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A lot of people think that once they've received Christ that their life is going to be smooth running. In fact, it's chopped up incredibly. And you see that if you read the Gospels carefully, there's all kinds of discord and chaos and unhappiness really.

Is there tension between serious fiction and popular fiction?

The difficulty is that serious fiction requires serious reading, and a lot of people just don't have the education or background in order to do it. I was with a taxi driver today and he was talking about Louis L'Amour, and he really liked reading Louis L'Amour's fiction.

He said, "L'Amour makes it so easy that you can see exactly what you're supposed to see. And I don't want to work that hard in reading." He said it is too hard reading serious fiction because you have to be co-creators with the writer.

There's always a subtext going on in serious fiction. There is a surface level but there are also notes underneath. It's almost kind of like a psychological study of the characters. So you have to be as smart as a psychologist to understand what the people are doing and why they're doing it. There are often gaps left in serious fiction where you have to fill in those gaps.

A lot of Christian fiction operates on a surface level while serious fiction works on a deeper level where those stories from the Bible are embedded. In those, it's up to the reader to try and pull those out to see those connections. When I was writing Atticus, I was overt at the very end that it was based on the parable of the Prodigal Son. But I think if I had not put in there, there would have been a lot of people who didn't even notice that it was there.

Do you mean general readers, or even Christian readers?

General readers. There is not as much acquaintance with biblical literature as we would hope. One of my students once turned in a story about Adam and Eve saying, "I found this in some old book my grandmother had."

He called the Bible an old book. I couldn't believe it. He thought he had discovered something.

Copyright © 2003 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Visit DickStaub.com for audio and video of his radio program (4-7 p.m. PST), media reviews, and news on "where belief meets real life."

Recent Dick Staub Interviews include:

Gods and Generals' Director Links the Civil War with Today | Ron Maxwell talks about the role his faith plays in his career and what attracts him to the generation of the 1860s. (Feb. 25, 2003)

Why Don Richardson Says There's No 'Peace Child' for Islam | The author and missionary says he has tried to find bridge-building opportunities with Islam, but failed. (Feb. 11, 2003)

Did Martin Luther Get Galileo In Trouble? | David Lindberg talks about the early relationship between science and faith and his own journey on the subject (Feb. 4, 2003)

Dan Bahat on Jerusalem Archaeology  | One of Israel's leading archaeologists talks about the importance of the Temple Mount and key historical finds in the Holy Land. (Jan. 27, 2003)

Eddie Gibbs Reconsiders Gen X Churches | The author of Church Next and Fuller's professor of church growth says his views on church leadership have grown. (Jan. 21, 2003)

Peter Jenkins Finds Jesus While Walking America | The author of A Walk Across America talks about why angels smiled down at him at a revival in Mobile, Alabama. (Jan. 7, 2003)

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March (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47