Who Writes Christian Science Fiction?

I kicked around several ideas about what I wanted to write in this post. Maybe create a list of past and current Christian Science Fiction (CSF) writers, talk about their influence on the genre, classify their works, or compare what they have written to the definition of “What is Christian Science Fiction?” which I wrote about in my last post. Instead of doing something like this, I decided to write about “who” are the type of people “who” write CSF. Besides, all of us can go online and use Google or Bing and get as much information about past, current, and perspective CSF writers.

My first thought of who writes CSF is a Christian. It seems obvious that a person who is writing CSF is a Christian, but I have read some CSF that make me wonder if the author is a Christian. Before I go any further, I want to make it clear that I should not judge if anyone is a Christian if he or she say he or she is. I can’t write or say that he or she is not a Christian to the world just because I don’t think they are, only God knows if a person is a Christian. I can, and it is my duty as a Christian, to call someone out if they call themselves a Christian and writes things that are not Biblical. By doing this, I’m either ministering to them by correcting their actions or I am ministering to myself if, after talking with them, I find out I am wrong. Bottom line, Christian CFS writers should keep other Christian CSF writers accountable.

People who write CSF are called to do so. I believe God as called me to write CSF as a ministry to spread the gospel to individuals who may not be reached other ways. Jesus said in Matthew 28:18-20, “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’” This being said, I have discerned, thru prayer and what God has communicated to me in various ways, it is my responsibility to write what He has laid on my heart to write. Also, I am to write it as best I can and market it to the best of my ability. It’s Gods responsibility to work behind the scenes and make it available to those He wants to read it.

Also, a person who writes CSF needs to keep in mind that it’s not a numbers game, and success is something that is hard to measure. I’m sure I’m not alone when I say; I want my writing to be successful. Wouldn’t it be great for my book to a New York Times best seller, wouldn’t it be nice to be asked to speak at various venues about my book, wouldn’t it be nice to know that hundreds and may be even thousands of people were saved by reading my book! Yes, I would love that type of success. However, the truth is, my idea of being a successful CSF writer is probably not Gods idea of my being a successful CSF writer.  If Gods idea of my book being successful is to be read by only one person who’s interest is sparked, and leads them to read the Bible which becomes a link in a chain of events for one persons salvation…that is success.

To summarize my rambling about “who” writes CSF; it is anyone who is a Christian, who has been called to write CSF to glorify God, and whose success is not measured by their pride or earthly standards, but by what God wants their writing to accomplish to glorify Him.

I hope you’ll respond to this post and offer your comments, ideas, and questions. And feel free, as a fellow Christian, to keep me accountable for what I write!

Barry Knox

What is Christian Science Fiction?

I am a new Christian Science Fiction author and completed my first novel a month ago. Like most people during a project, one has a tendency to just start and complete a project without doing proper planning. Although I believe I did a good job planning, developing and writing my book, I probably should have begun by asking the question: What is Christian Science Fiction?  Looking back, I just assumed I would simply write a Biblical fact based story with an important Christian message I wanted my readers to grasp and throw in some science fiction techno gadgets, a helping of fictional futuristic societies, and a sprinkling of Christian heroes and evil adversaries. To my horror, after sending my book off to be edited, I poked around several websites and blogs to try and understand how to best publish and market my book and low and behold there it was embedded in some marketing information; can your book be classified as Christian Science Fiction? Oh boy, I thought to myself, now I’ll have to modify my manuscript when I get it back from the editor to adhere to the definition of what a Christian Science Fiction book is. 

I immediately began researching on what exactly makes a novel Christian Science Fiction.  I visited several websites and blogs to get a definition or at least find a general agreement.  After a few hours of research I realized I probably wasn’t going to have to do something drastic like re-write my book. Thank the Lord!  As a matter of fact, I discovered the simple approach to writing my book, which I mentioned above, was generally on the mark.  I found references to things like Speculative Science Fiction, Christian Apocalyptic Fiction, writing Christian Science Fiction guidelines, and other type classifications, but the definitions offered on the many websites and blogs I visited were basically the same. 

Here is my summation of what I discovered; “Christian Science Fiction is the utilization of fictional scientific ideas to speculate on things that could occur surrounding Biblical facts while being careful to never compromise those Biblical facts.”  Here is an example of what I mean; the Bible states in Revelation 8: 8-9, “The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.” Using my self- proclaimed definition, I can speculate and write about what God will use to destroy a third of the sea creatures and ships, but I cannot compromise the Biblical fact that God destroyed a third of the sea creatures and ships. I might speculate and write that an asteroid, comet, nuclear weapon, or maybe even a gigantic space ship crashing to Earth is the culprit but I can’t say a quarter of  the sea creatures and ships were eliminated. It must be one third. Also, it should go without saying that to write good Christian Science Fiction you need to know Biblical facts and a good way to know these facts is to read your Bible daily.

I hope you’ll respond to this post and offer your comments, ideas, and questions. I attached a few of the websites and blogs I visited during my research. Check them out, after you’ve read your Bible today.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Christian-Science-Fiction,-The-Writer-and-Scripture&id=6008611

http://www.strangehorizons.com/2002/20020408/apocalyptic.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_science_fiction 

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/february/16.20.html?start=1

Welcome to my Blog!

This is my first attempt at blogging and I welcome any advice and comments. My goal for this blog is to post information about understanding and writing Christian Science Fiction. Over the next month or so I plan to write a series of post addressing the five W’s and a H: who, what, when, where, why and how of writing Christian Science Fiction. The post will be titled: 

• What is Christian Science Fiction?
• Who writes Christian Science Fiction?
• When is Christian Science Fiction written?
• Where is Christian Science Fiction written?
• Why write Christian Science Fiction?
• How to write Christian Science Fiction?

Let me know what you think about my plan!

Thanks, Barry