THE CHRISTIAN NOVELIST

ACTS 8:26–35

Then Philip … heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand who you are reading?” Philip asked

(Acts 8:30).

The Bible is literature. Every book of the Bible is a carefully crafted literary masterpiece. Moreover, the Bible contains beautiful poetry, of which the psalms of David are the most noted. Thus, Christians must be interested in literature.

Today let’s consider the novelist or fiction writer. A writer can be described as a verbal artist. The primary task of the novelist is to produce works that are concrete rather than abstract. He finds his references in the real world, using concrete images to describe what is developing.

By this means, concrete images of literature become symbols of what is more abstract. Great literature is not written merely to imitate life. Great literature is written in the same way a great painting is painted. It is created to convey an understanding of something higher or deeper, captured in a brief moment.

The Christian novelist faces the problem of how to be realistic without being crude. I faced this issue in writing Stronger Than Steel. At one point, I had to record a conversation that was pivotal to the conversion of Sam Piccolo. It happened during a drunken brawl in a motel. The dialogue was electric. How does the writer handle a situation in which a tough steelworker is ready to kill another man? A steelworker doesn’t say, “Well, sir, I am about to dispose of your life.” But, if you say in print exactly what he said on that occasion, it’s virtually pornographic. A writer who knows how to create literature can communicate what was actually said with the same force, and do so with a rich use of language in the same way Herman Melville was able to.

The challenge for the Christian today is not to join the legions of those who ignore the literature of his day. As missionaries to our culture, we need to support Christians who will make a serious contribution to literature.

CORAM DEO

How much “Christian” literature do you read? non-Christian literature? How would you respond to the graphic episodes in the Bible if it were not a “Christian” book? Challenge yourself to talk with other believers about what you are reading. Keep a list of “books to be read.”

For further study: Ecclesiastes 12:9–14; Luke 1:1–4; 1 Corinthians 10:31–33

wednesday

october