| p:abstract
| - A Christian novel is any novel that expounds and illustrates a Christian world view in its plot, its characters, or both, or which deals with Christian themes in a positive way. Christian novels have a rich tradition in Europe, going back several centuries. Twentieth century proponents of the form in English would include G. K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis, and Madeleine L'Engle, together with children's authors such as Paul White. However, in some conservative evangelical American Christian circles, their novels were frowned upon. Books such as Love Comes Softly by Janette Oke and This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti have triggered a change in this viewpoint, combining a specific brand of conservative Christian theology with a popular romance or thriller form . Publication of such Christian novels has increased greatly from these starting points, and excellence in the genre is now recognised by the Christy Awards. On the other hand, an article in Christianity Today recently argued that such use of popular forms risks "foisting on the world impoverished - even laughable - expressions of those genres." In North America, the Christian novel has evolved into a specific genre of its own, written explicitly by and for Christians of a particular type. Such a Christian novel does not have to involve an actual event or character in Bible history. A novel can be Christian in this sense merely because one of its characters either comes to a proper understanding of God and of man's need for salvation from sin, or faces a crisis of his or her faith. Nor does the plot need to turn on whether any given character is a Christian or not — although many Christian novels do have plots that explicitly reference persecution, Bible history, or unfulfilled prophecy . Publishers of Christian novels include Harvest House, Tyndale House, Thomas Nelson, Bethany House and Waterbrook Press . (en)
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