Episode Details

Today is Fantastical Truth episode 200! This gives a great occasion for us to consider not just how we find the best Christian-made fantasy, but why we must explore fantastical stories for God’s glory.

Episode sponsors

1. Oasis Audio: “1232” epic audio podcast
2. Return of the Lost Ones by David Liberto
3. Realm Makers: 2024 writers conference

Mission update

• Article: What If I Find Sexual Identity Notions in My Child’s New Book?
• Subscribe free to get updates and join the Lorehaven Guild

Quotes and notes

• This foundational episode fits into our series called Fiction’s Chief End.
• Previous episodes explore what we mean by the phrase “Christian story.”
• We’ve also explored we need genres like fiction, fantasy, and sci-fi.
• Also, what’s our one job in reading stories? And what about horror?

1. ‘Lorehaven helps Christian fans …’

• Here’s our mission statement from the About page at Lorehaven.com:

Lorehaven helps Christian fans explore fantastical stories for Christ’s glory: fantasy, science fiction, and beyond.

• Stephen briefly recaps the Lorehaven origin story.
• Lorehaven isn’t like ministries that teach Bible study or church work.
• We’re also not focused on “Christians engaging the popular culture.”
• Nor are we an evangelistic enterprise. We’re an outreach to Christians.
• And we’re meant for Christians who already like these stories, or want to.

2. ‘… Explore fantastical stories …’

• Christian readers already want fantastical stories (and/or for their kids).
• But they often return to secular markets and expecting Moral Values.
• We don’t oppose this, but why ignore great Christian-made stories?
• We talked about this in our recent article about Sexual Identity Notions.
• Implicit in our phrase is our focus on Christian-made fantastical stories.
• After all, only these stories are made with the goal of glorifying God.
• Secular-made stories, even the best ones, glory Him by accident.
• See the Exodus phrase that God will “get glory over” Pharaoh.
• God will “get glory over” anything, but get glory through His people.

3. ‘… for God’s glory’

• What we don’t mean by God’s glory: only obviously spiritual tasks
• Christians still assum