes from a woman unsure of Jesus and ‘worried and anxious and many things’ to a woman who says:

“Yes, Lord. I believe.” She gulped a breath of air, strength she hadn’t known she possessed surging in her veins. “I have come to believe you are the Messiah who is coming into the world, the son of God.”

THE TOMB, A NOVEL OF MARTHA

In other novels, such as In a Far Off Land, Mina struggles with feelings of guilt and doubt. In the end, she is still struggling — but she has moved a step closer to belief in God’s forgiveness and mercy:

Forgiveness is a tricky business. Maybe for some it’s simple, like with Papa. And like Papa says it is with God. Papa says God never stopped listening to me and never stopped loving me, even when I was at my worst . . . Some people have to work on forgiveness for a long time, like Penny. As for me, I have to accept it and try to forgive myself at the same time. And maybe that will be the hardest part of all.

IN A FAR-OFF LAND

Just as in real life, a person’s journey in faith is ongoing, not wrapped up neatly in three hundred pages.

So is my Christian Fiction only for Christians? Absolutely not. I hope to write stories that resonate with readers of all faiths–or those without. My books aren’t meant to be altar-calls (and I’d hate to be described as preachy) but I do hope that anyone who reads my books is able to look at faith through the eyes of the character I write.

My novels might raise questions about God and faith. That’s good. Or they might just be great reads. That’s good, too.

Some Christian Fiction has a more overt message of faith, some less. My biblical novels tend toward the former, my 1930s historicals tend toward the latter. Always, I believe that great stories are ones that engage our emotions, not ones that tell us what to think.

What about you? Do you enjoy Christian Fiction? What do you like about it? Is there anything you don’t like about Christian novels? Let me know it the comments!

If you’ve never read Christian fiction, may I suggest trying In A Far-Off Land? Or, read the free bonus chapter All That Glitters to get a taste of what the story is like.