Demons, Driscoll and Discerning ‘Twilight’

One of America’s most well-known megachurch pastors isn’t taking a shine to a certain teen-vampire megaseries. But calling for Biblical discernment does not equal Biblical discernment, Mark Driscoll is overdoing the whole “demons inspired these books” notion.
— E. Stephen Burnett —

Romanticizing Christ?

I suspect, however, that the problem for most Christian fiction isn’t in romanticizing Christ — because, quite frankly, He isn’t in most Christian fiction, not even in a lot of speculative fiction. Rather we might be romanticizing our relationship with Him.
— Rebecca LuElla Miller —

The “It” Factor

What is the “It” factor that makes people sit up and take notice? What makes them buy a book, review it, talk about it, give it as a gift? More so, what causes them to tweet and re-tweet, to write their own articles and link to someone else’s discussion of the book, to share it on Facebook or Google Plus?
— Rebecca LuElla Miller —

Idolatry And Reading-Fandom

Religion scholar David Chidester has famously argued that baseball, Coca-Cola, rock ‘n’ roll, Tupperware—and even the Human Genome Project—serve, for their biggest fans, as “religious fakes,” meaning they play the role of religion, though they aren’t the real thing.
— Rebecca LuElla Miller —

Divergent, Great Stories, And Good Writing

The book series was one more hot story that had fans craving the next book and the next. Granted, though the first book opened as #6 on the NY Times best-selling list, it didn’t reach the stature of Twilight or Hunger Games and certainly not of Harry Potter. Still, it had a loyal and avid following.
— Rebecca LuElla Miller —

Sacrifice And Speculative Fiction

Clearly self-sacrifice is a key component in both general market speculative fiction and Christian speculative fiction. But what is it about sacrifice that is so compelling?
— Rebecca LuElla Miller —

Top Six Ways Christian Culture Is Just The Worst

Only Christian culture could be responsible for these six examples of “creativity.”
— E. Stephen Burnett —

Victory

Who wants to read about death, disability, disease, or defeat? Sure, we have stories that contain all those things, but the great thing about speculative literature is that it pits life, ability, strength, and victory against the things that ravage […]
— Rebecca LuElla Miller —

Yes, The Twilight Saga Vampires Are Scary—But For All the Wrong Reasons

What’s scarier than blood-sucking vampires? Abuse and obsession presented as a desirable ideal.
— Amy Timco —

Lorehaven epilogue sponsors