Brett Lott, a Christian who writes highly successful literary fiction, suggests in his book, Letters and Life, that Christians reclaim this category. Lott reflected on a keynote speech he gave to authors and publishers in an award ceremony for Christian novelists: “I’m afraid I may have made more enemies than anything else. . . . I don’t write what most Christians would call ‘Christian fiction.’ I felt myself the odd man out the whole evening long.”

As I read those lines, I thought, Bingo, Mr. Lott.

Further in in his speech, he said, “. . .unless we make room inside the Christian writing industrial complex to create worthy work—art—that in its craftsmanship and vision challenges the heart and soul and mind of our readers—then we will be nothing more than happy clowns juggling for one another.”

Years ago I created curriculum material for a conservative Christian denomination, one I had grown up in. I wrote my first novel with the same audience in mind. However, it dealt with a divorced Christian woman, a rare subject for that audience at the time.

Later, after many changes in my life, including several years working in the Middle East, my Christian beliefs, like Bret Lott’s, have strengthened. My immersion in cultures different from those I grew up in (and not only in other countries) have, however, given me deeper insights. In my fiction, I have struggled and struggle still to represent what I believe to be a more mature view. But I continue to write.