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On the memorial stone of C.S. Lewis in Westminster Abbey, this quote is engraved: 

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it but because by it, I see everything else.”

For Lewis, Christianity was the lens through which he saw the world and wrote his books. Lewis had much to say in his various books, and as an author his Christian worldview influenced everything in his fiction. 

Many authors’ understanding of theology doesn’t go much beyond the sinner’s prayer, and their stories reflect that shallow understanding. They end up writing the same simplified message over and over.  

We all have a worldview. We all have a lens through which we see the world; and it will impact our writing, whether we know it or not. Fiction is a great place to explore a worldview, especially speculative fiction. 

Communicating an intentional message in your novel requires you to know what you believe and why.

Christian fiction writers often struggle to maintain a balance between boldly weaving faith and biblical themes into their writing and sounding preachy or didactic. Few authors can do it well. 

Because many Christian authors don’t want to offend anyone, they err on the side of avoiding deep theological issues. On the other end of the spectrum, some authors use clichéd ideas and shallow characterization to make their books sound “Christian.” 

How do Christian fiction writers address important issues of theology and apologetics in their stories without writing them like a Sunday school lesson? How does your Christian worldview impact your writing as an author?

One author who knows her way around worldview is L.G. (Laura) McCary, who does not shy away from discussing deep theological issues in her novels. She is the author of That Pale Host, a psychological suspense novel with a supernatural twist, and she’s the social-media manager and staff writer for Lorehaven.com.

What does worldview mean?

Thomas Umstattd, Jr.: What do worldview and apologetics mean to you?

Laura (L.G.) McCary: Worldview and apologetics refer to knowing what you believe and why you believe it, so you can communicate it appropriately. I love knowing why I believe a doctrine and where it originated.

Thomas: A Christian worldview affects an authors politics and every interaction you have.

Worldview is a relatively new subject that Christian students learn about. I received worldview training in high school, but my parents did not. When my parents were going to school, there was an assumption that everyone had the same worldview.

But we don’t.

There are many worldviews, such as Communism and cosmic humanism (also called New Age), which are complete worldviews.

Sadly, some Christians have a New Age worldview. They’ll talk about “looking to Christ in you” and “being true to yourself.” These New Age concepts have Christian language attached to them, so they’re sometimes hard to discern.

Laura: You’ll also hear them talk about “Christ consciousness.” Some of the language sounds right, but it’s off. When you poke it, you can see it’s coming from a completely different worldview. It’s not from Scripture at all.

Thomas: That’s right. The same is true with Communism.

In Acts chapter two, you’ll read that the early Christians were sharing what they had, and some people take that to be a plug for Communism. But there’s a big difference between me choosing to share what I have and you using the threat of force from the state to take what I have and give it to somebody else.

If you don’t have a sophisticated understanding of worldview, Acts might sound like Communism.

But it is not the same.

How do authors incorporate Christian worldview into fiction?

Thomas: What does it look like to write a novel that expresses your worldview?

Laura: It starts with being confident about what you believe, so you can express it through storytelling. If you are not confident in your faith and the doctrines you believe, your uncertainty will show up in your fiction.

I read a well-known, young-adult series where I could tell that the author had questions in her mind while writing about the nature of humanity and nature versus nurture.

She did not resolve those issues in her mind by the end of the series. It was frustrating to read. I have a psychology degree and have thoroughly thought through those issues. When I reached the end of the series, I thought, She didn’t know what she thought the whole time she was writing.

If you don’t know what you think about a particular topic, you won’t be able to communicate well through your fiction because it will come out muddled. It’s easier for Christians to see examples of that muddled thinking in secular fiction than in our own fiction because we agree with ourselves.

Thomas: In many ways, we’re currently seeing a caricature of ourselves in secular fiction. For decades, the big critique of Christian fiction was that it was too preachy and it was the same message over and over.

If you’ve watched movies or shows written in the last several years, you know they’re all touting the same message of diversity, inclusion, and equality. In fact, the critics are even mocking the repetition, and it’s turning away audiences. Ratings and sales are down across the board.

Today a number-one hit movie only requires $20 million in sales. Two years ago, $20 million wouldn’t have ranked in the top ten. There’s been a complete collapse in the connection with the audience.

I heard someone explain the phenomenon to a Christian audience. He asked who had seen the movie X-Men 2, and many people raised their hands.

Then he asked who had seen Broke Back Mountain. Almost no one raised their hands. Both movies had the same message; but in X-Men 2, the message and worldview were incorporated organically into the story.

X-Men 2 was entertaining, while Broke Back Mountain felt like a sermon.

People don’t want to buy tickets to a sermon, but they do want to watch a fun movie. X-Men 2 was effective partly because it was speculative, which meant that the mutants were a metaphor. The message becomes less preachy if you work it in organically.

What tips do you have for a Christian trying to organically incorporate their worldview into a great story?

Laura: Speculative writing has the unique capability of disarming readers and getting them interested in something they might not otherwise accept.

Books like 1984, Brave New World, and Animal Farm are excellent dystopian books, which aren’t Christian; but they’re written from a clear point of view.

Those authors, Huxley and Orwell, had specific purposes for writing those stories. But the stories disarm your initial argument because they are set in a different world. Animal Farm is about animals; and because the characters aren’t human, the message gets past your internal gatekeeper.

I’ve noticed this a lot with my children. For example, the Kung Fu Panda TV show series had several issues I had to carefully point out to my kids. I stopped the show to point out that the characters were subscribing to Eastern philosophy, which is neither true nor compatible with our Christian beliefs.

Since the show is a cool story with pandas and snakes doing karate, kids get excited about i;, and their internal gatekeepers can be caught off guard.

As a Christian, you must know that incorporating your worldview is powerful; but only if you deliberately try not to be preachy.

Thomas: The key is to be specific. The more specific you are, the less preachy you sound.

For example, I’ve wanted somebody to address the fallacy of “Well, we just need to do something.” Characters and real people commonly say it, as if it doesn’t matter whether what we’re doing works. We just need to do something.

The problem is so big and terrible that we just need to “do something.” But the truth is, if what you’re doing isn’t working, then it’s harmful because it’s keeping people from looking for the actual solution.

Doing “something” isn’t enough. We need to solve the problem. There’s a big difference between just doing something and actually fixing the problem. That fallacy could be easily explored in fiction in a thousand specific settings.

Specificity keeps it from feeling preachy because you can write about real life and people’s real problems. It’s not a vague sermon with Christianese platitudes.

Laura: Cert