New!
Author resources • Lorehaven Guild
Podcast sponsors • Subscribe for free
Crew manifest Faith statement FAQs
All author resources Lorehaven Guild Subscribe for free

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

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

Exile
Reviews, Mar 17, 2023

Library

Find fantastical Christian novels

fantasy · sci-fi · and beyond
middle grade · young adult · grown-ups
All novels Search Add a novel
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
Podcast

Get the Fantastical Truth podcast

Podcast sponsors | Subscribe links
Archives Feedback

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

149. Why Do Christian Fiction Fans Love So Much Romance?
Fantastical Truth, Feb 14, 2023

Quests

Join our monthly digital book quests.

Lorehaven Guild Faith statement FAQs

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

Reviews

Find fantastical Christian reviews

All reviews Request review

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

Gifts

Find new gifts for Christian fans

Archives

The original SpecFaith: est. 2006

Speculative Faith | archives

Lorehaven issues (2018–2020)

Order back issues online!
New
Library
Podcast
Quests
Reviews
Gifts
Archives
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.
Subscribe free to Lorehaven
/ Podcast
    Podcast sponsors • Previous sponsors • Subscribe links • Sponsor the show

    1. Enclave Publishing

    2. Once Upon a Ren Faire by A. C. Castillo

    3. Realm Makers 2023 conference

74. What If Christians Created Backstory for Noah’s Ark and Also Built the Actual Boat? | with Tim Chaffey

We’re joined by Tim Chaffey of Answers in Genesis, one of the creative architects who helped build the Ark Encounter.
Fantastical Truth on Aug 10, 2021 · 1 comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:17:24 — 72.2MB) | Embed

Last month the Ark Encounter attraction, by Answers in Genesis near Cincinnati, announced they would build the Tower of Babel. Of course, this won’t be a replica, lest God confuse our languages even more, but an exhibit. We’re joined by Tim Chaffey, who’s not only an expert in biblical apologetics, but one of the architects who helped build the backstory of Ark Encounter.

Concession stand

  1. This is a Nephilim-Free Zone. Genesis is about more than these speculations.
  2. Yes, this episode will touch on creation/evolution, but mostly, the Flood.
  3. We will assume a global flood here, accepting this is the best Bible reading.
  4. If you disbelieve in the Flood, cool. Good for you. You can still be a Christian.
  5. But you may simply have bad vibes about (over rational objection) to “creationism.”
  6. Keep a fair mind. Healthy Christians can explore these issues in good faith.
  7. Anyway, we assume literal creation and Flood, basing our imagination on these.
  8. Still disagree? We end with this challenge: build your own Ark. A very tiny one.
AiG content director Tim Chaffey

Tim Chaffey, content director with Answers in Genesis, features in in a few Ark Encounter features, such as this video about Scripture’s reliability. (courtesy E. Stephen Burnett, July 2018)

Introducing Tim Chaffey

Tim Chaffey is the content manager for the Attractions Division of Answers in Genesis. An apologist with a passion for training young people, he speaks regularly at the Creation Museum, camps, schools, and churches, and has authored numerous nonfiction and fiction books, including The Remnant Trilogy and The Truth Chronicles. Follow his website, Risen Ministries, and his Facebook author page.

1. How did you discover biblical faith and fantastic imagination?

  • How did you get into defending six-day creation and a global Flood?

2. What’s it like making Scripture-inspired backstory for the nonfiction Flood?

  • Stephen recalls the early AiG materials planning a Creation Museum
  • Back then they even hoped to make, of all things, a replica Ark in the future.
  • Now it’s real, and we explore how AiG and Ark Encounter create biblical backstory.
  • How this project led to Tim Chaffey writing The Remnant Trilogy.
  • How the Ark Encounter backstory differs from the Noah movie (2014).

3. What’s next for AiG and Ark Encounter, and how can Christians respond?

  • How can the Tower of Babel exhibit address this persistent sin in the world?
  • How can biblical truths of human origins motivate Christian imagination?

Delve deeper into Ark Encounter

  • ArkEncounter.com, CreationMuseum.org, and AnswersInGenesis.org
  • If you must have Nephilim, Tim Chaffey explores this in his 2012 article.
  • Ken Ham, Sci-Fi Fan, E. Stephen Burnett, May 2013
  • The Noah Movie: Our Detailed Review, Roger Patterson and Tim Chaffey, March 2014
  • AiG’s Ark Encounter Is a Model for Christians Engaging Popular Culture, E. Stephen Burnett at Christ and Pop Culture, August 2016
  • Behind the Scenes at Ark Encounter, Tim Chaffey at Speculative Faith, April 2018
  • Flood Legends Rise From the Depths of History, Tim Chaffey at Lorehaven, summer 2018
  • Ark Encounter Adds ‘Tower of Babel’ – Biblical Evidence: ‘We’re All One Biological Race’, Air1.com news, July 2021

Full immersion in biblical imagination

Ark-tistic license, July 2018

Ark Encounter designers used “ark-tistic license,” shaped by Scripture reading, to speculate about the Ark’s appearance and Noah’s family. (courtesy E. Stephen Burnett, July 2018)

 

Gladiator diorama at Ark Encounter, July 2018

Perish all thoughts of sentimentalism: Ark Encounter designers pulled few punches in showcasing the sin of a pre-Flood world. (courtesy E. Stephen Burnett, July 2018)

 

Noah's family at Ark Encounter, July 2018

Ark Encounter designers imagined names, appearances, and even personalities for all of Noah’s family, including his three sons and their wives. (courtesy E. Stephen Burnett, July 2018)

Next on Fantastical Truth

What if your father died and made you emperor, but along with your normal kingly responsibilities, you also had to keep control of the sun? Then you learn the sun is fading and the gods might oppose your new marriage? That’s the story of Lani Forbes’s Mesoamerican-flavor fantasy The Seventh Sun, last seen winning several 2021 Realm Awards, and Lani will rejoin Fantastical Truth!

The Paris Betrayal, James R. HannibalSponsor: James R. Hannibal’s The Paris Betrayal from Revell Books

After an intelligence operation in Rome goes sideways, Ben Calix returns to Paris to find his perfectly ordered world turned upside down. A hit man ambushes him at his flat. French SWAT tries to hem him in. This is a severance. The Director has kicked him out into the cold. But why?

To find answers, Ben must seek the sniper who tried to kill him, the spymaster who trained him, the doctor who once saved his life, and the teammate who killed the woman he loved. And in the midst of this search, scouring Europe for his contacts, he must still try to stop a world-altering attack.

“Hannibal once again displays his dazzling prose and ability to keep even the more experienced readers guessing. Another gripping, high-octane book from one of the best thriller writers in the business.”

—Simon Gervais, bestselling author of Hunt Them Down

  • James R. Hannibal: The Paris Betrayal
  • James R. Hannibal’s episode of Fantastical Truth
Fantastical Truth
Fantastical Truth
Lorehaven

Explore the best Christian-made fantasy, sci-fi, and beyond, and apply these stories' meanings in the real world Jesus calls us to serve.

Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsSpotifyAndroidPandoraiHeartRadioStitcherBlubrryby EmailTuneInRSS

Share your thoughts with Fantastical Truth!

    Okay to quote from your comment in a future episode?

    YesNo

    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.
    Website · Facebook · Twitter
    1. notleia says:
      August 11, 2021 at 8:06 am

      Bold of em, I guess, to plan another attraction when, last I heard, the Ark Encounter hasn’t been earning enough to cover its own expenses for the last few years. Did they have to give up any of the artifacts from the Green exhibit as being black market items? /pot shots

      Reply

    Share your fantastical feedback. Cancel reply

    Lorehaven magazine, spring 2020

    Wear the wonder:
    Get exclusive shirts and beyond

    Listen to Lorehaven’s podcast

    Authors and publishers:
    Reach new fans with Lorehaven

    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.
    Website · Facebook · Instagram · Twitter