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How to Disciple Your Kids With Dangerous Books
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155. How Might Sentimentalism Threaten Christian Fiction?
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Please Return to the Lands of Luxury
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Enhanced, Candace Kade
Bear Knight, James R. Hannibal
The Wayward, Tabitha Caplinger
Fortified, V. Romas Burton
Canaan Sleeps, Daniel Camomile
Silver Bounty, Victoria McCombs
A Sword for the Immerland King, F. W. Faller
Calor, J. J. Fisher
Once Upon A Ren Faire, A. C. Castillo
The Genesis 6 Project, Michael Ferguson
Exile, Loren G. Warnemuende
Aberration, Cathy McCrumb
The Truth Beyond the Lies, Kathleen Bird
Frost, Winter's Lonely Guardian, E. E. Rawls
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155. How Might Sentimentalism Threaten Christian Fiction?
Fantastical Truth, Mar 28, 2023

154. What If You Had to Fake Being Genetically Modified? | Enhanced with Candace Kade
Fantastical Truth, Mar 21, 2023

153. When Can Deconstructionism Threaten Christian Fiction? | with Michael Young aka ‘Wokal Distance’
Fantastical Truth, Mar 14, 2023

152. How Can Christian Fantasy Fans Heal from Church Trauma? | with Marian Jacobs and L. G. McCary
Fantastical Truth, Mar 7, 2023

151. How Can Fantastical Satire Sharpen Our Theology? | The Pilgrim’s Progress Reloaded with David Umstattd
Fantastical Truth, Feb 28, 2023

150. Is the U.S. Government Covering Up Spy Balloons or Alien Spaceships? | with James R. Hannibal
Fantastical Truth, Feb 21, 2023

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Please Return to the Lands of Luxury
“Jon Tilton explores complex topics like memory loss, personal and societal responsibility in this light sci-fi story.”
—Lorehaven on Mar 24, 2023

Exile
“This gentle fantasy from Loren G. Warnemuende shows little magic or strange creatures, focusing on complex emotions and relationships.”
—Lorehaven on Mar 17, 2023

Illusion
“Frank Peretti’s last novel creates a romantic world with sci-fi flourishes where likeable heroes, villain twists, and familiar places sell a dramatic performance.”
—Lorehaven on Mar 10, 2023

War in Heaven
“Charles Williams’s classic supernatural thriller pairs a deeply spiritual worldview with perceptive examinations of human nature.”
—Lorehaven on Mar 3, 2023

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Lorehaven helps Christian fans explore fantastical stories for Christ’s glory: fantasy, science fiction, and beyond. Articles, the library, reviews, podcasts, gifts, and the Lorehaven Guild community help fans discern and enjoy the best Christian-made fantastical stories, applying their meanings to the real world Jesus Christ calls us to serve. Subscribe free to get any updates you choose and to access the Lorehaven Guild.
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/ Magazines / Fall 2018

Captain’s Log

Fantastic stories are capable of God-glorifying good, but also idolatrous evil.
E. Stephen Burnett | No comments

At Lorehaven Magazine, we love excellent fantastic stories!

Especially if we find these stories made by biblical Christian creators.

Stories are created by humans who reflect God’s image and use his gifts, whether they know it or not. They can show beauty, goodness, and truth about our world.

But let’s not be sentimental. Stories aren’t just wonderful or even “neutral.”

Stories can be poisonous to our souls.

An epic story can reflect our epic God or tempt us to idolize “epicness” itself. A great science-fiction tale can lead us to ponder human nature and the wonders of technology and exploration or tempt us to worship man (or alien creatures).

And, as we discuss in this issue’s Roundtable feature, a fantasy can use fictional magic to awaken in us a sense of self-forgetting awe. Or a fantasy can inflame our sinful desires to use anything, even technology or “magic,” for our own ends.

That’s why, as Christians, we don’t ever call stories “harmless entertainment.” Such a phrase devalues the God-glorifying purpose of human stories, reducing them to the hollow level of, say, snack cakes, or cute kitten pictures on social media. It also ignores the real threat of stories that humans in our sin can twist for great evil.

What’s the Christian’s response to good/evil stories? The same as our response to any good/evil person. We practice biblical discernment with people and their stories.

Using discernment, we sort out a story’s grace and its idols, while being especially careful to avoid our own temptations to idolatry. This takes lifelong practice!

In each issue of Lorehaven, we will seek to glorify God. This mission also means we will acknowledge the reality of sin. We won’t just explore darker stories, creatures, or folklore. We will also consider stories’ real dangers that are often mixed right alongside their benefits.

In every issue, we’ll strive to help you, the fan, discern not just the best stories, but stories that are best for you. That way, these fantastic stories can help you worship not yourself, or stories themselves, but the great Author of reality.

E. Stephen Burnett creates sci-fi and fantasy novels as well as nonfiction, exploring fantastical stories for God’s glory as publisher of Lorehaven.com and cohost of the Fantastical Truth podcast. As the oldest of six, he enjoys connecting with his homeschool roots by speaking at conferences for Christian families and creators. Stephen is coauthor of The Pop Culture Parent: Helping Kids Engage Their World for Christ from New Growth Press (2020, with Ted Turnau and Dr. Jared Moore). Stephen and his wife, Lacy, live in the Austin area, where they help with foster parenting and serve as members of Southern Hills Baptist Church.
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E. Stephen Burnett
E. Stephen Burnett creates sci-fi and fantasy novels as well as nonfiction, exploring fantastical stories for God’s glory as publisher of Lorehaven.com and cohost of the Fantastical Truth podcast. As the oldest of six, he enjoys connecting with his homeschool roots by speaking at conferences for Christian families and creators. Stephen is coauthor of The Pop Culture Parent: Helping Kids Engage Their World for Christ from New Growth Press (2020, with Ted Turnau and Dr. Jared Moore). Stephen and his wife, Lacy, live in the Austin area, where they help with foster parenting and serve as members of Southern Hills Baptist Church.
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Lorehaven helps Christian fans explore fantastical stories for Christ’s glory: fantasy, science fiction, and beyond. Articles, the library, reviews, podcasts, gifts, and the Lorehaven Guild community help fans discern and enjoy the best Christian-made fantastical stories, applying their meanings to the real world Jesus Christ calls us to serve. Subscribe free to get any updates you choose and to access the Lorehaven Guild.
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