By Tongjal W.N.
Dear Fellow,
A book of letters brings to mind these books: The Screwtape Letters: Letters from a Senior Devil to a Junior Devil byC. S. Lewis, The Dawkins Letters: Challenging Atheist Myths byDavid Robertson, and Lord Foulgrins Letters by Randy Alcorn. There are several others out there. Had I not set out to write about Nathaniel Bivans forthcoming book, it would have been listed too.
Bivan’s 20 Love Letters to the Christian Fiction Writer could not have come at a better time than this year. Ethical and moral issues are on the rise, increasingly complex as humanitys intelligence and technologies leap forward. Gradually eroding a sense of responsibility and accountability to a higher authority outside ourselves, we are creating our own doom. We now live in societies vigorously promoting ideas and practices that we have established institutions to fight against. Songs promoting drugs are on our airwaves, with large fundings and support, and yet we are confident we need drug law enforcement agencies. Movies promoting pornography are on our screens, with large fundings and support, and yet we are confident we need innocent teenagers and faithful couples. Literature is not left alone, as it is arguably the most effective of mediums for lasting societal change. Literature is an attempt, as George Orwell wrote, to influence the viewpoint of ones contemporaries by recording experience.
It is safe to assume that Bivan understands this submission by Orwell, considering this line from his introduction to 20 Love Letters: You may not agree with all I have to say, and thats okay. But, at least, we have started the discussion and you’re free to email me . . . He knows he has made an attempt with this book, an attempt to influence the viewpoints of anyone who reads it, but especially that of the inquisitive writer whose questions inspired the writing of this book. By recording his experience, Bivan wrote each of the letters in this book as an extension of his answer to that inquisitive writer. What is Christian fiction? the inquisitive writer asked. What makes it distinct?
Its not preachy, Bivan replied. Its not a sermon or an exhortation or a work that lacks creativity. Its a beauty to read, its art at its very best. But its just not what the secular world would write because it should never grieve the Holy Spirit in any way. Like human nature, its imperfect and so can still fall short of what its designed to be. But, overall, its written by someone who has submitted his life to Christ Jesus. There you have it, his framework for the book.
By now, I believe you have these questions in your heart: Who is a Christian fiction writer? Why write love letters to the Christian fiction writer? Why not a dozen letters but twenty? Is the book accommodative of a non-Christian fiction writer? And the questions increase in number with every turn of a page in the book.
There is a chapter entitled Jesus as a Storyteller and here you find a reminder that Jesus used parables to teach during his life here on earth. Parables are fictional. Fictional narratives are inventions of events that did not happen in reality. Is the fiction writer not a liar after all? And if so, does it mean that Jesus was a liar, since he made parables? Bivan helps you grapple with this in that chapter.
Steve Turner is not alone in thinking that a lot of art created by Christians was bad and a lot of art created by non-Christians was good. Ask random folks on your street their opinion on this, and you are likely to find that the majority hold the same opinion. You could have a book thats good and true but if its not beautiful, its not artistic, Glenda Faye Mathes once said. God loves beauty, and he gives it to us as a gift. He is the source of beauty, and is beauty Himself. And as His image-bearers then, we should learn to recognize beauty in what we read and cherish it. Mediocre art is not even encouraged in Scriptures. Take for instance the Gospel of Luke. The first four verses reveal a deliberate, diligent, and a thorough creative process gone through by the writer in putting together that account. The Bible in its entirety is beauty and a wonder. Having considered all these, you wonder where artists masked under Christianity to produce mediocre works got their ideologies from. Thankfully, Bivan has a chapter entitled Dont Compromise Excellence.
Also, Bivan addressed the fact that not all writers who are Christians must write only for the faith. Jesus called his disciples light of the world and salt of the earth (Matthew 5:1316). That still applies to his followers today. And this designation means a lot. It implies that we are responsible for lighting this world and salting the earth. That is, the taste and sight of wonder in the earth rests on us who have been called salt and light. We can only truly remain so, if our consciences remain awake to the demands of the call, even on our craft. Nathaniel Bivan has borne responsibility to appeal to our consciences, especially to that of the fiction writer who is a Christian, as it is necessary. Listen to him, good Fellow.
Your LetterMan,
Tongjal, W. N.
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Tongjal, Wungakha Nungbulla is a freelance writer, book designer, and a certified teacher. Popularly known as LetterMan, he is the founder of RANDOM DESPATCHES, and runs a newsletter on Substack called LetterMan Despatches. He serves missionary organisations Walking Together and Campus Missions and Leadership Initiative (CMLi) with his publishing-related skills. His debut book The University Library earned him the Author of the Year Award at the Plateau Man of the Year Awards (9th edition). He is a graduate of integrated science education from the University of Jos, and has a deep interest in libraries, documentation, publishing, and data analysis.
Gmail: wungakhat@gmail.com
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