A Christian’s Guide to World-building: Allegory, Speculation, and The Heresy Trap

A Christian’s Guide to World-building: Allegory, Speculation, and The Heresy Trap

Broadly speaking, I would say there are three major categories all Christian fiction can fall into. Allegory, where we are writing a message, idea, or event reprisal into the fabric of the narrative. Speculation is where we explore, create, or infer possibilities from a Christian viewpoint. And then there is the Heresy Trap. The Heresy Trap is as it sounds, fiction that either fails to hold up to even minor theological rigor or else is purposely antithetical while using (or claiming to use) elements of Christianity. Sometimes the trap is for the reader, but writers are not immune to it either.

Allegory:

Writing an engaging allegory can be daunting, but is well worth the effort. When we write an allegory we are attempting to say or explain one thing while telling about another. I do not think it would be going out on a limb to say that this is God’s favorite way to teach. Certainly, it is the one he uses more than any other. The Old Testament is filled with one thing representing another. Sex represents the union of marriage. The Tabernacle represents the coming of the incarnation (as explained in Hebrews). The substitutionary atonement for Issac, for the first-born sons of Egypt, and for the sins of Israel, all are allegories to the real truth that God was planning to die for us. Further, you can’t spend more than a few minutes in the gospels without tripping over the parables of Jesus himself, all of which are allegorical.

Allegory is not only found in stories or precursing events in regard to God. A careful look will find it woven into his very pattern of creation. I only encountered this idea in the last few years, but it changed my understanding of how God creates. There is a section in C.S. Lewis’s Perelandra where the protagonist is speaking with a being who is making the planet ready for its own version of Adam and Eve. This creature, named Perelandra, uses the beasts of his world to illustrate his own place in it, saying; 

“That is why Maleidil [God] has made me. But now it is enough to say that from the habits of these two beasts much wisdom will come into the minds of my King and my Queen and their children.”

This echos something Paul, and the other writers of wisdom literature, does in the bible. The use of natural law to prove biblical truth. Examples from the world itself, examples that God himself in foreknowledge of their use, created. The creative heart of God is one that uses creation to teach creation about the Creator, and this is the same beauty of allegory.

The God of the universe is so indescribable, so pure, and so complex in his sovereignty that we simply do not stand a chance at recognizing or conceiving him in even the smallest part without help. God is not only willing, but delightedly engaged, when it comes to helping us understand him by using the things we already understand.

And so, as we shape allegory, let us do so with careful hands. We need a deep understanding of the concepts we are trying to allegorize. Now, some things are more difficult than others. Obviously allegorizing the life of Christ can be simple, as we can do a near point-by-point correlation between him and our Christ figure, much as C.S. Lewis did for Aslan. I am currently working on an allegory of the experiences felt by the old testament tribes of Isreal where I do much the same thing. Where things get particularly difficult are in concepts that are more complex. One of my favorite Narnian Examples is “The Silver Chair”. There, the consequences of obedience and disobedience, and what sort of things get in the way of either, are explored in depth throughout the entire narrative. I sometimes find allegory writing itself into my books without me intending to, just because I relate to the situation and know how God helped me through it.

Pros to Allegory

-Opens a dialog for the readers, as they have something to dig into and discuss.

-A tool for teaching that will not tarnish with age. A well-written allegory will reveal new truths the more mature the reader becomes.

-Reflects the way God explained himself to us (as individuals and humanity both). This is especially evangelistic, as when you learn how to understand allegory you also learn how to better understand God.

-Can be highly relatable to the reader as they already possess some knowledge, whether that be from your narrative or the elements of the allegorical construct (like how Jesus often used agricultural terms when speaking to farmers and shepherds).

-Can be used to illuminate the underpinning Christianity of your World-build.

Cons to Allegory:

-Easy to be heavy-handed and overwrought. 

-Can rob the reader of agency, as the story might shift focus from the characters and narrative to sermonizing.

-It can lead to some out-of-character choices for your cast if you forget they bring themselves into the situation. They are not just placeholders for the aspects of the point you want to make. If their choices aren’t believable, then how is your allegory supposed to be?

Speculation:

If Christian allegorical fiction seeks to use a narrative to explain, then Christian speculative fiction could be said to use a narrative to explore. How might God create other creatures, or relate to them? What was life like before the flood? Will there be space travel in the time of “New Heaven and New Earth”? These are all the sorts of things one might focus on when writing in this category. 

Now, let’s take a look at what makes it “Christian”. Normal speculative fiction revolves around the different iterations of the “What if” question. Such as:

– What if – we found intelligent life on Mars

Christian speculative fiction on the other hand ought to have one proceeding step. By the very nature of being Christian, it already presupposes one specific factor. Something that sets the story apart foundationally from other speculative fiction. And so, when phrasing our speculative “What If”, It should start instead with one specific “If/Then”:

–IF the God of the Bible is all he claims to be THEN What if we found intelligent life on Mars?*

It does us no good to create a speculative universe, for example, where God is one of a pantheon. The God of the Bible claims to be the one true God, and if we are to be Christian at all then it means taking him at his word. Now, anyone who has studied Toilkin’s world-building might be quick to point out he has an entire pantheon (giving the impression of polytheism). Yet what sets his work apart from most high fantasies to this day is that he has one most high God; the other powerful beings that make up the pantheon all serve him and were created by him. Indeed, the root antagonist of his universe is the powerful, created, being who rebelled against him. 

A fantastic biblical blueprint for how to do this is the book of Ester. God is shown in the orchestration of events, but never once mentioned. God should be present foundationally, even if he isn’t specifically relevant to the events or mentioned. While you can certainly mention God in Speculative fiction, it is perhaps more powerful for the reader to see the fingerprints he leaves behind in your World rather than teaching a specific lesson.

No matter what you wish to speculate, it is important that you are careful not to build a world that subverts God’s nature. To do so would immediately put you outside the purview of Christian fiction entirely. 

Pros to Speculation

-It gives a lot of creative lee-way.

-Can explore concepts that the bible simply does not cover

-Can be used to posit questions on philosophy, psychology, science, and more, while remaining grounded in a Christian worldview.

-The presence of moral absolutes makes it immediately stand out among secular Sci-Fi/Fantasy without ever needing to mention God.

-Can reach a wide audience with biblical truths without becoming preachy

-Can show how a Christian worldview actually opens up possibilities for worlds and ways of life that are more fantastic than our own.

Cons to Speculation

-Runs the risk of claiming (or seen as claiming) some extra-biblical revelation

-Loved by cults as a way to strong-arm in their heresy

The Heresy Trap

Depending on how broadly you use the term “Christian fiction” you could include anything that mythologizes aspects of the bible. Things like Supernatural or Lucifer, comics like Constantine, and a plethora of pop-culture renditions of angels vs demons. While most Bible-grounded Christians know these to be obviously untrue, they popularize a lot of falsities that less diligent believers and secularists are affected by. The idea we will gain wings and harps when we go to heaven, or that Latin chants have special powers are all examples of that. But I would call these lesser offenders, as they don’t label themselves as “Christian” despite the use of recognizably Christian elements. While many are entertaining, they are all technically heresy, as they misrepresent things introduced in scripture. With regards to the Heresy Trap, I refer more specifically to things that are intended either for a Christian audience, or else claim to be Christian in some element. I call it a trap for two reasons. Either the writer has fallen into a trap out of ignorance, or else the writer intends to trap their audience in a false representation of the faith.

Some concepts that are heretical should be easy for believers to spot, yet still some get by. Things such as God the Father being represented as a Mother, or else being one of many Gods, or that we ourselves can become Gods, are all obviously contrary to scripture. Despite this, many famous works of “Christian” fiction, such as The Shack, make use of them. Some are more subtle products of pop culture, such as the devil ruling over hell, or that he makes deals to buy your soul, or that he is a quasi-Taoist balancing force of darkness to God’s light. The unfortunate truth is that our genre has become bloated with these sorts of errors, to the point where believers and non-believers alike think they are accurate depictions.

To be clear, it would be wrong to say this is always intentional. Many people simply do not know their Bibles well enough to spot their misconceptions and thus write the world’s biases into their fiction. If you are in that category, then I welcome you with gladness, as much of my blog is aimed specifically at helping you from falling into the Heresy Trap. I place a very large comparison between those who wish to write Christian fiction and those who wish to teach scripture. It’s something to approach with care. I encourage you to make theological study an equal if not greater focus in your research energies. If you have someone’s attention for the length of a novel then you have effectively been given a chance to point to God for hours, days, and even a lifetime of readership. Make sure you are not using that time to give people a mistaken idea about him.

Unfortunately, there are many who consider themselves writers of Christian Fiction yet have not the slightest theological acuity. Some of these are little more than wolves in sheep’s clothing. They promote thoroughly unchristian ideas such as God and Allah being the same. Some promote the false syllogism (A. God created everything. B. Evil exists. C. Therefore God created and thus intends Evil). They promote a Moralistic Deism while showing their “Christian” characters having sex outside of marriage, affirming identity ideology, or portraying God as an uninvolved “Set-it and Forget-It” creator. Be wary of these writers, who as Peter warned twist the word of God because of their ignorance and instability, to their own destruction.**

So how do we recognize these works that have fallen into the Heresy Trap? It can be difficult. The first and most obvious step is to know your bible. In addition to just reading the scriptures themselves, I would highly recommend picking up a copy of Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology which consolidates what the bible says about any given topic in a succinct and engaging way. There are also excellent ESV Study bibles. I would specifically recommend you study what the bible actually has to say about demons, angels, and the divine counsel. The Bible says very very little about these things, so it’s not hard to get a thorough understanding of them in a few days. You will be amazed how that alone weeds out a large percentage of heresy in the Christian fiction market. Did you know, for instance, that there are only two named angels in the bible (Micheal and Gabriel), and that the name Lucifer is actually a Latin translation of a description ( How you have fallen from heaven, “morning star”, son of the dawn***), not the proper name of Satan (which is itself a description as “Adversary”)? Did you know that while there are portrayals of angles with all sorts of wacky forms, covered in eyes and wings, those descriptions are in the context of visions and could thus be metaphorical instead of literal? In fact, when we actually see angels in a physical context they can appear as humans (such as when going out to Sodam****), and the bible says we might have entertained them without realizing it (as said in Hebrews*****). My point is this, learn from scratch, in humility, instead of preceding with vague notions and impressions from pop culture, no matter how common.

My final word is this, fiction does not require you to be rigidly legalistic. Not everything has to be completely realistic. Make people out of trees, aliens out of metal, or quartz-based lifeforms. God has the power and knowledge to create anything he likes, so there is infinite possibility. What I am saying though is that you, the writer, have a responsibility to know why you are doing what you are doing, and to see that in your creative endeavors, you don’t inadvertently construct cleverly designed myths that by implication create a Heresy Trap.

*If you want to see this exact premise explored then go read C.S. Lewis’s “Out of the Silent Plant”

** https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Peter+3%3A16&version=NIV

*** https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+14%3A12&version=NIV

**** https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2018&version=NIV

***** https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews+13%3A2&version=NIV