By: Philip Carroll
Mature Content Warning: If you are offended by the discussion of Jesus Christ, or Santa Claus, you may wish to skip reading this blog.
I hate to offend. Honestly. I find myself going out of my way to use language that is politically correct and as watered down as possible for fear that someone might have their feelings hurt by something I say. This is probably a result of working with patients in a medically related field.
However, as I approach this blog, I realize there are three reasons why I feel comfortable crossing this potentially shaky ground.
1) The first amendment protects my freedom of speech. If I share my opinions in good faith it is neither defamatory nor libelous.
2) As a blog I can ‘shoot from the hip’ and share my wildest opinions without any credible supporting literature or data.
3) No one reads this anyway.
As someone who believes that Jesus Christ was an actual living person, and the literal Son of God, I don’t like when authors create fictional spiritual events. Here’s an extreme example, and this is where I hope not to offend anyone terribly, especially anyone related to me.
At Christmas we have two main competing images: Jesus Christ and Santa Claus. Someone thought it would be cute or inspiring, or maybe effective marketing to marry the two images. Thus we have pictures, figurines and story books with Santa Claus kneeling in the manger and worshiping the baby Jesus.
For those who believe both characters are fiction, this is not an issue, and for those of us who can separate belief from whimsy, the fantasy can be isolated. However, for children and others with limited discernment the lines between truth and falsehood can become blurred.
It would be difficult for anyone but a child to misconstrue that the event of Santa worshiping Jesus was an actuality. However, there are several Christian based series that are historical fiction, or speculative fiction, where fictional character interact with actual historical people or around actual, or potential, events.
I don’t have a problem with historical fiction as long as the fictional aspects to do not affect people who were not there. I can see the story of someone in New Testament times who hears the teachings of Jesus or his apostles and is affected by the events of the bible. However to say this person was healed or interacted in some way with historical figures would be wrong.
In the same vein I feel it is wrong to create fictional miracles. The risk is that through repetition from reader to listener and beyond, these fabricated stories will take on a shroud of ‘truth’. They become, as my brother, (yes, the ventrilloccountant), likes to call them, “faith promoting rumors”. These fabricated miracles dilute the credibility of those in the cannon of scripture, just as the recent minister who fabricated stories of his involvement with the navy SEAL’s has diluted the credibility of Christian ministers.
Please understand, I am not opposed to expressing religious ideas or moral values in literature. In fact, I think that if we do not create characters with high moral values and ethical standards, the quality of our current breed of real life heroes will continue to decline. I typically write my own stories for boys in the middle grades and like to have my characters confront the issues the youth of our present day must contend with.
To wrap this up, let me reiterate; well meaning authors attempting to set up a spiritual tone to their stories may unintentionally misguide their readers into accepting the events of the story are more than fiction. As authors let us make it clear when we are relating historical events or characters and when we are not.
Philip ‘Norvaljoe’ Carroll is a Certified Orthotist in the Central Valley of California, a staff editor at Flying Island Press, and currently heading up the Autism Benefit Issue due out this summer.
Are you really telling authors what they should or should not do?
Or are you simply stating a preference?
I think you need to be clear, because the first is intolerable, and the second is trivial.
How about stating what will or will not pass muster at the publication you co-edit?
Incidentally, stating that “telling authors what they should or should not do…. is intolerable” looks a whole lot like you’re telling the author of this blog post what he should and should not do.
That’s an interesting point of view, Philip. While it’s not necessarily genre, I wonder – what’s your viewpoint on something like “Ben Hur”, where the interaction between the fictional characters and Jesus are tangential, but have a huge impact on the fictional characters’ lives?
This shroud of truth that you speak of is an interesting topic to debate. Have any of you read Demon: A Memoir by Tosca Lee? I thought it was a wonderfully engrossing story that had extrabiblical accounts of the fall of Satan and his angels, as well as how they have lived and felt since then. At the time of reading it I thought it was a possible account while knowing that it didn’t hold the weight of Scripture. I enjoyed how Tosca portrayed God’s love and grace through the demon’s jealousy of humans, and the truth of His judgment in their tormented condition. I don’t know what to think about Tosca’s extrabiblical stories of the fall in terms of your concern about the shroud of truth. I’m pretty sure the line of distinction is clear in my mind between memories of true stories (from the Bible) and memories of fiction (Tosca’s work).
My wife is on Philip’s side of this argument, and won’t read Tosca’s second book, Havah, which is an extrabiblical account of Eve. I just bought it, but I’m torn between this idea of creating a shroud of truth, and exploring my interest in what Eve’s life could have been beyond what we have in the Bible. What exactly is the danger, or what concerns you most about such stories? Is it that enough people will read them, discuss the stories in the book, and then pass on a verbal history that overtime could be confused with truth from the Bible? I won’t argue that stuff like this happens. I’ve heard people tell me they believe stuff about the Bible that comes from the media or just skewed opinions of the Bible from non-Christians.
I’m still up in the air about this, but thought I would add some fuel to the fire in the short time I have to comment on this. For that same reason of being in a hurry, I’m sorry if this comment is a little confusing or inconclusive. I enjoy the conversation though, so thanks Philip for your post and I’m always glad to hear talented people in our field professing faith in Jesus.
I thought I made it clear at the outset that this is a blog and (#2) blatant, unsupported opinion. I don’t pretend to tell people what or how to write. However, if what I write causes someone to consider something they hadn’t before, whether that person agrees or disagrees, that is good. If someone finds it uninteresting or trivial, I’m used to that. 80% of the people probably will.
I posted this reply yesterday and it didn’t send, for some reason. After reading further discussion, I would like to add that I didn’t intend this to be an indication of what would or would not be acceptable to Flying Island Press. I’m confident that if there was a story that was well written and included historical characters interacting with fictional ones, and perhaps even being healed, we have enough diversity in our editor pool that it would be accepted without my vote.