You missed the significance of the Old Strong Religion and the God Nailed High among the Underpeople?

CS was Episcopalian, carrying on the traditon of good F&SF coming out of Western-rite liturgical church traditions.

I never realized that Cordwainer Smith was Christian. All I know is that he is a very, very good writer with fascinating people and places.

Walker Percy and Flannery O’Connor both used fiction to convey deep religious and philosophical truths. But those truths were contained in compelling stories and interesting characters.

Too often “christian” fiction is like some computer animated movies that seem to think eye-popping CGI will somehow compensate for lack of plot or character developement. Too many christians seem to think a “christian” message automatically makes a story good or worthwhile.

On the other hand,…

Jesus called the outcasts and rejects of society. Should it then be a surprise that some (or much) of what is done by His followers — often with the best of intentions — reflects those unsophisticated roots? Some people have simply never been taught the difference between good art and crap.

Still, I don’t find people’s ignorance to be nearly so frustrating as their apathy. Never having been taught is one thing. Not caring is something much worse.

But what do I know? I love Charles Williams’ novels.

He is not taking any creative license at all. But, merely reiterating, or reproducing the allegory, already delivered as allegory.

I think you’d have better luck steering clear of paraphrases, translations and interprative Bible versions and sticking more to the transliterations.

A stroll through a transliteration text can be guided by the Holy Spirit, for He would be the author of it. A Translation or Paraphrase is not. It is the results of man’s attempt to translate **meaning** – which is not, ever, man’s job. It is the specific job of the Holy Spirit working on God’s own words. Not man’s interpretation of those words. “To you it is given to understand, so I speak to you plainly. To them it is not given, so I speak to them in stories.” (If you will excuse my paraphrase

If there must need be an “allegoricist”, you know who that should be.

Hint: It’s not man.

C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, George McDonald all had the capability to tell tales that were not overtly Christian yet had imagery of such depth that they clearly communicated a view of the world consonant with what Scripture tells us.

Would that there were more Christian artists today who could write fictional works of such power.

In passing, iMonk, the Early Church Fathers took that passage, among others, to say that allegory is allowed as one of the hermeneutical methods. The argument between the Antiochian and Alexandrian schools was over how far to take the argument.

Yes, this is another wonderful point that seems to be, for the most part, lost these days. Like many churches are in a self-imposed artistic dark age because we are afraid of “non-Christian” art (a strange phrase, really). And if we do attempt to be creative, even if it’s in church, it’s often sub-par.

This reminds me of a point that Fr. Ernesto made in the comments section a few weeks ago (correct me if I’m wrong here), that the US has a nation full of ‘people bound by legalism -but without many good works’. (That was a loose quotation, BTW…another theme of this thread )

Andi – I don’t know enough to say, but I would guess those two guys are at different places on the same continuum…but I could be wrong…

The late Madeleine L’Engle wrote a lot about the subject of faith and the arts; I recommend “A Circle of Quiet” and “Walking on Water.” The second one deals exclusively with this topic.

I’m with Headless Unicorn Guy — most so-called Christian fiction is actually a gospel tract disguised as a story. And that is a sad statement considering we were made in the image of a creative God.

“. . . we make in our measure and in our derivative mode, because we are made: and not only made, but made in the image and likeness of a Maker.”
— J.R.R. Tolkien