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Fiction

Each of these works deals with spirituality from a novelist's or film maker's perspective.   Sorry, but you'll find no "end-times" fiction books here.  I've chosen works of serious literature (for differing age groups) which seek to illumine the spiritual condition of Christians in particular, or humanity in general.  For your convenience (since many of these books may not be readily available in your local bookstore), I have directly linked each book to its page at Amazon.com; just click its title and you can order in no time!  Spiritual Journey Press is an associate of Amazon.com.  

This Month's Featured Selection . . .

The Christian Imagination : The Practice of Faith in Literature and Writing
by Leland Ryken (Editor)
 

The Christian Imagination brings together in a single source the best that has been written about the relationship between literature and the Christian faith. This anthology covers all of the major topics that fall within this subject and includes essays and excerpts from fifty authors, including C.S. Lewis, Flannery O’Connor, Dorothy Sayers, and Frederick Buechner.
 

What is really great is that Richard Terrell, a professor at Doane College and a member of First Baptist Church, Lincoln, has a chapter in this book.  Publishers Weekly's review states, "One wishes that all fiction editors at Christian publishing houses would read Richard Terrell's essay "Christian Fiction: Piety Is Not Enough," in which he identifies the problems inherent in creating "safe" fiction that must always be devoid of profanity, violence and sex."

Other Selections . . .

Skipping Christmas by John Grisham.  John Grisham turns a satirical eye on the overblown ritual of the festive holiday season, and the result is Skipping Christmas, a modest but funny novel about the tyranny of December 25. Grisham's story revolves around a typical middle-aged American couple, Luther and Nora Krank. On the first Sunday after Thanksgiving they wave their daughter Blair off to Peru to work for the Peace Corps, and they suddenly realize that "for the first time in her young and sheltered life Blair would spend Christmas away from home."  Luther Krank sees his daughter's Christmas absence as an opportunity. He estimates that "a year earlier, the Luther Krank family had spent $6,100 on Christmas," and have "precious little to show for it." So he makes an executive decision, telling his wife, friends, and neighbors that "we won't do Christmas." Instead, Luther books a 10-day Caribbean cruise. But things start to turn nasty when horrified neighbors get wind of the Krank's subversive scheme and besiege the couple with questions about their decision.

The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Boxed Set by J.R.R. Tolkien.  Hobbits are, of course, small, furry creatures who love nothing better than a leisurely life quite free from adventure. But in that first novel and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the hobbits Bilbo and Frodo and their elfish friends get swept up into a mighty conflict with the dragon Smaug, the dark lord Sauron,  the monstrous Gollum, the Cracks of Doom, and the awful power of the magical Ring.  The four books' characters--good and evil--are recognizably human, and the realism is deepened by the magnificent detail of the vast parallel world Tolkien devised, inspired partly by his influential Anglo-Saxon scholarship and his Christian beliefs.

The Family Orchard by Nomi Eve.  Eve's first novel, grandly imagined and beautifully executed, is the almost 200-year saga of a Jewish family in Jerusalem. The story is told from two points of view: that of the narrator's father, who is writing a basic family history, and that of the narrator (also named Nomi Eve), who brings the family to life by depicting their inner lives.

Lying Awake by Mark Salzman.  Salzman breaks the primary rule of fiction by creating a protagonist who has virtually no external life. Sister John of the Cross, a middle-aged nun cloistered in a Carmelite monastery in Los Angeles, languished for years in a spiritual drought--"her prayers empty and her soul dry"--until she suddenly received God's grace in the form of intense mystical visions. So vivid have her visions become that they burn a kind of afterglow into her mind that she transcribes into crystalline and highly popular verse. The only downside is that they are accompanied by excruciating headaches that cause her to black out.

Shusaku Endo, Silence. The story of a seventeenth century Portuguese missionary-priest who is persecuted in Japan.  This novel probes the meaning of the Cross and the suffering of Jesus as European Christianity and Japanese culture and tradition confront one another.  See also Endo's A Life of Jesus.   The greatest Japanese novelist of the twentieth century shares Jesus with non-Christian Japanese readers by taking a novelist's approach to the Gospel narratives.  Two other works by Endo which explore Christian themes are The Girl I left Behind and The Final Martyrs. 

John Grisham, The Testament.  A novel about a lawyer who embarks on a journey of spiritual discovery in Brazil, where a female Baptist missionary is serving.  Grisham is a Baptist.   Wouldn't it be interesting to see how an author who is so in touch with contemporary novel writing treats such a difficult subject?

Jon Hassler, North of Hope.  Hassler's novels deal with the intersection of life and faith, as experienced in small Minnesotan towns.  Sometimes funny, often poignant, and always sympathetic to the religious struggles of his characters, Hassler illuminates the journey toward hope and love.  In North of Hope, his portrayal of Father Frank Healy proves he knows that pastors, missionaries and preachers are real people.  I have never read any other novelist who seemed to know the heart and inner thoughts of a minister as well as Hassler does.  

The Staggerford Flood by Jon Hassler

This is the newest installment of a series by my favorite living American novelist.  His portrayal of clergy is superb!  From Amazon.com: "Jon Hassler, "Minnesota's most engaging cultural export," returns in his latest novel to the town of his first-Staggerford-reuniting the irrepressible Agatha McGee with characters from her past, as well as introducing her to new friends.  Now in her eightieth year, Agatha McGee finds herself feeling her age, more tired and less a part of daily life in town. The new parish priest, Father Healy (of North of Hope), isn't helping matters either, as he tries to wean her off her frequent confessions."

 

Ernest Hemingway, True at First Light.  A novel by Hemingway on a spiritual books list???   Hemingway has been a favorite of mine since high school.  In this semi-autobiographical novel, he actually does talk about the human soul (see pages 170-173).  audiocassette

James Hilton, Lost Horizon.  This is the story of the spiritual journey of Robert Conway, a British diplomat in 1930's war-torn China.  His plane is hijacked and he is carried off to Shangri-la, where he meets a lama (actually a Catholic missionary who is centuries old) who commits the idyllic valley community to his safekeeping.  Will Conway accept this call and stay?  Also on VHS tape.  The DVD also contains extra footage, including an alternate ending.

C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia BOXED SET.  If you are going to recommend Tolkien, how can you leave out Lewis?  This set includes: The Magician's Nephew/The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe/The Horse and His Boy/Prince Caspian/Voyage of the Dawn Treader/The Silver Chair/The Last Battle.  For a younger reader than the Hobbit series.

Katherine Paterson, Jacob Have I Loved. A beautiful story of two sisters growing up in the Chesapeake Bay region, with allusions to the Biblical Jacob and Esau rivalry. 

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit and the Complete Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship of the Ring, the Two Towers, the Return of the King/Boxed Set.  These four books transported me into an adventurous world as a teenager.  More than fantasy, the spiritual journey lessons are deep and lavishly illustrated.

Michel Tournier, The Four Wise Men.  Tournier's creative retelling of Van Dyke's classic is an outstanding work for adult readers.  The journey of the magi is inspirational and touching.

Henry Van Dyke, The Story of the Other Wise Man.   On the centennial of its first publication, The Story of the Other Wise Man still glows with the eternal essence of Christmas, which is love.  Henry Van Dyke was a preacher, university professor, diplomat, poet, translator, and author of many inspirational writings. (from Amazon.com review).

Reading with Deeper Eyes: Faith in Literature by William Willimon

A noted Christian author looks at the world of fiction in order to discern spiritual lessons.  

Karma Cola : Marketing the Mystic East

by Gita Mehta

Beginning in the late '60s, hundreds of thousands of Westerners descended upon India, disciples of a cultural revolution that proclaimed that the magic and mystery missing from their lives was to be found in the East. An Indian writer who has also lived in England and the United States, Gita Mehta was ideally placed to observe the spectacle of European and American "pilgrims" interacting with their hosts. When she finally recorded her razor sharp observations in Karma Cola, the book became an instant classic for describing, in merciless detail, what happens when the traditions of an ancient and long lived society are turned into commodities and sold to those who don't understand them.

A River Sutra
by Gita Mehta

I highly recommend this novel! This is a fine example of how spiritual journey theology (in this case Hindu) can be explored in a novel.  The Narmada River flows west through central India, emptying into the Arabian Sea. It is one of the holiest rivers in India. The narrator of A River Sutra leaves his civil service job to manage a rest house situated on the banks of the Narmada River and to give himself time to reflect on his life. He is unprepared for the number of people who hear the call of the river, and those who come often surprise and confuse him. Tariq Mia, a mullah living in a Muslim village near the narrator's rest house, discusses with him spiritual and life issues. A Jain monk on a pilgrimage intrigues the narrator, who feels this monk "might know some secret of the heart that could shatter the shell of numbness that enclose[s] me."

Ali and Nino : A Love Story
by Kirban Said

As is true of all great literature, Kurban Said's Ali and Nino has timeless appeal. Set in the years surrounding the Russian Revolution and the rise of the Soviet Union, Said's tale of an Azerbaijani Muslim boy in love with a Georgian Christian girl is both tender and disturbingly prescient. The novel was first published in 1937.

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