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How to Disciple Your Kids With Dangerous Books
Ticia Messing in Articles, Mar 30, 2023

155. How Might Sentimentalism Threaten Christian Fiction?
Fantastical Truth Podcast, Mar 28, 2023

Please Return to the Lands of Luxury
Reviews, Mar 24, 2023

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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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War in Heaven
Book Quests, March 2023

Rose Petals and Snowflakes
Book Quests, February 2023

Prince Caspian
Book Quests, January 2023

Dream of Kings
Book Quests, December 2022

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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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152. How Can Christian Fantasy Fans Heal from Church Trauma? | with Marian Jacobs and L. G. McCary

Fantastical foes may smuggle false religions into some novels, but these may look like heroes to readers who suffer real harm in God’s house.
Fantastical Truth on Mar 7, 2023 · Series: Fantastical Foes · 2 comments

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:59:13 — 110.5MB) | Embed

The time has come to explore the wild lands. From legalism to worse attacks on God’s image in us, many Christian fantastical fiction fans have suffered what can only be described as church trauma. How can we show Christ’s love to these enemies while more importantly healing from these attacks that may come from relatives, the church back home, or other bullies who might slander us because of our faith or even because of the fantastical stories we enjoy? Today we begin our new four-part series: Fantastical Foes.

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Episode sponsors

  1. Enclave Publishing: Enhanced by Candace Kade
  2. Once Upon a Ren Faire by A. C. Castillo
  3. Realm Makers 2023 conference

Reintroducing author Marian Jacobs

Marian Jacobs writes about Jesus, monsters, and spaceships. Her work has featured at Desiring God as well as Stage and Story, and she has written many articles for Lorehaven.

  • MAJacobs.com
  • follow @MAJacobsWrites on Instagram
  • recent article: Christian Critics of ‘Purity Culture’ Are Still Influenced By Its Fantasies

L. G. McCaryReintroducing author L. G. McCary

L. G. McCary, author of That Pale Host, writes supernatural and dark science fiction on many diverse topics. She has written articles and coordinates social media for Lorehaven.

  • LGMcCary.com
  • Lorehaven’s review of That Pale Host
  • follow @LorehavenMag on Instagram

Concession stand

  • This topic may seem really general, but applies to Christian fantasy fans.
  • Many fantasy fans have unique tastes or see the world in unique ways.
  • Fantastical stories can also provide a sense of escape from real pain.
  • We want to share empathy, but also warn against some real hazards.
  • Episode 112 explores fiction examples about loving/fighting enemies.
  • Episode 120 explore how Christians enjoy biblical freedom in fiction.
  • This whole episode is like a concession stand before more of this series.
  • In our Fantastical Foes series, we explore top threats to Christian fantasy:
  1. Deconstructionism
  2. Sentimentalism
  3. Sexualityism

1. What do we mean by church trauma?

2. When might we respond in harmful ways?

3. How can we respond in healing ways?

Mission update

  • Subscribe free to Lorehaven for all updates
  • Soon we’ll announce more about spring events
  • Read our new review of Charles’s Williams’s classic War in Heaven
  • Join our Book Quest, starting this week, only in the Lorehaven Guild
  • Stephen has restarted his personal site under the Lorehaven Authorship
  • Follow Lorehaven.com for more updates about that upcoming project

Com station

J. J. Griffing remarked on that War in Heaven review:

Along with “There once was a boy named Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it,” (Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by C. S. Lewis) and “The building was on fire, but it wasn’t my fault,” (Summer Knight, I think, by Jim Butcher), Charles Williams’ opening line in War in Heaven is among literature’s best.

“The telephone was ringing frantically, but nobody was there to answer it but the corpse.” Or something like that. Sure beats “It is a truth universally acknowledged, …” by Jane Austin (P&P) or Lewis’ own “Marriage was ordained, thirdly, …” in [That Hideous Strength].

Next on Fantastical Truth

If a church or group of Christians hurt you, that is part of your origin story. True heroes, on their journey to victory, often face many temptations to the dark side. One of those temptations is to a fantastical foe we’re calling deconstructionism. Everyone needs to test your faith. And if the church back home had rotten construction, you may need some remodeling. How can we do this, showing sympathy to ourselves and other victims who need to tear out bad structures, while refusing to let professional demolition crews destroy the gospel? Let’s explore a first Fantastical Foe: deconstructionism.

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    Fantastical Truth
    In the Fantastical Truth podcast from Lorehaven, hosts E. Stephen Burnett and Zackary Russell explore fantastical stories for God's glory and apply their wonders to the real world Jesus calls us to serve.
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    1. Keith Osmun says:
      March 14, 2023 at 9:53 pm

      I’ve read Jesus and John Wayne and I believe Michael is entirely incorrect on his assessment about the book and deconstructionism in general.
      There are no professional deconstructors. There’s no leftist agenda in Dr. DeMuse book, unless the message that “power and influence corrupt and having super megachurch pastors be held up as leaders in evangelical circles was a terrible idea” doesn’t translate for you.

      I thought this was a podcast about storytellers, not a political punditry soapbox.

      In my opinion, Mr, Young was not a subject expert at all, but a political hack. Please don’t invite him back.

      Reply
      • E. Stephen Burnett says:
        March 17, 2023 at 9:45 am

        Hallo again, Keith. You’ve been making the rounds lately with this highly specific criticism—Facebook, Twitter, and now here. (But posted to the wrong episode; you refer to episode 153.) Was that you I caught in the Lorehaven Studios yesterday, hastily scribbling another criticism on a Post-It note? 😉 I kid, but seriously, we thank you for listening and for sharing the episode, criticism and all. That’s healthy stuff.

        However, I believe your highly specific criticism (that our guest was “political” and that he wrongly criticized Du Mez’s work) is disproportionate to the episode’s actual content. One would think we did a whole takedown of Jesus and John Wayne. Rather, our guest hardly mentioned this, or his negative review of that book.

        We’ve already engaged your criticism elsewhere. It’s perfectly fair for you to criticize the podcast because it’s public content—just like it’s perfectly fair for Young or anyone else to disagree publicly with the Du Mez book. But let me add a few other remarks:

        (1) “I disagree” is not a substantive rebuttal. Young has documented the origins or postmodernism, its philosophical milieu, and deconstructionism, its newest application. Moreover, I’ve read several negative reviews of Du Mez’s book, from Young and many others, and seen no response other than social media blocking and false accusations of bad motives (which strike me as uniquely cultural-fundie separatist methods).

        (2) “There are no professional deconstructors” is dramatic overstatement. This line attempts to prove too much, and so it’s easily dismissed. If someone is trying to be an influencer, write books, appear on podcasts, or even (in the case of Joshua Harris) try to sell a whole package for aspiring “deconstructors,” that’s an attempt to go pro.

        (3) So is “there’s no leftist agenda in Dr. DeMuse [sic] book.” This argument attempts to prove too much. Notwithstanding the fact that we barely even mentioned that particular book, I’d ask these questions: What would a “leftist agenda” in a book look like? Would you disagree with a “leftist agenda” if you found it? Did you notice we weren’t speaking mainly about political labels like “right” and “left,” but about truth foundations—the Logos of the gospel versus the “everything is all about words and power” of postmodern deconstructionism? Then we mostly talked about superheroes?

        (4) If “power and influence corrupt” (always?) then everyone is vulnerable to this charge. Our podcast has some influence, so we’re corrupted. Your comment is an attempt to influence, so you’re corrupted too. Du Mez or any other author who attempts to identify this problem and gain influence to persuade other readers, is also corrupted. This will not do. Sin does not permanently infect God’s gift of power and influence any more than sin can permanently infect God’s gifts of imagination and empathy. I must dismiss this “power always corrupts” line as a nonsense argument. I think there’s real hurt behind it, but this hurt should lead to healing and better thinking.

        (5) Over on Twitter, my cohost Zack has explained why we invited Young to the show and how his input absolutely serves our purpose. That’s also clear from the discussion itself. From here, it seems his very existence as a critic of one favorite author was enough for you to disqualify him. I can’t view this as a valid criticism. But (as I mentioned on FB), we’d welcome any substantive engagement with his views.

        Finally, might I ask as graciously as possible whether you’ve not overcorrected from one kind of harmful hero worship (of other evangelical leaders) to another kind? It’s not healthy to have such high regard for any author or spiritual influencer. For my part, I learn from and respect many Christian teachers, but share public disagreements (however minor) with every one of them. If you don’t have such disagreements, or find yourself wanting to defend one person from the slightest hint of public criticism, that should set off your alarm bells. You’re doomed for another round of disappointments! The only Leader who will never disappoint you is Jesus Christ Himself. I would urge you to follow only Him as intensely as you here defend any flawed human influencer.

        Reply

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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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