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We love Christ’s church. But sometimes really faithful Christians just don’t know how to story. Alas, that starts with the Book of books. Folks like to read God’s written word with axes and shovels to chop out blocks for building propositional doctrine. Other readers feel they need to read the Bible with magnifying glasses and tweezers so we can extract the shiny ore of valuable virtues to enrich our own lives. What might we miss if we treat the Bible like this? Why should we instead see Scripture revealing The God of Story?

Episode sponsors

1. Enclave Publishing: Truth Cursed by Angie Dickinson
2. Sunrise Publishing: Squire of Truth by Jill Williamson
3. Kickstarter for A Study in Shattered Spells by Josiah DeGraaf

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Backstory: Daniel Schwabauer

Daniel Schwabauer is an award-winning author, speaker, and teacher. He is the creator of The One Year Adventure Novel, Cover Story, Byline creative writing curricula, and the author of the young adult novels in The Legends of Tira-Nor series. His professional work also includes stage plays, radio scripts, short stories, newspaper columns, comic books and scripting for animated TV.

• DanSchwabauer.com
• @‌Schwabaeur on Facebook
• @‌Daniel.schwabauer on Instagram
• Daniel Schwabauer on Goodreads
• Last seen at Lorehaven in ep. 105. What If Planet Earth Was Invaded By Hostile Corporate Aliens? | Maxine Justice: Galactic Attorney with Daniel Schwabauer

1. How might we mine the Bible for doctrine-blocks?

• If you (or your good pastor) sticks to New Testament letters, that’s a hint.
• Scripture is full of narrative and many other genres for a divine reason.
• Doctrine does matter, yet this is secondary support for the Hero’s Story.

2. When do we sift Scripture for shiny moral ores?

• Some readers instead turn the Bible into practical life-improvement XP.
• Ignoring the plot turns of Jesus’s quest, they look for moral enrichment.
• This misses the gospel “motherlode” and can distract us with fool’s gold!

3. Why should we instead read Scripture as story?

• First, because that’s clearly how our holy living Creator intended this.
• Second, because it’s all about Jesus, the Hero, not just truths or morals.
• Third, because this is more effective to reach others’ heads and hearts.

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Top questions for listeners

• What are your favorite Bible translations, in the past or present?
• How has your own Bible-reading affected your love for fiction?

Next on Fantastical Truth

For all the years we’ve kept up with Christian-made fiction, many authors have hoped to “cross over.” They don’t want to reach only readers who are Christians. Instead, they also want to influence unbelievers. This is a great goal, to be sure. But when may our pictures of “unbelievers” not match with reality? And just within the last few years, has the “general audience” shifted so gradually that they might enjoy more overt Christian-made fiction?

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