Articles by Ethan Bartlett

“So do Christian writers bite the hand that feeds (or at least nurtures) us? Certainly that danger exists; but writers in the church are also uniquely placed to portray the church in a realistic way.”

“Like all fantastic fiction, the Gothic novel at its best serves to expand our imaginations, allowing us to prepare for the unexpected.”

“[T]he presence of humanity and the prevalence of humanitarian themes throughout the best science fiction stories is not necessarily a denial of human nature, but often an affirmation of the best in us.”

“Beloved books, too, tend to depend heavily on grace.”

“Question: do we really need to give teenagers a book [“The Catcher in the Rye”] which is about exactly how teenagers tend to feel? . . . Enter Franny and Zooey. A lesser known Salinger novel[.]”

“To treat literature as it is (a story) rather than converting it into something it is not (a sermon or a systematic theology) is not to somehow do violence to our worldview or our theology; it is to embrace the fact that in Christ we have the fulfillment of all story.”

“Growing up is often a process of realizing that anybody I consider the enemy, anybody I consider different, has reasons for their actions that are just as complex, nuanced, and (to them) justified as my own.”

“Takami’s and Collins’s books are both indictments of the complacency necessary to create a culture in which children are regularly murdered and nothing is done to stop it.”

“As I read The Hunger Games trilogy, I found it increasingly hard to ignore the number of Christ-symbols that appear throughout.”

“Why would someone from an old-fashioned religion want to read Green’s book? Literature, ultimately, is best at asking questions. The Fault in Our Stars asks the right questions.”