# Any Christian literature that's actually, you know, good? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 9, 2002, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-christian-literature-thats-actually-you-know-good/102727 "2002-04-09T21:48:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-christian-literature-thats-actually-you-know-good/102727/21 "2002-04-10T12:20:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SNenc \* > \*\* I’m not really looking for stories about people who just so happen to be religious (like a mystery-solving priest, for example). \*\* If you’ve ever read a Father Brown story, especially the ones in the first collection, THE INNOCENCE OF FATHER BROWN, you’ve noticed that this ain’t some priest who hangs up his cassock at the church door and goes out to gumshoe around with a roscoe in his hand. Chesterton was a bear for using theology and Xian philosophy in his fiction, which is one reason these tales are still in print…nobody else did it nearly as well. Or spun such a good story with such clever language. However, if your friend is leery of the Roman variants on her religion, perhaps it’s not the best choice. But don’t dis da Padre, see? ---
**Author:** ![auRa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@auRa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auRa)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-christian-literature-thats-actually-you-know-good/102727/22 "2002-04-10T12:31:03Z")
I’m not sure these count, but I really enjoyed The Sparrow and its sequel Children of God, by Mary Doria Russell… Sci-fi, but it deals with some religious themes as well. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-christian-literature-thats-actually-you-know-good/102727/23 "2002-04-10T12:43:42Z")
“Operation Chaos” by Poul Anderson. Science fiction; it’s one of my all-time favourite books. The story takes place in a universe where Heaven and Hell, God and Devil–and magic–are real. The politics make the Cold War look like two kids in a sandbox. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@Jabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jabba)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-christian-literature-thats-actually-you-know-good/102727/24 "2002-04-10T12:50:44Z")
John Milton: _Paradise Lost_ Another vote for John Donne William Blake Another vote for G K Chesterton. He always denied that _The Man Who Was Thrsday_ had any religious subtext, but every reader I know of has detected one. As further recommendation, from John Carey’s _Pure Pleasure_: > [@](#): > > It is a divine comedy by a man who still believes in valour, fair play, happiness and the triumph of good. Usually we feel superior to innocence, associating it with stupidity.But in Chesterton’s case that will not work. If you think yourself cleverer than him the odds are about ten million to one that you are wrong. Graham Greene: Suffers ( from the point of view of your earlier posts) from the fact that it’s Catholic, but Greene was only really a Catholic for the intellectual cachet and had a low opinion of those Catholics who were so foolish as to actually to believe in God. _Brighton Rock_ is probably the best introduction to his work. William Golding: _Pincher Martin_ is about what happens when man tries to do without God ( from Golding’s perspective, anyway). ---
**Author:** ![king\_of\_spain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7cd45c/32.png) [@king\_of\_spain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/king_of_spain)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-christian-literature-thats-actually-you-know-good/102727/25 "2002-04-10T13:50:22Z")
Don’t feel restricted to _Mere Christianity_\* - Lewis has lots and lots of other essay collections that are all well worth reading. In addition, anyone who reads _Left Behind_ should be force-fed Lewis’ fiction as an antidote. I only ever got around to reading the beginning of _Till We Have Faces_, but it seemed quite good, and of course I adore the Narnia Chronicles and the Space Trilogy. (I’m not sure I’d go with **foolsguinea** ’s suggestion of _The Horse and His Boy_, though; while it’s one of my favorites, a lot of other people think it’s the weakest of the Narnia books. I’d suggest one of the first four, from the classic numbering system.) Besides his fiction, Chesterton also has _Orthodoxy_ - an explanation of his faith and philosophy, sort of similar to _Mere Christianity_. I don’t remember it being too specifically Catholic, but it’s been a while; has anyone else read it more recently? And while I haven’t read _The Cloister Walk_, Kathleen Norris also has _Amazing Grace_, a wonderful essay collection - a series of reflection on important words and concepts in Christianity. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-christian-literature-thats-actually-you-know-good/102727/26 "2002-04-10T14:32:50Z")
We used to love end-of-project or end-of-term time in Divinity Class, where we’d just get to read books from the Christian Union library during lesson time. The reason for this was that these books were generally true-life accounts packed with sex, crime and dirty things 😉 with the “wrongdoer” finding God and welcoming Jesus into their life, but not usually until the last page. There was one in particular about a woman who worked as a stripper calling “Daring Diana” as well as being a prostitute, and chief witch of some black coven that made themselves invisible on Dartmoor. Highly juicy material for repressed 11/12/13-year-olds at a very strictly evangelical school. ---
**Author:** ![KinSaba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7bcc69/32.png) [@KinSaba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KinSaba)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-christian-literature-thats-actually-you-know-good/102727/27 "2002-04-10T14:33:18Z")
_Hinds Foot in High Places_. The name of the author escapes me at the moment and my copy has been lent out … apparently forever. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-christian-literature-thats-actually-you-know-good/102727/28 "2002-04-10T15:30:32Z")
I second (or third, or _n_th–whatever we’re up to) pretty much anything by C.S. Lewis or G.K. Chesterton. What about Madeleine L’Engle? She’s best known for her children’s books (_A Wrinkle In Time_ et al) but has also written novels for adults, and she may be at her best in her memoir-type non-fiction. Dostoyevsky? ---
**Author:** ![Humble\_Servant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/47e85d/32.png) [@Humble\_Servant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Humble_Servant)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-christian-literature-thats-actually-you-know-good/102727/29 "2002-04-10T15:53:56Z")
Yeah, Dostoyevsky–how about _The Idiot_? Oh wait, he’s Russian orthodox/mystic. How about Thomas Merton’s _The Seven Storey Mountain_? Oh wait, he’s a papist. How about St. Augustine’s _Confessions_? Might work–a papist but pre-Reformation so eveyone can claim him. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-christian-literature-thats-actually-you-know-good/102727/30 "2002-04-10T16:44:00Z")
As a thoroughly Protestant type - I’m inclined to recommend Chesterton anyway. The “Father Brown” stories are wonderfully well-written, and have a solid underpinning of _Christian_ thinking, not just Catholic/Protestant. I’ll also add a vote for Dante’s _Divine Comedy_ - in a suitably accessible translation, of course (unless your friend reads mediaeval Italian). I’ve always had a soft spot for the copiously annotated translation by Dorothy Sayers (herself no mean lay Christian thinker). Great poem - and, while Dante (being pre\_Lutheran) is an RC, he had a few ideas on the proper treatment of Popes who abused the office. ---
**Author:** ![stargazer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@stargazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stargazer)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-christian-literature-thats-actually-you-know-good/102727/31 "2002-04-10T16:54:46Z")
I read _Till We Have Faces_ in high school; it was very good, but somewhat over my head at the time. I should try it again. Lewis’ _The Great Divorce_ is also wonderful – hell, pretty much anything he wrote is good! (well, except maybe his poetry. It’s not his strong point, I can tell you that.) Another book I really enjoyed is _Through the Shadowlands_, a biography of Lewis’ life, by Brian Sibley. My copy was never returned by a friend, so it’s been quite a while since I’ve read it. I seem to remember, though, that it was fascinating (much better than the movie!) A book that I end up reading about once a year is _Ben Hur_. Surprising, I know, and more historical fiction than Christian, per se, but I still get a lot out of it, and it makes the Christmas and Easter stories _mean_ so much more. It might be worth looking into. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-christian-literature-thats-actually-you-know-good/102727/32 "2002-04-10T17:20:05Z")
There’s a lot more to C.S. Lewis than Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters. Try his science fiction trilogy **Perelandra, Out of the Silent Planet** , and **That Hideous Strength**. Not to mention his fantasy series starting with **The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe**. And try his Heaven-and-Hell story **The Great Divorce**. You can’t beat the classics. I liked Sir Thomas More’s **Utopia** and Desiderius Erasmus’ **In Praise of Folly** , both available from Penguin Classics. I’ll second **Ben Hur**. At times it gets hard going, but Wallace came up with the idea of writing about (and researched) chariot races and Roman naval battles. Impressive stuff. But having Balthasar as a main character seems too off the wall, and some of his side-plots fo on for too long. Some of the medieval Mystery Plays are fun. PBS did a great adaptation of them about 15 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-christian-literature-thats-actually-you-know-good/102727/33 "2002-04-10T19:44:10Z")
The OP has a dilemma. There’s LOTS of brilliant Christian literature I could recommend, just as there’s LOTS of brilliant Christian music I could recommend. But… you’re not going to find any of it in a standard American strip-mall “Christian” book store! In terms of poetry, there’s John Donne, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and John Milton. Among novelists, there’s Fyodor Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Victor Hugo, Graham Greene… the list is endless. As for Christian music, well, Christian faith inspired much of the best of Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Vivaldi. Again, it’s a long list. But as I said, you’re not likely to find THAT kind of Christian music at standard Christian book stores. I happen to think that, if you’re looking for great Christian literature, you don’t start with Christian authors and weed out the ones who aren’t great. Rather, you start with great authors and weed out the ones who aren’t Christian. That is, when a great author turns his attention to Christianity, the result is likely to be brilliant. But when a mediocre author writes esxclusively about Christianity, the results are likely to be awful. And it’s precisely THAT kind of literature that fills the shelves of most Christian book stores. Similarly, when a composer as brilliant as Haydn writes a piece about the Creation, the results are splendid. But when an untalented composer writes music with exclusively Christian themes, the results are usually awful. But you’ll find THAT kind of music in a Christian bookstore far more often than you’ll find Haydn’s “Creation.” Unfortunately, I get the feeling the person the OP wants to buy for is ONLY interested in the kind of books/music you’d see at a mainstream Christian bookstore- stuff that’s unoriginal, unchallenging, and simplistic. ---
**Author:** ![Tygr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df788c/32.png) [@Tygr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tygr)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-christian-literature-thats-actually-you-know-good/102727/34 "2002-04-10T20:05:07Z")
Throw her a curve ball - give her _ **Flatland** _. A story of a citizen of a two-dimensional world who has an encounter with a citizen of a three-dimensional world. Can you see the allegorical possibilities? This book has ideas that can be applied to physics (dimensional perception), relationships (personality perception), religion (spiritual perception), and probably other areas I’ve not considered yet. A truly fascinating read. I read it once about 15 years ago and still ponder its ideas to this day. IMHO, a 180º polar opposite to the _LB_ series, who’s authors, I suspect, might have a bit in common with the 0-dimensional citizen… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-christian-literature-thats-actually-you-know-good/102727/35 "2002-04-10T20:39:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Neidhart \* > \*\*“Mere Christianity” is neither literature nor poetry; it’s a series of essays setting forth the basic principles of Christianity. \*\* Essays are a form of literature. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-christian-literature-thats-actually-you-know-good/102727/36 "2002-04-10T21:28:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Humble Servant \* > **Yeah, Dostoyevsky–how about _The Idiot_? Oh wait, he’s Russian orthodox/mystic.** Along this line, I’ve also heard (but not read yet) that Solzhenitsyn is very good. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-christian-literature-thats-actually-you-know-good/102727/37 "2002-04-10T22:09:40Z")
I can only second the recommendations of G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis, and Walter M. Miller, Jr. If she likes horror novels, I recommend Frank Peretti’s This Present Darkness, Piercing the Darkness, and The Oath To the list of poets I would add Gerald Manley Hopkins (surprised no one hasn’t mentioned him). Have her check out some Ray Bradbury. He sometimes used Christian themes very well. Buy her S is for Space just for “The Man.” I’ll bet she’ll enjoy many of the other stories as well. ---
**Author:** ![king\_of\_spain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7cd45c/32.png) [@king\_of\_spain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/king_of_spain)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-christian-literature-thats-actually-you-know-good/102727/38 "2002-04-10T22:16:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Thudlow Boink \* > \*\* > What about Madeleine L’Engle? She’s best known for her children’s books (_A Wrinkle In Time_ et al) but has also written novels for adults, and she may be at her best in her memoir-type non-fiction. > \*\* _slaps forehead_ How could I possibly forget L’Engle? Great suggestion. Besides her adult novels and nonfiction, I think a lot of her children’s books are the kind that would still make great reading for adults - plus, they’re pretty much mandatory if you haven’t read them yet. Probably the most explicitly Christian are _A Wind in the Door_ (has a cherubim as a main character - yes, I mean **a** cherubim) and _Many Waters_ (retelling of the Noah’s ark story). ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-christian-literature-thats-actually-you-know-good/102727/39 "2002-04-10T22:32:14Z")
Yay! I have found other Lewis-and-Chesterton fans! _(happy dance)_. As I mentioned in another thread, I own _two_ copies of Chesterton’s **Orthodoxy**. One for me, one for all the other people who keep borrowing it. Honestly. I practically memorised it- we read it for school and I fell in love with his writing. He was Anglican when he wrote it- it was before his conversion to Catholicism. **The Everlasting Man** is probably his best book, and his essays are great. C.S. Lewis has already been thoroughly recommended. So has Kathleen Norris… I second Madeleine L’Engle, especially her Crosswicks diaries, and **Icons And Idols**. Richard John Neuhaus has written some excellent stuff, but he’s Catholic… Yancey’s pretty good… Annie Dillard? Particularly **For The Time Being** and **Holy The Firm**. Esther De Waal has written some good stuff about the Benedictines, and there are some wonderful collections of Desert Fathers sayings. Check out Ignatius Press- it’s where I got my finace his copy of Ignatius Loyola’s **Spiritual Exercises**. They do reprintings of classic Christian books. One of my favorite Christian novels is by Michael O’Brien, titled **Father Elijah: An Apocalypse**. For the record, “apocalypse” doesn’t mean, “paranoid warnings” it means, “unveiling”. It’s a pretty broad term, theologically. Wendell Berry, novels and poetry. The Penses, Blaise Pascal. I’ll stop. Whew. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-christian-literature-thats-actually-you-know-good/102727/40 "2002-04-10T23:18:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lissla Lissar \* > **The Everlasting Man is probably his best book** Exxxxxxxcellent. I bought a copy of this at the used bookshop last year sometime, and haven’t gotten around to it yet. I will get around to it sooner, now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-christian-literature-thats-actually-you-know-good/102727.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-christian-literature-thats-actually-you-know-good/102727.md?page=3)