Genres: Theology in Contemporary Fiction (Updated)
Definition of the Genre
Contemporary Fiction can be defined as any story that takes place in the modern era. Typically, this is the most relatable and most readily accessible genre for the average audience. This is because the worldbuilding, plot, and character problems tend to be things familiar to the people alive today in a very obvious way. There is not expansive mythos of strange creatures or index of ancient technology the audience has to keep track of, the characters most often face real-life problems (with, perhaps, some exaggeration), and the world around said character is filled with familiar places like coffee shops and movie theaters. Contemporary Fiction also has a key feature that makes it distinctive from most far-flung Speculative Fiction stories: it can make direct cultural references in a relatable way. A character doesn’t have to reference the “ancient tomes known as Lord of the Rings” like they might in a futuristic Science Fiction novel, they can say something like “I really enjoyed watching The Two Towers yesterday”.
Contemporary Fiction is, in a nutshell, its ability to meet the audience where they are at, more or less literally. It’s core is how similar the world is to the real one in terms of character archetypes, worldbuilding, and plot. The most common subgenres and crossovers of Contemporary Fiction are Romance, Mystery, and Slice-of-Life, although there is often crossover with other subgenres including Thriller, Psychological Horror, or Paranormal Fiction. While there can be some crossover with more heavily speculative genres such as Science Fiction and Fantasy, there are only so many imaginative elements that can be added before the stories become “Contemporary [Speculative Genre]”, which are entire subgenres of their own. The focus of true Contemporary Fiction should be on what can plausibly happen in the real world.
The Theology
Where Contemporary Fiction shines brightest for the Christian storyteller is in that accessibility and relatability mentioned earlier. At its most basic, Contemporary Fiction takes the real world and superimposes fictional people and locations over a more-or-less realistic plot; although there is plenty of room for imagination, high-intensity government spycraft escapades and rich heirs in disguise falling for small town waitresses are some of the less realistic — but still very contemporary — examples. This makes it easy for Christian storytellers to incorporate real-world Christian messages and Scriptural teachings in a way that feels natural to the audience.
Typically, Contemporary Fiction leans more towards overt messaging when it comes to theology. Literary tools such as allegories, symbolism, and retellings are occasionally used, but in general Contemporary Christian Fiction tends to be significantly more blunt in its faith than some of the speculative genres. This gives the Christian creative a lot more freedom to call things as they are; characters can face personal faith crises or be introduced to the Gospel for the first time; churches and missionary fields can be represented without any set-dressing; and plots usually center around a character growing spiritually in some way. Characters can also be Christian without shattering the audience’s immersion, like what can happen in Fantasy or Science Fiction.
This is not to say in any way, shape, or form, that covert messaging can’t or isn’t used in Contemporary Christian Fiction; it is just currently not quite as popular. There are still plenty of ways to express Christianity and Christian values to the world without explicitly using terms like “God”, “Jesus”, or “church”. These stories often put an emphasis on morality with a heavy Scriptural influence as a way of sneaking in Biblical truths without being too obvious about it. Maybe it’s a cop facing a moral dilemma about a criminal, or an employee of a corporation being asked to cover up some financial crime, or maybe it’s an everyday temptation such as covetousness or greed being handled in a Christian way — i.e. resisted and repented of without using so many words.
Ultimately there is no wrong way to have a Christian message in Contemporary Fiction; it simply depends on the type of story the creative wants to tell and the audience they are looking to entertain.
The Pitfalls
Given what a huge net “Contemporary Fiction” casts over the whole of storytelling, there are any number of pitfalls that can crop up. Some depend on sub-genre, story tropes, or character archetypes. It is, like every other genre, up to a solid understanding of Scripture and the convictions of the Holy Spirit (and one’s own conscience). The most common would be to allow too much of modern-day morality and worldliness to creep into the story’s message. Portraying the world in all of its broken ugliness in fiction is not a sin, but subtly encouraging those sins is. Any story set in the modern world should have elements of the current culture within the characters, plot, and the worldbuilding; however the overall messaging and meta should definitely remain Christian. For example, one of the leading religious denominations in the world today is atheism; having an atheist character in a piece of Contemporary Christian Fiction is entirely acceptable — even main characters — the story should not present atheism as a philosophy that is good or should be pursued.
Now, this does not mean that every atheist (or other sinful) character needs to be a mustache-twirling villain, but it should be obvious that their sin is causing more harm than good; even if they are blind to it. Feelings of emptiness, a lack of fulfilment in life, shaky morality, or some other cue to avoid affirming this kind of lifestyle. The core of every story a Christian writes should — obviously or subtly — be pointing towards God and His principles and morals.
In the Current Realm
The most important thing to realize about Contemporary Fiction, particularly of the Christian subgenre, is that it is everywhere. Everything from the Angel Studios to Christian publishing houses tend to lean towards contemporary or near-contemporary fiction. This is partly because Contemporary Fiction is usually cheaper to produce for multi-dimensional projects like movies and TV shows, but it is also because that has been the current market for the past few decades. Culturally, the dominant audience for Christian fiction has been people who avoid speculative genres; occasionally because of the idea that stories involving a lot of imagination are sinful, but just as often it comes down to preference.
Christians who do enjoy more imaginative stories used to find plenty of high-quality media with good stories and messages in the secular real. However, the winds are shifting a bit as the secular realm strays farther from any sort of Christian moral foundation it used to have, driving away audiences that want their stories to have a deeper meaning. While this is opening new doors for speculative Christian storytelling there will always be a market for Contemporary Christian Fiction.