An Interesting Omission

I am a bit of a book junkie. My wife will tell you that I have a problem, but I am in complete control of this condition. I can stop buying books at any time I choose, trust me. One of the things I enjoy about the end of another year is the various compilations of “best books” lists.

In reading through several lists this year put out by Christian readers and writers whose opinions I generally trust and respect, I noticed an interesting commonality between them all. Without exception (if my memory serves me) not one of the lists included a work of fiction. That’s right, every book listed was a non-fiction book.

Now don’t get me wrong, I think it is vitally important that we, as Christians, should be reading and meditating on books that seek to think biblically about any number of issues in life. What is more concerning is the fact that reading good works of fiction does not enter into the conversation of our spiritual growth and vitality.

I don’t want to read too much into a few book lists. It may be that there aren’t many works of fiction being written these days that are worth mentioning. If true, that would be a serious problem to consider in regard to the Church’s call to redeem the culture. It may be that in our attempts to refute the perpetual assault on Truth in our culture, that we have become entrenched in prepositional truths removed from the context of story.

Whatever the reasons, I find it an interesting omission that might be worth some more consideration and discussion.