[Faith-talk] Fiction by writers who express their Faith intheirfiction

Wed Feb 3 04:20:38 UTC 2010

Hi, Laura,

My thoughts about the Thoene books are similar to yours. In all of them 
that take place in Palestine Muslim men are portrayed as evil, except 
for the king of Jordan. There are a couple of Muslim kids who get 
favorable treatment. the books do have too much suspense, but they are 
good reads nevertheless.

I'll look for the other books you describe when I have more energy.

John

On Tue, Feb 02, 2010 at 01:50:33PM -0600, qubit wrote:
> Hi John --
> I have read 4 of the series of books by Bodie and Brock Thoene -- actually 
> their last name is pronounced "Tainy" but jaws butchers that to "thone".
> The books were quite picturesque, and had an interesting story following a 
> mixed group of characters, but I thought they were also a bit overly 
> melodramatic.  Also, in the 4th book about the conflict in Israel, the 
> muslim characters were portrayed as being all incredibly evil, except for 
> one woman who converted to Christianity.  I know there is truth in some of 
> the negative stereotypes, but the book paints a picture that is wholely 
> one-sided, especially in reference to muslim men, who are all portrayed as 
> thinking of nothing but cruelty, violence and sex.  So I liked the books 
> except for this simplification of the issues.
> Also, the story took place during and after ww2, which is old news now. In 
> fact my mother, who lived through that era, wondered why I was reading it.
> As for the 2 books I mentioned, I know "The Chosen" was written by a jewish 
> man, and "Kite Runner" was written by a muslim man from Afghanistan.  So 
> they are authentic.  That is one reason I liked them.  I like knowing the 
> thought process of the persons living there, and reading a book by a native 
> author is the best way of getting that.
> Hey, good luck at your goal of fiction writing.  I have considered doing 
> that myself, but the thing that holds me back is that I'm so precise about 
> what I write that it's hard to be creative.  Since you have the same 
> background of math and computer science, I am wondering if you are bitten by 
> the same bug.  But your perspective would be very interesting.
> I look forward to reading anything you write.  And if I write I will be sure 
> to send a copy when I'm done.
> Take care, and yes I'll keep you in my prayers.
> --le
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "John J. Boyer" <john at godtouches.org>
> To: "Faith-talk,for the discussion of faith and religion" 
> <faith-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Monday, February 01, 2010 11:10 PM
> Subject: Re: [Faith-talk] Fiction by writers who express their Faith 
> intheirfiction
> 
> 
> Laura,
> 
> thanks for the info. I am interested in writing historical and science
> fiction novels from a Christian, specifically Catholic, perspective. So
> many of the well-known science-fiction authors are atheists or at least
> don't take religion seriously. There is an extensive set of books by
> Bodie and Brock Thoene with Jewish protogonists, but the authors are
> Christian. They are very pro-Jewish. The books cover the period leading
> up to World War 2 and the founding of Israel. there are also some with
> Biblical themes. An almost forgotten author is Louis de Wohl. He wrote
> novels about various Christian and biblical figures. He is a Catholic
> author. I am proofreading his books for Bookshare. The Thoene books are
> also on Bookshare.
> 
> Right now I don't have much energy for writing. That will have to be a
> gift of the Lord. I'm putting what energy I have into my free,
> open-source braille transcription software, which I hope will eventually
> surpass the best of commercial software. You can learn about it at
> http://www.abilitiessoft.com . And if you want to see any fiction by me,
> please pray that I will be given the necessary energy.
> 
> Thanks,
> John
> 
> On Mon, Feb 01, 2010 at 03:37:49PM -0600, qubit wrote:
> > Hey John, good to hear of yet another of your interests.
> > I have seen in some of the NLS talking book topics, novels about jewish
> > persons -- I don't think they are categorized as "jewish fiction", but I
> > know they are out there.  Have you ever read the novel "The Chosen"? That
> > was made into a movie which was truely an excellent flick.  I'd like to 
> > read
> > the book. It's about 2 young jewish friends who wer sons of 2 rabbis with
> > radically different views.  (I wondered as I watched the movie if this was
> > pure fiction or just memoirs of the author's own life as one of the boys.)
> >
> > As for Islam, you can find a number of books by muslim women living in the
> > more repressed muslim countries -- but these are memoirs and not fiction.
> > For fiction, I read "The Kite Runner", which was a truely well written 
> > novel
> > about 2 young boys growing up in Afghanistan.  It was not religious,
> > though -- the protagonist was the son of a non-believing muslim man, and 
> > the
> > only religious persons in the book were either poor or else part of the
> > Taliban and therefore extremely violent and oppressive.
> >
> > That's all I can think of off the top of my head.
> > Let me know if this is what you are looking for.
> > Happy reading.
> > --laura
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "John J. Boyer" <john at godtouches.org>
> > To: <faith-talk at nfbnet.org>
> > Sent: Monday, February 01, 2010 8:30 AM
> > Subject: [Faith-talk] Fiction by writers who express their Faith in
> > theirfiction
> >
> >
> > I've seen a lot of Christian fiction. Now I would like to see some
> > genuine Jewish fiction. I'm afraid Isaac Bashevis Singer isn't really a
> > believer. It would also be interesting to see some fiction by genuine
> > believers in Islam and Buddhism. I'm making a sort of study of religious
> > fiction.
> >
> > Thanks and prayers,
> > John
> >
> > -- 
> > John J. Boyer, Executive Director
> > GodTouches Digital Ministry, Inc.
> > http://www.godtouches.org
> > Madison, Wisconsin, USA
> > Peace, Love, Service
> >
> >
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> -- 
> John J. Boyer, Executive Director
> GodTouches Digital Ministry, Inc.
> http://www.godtouches.org
> Madison, Wisconsin, USA
> Peace, Love, Service
> 
> 
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-- 
John J. Boyer, Executive Director
GodTouches Digital Ministry, Inc.
http://www.godtouches.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Peace, Love, Service