Any Christian Sci Fi - Allegory books? (Full Version)

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7over6 -> Any Christian Sci Fi - Allegory books? (4/26/2009 5:45:33 PM)

I love Christian allegory / typology such as Silmarillion, Narnia series, black-red-white etc.
And I know since I am not at all a reader as of this season of my life I am missing out on a lot of great fantasty/scifi related Christian novels that I would love to read.

Any ideas?
I love futuristic, magical / fantasy, past-mystery, supernatural flavored stories.



MrFribbles -> RE: Any Christian Sci Fi - Allegory books? (4/27/2009 10:50:48 AM)

Well, I'm not sure if these would be up your alley, but C.S. Lewis wrote a sci-fi trilogy. Out of the Silent Planet, Peralandra, and my own personal favorite book of all time, That Hideous Strength. They're not light, fun reading like Dekker's Circle trilogy, but they're definitely worthwhile.



TheosCentric -> RE: Any Christian Sci Fi - Allegory books? (4/27/2009 10:57:17 AM)

Not allegory, but in the same vein would be anything by Stephen R. Lawhead.

He just finished up his Robin Hood series. It take Robin Hood out of Sherwood and puts him into Wales. A great read.

The Pendragon series is excellent as is the Silverhand series.

The Silverhand series comes closest to Narnia.

The Dragon King series comes closest to Lord of the Rings.



uncabeeil -> RE: Any Christian Sci Fi - Allegory books? (4/27/2009 3:05:14 PM)

Click here for another thread on SF with lots of recommendations.



7over6 -> RE: Any Christian Sci Fi - Allegory books? (4/27/2009 4:13:52 PM)

I recently did some summary reading on the Dune series after findout out they are going to make a Dune 2 movie and wow! That story line is awesome. I think it is a secular novel but has some serious Christ typology and symbolism. There is a messiah character, rejected people fighting with the messiah character, and some other deep stuff I have forgotten about.



uncabeeil -> RE: Any Christian Sci Fi - Allegory books? (4/28/2009 10:27:36 AM)

The original Dune trilogy is some of the best sf out there, but subsequent novels lost me as they moved thousands of years into the future.

Besides the messiah figure (Paul, oddly enough), and the lost people, you have an evil empire (like Rome), a governor that wants the messiah dead, and a sect of "nuns" (the Ben Gesserit) that could equate to the Pharisees.



rawr.ben -> RE: Any Christian Sci Fi - Allegory books? (4/28/2009 2:25:10 PM)

It's not exactly "Christian" but you can certainly take away something from it and apply it to your life: Ender's Game.



uncabeeil -> RE: Any Christian Sci Fi - Allegory books? (4/28/2009 3:41:03 PM)

Look up Karen Hancock's "Light of Eidon" series. It's a fabulous fantasy/allegory series. There are 4 books.



TheosCentric -> RE: Any Christian Sci Fi - Allegory books? (4/28/2009 3:49:00 PM)

Madeline L'Engel's Wrinkle in Time series. There's three books.



greatdivide46 -> RE: Any Christian Sci Fi - Allegory books? (4/28/2009 10:33:12 PM)

If you'd like a story that has a Christian theme but in a totally unexpected way (that you may not like), I recommend the short story, The Star by Arthur C. Clarke. You'd probably find it in a book of short stories. Personally I was blown away by this story. That's why I still remember it after over 20 years since I read it.



7over6 -> RE: Any Christian Sci Fi - Allegory books? (4/29/2009 1:16:17 PM)

Awesome thanks guys for all these authors and titles! I wish I was better at consistently reading a book and finishing it.
I read slow first of all and when I do commit to reading a book my fire dies down in a few weeks or a month and then it slows to a stop as i do the same with other books and I never finish anything.
I guess I see the great value of reading books (mainly theological books) and I can't afford to read just one at a time (+the bible) but it ends up being my downfall!



7over6 -> RE: Any Christian Sci Fi - Allegory books? (5/25/2009 4:57:03 PM)

I just read The Star
http://lucis.net/stuff/clarke/star_clarke.html
The end is pretty sweet! I thought it would have some twist about Earth, or time but.. it was something else I didn't expect.

What is Isaac Asimovs stance on Christianity?



TheosCentric -> RE: Any Christian Sci Fi - Allegory books? (5/26/2009 8:35:30 AM)

Asimov has written several books on the Bible, but I'm not sure where he actually stood on being a Christian. I've never researched it. He did have some Biblical themes running through his books.

Orson Scott Card is another who has a number of Biblical themes in his books, but I think he is Mormon. He has even written books on Biblical characters such as Sarah, I believe.



7over6 -> RE: Any Christian Sci Fi - Allegory books? (5/26/2009 7:30:24 PM)

OH man.. I just read the Last Question and it is so amazing!
I love the (for lack of better terms) evolution of man kind and how he shows there names and viewpoints changing it's so awesome. It just blows my mind how he thought of all this in 56! Astral projection, molecular valve circuitry, harnessing star power, personal computers getting smaller, hyperspace existence, and galaxy population. WOW.

http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html



RJR_fan -> RE: Any Christian Sci Fi - Allegory books? (5/28/2009 5:48:16 AM)

quote:

Asimov has written several books on the Bible, but I'm not sure where he actually stood on being a Christian. I've never researched it. He did have some Biblical themes running through his books.


Isaac wrote wholesome stories -- but was also president of the American Humanist Association, and a professing atheist. Yes, O.S. Card is a Mormon -- and it is to our shame that the most prominent major writer who confesses our Lord in this genre is a cultist. Where have we been all these years?



TheosCentric -> RE: Any Christian Sci Fi - Allegory books? (5/28/2009 9:33:06 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: RJR_fan

quote:

Asimov has written several books on the Bible, but I'm not sure where he actually stood on being a Christian. I've never researched it. He did have some Biblical themes running through his books.


Isaac wrote wholesome stories -- but was also president of the American Humanist Association, and a professing atheist. Yes, O.S. Card is a Mormon -- and it is to our shame that the most prominent major writer who confesses our Lord in this genre is a cultist. Where have we been all these years?


Stephen R. Lawhead is still around. Just a shame that very few know of him.



nycodeman -> RE: Any Christian Sci Fi - Allegory books? (5/28/2009 5:35:11 PM)

Check out the "supernatural thrillers" by Charles Williams. He was a friend of C.S. Lewis.



relady -> RE: Any Christian Sci Fi - Allegory books? (5/30/2009 1:28:07 PM)

quote:

I love Christian allegory / typology such as Silmarillion, Narnia series,
This may not really be the place for this but I just cannot let this pass. Nothing Tolkein wrote, and the Narnia series by CS Lewis were NOT, I repeat NOT written to be Christian allegory. If you personally see allegory, well, I guess that's ok. Just please understand that is not what the books were written as. **stepping off soapbox** Carry on.



7over6 -> RE: Any Christian Sci Fi - Allegory books? (6/1/2009 7:33:18 PM)

relady I have heard people rant and rave about this- what's the big deal anyway!
Are people scared of the thought of these books being allegorical? or perhaps can an author write a plane original story while having things allegorical embedded in to them? .
Maybe the allegorical cross overs are a coincidence?

The symbolism seem quite a bit too defined and perfect to be coincidences especially in Narnia work, in LOTR it gets a little fuzzier and symbolic roles change or have multiple meanings (in my opinion).

I do not see them as allegorical to intentionally take away from the stories and skill that was put in to the authoring of them. What are you thoughts on what I have said?



uncabeeil -> RE: Any Christian Sci Fi - Allegory books? (6/2/2009 10:09:33 AM)

I disagree with the OP about the Narnia books as I've seen quotes from CS Lewis regarding the allegorical content in the series.

What's the big deal? There isn't one. But some people, yours truly included, just want the author's intentions kept in mind when reading something into their work that wasn't put there. While I appreciate the good vs. evil plotline of LOTR, that's all Tolkien intended it to be. There was no intent to make Gandalf or Frodo, or anybody else represent Jesus or God or Satan. It's nice that people can read that into the story, but he didn't write it that way, so don't call it something it isn't. That's all. Now I'll step down off of mu soapbox.



7over6 -> RE: Any Christian Sci Fi - Allegory books? (6/3/2009 7:58:30 PM)

Well it sure is interesting to me that a single all powerful God character spoke into existence everything via verbal song, also worker angels under him that watched over his creatures. Amongst many other things a kingly character rising up and bringing peace and happiness.

Concerning CS Lewis I read a quote:
"I did not say to myself ‘Let us represent Jesus as He really is in our world by a Lion in Narnia’; I said, ‘Let us suppose that there were a land like Narnia and that the Son of God, as he became a Man in our world, became a Lion there, and then imagine what would happen.'"

So the end result is the same, but the mind set and intention of the authors process is a bit different.

I love them all the same and am amazed by the stories on there own - The horse and his boy and The dawn treader blow my mind! As well JRRT's The Silmarillion (read some this morning)! But I appreciate the general if not specific ability of the pieces to crossover to something Biblical.



Jesusfreak66 -> RE: Any Christian Sci Fi - Allegory books? (6/4/2009 2:49:06 PM)

I just finished reading the Cradleland Chronicles series by Douglas Hirt.

Very interesting take on pre-flood creation times.

The first book in the series is called Flight to Eden.



7over6 -> RE: Any Christian Sci Fi - Allegory books? (6/4/2009 4:55:22 PM)

Sweetness, I seriously would consider becoming an author if I had a good story line of pre flood, or pre Eden. I have contemplated it a lot actually lol.
I will definitely check that out.
There's so much mystery and drama to build on in those unwritten Old Testament periods and even more ancient times.

There is a series called Chronicles of Brothers written by Wendy Alec (her and her husband run and started GodTV). And it's about the brothers Lucifer, Gabriel, and Michael and then follows 2 other mirror scenarios of 3 brothers in different periods of time. Sounds kool and very epic.



relady -> RE: Any Christian Sci Fi - Allegory books? (6/4/2009 10:26:52 PM)

quote:

relady I have heard people rant and rave about this- what's the big deal anyway!
Ummm, what uncabeeil said. It's simply not an accurate depiction of the what the books are. Why would Christian's want to take books that aren't allegory and make them that would be a better question. That's a very disingenuous thing to do and is seen by the world at large as deceptive and not very Christian. Not to mention silly and misinformed. I don't understand why Christians seem happy to work overtime making themselves look that way. Seriously. Tolkien in particular would roll over if he thought people were calling LOTR Christian allegory. LOL, he didn't even want them put into paperpack and mass marketed.



TheosCentric -> RE: Any Christian Sci Fi - Allegory books? (6/5/2009 5:36:23 AM)

Most Christians simply don't understand what allegory truly is.

John Bunyan wrote two allegories. Holy War and A Pilgrim's Progress.

Hannah Hurnard (sp?) wrote Hind's Feet in High Places.

Lewis did not want to write allegory and did not want his works to be seen that way. However, there are allegorical elements, such as Aslan representing Christ, but it's not wholly allegorical, in the sense there is no spiritual meaning derived from Aslan's name, such as there is with the aforementioned books. In the aforementioned books, everything represents something by their name.

Tolkien simply desired to create a whole another world with it's own language. Did his beliefs come out in his work? Sure, but they're not allegory.

There is spiritual meaning to be derived, but not from an allegorical sense. You have dig deeper at times to get the meaning. In allegory, it's there for you to see in plain site.



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