Reading Is Worship 5: Identifying Weirdness-Idolatry

Brothers and sisters: loving speculative stories is not about you. Or us. Or the genre. Or, especially, Being Weird. That’s especially vital to recall after last weekend’s controversy over cosplay at the ACFW awards banquet. —E. Stephen Burnett in September 2012

‘The Hobbit’ Story Group 1: An Unexpected Party

One great way to explore “The Hobbit” is by reading it yourself. Yet if reading stories is worship, we should also read and discuss this classic together. —E. Stephen Burnett in September 2012

‘Doctor Who’: When Justice Seasons ‘Mercy’

The “Doctor Who” episode “A Town Called Mercy” asked viewers to wrestle with the question: who decides who lives or dies? The answer is hidden in plain sight. —E. Stephen Burnett in September 2012

Reading Is Worship 4: Craft-Idolatry

Before discussing industry changes, editors, and manuscript proposals, we must love God’s Story and great stories more than their craft. Otherwise we may be vulnerable to other story-related idolatries. —E. Stephen Burnett in September 2012

Mayhem And Its Meaning

Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy might be the benchmark for grand battles, notably in the battle of Helm’s Deep in The Two Towers, the Battle of the Pelennor Fields and the Battle of Bywater in The Return of the King. —Rebecca LuElla Miller in September 2012

Reading Is Worship 2: Experience-Worship

It’s easy to break into others’ idol factories. But for most readers, including myself, the worst potential idol in enjoying speculative stories may be experience. How is this self-defeating? What is the Biblical cure? —E. Stephen Burnett in August 2012

Writers Slay Dragons (and You Should Too)

The truth is, the dragon is real and living among us. But what is this dragon really up to? What’s his goal? Is he merely trying to slow us down in our life journey? Is he simply keeping us from taking chances, fulfilling our dreams or doing great things for God in this world? —Christopher Miller in August 2012

Reading Is Worship 1: Foreword

Whatever story we’re reading, seeing, or hearing, we’re not simply critiquing or being entertained. We’re worshiping. So what is Biblical worship? When you read epic stories, what or who do you worship, by intention or accident? —E. Stephen Burnett in August 2012

Speculative Faith Reading Group 9: From Defeat, Final Victory

Even among the greatest stories, the finale of LWW is unique. Here are echoes of Resurrection, eternal joy, and the truth that Christ’s people will reign physically over the New Heavens and New Earth. —E. Stephen Burnett in August 2012

Speculative Faith Reading Group 8: The Stone Table

In “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” how has Aslan’s death affected you, and how does it affect you now? How do other stories’ heroes’ deaths remind you of Christ’s ultimate death? —E. Stephen Burnett in July 2012

The Spiritual Villain

Bane vs. The Joker: in stories, the scariest villains are not the ones who kill the most, leer the most, or have the worst weapons. Instead the scariest villains have spiritual impact on the main characters, or we as readers and viewers. —E. Stephen Burnett in July 2012

Speculative Faith Reading Group 7: Aslan Springs Forth

In these two chapters, watch for this contrast: of the wrong sort of “seriousness” — the manipulative, duty-driven dominance of the Witch — versus the joyful, holy, righteous seriousness that Aslan brings. —E. Stephen Burnett in July 2012

Shining Light In ‘The Dark Knight’

“You’ll hunt me; you’ll condemn me,” Batman says at the end of The Dark Knight. “That’s what needs to happen.” Some Christians cried: “No it’s not! Heroes don’t lie!” They miss the point. —E. Stephen Burnett in July 2012

The Sword Endures

With all the different kinds of speculative stories, with fantastic weapons and wars, why is the symbol and themes of the sword so transcendent? —Rebecca P. Minor in July 2012

Speculative Faith Reading Group 6: Greed and Gifts

In these two chapters of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” we see good and evil even more clearly — along with God-exalting, reality-reflecting truths of what really causes evil, and the seriousness of fighting it. —E. Stephen Burnett in July 2012

Sex, Violence and Dark Events

I understand that some readers are made very uncomfortable reading “graphic horror and implied sexual abuse,” but does that mean neither can ever be acceptable elements in Christian fiction, regardless of the purpose they might serve in that fiction? Should Christian authors of speculative fiction – or any fiction – refrain from putting “dark and violent things” into their novels as a matter of principle? —Karen Hancock in July 2012

Speculative Faith Reading Group 1: Entering The ‘Wardrobe’

This week I’m starting a reading group at my church for “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” You’re invited to join. How does this story honor God, and how can we learn from C.S. Lewis’s success at redeeming pagan myth for His glory? —E. Stephen Burnett in May 2012

Sex In The Story 1: Shooting Up Heroine

Action heroine Black Widow is annoying some fans of the forthcoming “Avengers” film. How come? Is a story’s female character only strong if she is fighting men or bad guys? —E. Stephen Burnett in February 2012
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