In recent years, there has been an explosion in the market for fiction on religious topics and themes, most notably Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. The variety of contemporary religious fiction and the publishing phenomenon surrounding it indicate that this literature transcends any overt religious meaning and is significant in its political and social implications; it is emblematic of the contemporary American Zeitgeist. Traditionally, literature is both mirror and lamp, reflecting the society that produces it and illuminating the values and interests of that society. Recognizing both of those perspectives, Gandolfo examines Christian literature's place in American culture today and explores the cultural meaning and significance of the wildly popular Christian fiction now available. The phenomenon surrounding Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code has led to a cottage industry of interpretations, attacks, and commentaries, but one thing is certain: the book has had an enormous impact on American society, culture, and religious understanding, not to mention the publishing industry, which scrambles to find similar religious books to feed to an eager public. But The Da Vinci Code is not the only book of its type on the market today. In recent years, there has been an explosion in the market for fiction on religious topics and themes, with an entire series devoted to the impending Rapture as described in the Left Behind series. Some fiction does not take an explicitly religious theme as these books do. Instead, writers like Andre Dubus and Ron Hansen imbue their creative work with spiritual and religious themes embedded in the everyday lives and concerns of their characters. Regardless of the specific approach, what is not in doubt is that American readers have made the authors of these works wealthy as bookstores cannot stock their shelves with enough copies. Why the recent surge of interest in Christian fiction? How does it reflect trends in our culture and our lives? How has it changed our society and our understanding of spirituality and religion? How accurate are these books in terms of the theology they espouse? The variety of contemporary religious fiction and the publishing phenomenon surrounding it indicate that this literature transcends any overt religious meaning and is significant in its political and social implications; it is emblematic of the contemporary American Zeitgeist. Traditionally, literature is both mirror and lamp, reflecting the society that produces it and illuminating the values and interests of that society. Recognizing both of those perspectives, Faith and Fiction examines Christian literature's place in American culture today and explores the cultural meaning and significance of the wildly popular Christian fiction now available.

Ian McEwan is one of the most significant, and controversial, British novelists working today. His books are both critically - and academically - acclaimed and embraced by readers across the world. Although primarily a novelist, he has also written short stories, television plays, a libretto, a children's book and a film adaptation. Across these many forms his work retains a distinctive character that explores questions of morality, place and history, nationhood, sexuality and gender. Now fully updated for its second edition, this guide brings together a collection of new critical perspectives on McEwan's oeuvre, not only covering the early works and his writing for the screen but also incorporating detailed and original analyses of the later work, including new readings of his latest books, Solar and Sweet Tooth. With an updated and extended guide to further critical reading on McEwan, the book also includes an interview with the author himself, a chronology of his life, work and times and the full text of a lost early McEwan short story.

A biographical encyclopedia of American and British Christian-themed writers from World War II to the present, covering acclaimed literary works and popular evangelical fiction. Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Fiction: From C.S. Lewis to Left Behind spans the entire breadth of Christian-themed British and American writing from World War II to the present—well-known and less familiar authors, acclaimed literary novels, and popular writing in a variety of genres (mysteries, thrillers, romances), works that explore matters of faith, works that challenge orthodoxy and church practices, and works wholly written by and for devout evangelicals. Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Fiction offers 90 alphabetically organized entries covering the field's most important writers. Each entry includes a brief biography, religious and educational background, a survey of major works and themes, and a summary of critical response, as well as a bibliography of major works and criticism. By examining evocative, sometimes overlooked Christian elements in modern fiction, and by exploring the depth and scope of popular evangelical fiction, Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Fiction offers the richest, most complete portrait of the role of faith in modern English writing ever published.

This volume explores how religion influenced the works of mid-century writers and how authors used Christian ideas for social and political ends in the 1940s and 1950s.

Hunter has never had anyone to look out for him. His mother gave him away when he was young, he's never known his father, and his foster mother leaves a lot to be desired in the mothering department. So when a mysterious, benevolent force suddenly starts coming to his aid, Hunter doesn't know what to believe. Could he really have a guardian angel? Hunter so badly wants someone to care that he's willing to take a leap of faith, and more. But when he finally learns the truth about his angel, he'll have to decide whether it's the best thing that ever happened to him or the worst. The Guardian is a masterful pairing of suspenseful, fast-paced storytelling with genuine compassion and heart; Joyce Sweeney at her best.

Religion in Science Fiction investigates the history of the representations of religion in science fiction literature. Space travel, futuristic societies, and non-human cultures are traditional themes in science fiction. Speculating on the societal impacts of as-yet-undiscovered technologies is, after all, one of the distinguishing characteristics of science fiction literature. A more surprising theme may be a parallel exploration of religion: its institutional nature, social functions, and the tensions between religious and scientific worldviews. Steven Hrotic investigates the representations of religion in 19th century proto-science fiction, and genre science fiction from the 1920s through the end of the century. Taken together, he argues that these stories tell an overarching story-a 'metanarrative'-of an evolving respect for religion, paralleling a decline in the belief that science will lead us to an ideal (and religion-free) future. Science fiction's metanarrative represents more than simply a shift in popular perceptions of religion: it also serves as a model for cognitive anthropology, providing new insights into how groups and identities form in a globalized world, and into how crucial a role narratives may play. Ironically, this same perspective suggests that science fiction, as it was in the 20th century, may no longer exist.

In this unique book, readers are taken on a journey to explore the role of the imagination in the face of mystery, whether it be the mystery of God, whose full reality lies beyond our earthly horizons, or the deepest mysteries of life hinted at in the work of fiction. By attending to a series of novels, Paul Lakeland proposes serious fiction as an antidote to the failure of the religious imagination today and shows how literature might lead the secular mind at least to the threshold of mystery.

Alexis de Tocqueville once described the national character of Americans as one question insistently asked: "How much money will it bring in?" G.K. Chesterton, a century later, described America as a "nation with a soul of a church." At first glance, the two observations might appear to be diametrically opposed, but this volume shows the ways in which American religion and American business overlap and interact with one another, defining the US in terms of religion, and religion in terms of economics. Bringing together original contributions by leading experts and rising scholars from both America and Europe, the volume pushes this field of study forward by examining the ways religions and markets in relationship can provide powerful insights and open unseen aspects into both. In essays ranging from colonial American mercantilism to modern megachurches, from literary markets to popular festivals, the authors explore how religious behavior is shaped by commerce, and how commercial practices are informed by religion. By focusing on what historians often use off-handedly as a metaphor or analogy, the volume offers new insights into three varieties of relationships: religion and the marketplace, religion in the marketplace, and religion as the marketplace. Using these categories, the contributors test the assumptions scholars have come to hold, and offer deeper insights into religion and the marketplace in America.

Catholic writers have made a rich contribution to British fiction, despite their minority status. Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, and Muriel Spark are well-known examples, but there are many other significant novelists whose work has a Catholic aspect. This is the first book to survey the whole range of this material and examine whether valid generalizations can be made about it. In charting such fiction from its development in the Victorian period through to the work of contemporaries such as David Lodge, the author analyses its complex relationships with changes in British society and the international Church. There is more than one way of being a Catholic, as Woodman shows, but he also demosntrates that many of these writers share common themes and a distinctive perspective. They often wish in particular to use their religion as a weapon against what they portray as a complacent Protestant or secular society. Their consciousness of writing in the midst of such a society gives a special edge to their treatments of the perennial Catholic themes of suffering, sin and sex. It also has implications for literary form and relates to what has been seen as the extremist mode of Catholic fiction. The final question that Woodman puts is whether the changes in the Church since the Second Vatican Council must inevitably lead to the loss of this distinctive Catholic contribution to the novel.

A 2017 LA Times Book Prize Finalist A quirky story of love, mischief, and forgiveness from Brazil’s foremost award-winning author for young readers, in her U.S. debut. Fourteen-year-old Samuel is newly orphaned and homeless in a small town in Brazil. He lives in a giant, hollow, concrete head of St. Anthony, the lingering evidence of the village’s inept and failed attempt to build a monolith over a decade ago. He didn’t know what it was when he crawled into it, seeking shelter during a storm, but since coming there, he hears beautiful singing, echoing like magic in the head twice a day. So he stays. Miraculously, he can also hear the private prayers and longings of the villagers. Feeling mischievous, Samuel begins to help answer these prayers, hoping that if he does, their noise will quiet down and he can listen to the beautiful singing in peace. Ironically, his miracles gain him so many fans that he starts to worry he will never fulfill his own true longing and find the source of the singing. Filled with beautiful turns of phrase and wonderfully quirky characters, The Head of the Saint is a riotous story of faith and magic that won’t soon leave your thoughts.