Superversive Blog: Interview with Frank Luke
Here is the link:
http://www.ljagilamplighter.com/2016/03/16/6198/
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Some people feel Christians should not write fantasy. What is your take on this issue?
I’ve read some of those arguments. They never held water for me. I can’t see anything inherently sinful about writing fantasy. If it was, then Christians shouldn’t even read fantasy, but there is no argument you can make against reading fantasy that doesn’t cut out all fiction (read those, too). Granted, there are types of fiction that Christians should stay away from. I’ll just name two obvious ones: torture porn and erotica. But we aren’t talking about anything like that.
I write fantasy because it touches the spirit in ways that other genres don’t. One reader of Rebirths, a widower, said Derke’s grief over his wife’s death mirrored his own path through grief. I believe the breath of life that God gave our first parents is that human beings create art for art’s sake. We don’t paint to mark our territory. The primary purpose of song and dance is not to attract a mate. We do those things because we are creative, as God intended us to be. If you eliminate all forms of art, you eliminate life. God wants us to live life abundantly. Why would we even think of saying that the art of story telling is off limits to Christians? Instead, we should be writing the very best fantasy.
Two of the foundational fantasy authors were devout Christians, George MacDonald and Tolkein. Christians writing fantasy today aren’t entering Satan’s territory. We’re staking our place on the front lines of a war to keep what our predecessors started. Yeah, there’s a lot of junk out there in fantasy writing, but name one genre that doesn’t have junk. Those who say Christians shouldn’t write fantasy say we should be focusing on writing Bible studies. One reason they give is that there are a lot of junk Bible studies out there, so we need good Bible studies to combat the bad. That applies to fantasy and sci fi. The bad needs to be countered with the good.
Rebirths will be on sale for 0.99 from Wed the 16th of March until the 23rd.
Rebirths:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B013CDEI7M
To read more:
Franks blog:
http://frankluke.com/
Where he answers Bible questions: http://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/users/363/frank-luke
Seven Deadly Tales:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B019BJAS3Y
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About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
