Christian fiction has been pronounced dead in some circle, and E. Stephen Burnett is running with that idea. If it really is dead, how can it be reborn? He offers eight steps.

1. Figure out what fiction is even meant to do, starting with Scripture.
2. Find fans who have similar biblical conviction and imagination.
3. Stride forth with winsomeness, a confident voice, and ‘swashbuckling.’
4. Encourage bravery about certain words and topics.
5. However, do nothing for outrage’s own sake—that is the dark side.
6. Budget each month to buy great Christian novels you’ve heard about.
7. Don’t ‘ban’ any genres: romance, fantasy, mystery, literary, popular.
8. This is ‘Christian fiction,’ so let’s see more than generic Christianity.

I like this last one. Let’s write stories with true-to-life people in them, people who attend close-to-actual churches with real theological traditions. I’d be willing to believe many novels depict vaguely Christian characters because their authors have vaguely non-denominational beliefs. But I don’t know what a survey of Christian authors would produce. Perhaps their theological depth is no deeper than that of the reading public.