Best Religious Fiction you've read/watched/ etc

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Now, for me, the best religious fiction I’ve read has got to be Christopher Moore’s Lamb. What could have been a vehicle for crass low brow humor was used in his hands to tell a story that was heart-warming and hopeful, and though his protaganist was flawed, he provided a story about real friendship.

Second would have to be the comic Hellboy, which blends ancient religious beleifs and legends into a wonderful concoction with a main character so nice despite his origins that you can’t help but feel for him.

Third is Narnia series, whose Christian influences are over-hyped, I should note. There is a bigger balance of Christian pick ups to straight imagination that lends the story a great air of fantasy.

Honorable mentions go to Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys and the little-known comic Rex Mundi.

A warning: (if you plan on adhering to the thread subject, you can skip this)
Okay, first of all, knowing how people can be, I want to state: The Koran, the Tao Te Ching, anyone else’s religious text, is not religious fiction, at least not in this thread. If you want to say that, please, keep it to yourself. I have let my civility slip but not without someone else doing so first, so hold your tongue and I’ll hold mine. However, the ample opportunities for disrespect of non-Christian religions presented here will not sit well with me.
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Arms of Love - Carmen Marcoux
Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis

In Christ,
Claire <><
 
When I was younger, I really liked a book called, This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti about spiritual warfare and a small town. Really interesting how he portrays the angels and demons fighting for the souls of the characters involved.
 
I like the books by Frank Peretti. I don’t know his denomination, but I assume he must be some kind of fundamentalist Christian. He mixes spiritual creatures in with regular people in the most unusual way. For me, his novels were so interesting that they were impossible to put down. I think I have read all of his books. They are fiction.
 
I really like the Mitford series, about an Episcopalian priest, his parish, and community. All the characters are just so nice; they’re very pleasant books.
 
There is a movie that came out in 1985 called “saving grace” it stared Tom Conti (I know there is another movie by the same name) This one is about a Pope that accidently gets locked out of the Vatican. He journeys off to the country and saves a village that had no hope or a priest. It makes me cry everytime. It is extremely hard to find. I bought it years ago.
 
Watched: I rather like *Keeping the Faith *with Ben Stiller, Edward Norton and Jenna Elfman.

Read: I’m rather fond of Umberto Eco’s *The Name of the Rose. *I’ve only read it once, but I also remember liking Walter Miller’s *A Canticle for Leibowitz. *I enjoyed Michael O’Brien’s early entries in the “Children of the Last Days” series: *Father Elijah, Strangers and Sojourners, *and somewhat less so *Eclipse of the Sun, *but it was within that work that he began to become nutty IMHO (and for a while it almost seemed he was disappointed that the real-life milennium came and went without the second coming, also IMHO). I read his *Plague Journal *out of momentum, but I really ought to have saved my money.

From his critical armchair,
tee
 
The best Catholic fiction ever written is The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. In it’s depth of spirit, it’s adherence to truth, and depiction of sacrifice, nothing comes even close! :bowdown2:
 
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aimee:
How Firm a Foundation

by Marcus Grodi 👍
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I agree! I couldn’t put it down! He’s a great writer… if he ever retires from his present ministry, he’d have a great career as a novelist.
 
I have to second “How Firm a Foundation”. I stayed up to wee hours of the morning to read it.
“The Robe” - Douglas
“The Big Fisherman” also by Douglas.
“Quo Vadis” - Sienkiewicz (he got a Nobel Prize in literature for that)
There is a also a trilogy by Bud Macfarlane - “Conceived Without Sin”, “Pierced by a Sword” and “House of Gold” that is worth mentioning
 
Some good suggestions here. I have read some but not others. I remember reading “the Robe” when I was in 7th or 8th grade. Made a pretty big impact on me.

Bud McFarlane’s books were really good too. check out here catholicity.com/ and follow the links to the books.

I am just finishing up the Narnia series and found some of the books really good and others not so good - in a literary sense. I read them all once before but don’t remember them all and now that I know of the allegorical nature of them, I can pick it out better.

I also liked Tolkien’s books from the Hobbit to the Trilogy of The Lord of the Rings but did not like his Silmarilian (it was/is somewhat boring - I managed to get through it once about 27-28 years ago but could not force myself to do it recently).

Brenda V.
 
I like Michael O’Brien’s Children of the last days series (Plague Journal, Father Elijah etc.). I am not sure it is THE best but it is very good and timely.
 
Michael O’Brien…a great writer. His books are unforgettable.

The Maldonado Miracle is a good movie.
 
Michael D. O’Brien’s books, Bud Macfarlane, Jr.'s books.

Also liked the Mitford series, and the books by Peretti that I’ve read. Oh, and Taylor Caldwell writes good religious fiction. I’ve read a short book of hers called The Listener that is excellent. Each chapter tells the story of a different person who speaks to the mysterious “listener”. It makes me cry every time, it’s so moving.

And the Joshua books by Joseph F. Girzone. The Lord of the Ring series, of course. And C.S. Lewis’ Space trilogy. I have the Narnia Chronicles, but have yet to read them, if you can believe that. 😦

There are more, but I can’t think of them right now.
 
For books, the Lord of the Rings trilogy is amazing (as others have noted). Also The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis are a very entertaining read that nevertheless makes dead-on points about the nature of evil. Flannery O’Connor is another wonderful author, but her books are a challenging read.

In film, A Man for All Seasons is still a classic, as is Gregory Peck in The Scarlet and the Black. Good stuff.

CathChemNerd
 
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