On Christians and Culture

My brainiac nephew, Drew Dixon, who is a sophomore at Princeton, recently wrote an article titled "God Music or Good Music?" in a campus journal.

Drew writes that he doesn't listen to Christian music. "It's not that I have a problem with singing about God, or singing to God...it's just that every time I'm scanning the radio and stumble upon WGOD FM I'd rather listen to a play-by-play broadcast of the National Scrabble Tournament."

He brings up a point that has been troubling me (and many others who have been in Christendom for awhile): why does the quality of Christian music, literature, film often pale in comparison to music, literature, film in the broader culture? Drew doesn't listen to "Christian Music" anymore, just as I don't read "Christian fiction." Instead, we both look for signs of God in "secular" music and books. For him, he finds God by listening to the ambitious music of Sufjan Stevens. ("His lyrics are not an attempt at conversion through cliche, but an honest, intensely personal account of life by faith.") For me, it's reading books by Marilynn Robinson, author of "Gilead."

I became disillusioned with Christian publishing a long time ago -- when I was editor at Moody magazine. While there I was book/music review editor. I tried to do my job well by offering honest reviews (which was difficult -- Christian reviewers risk being labeled "unloving" and a bad Christian if they write an honest review.) I ended up just trying to find the best of the bad....and since it was the early 90s, when "Christian fiction" was just emerging as a new genre, believe me, it was difficult. I still cringe when I go to the religion section of Barnes and Noble and find books titled something like "Secrets of the Yada Yada Prayer Group", which is a total rip-off of the "secular" novel "Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood." I mean, come on!

I officially left the Christian publishing world a while ago, although I still read CT's Books and Culture from time to time, and attend the Festival of Faith and Fiction at Calvin College every two years. I am finding others who share my disgust with Chrsitian fiction, and are trying to do something about it. Mars Hill Review was a journal that published quality fiction that reflected God...but it died in September 2005. I was bummed. But there are others that are popping up to take its place. Relief Journal will publish its first edition this fall. Also check out Don Miller's Burnside Writers Collective website.

I've known so many quality writers who are Christians whose work "falls through the cracks." Their writing is too honest and gritty -- in other words, real, for a Christian publisher that just wants nice Christian stories. And too "religous" for a secular publisher. A woman in my writers group, who has an MFA from Vermont and had a short story published in "Best American Short Stories" a while back recently had her novel rejected by a Christian publisher because of the "language"....even though it's written incredibly well and depicts a woman who is honestly seeking God. And, includes "language" that rings true. I guess it just wasn't "nice" enough for a Christian audience.

Let's hope these new journals and websites will be a venue for real Christian literature -- fiction and nonfiction that reflects the reality of the Christian life.