Young Adult Literature: Christian and Spiritual
Young Adult Literature focusing on Christian and spiritual themes encompasses a diverse range of narratives aimed primarily at adolescent readers. This genre emerged in the mid-20th century, with foundational works like C.S. Lewis's *The Chronicles of Narnia* and J.R.R. Tolkien's *The Lord of the Rings*, both of which explore deep moral and spiritual themes, albeit in different ways. Contemporary authors have built upon these early influences, producing stories that engage with issues relevant to today's youth, including dating, mental health, and family dynamics, all while embedding faith-based values within their plots.
Stories often depict young protagonists navigating personal crises, seeking spiritual identity, and overcoming challenges through the lens of Christian teachings. These narratives typically highlight themes such as love, sacrifice, hope, and moral integrity, offering young readers both relatable struggles and inspirational resolutions. The genre also serves an evangelical purpose, aiming to introduce or reaffirm Christian beliefs among teens who may be facing societal pressures or personal dilemmas. While the degree of overt religious content varies, the underlying message of faith as a guiding force remains a common thread throughout.
Ultimately, Young Adult Christian literature provides both comfort and guidance in a rapidly changing world, allowing readers to explore their spirituality in an engaging and accessible format. It invites a broad audience to consider the intersection of faith and contemporary issues, fostering discussions that resonate with diverse perspectives in today's culture.
Young Adult Literature: Christian and Spiritual
Titles Discussed
A Time to Love by Walter Dean Myers
There You'll Find Me by Jenny B. Jones
If We Survive by Andrew Klavan
Genre Overview
The beginning of contemporary young adult Christian fiction dates to the 1950s and 1960s. Between 1950 and 1956, Oxford professor and Anglican theologian C. S. Lewis published his seven-volume series The Chronicles of Narnia. Perennial favorites among young people as well as adults, the books relate the adventures of children who are magically transported to the mythical land of Narnia, which is a realm populated by talking animals, courageous heroes, and treacherous villains. The land is ruled by Aslan, a wild but benevolent lion, who needs the help of “sons and daughters of Eve” to rid Narnia of evil doers. Although Lewis denied that the stories were allegorical in nature, the novels highlight Christian themes, including sacrifice, death, resurrection, and rebirth.
C. S. Lewis's friend and Oxford colleague J. R. R. Tolkien published his own fantasy series beginning with The Hobbit in 1937, and continuing with the three-volume The Lord of the Rings, published between 1954 and 1955. Although Tolkien's works are not considered Christian allegories, his powerful portrayal of the battle between good and evil and the sacrificial actions of some of his main characters reflect his strong Catholic beliefs.
The cosmic battle between light and darkness is also prominent in Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time series published in 1962. Blending her interest in quantum mechanics with her Christian faith, L'Engle tells the story of thirteen-year-old Meg Murry's interplanetary search for her absent scientist father with the help of three eccentric old women who are angels in disguise. In contrast to Lewis and Tolkien, L'Engle specifically quotes Christian scripture and speaks openly about faith in her stories. The works of all three authors are beloved by children, teenagers, and adults, and, in the case of Lewis and Tolkien, have been successfully adapted to feature films.
The popularity of Lewis's, Tolkien's, and L'Engle's novels has endured among Christian and mainstream readers, but it was not until the 1970s and 1980s that young adult Christian fiction came into its own. The rise of the modern evangelical movement in the United States spawned a demand for values-driven, faith-based literature targeted to the adolescent market. Authors responded by penning narratives that specifically address issues that Christian teenagers find relevant to their personal lives. Contemporary adolescent concerns such as dating, depression, drug and alcohol abuse, family conflict, bullying, eating disorders, and other challenges often appear in young adult Christian literature. In addition, classic motifs, including the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth; the Edenic myth of original sin; the hero's journey; coming of age through a test or trial; and the quest for personal and spiritual identity, inform the plots.
Although these concerns and themes are found in mainstream young adult fiction as well, the emphasis on faith-based values is what separates Christian young adult literature from its secular counterpart. The degree to which these values shape the plot varies. For example, novels and short stories written for the evangelical young adult population adhere to the belief that the authority of the Bible is absolute, that salvation is attained only through Jesus Christ, that Christian prayer is central to addressing life's challenges, and that believers should not cross biblically mandated moral boundaries. Other works reflect a more tolerant view of moral issues yet still reflect the core message of salvation through Christ. Still others—similar to the works of Lewis and Tolkien—treat biblical themes less overtly. Although the degree to which Christianity informs various story lines may differ, the values of love, faith, hope, sacrifice, and a commitment to living a moral and just life are common threads running through the body of young adult Christian literature.
Works
Combining text by Walter Dean Myers and mixed-media illustrations by his son, Christopher, A Time to Love is composed of six short stories based on familiar and less well-known Old Testament tales. Each story is told by teen narrators, some of whom are secondary characters in the original texts. The first-person narratives lend an immediacy to the ancient stories, making them feel fresh and relevant to the lives of contemporary young adults. The title of the book points to the overarching theme in Christian literature of love, but within that theme, Myers explores specific facets of love, including sexual attraction, familial relationships, and friendship. Relationships between adults and children in Myers's stories are often problematic, resulting in significant moral and spiritual dilemmas for the adolescent narrators. However, Myers intends to “remind us that God is love, and the way to face life's challenges, and the best expression of our faith … is through love.” Far from being a childish sentimental reaction, love is a mature response to the difficulties of an uncertain world.
In the opening story, fifteen-year-old Delilah tells how she is urged by her greedy father to collaborate with the Philistines to discover the secret of Samson's strength. Rather than cast her as a calculating seductress, Myers portrays her as vulnerable, unsure, and caught between her attraction to Samson and her duty to her people. Betrayal does not come easily to her, but eventually the love between Delilah and Samson—who has betrayed his Nazarite vow—redeems them both.
Betrayal is a prominent theme in the tale of brothers Reuben and Joseph. As the drama of sibling rivalry unfolds, Reuben admits his dislike of Joseph's haughty attitude, and yet he's reluctant to go along with his brothers' plan to kill Joseph. As the oldest, Reuben's opinion carries weight, and his brothers agree to sell Joseph into slavery instead. Years later, Joseph, a powerful official in Pharaoh's court, forgives his brothers and welcomes them to Egypt. His loving response bespeaks a spiritual maturity that far surpasses his siblings' childish jealousy.
Myers continues to focus on difficult family relationships in the story of Zillah and Lot. Myers's reimagining of the tale delves into the family dynamics between a strict, straight-laced father, a more tolerant mother, and their daughter who is trying to make sense of the twisted world of Sodom. In a moment of misguided hospitality, Lot offers Zillah and her sister to the people of Sodom in place of the three “holy men” who are guests in Lot's house. Her father's callousness shocks her, and Zillah is bitterly disappointed in the one adult whom she believed loved and cherished her.
In contrast to Zillah's disillusionment with her father, Isaac's faith in his father, Abraham—and God—never falters. One questions Abraham's actions as he prepares to sacrifice his only son in obedience to what he perceives as God's command. Is he really hearing the voice of God, or is he delusional? Isaac willingly and passively accepts the role of the lamb, even to the point of excusing Abraham when he exclaims, “I love you, Father. I know it is God's will.” The relationship between Abraham and Isaac is disturbing considering that Abraham, like Lot, is willing to deceive his child in order to follow what he considers to be a higher ideal. Yet Abraham's unbending obedience and Isaac's passive acceptance can also be interpreted as love at its most radical.
There You'll Find Me by Jenny B. Jones is an example of a one of the most popular genres among young adult Christian girls, teenage romance. The plot follows a predictable formula—a young couple meet, are simultaneously attracted and repelled by each other, find themselves reluctantly falling in love, try to work out their differences, and decide they are meant for each other after all. In struggling to understand their relationship, they rely on God to show them the way. However, the path to a love is a rocky one for the narrator, Finley Sinclair, because she is dealing with a crisis of faith after the death of her beloved brother Will.
An heiress and former party girl, eighteen-year-old Finley decides to study abroad. She chooses Ireland because Will left a journal detailing his travels in that country. In contrast to the deep faith her brother expresses in his diary, Finley has nearly abandoned her own faith because of the crushing grief and loneliness she feels in the wake of Will's death. She is under added pressure because she is struggling to finish a violin composition in time for her upcoming audition at the New York Conservatory. She is hoping that visiting Ireland will help her to find emotional and spiritual peace. On the plane, she meets Hollywood superstar and bad boy Beckett Rush, who is on his way to Ireland to finish his latest vampire film. Their relationship gets off to a rough start. The acrimony between them accelerates when she discovers that he is staying at the bed-and-breakfast run by her host family.
Finley remains unimpressed by Beckett's celebrity, which heightens his attraction to her. Eventually he asks her to be his dialogue coach on the film set. Meanwhile, Finley's teacher requires her to perform a community service project. Finley's subject, Mrs. Sweeney, is a grumpy, nursing home patient who is dying from cancer. The stress Finley experiences as she deals with her composition deadline, her developing romance with Beckett, and her difficult relationship with Mrs. Sweeney manifests itself in an eating disorder. As her life shatters, Finley searches for God—and the Celtic cross appearing in the last photo of Will's journal. Her quest for both ends when Beckett, who is rediscovering his own dormant faith, brings her to an ancient graveyard. There she reconnects with God and finds the inspiration for completing her audition piece.
Transformation from seeker to believer is a familiar theme in both adult and young adult Christian fiction. Losing sight of God after her brother's death, Finley is often blinded by her fears and insecurities. Her faith hangs by a thread but is bolstered by Romans 8:37, a Bible verse given to her by her counselor after Will's death: “We are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” It is a promise that Finley is unable to claim until she finally accepts that she needs help to overcome anorexia. She also discovers that it often takes a loving community of believers to bring about an individual's transformation. In Finley's case, the love of Beckett, her host family, and Mrs. Sweeney help her deal with her grief and re-establish her relationship with God.
The ability of a Christian community to strengthen and nurture faith is highlighted in Andrew Klavan's adventure story, If We Survive. The novel is set in the fictional Central American country of Costa Verdes, where five people from an American church group—a youth pastor, his assistant, and three teenagers—arrive to help villagers construct a schoolhouse. The first chapter ends with Will, the sixteen-year-old narrator, ominously observing, “We came to Costa Verdes to build a wall. I just wish I could tell you that all of us made it home alive.”
When they are about to head home, the group is kidnapped by Communist-style revolutionaries who hold them as bargaining chips in a government take-over plan. Their well-meaning pastor, Ron, becomes a martyr in the hope that his death will persuade the rebels to let the others go. Meredith, Ron's fearless assistant, assumes responsibility for the teenagers: Will; Nicki, who is outwardly attractive by inwardly shallow; and Jim, the socialist intellectual. They are eventually joined by Palmer Dunn, a sardonic ex-Marine bush pilot who has promised to help them escape but whose loyalties are suspect.
The plot is faced-paced, suspenseful, and at times violent. Fall from innocence is a persistent theme, especially when Will is confronted with a rebel who is intent on killing him and his friends. Will is unsure whether he can pull the trigger of the machine gun he has stripped from the body of a dead revolutionary, but he is surprised to discover that he can kill if necessary to protect those he loves. As the situation escalates, Will notes that the only reason they came to Costa Verdes was “to build a wall.” In effect, he is saying, “I'm only a kid.” In order to hold on to hope throughout the ordeal, Will calls to mind two quotes he remembers. The first is Ernest Hemingway's definition of cowardice as “a lack of ability to suspend the functioning of the imagination.” The second is something Pastor Ron quoted from the Bible, “Don't worry about anything—instead pray about everything.” These principles guide Will as he deals with his involuntarily initiation into the adult world of war and violence.
Conclusions
In a culture where consumerism, technology, materialism, and violence are commonplace, many Christians fear that the moral deterioration of American society will negatively affect the future and faith of their children. The rise of secular humanism and atheism are perceived as a threat to the established church, and teenagers, as well as adults, increasingly identify themselves as “spiritual” rather than declare allegiance to a specific Christian denomination. Major surveys show that most Millennials (those born between 1980 and 2000) who were raised as Christians no longer read the Bible, attend worship services, or pray.
Young adult Christian literature often serves an evangelical function. In the twenty-first century, young adults are exposed to complex challenges that previous generations did not encounter. Many of them are searching for guidance as they deal with peer pressure, bullying, eating disorders, broken families, drug and alcohol abuse, and other issues. Young adult Christian literature provides “unchurched” teenagers with a nonthreatening, entertaining way to become acquainted, and in some cases reacquainted, with Christian beliefs and values.
Young adult Christian literature also reinforces the religious beliefs of Christian teenagers as they journey from adolescence to adulthood. Reading about how teenage characters successfully make their way in a world that is perceived as hostile to Christian values can be both encouraging and affirming. As teenagers identify with the characters' failings and strengths, they begin to understand the vital role faith can play in helping them to confront and overcome moral obstacles in their own lives, obstacles that may prevent them from attaining spiritual and psychological maturity.
It is important to note that young adult Christian literature has been considered controversial, and some critics argue that a socially and politically conservative agenda often influences contemporary adult and young adult Christian fiction. While neither A Time to Love nor There You'll Find Me deals with political issues, Klavan's If We Survive portrays Jim as a young, out-of-touch liberal intellectual whose ideology blinds him to the obvious evil intentions of the rebels who capture him and his friends. Jim defends the revolutionaries and their leader—whose book he has read—claiming that their brutal actions are necessary in order to bring peace, prosperity, and social equality to the country. By the end of the book, Jim believes the revolution is a sham. While some readers may applaud Jim's new outlook, others might take offense at Klavan's portrayal. However, the political overtones are overshadowed by the sacrifice, faith, and heroism of the characters.
Bibliography
Auguste, Margaret. “Those Kinds of Books: Religion and Spirituality in Young Adult Literature.” Young Adult Library Services 11.4 (2013): 37–40. Academic Search Complete. Web. 19 June 2015. <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=89132688>.
Brown, Devin. The Christian World of the Hobbit. Nashville: Abingdon, 2014. Print.
Bibliography
Byle, Ann. “Christian YA Fiction: Coming into Full Bloom.” Publishers Weekly. PWxyz, 27 Aug. 2012. Web. 23 May 2015. <http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/new-titles/adult-announcements/article/53700-religion-update-fall-2012-christian-ya-fiction-coming-into-full-bloom.html>.
Hill, Rebecca. “God on the Shelf: The Influence of Christian Young Adult Literature.” Voice of Youth Advocates (2010): 322–32. Print.
Walker, Barbara J. The Librarian's Guide to Developing Christian Fiction Collections for Children. New York: Neal-Schuman, 2005. Print.