Theology of Storytelling: Season 2 Introduction
Hello, everyone!
I’m Ang Reynolds, the blog writer for the Brainy Blog. As you might be able to tell from the title, Theology of Storytelling: Season 2 is about to begin!
If you were here for Season 1, you probably have a rough idea of what ToS is about. For those that are new, Theology of Storytelling is the Brainy Blog’s deep dive into how to tell Christian stories. Everything from overt and covert messaging, character archetypes, literary devices, symbolism, to deeper questions including “does all Christian fiction have to be kid-friendly?” and “are Christian stories even necessary?”. these are all covered in Theology of Storytelling!
A quick note on ToS: while the series appears to be geared more towards the novel side of things, most of its principles can be applied to any creative, storytelling-centered project. Whether that be an animation, a movie, a comic book, and even just an illustration, most of the principles are the same regardless of storytelling medium. And, Christianity needs comics and movies just as much as it needs novels!
Similarly, Theology of Storytelling is not designed to provide all of the answers for every possible storytelling scenario. The goal of this series is to provide tools, ideas, and mindsets that will allow Christian storytellers to flourish in their specific projects. Many of the articles will give suggestions, but unless there is a Scriptural backing, will not state things as hard and fast rules. There are many things in modern media that Christians should avoid — and those will be clearly stated with Biblical references — but for the most part the world is our storytelling oyster. Adapt, branch off from, and adjust any of the advice in this series to better suit not only your own creative journey, but also your convictions and personal theology.
Season 1 wrapped up by discussing symbolism, allegories, and retellings. Season 2 will pick up by narrowing the focus a little to specific storytelling genres and how to express Christian values, morals, and Scripture itself in each of the major genres (i.e. contemporary fiction, science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, romance, and horror). After that, the series will take a look a different character archetypes and roles, asking questions such as “does the MC of a Christian story have to be Christian?”, “what does a role model look like?”, and “does Deus Ex Machina work in Christian fiction?”
With that, we hope you will join us for this next season of Theology of Storytelling!
God bless you and keep you!