What is Christian Literature?

What is Christian literature?

Christians are story tellers because Christianity is a true story born out of a true story. We tell stories because we must, because our God-given imaginations burst with ideas and images which beg to be told, and to tell them we must have some way to get them out of our minds and into someone else's mind. Christ used stories because he was one of us. The Old Testament before him used stories, both history and parables, to get ideas into our hearts through our imagination. Human beings need to tell stories, and the more Christian we are the more we will probably feel this compulsion. It is a part of our heritage.

Christian stories should follow the example of Christ, because Christ remains for all time the penultimate story-teller. There are several components to his stories which can be easily drawn from the examples we have in scripture.

First, it is important to note that Christ's stories were not always uplifting; frequently they end on a sad note. The tale of the rich man and Lazarus mentions the eternal joy of Lazarus only as a counterpoint to contrast the real purpose of the story - the rich man writhing in agoney, eaten by flames yet never consumed, begging for mercy and finding none. There are many examples of this deferment to real life. Christ was a realist, for more than anyone else in this world he could see the truth behind people's facades. That's why his parables seek primarily to illuminate us rather than uplift us artificially. They sometimes leave us with a sense of fulfillment (the widow finds her missing coin; the lost lamb is brought back to the fold) but just as often we are left with longing, as when the five foolish virgins are shut outside the wedding feast forever because of their own shortsightedness, or the oldest son's bitterness overshadows the joy of his prodigal brother's return. Why do we not have more stories in which the whole moral is a warning, a counterpoint to victory? Something reminiscent of the book of Judges would be refreshing less for its content than for its rarity.

Christ's stories were also subtle. His disciples asked him why he spoke in parables, and his answer is almost as enigmatic as the stories themselves. "You will be ever hearing but never understanding." These days we paint the main point in bright primary colors so that it cannot possibly be misunderstood or lost. Christ was bolder. He used shades of meaning, subtlety and innuendo. He made oblique references and brazen analogies which could be misunderstood and misinterpreted. He took that risk just like he walked on the water, and those who follow him rarely stay afloat after his example. Occasionally someone will take a few tentative steps in his direction before sinking, but mostly we stay in the boat. How much better to take the risks he took, to allow ourselves to be vulnerable to mystery and misinterpretation! How wonderful it would be to have a masterpiece to puzzle over rather than a book, a study guide, a journal and a seminar all based around the same momentary bubble.

Christ's stories were deeply spiritual, but this was often quite impossible to see at first. On the surface they mostly dealt with earthy things which were ordinary and tangible. The spirituality of the implications combined with the humility of the devices he chose should endow our own ordinary lives with grace. I am sure Christ did not tell parables of plowshares and sheep and grapevines and mustard seeds just so his followers could clog their stories with demons and psychotic villains and wealthy-handsome love-interests.

Tragedy as well as mercy; mystery as well as illumination; grace found in the simple and plain things in life. Christ was the most fearless story teller who ever lived. That is why our stories should be fearless, crackling with subtlety and insinuation, eternal and realistic. That, rather than a simple recitation of gospel truths, makes for Christian literature. The more deeply devoted we become to the stark fluency of scripture, the more we will long for the same standards in our books. If we demand more, we will receive more.