Fiction with catholic themes

[drafdog]

For a film, try “Heaven Can Wait” starring Don Ameche. It has nothing to do with the later film with Warren Beatty. It is ultimately Catholic in its theology.

Books by William Falkner, Flannery O’Connor are good. Tony Hillerman wrote mystery stories but he’s a Catholic author greatly respected by the church.

Reb Levi

 

[Arizona_Mike]

I don’t see how you can argue that Canticle isn’t “Catholic in its faith.” I have heard that Miller became disaffected with the Church later. A bit like Graham Greene, perhaps.

I came to this thread too late–most of the good ones have already been cited, and Arizona Mike’s excellent list had some entries I want to explore . . .

I would however add Orson Scott Card’s Speaker for the Dead and its sequels (these are themselves sequels to the famous Ender’s Game. The Speaker series has a pretty sympathetic portrayal of Catholicism, even though Card himself is a Mormon and his experience with Catholicism was ironically gained as a Mormon missionary in Brazil.

Also Frederick Pohls’ “Happy Birthday, Dear Jesus,” while it doesn’t reference Catholicism specifically (I think the Christian family are referred to as Anglicans, though they don’t sound like typical Anglicans to me), is a good satire on secular Christmas and the differences between it and Christian liturgical celebration.

Edwin

Pohl’s story is one of my favorites too, but sadly, not as outrageous today in its depiction of a year-long Christmas shopping frenzy as when it was first published!

Here’s a quick recommendation for you all:

Ray Bradbury returned again and again to the image of Christ in his stories and poetry, although his own religious views were hard to pin down. He knew the Bible very well (he wrote the uncredited narration and one scene for the film “King of Kings”) and he tended to treat Catholics, and priests especially, as sympathetic characters in his stories. “The Dog in the Red Bandana” is a short-short story he wrote specifically for free Internet publication late in his life (at age 89), when he began to spend more time in hospitals than out of them, and death began to loom large before him. I think it’s an enormously sweet and touching story, with multiple layers of meaning and symbolism, and it hearkens back to two key events from Bradbury’s childhood. Check it out:

“The Dog In the Red Bandana”: mbird.com/2012/06/the-dog-in-the-red-bandana-ray-bradbury/

 

[empther]

Empress Theresa

A lifeless alien entity merges with ten year old Theresa.
When Theresa is 18, the President tries to eliminate the entity along with Theresa. The entity reacts by stopping the wind all over the world which means no rain and no food. Seven billion people will starve to death.
Only Theresa has any chance of restoring the rain and saving the world. ( That gets gets us halfway through the book. )

 

[bluerose]

I do like the Michael O’Brien books and Louis de Wohl’s novelizations of the lives of the saints are also fabulous (start with “The Spear”.)

Paul Coelho’s books (“The Alchemist” is a good one), “The Cana Mystery” by David Beckett (published by Tuscany Press–you might want to check their website for recommendations.)

I’m not a fan of the sci-fi genre, but if you’re willing to consider other genres, I can recommend some good mystery series with real Catholic worldviews (if not necessarily themes):

The Sister Agatha mysteries by Aimee and David Thurlo. There were six books total in the series. The sleuth is an extern nun in a cloistered convent in northern New Mexico who rides a Harley with a retired police dog riding in the side car.

Many of Mary Higgins Clark’s romantic suspense novels not only feature Catholic characters, but the mysteries themselves revolve around religion (the last two dealt with the canonization of a saint and lost religious scrolls.) It’s best to stick to her later work… less emphasis on the romance, more on the suspense!

James Patterson’s Detective Michael Bennett series would probably appeal more to men. It is far “grittier” than other series I’ve read although the main character is a NYC cop who has 10 adopted kids and a grandfather who is a monsignor.

Then there is my series, the Black Horse Campground series. Again, the themes aren’t necessarily Catholic but the worldview is and the characters are. The second book will be out in the spring!

 

[Kay_Cee]

Well, I have a novel, Rain from Heaven, under my pen name A.J. Avila. It’s about God’s mercy and is available free or on Kindle. All net profits from Kindle sales are being donated to charity.

 

[FireFromHeaven]

I just finished A Canticle For Leibowitz. It was one of the best books I’ve read. There were so many important and true themes in that book I’m going to be sorting through them for days. I highly reccomend that book.

 

[The_Reginator]

Re A Canticle for Liebowitz, by Walter Miller: when I’ve read that book I was a little concerned by the fact that there is no mention of the continuation of the Catholic Church, just a lot of words and imagery … as far as I can recall at least.

VERSUS:

I just finished A Canticle For Leibowitz. It was one of the best books I’ve read. There were so many important and true themes in that book I’m going to be sorting through them for days. I highly reccomend that book.

^^^

I re-read A Canticle for Leibowitz. Unlike my memory expressed in my earlier post (above) I found it to be VERY Catholic.

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

I am not much for reading anymore, but as far as feature films, it’s hard to beat the original “The Day the Earth Stood Still”, with Michael Rennie, for a Jesus parallel. An all-powerful being from the heavens comes to Earth to make life for us better and save us from destroying ourselves. He is immediately shot, out of fear, and brought to a military hospital, where he escapes, wearing a suit he “borrowed” from the hospital dry cleaner, belonging to a “Major Carpenter”. He poses as “Mr. Carpenter” throughout the film. When he is finally tracked down and mortally wounded, he sends a message through a woman to his loyal robot (Holy Spirit?) to come and get him. The robot brings him back to the ship and resurrects him, but only for a short period of time (the original script called for a total resurrection, but they were afraid of the public repercussions).
Finally, he preaches to the gathered crowds and ascends into the sky in his speceship, having left the hope of peace in the world.

I’ve seen this film many times and never, EVER, thought of it from that viewpoint. Many thanks.

To the OP: Dean Koontz…not exactly sci-fi but pretty Catholic, especially his post-One Door Away From Heaven works.

 

[meteoric]

Anglican (sorry) writer (and friend of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien) Charles Williams wrote seven novels with religious themes. My favorite, Descent into Hell has what I consider one of the scariest depictions of hell I’ve ever read. It’s not fiery punishment, just an eternal aloneness. Meanwhile, in other parts of the story is redemption and examples of what the author called “the theory of substituted love”, which is how he describes Jesus’ saving actions on the cross in his non-fiction books.

Other stories of his I re-read every now and then are War in Heaven, which has more action in it, and All Hallows Eve, which has a great first chapter involving a ghost that doesn’t turn out as expected (sorry, trying not to give it away).

Tom A.

 

[Arizona_Mike]

Charles Williams shows up as a character in C.S. Lewis’s novel The Great Divorce (which I highly recommend for anyone who hasn’t read it yet, especially for Lewis’s views on Purgatory.)

 

[Linusthe2nd]

A lot of the science fiction I read has atheistic or at best agnostic themes. Does anyone know of good science fiction with a more catholic world view? Or for that matter any good catholic fiction? Beyond LOTR of course.

Some great books here.
Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson is my favorite, used to be available online.
Come Rack Come Rope, also by Benson
The Man Who Was Called Thursday by G.K Chesterton
That Hedious Strength by C.S. Lewis was a favorite of mine. I read it and Lord of the World ever couple of years ( both are really gripping )
The Robe and Quo Vadis by Lloyd C. Douglas ( not science fiction but very good)
Clowns of God by Morris L. West
The Masterful Monk by Owen Frances Dudley, a priest and contemporary of G.K. Chesterton. He has a series of five or six.

Linus2nd

 

[Linusthe2nd]

**Although not scienc fiction, if you like history, Brother Cadfael is like a 12th century cross between Columbo and CSI.

Brother Cadfael is the fictional main character in a series of historical murder mysteries written between 1977 and 1994 by the linguist-scholar Edith Pargeter under the name “Ellis Peters”. The character of Cadfael himself is a Welsh Benedictine monk living at Shrewsbury Abbey, in western England, in the first half of the 12th century. The historically accurate stories are set between about 1135 and about 1145, during “The Anarchy”, the destructive contest for the crown of England between King Stephen and Empress Maud.

As a character, Cadfael “combines the curious mind of a scientist/pharmacist with a knight-errant”. He entered the cloister in his forties after being both a soldier and a sailor; this worldly experience gives him an array of talents and skills useful in monastic life. He is a skilled observer of human nature, inquisitive by nature, energetic, a talented herbalist (work he learned in the Holy Lands), and has an innate, although modern, sense of justice and fair-play. Abbots call upon him as a medical examiner, detective, doctor, and diplomat.**

Great reminder.

Linus2nd

 

[Linusthe2nd]

There’s lots of Catholic-themed SF for you (not all written by Catholics, but the ones that I know who are have an asterisk*):

Fr. Robert High Benson* - “Lord of the World” and “The Dawn of All” (a Catholic dystopia and utopia, respectively)

“Utopia” by St. Thomas More* - hey, science fiction by an actual Saint (although Chesterton has been proposed for canonization, so we may have more.)

“A Case of Conscience” by James Blish (Manicheanism)

“The Quest for St. Aquin,” “Balaam” and “Star Dummy,” short stories by Anthony Boucher* I love the alien version of the Lord’s Prayer in the latter story, as did C.S. Lewis.

“The Man,” “Bless Me Father For I Have Sinned,” “The Messiah,” “The Fire Balloons,” and “The Dog in the Red Bandana” by Ray Bradbury.

“A Clockwork Orange” by Anthony Burgess* (yeah, the book is deeply concerned with Catholic themes of free will - make sure you get the British edition with the final chapter that is missing from the American edition), also his “The Wanting Seed” (Augustinianism vs. Pelagianism)

“The War With the Newts” by Karel Capek* (Social Justice)

“The Man Who Was Thursday” by G.K. Chesterton* (The nature of God - and much more)

“The Pre-Persons” by Philip K. Dick and “Croatoan” by Harlan Ellison (Abortion)

“Catholics” by Brian Moore (The Latin Mass)

“Children of Men” - P.D. James (Openness to Life)

Most anything by Dean Koontz* since his conversion, especially his Odd Thomas books, or my favorite (because I love dogs) “The Watchers.”

Anything by R.A. Lafferty*, especially “Past Master” and “The Flame is Green”

Walter Miller* - “A Canticle for Leibowitz” (Church history, and monasticism, and human dignity), but also his “Conditionally Human” (abortion)

Walker Percy* - especially his SF works “Lost in the Cosmos,” “Love in the Ruins,” and “The Thanatos Syndrome.”

Jerry Pournelle* - “Inferno”

Tim Powers* - most anything, but especially “Declare”

Fred Saberhagen* - especially “Love Conquers All” and “Brother Berserker”

Clifford Simak - “Project Pope” and “Mastodonia”

Morris West - “The Shoes of the Fisherman” - as has been said, if you stick a president in a near-future SF story, it becomes a “political thriller.”

Gene Wolfe* - anything and everything, but especially his short stories “The Detective of Dreams,” “La Befana.” Man, I love his writing.

Oscar Wilde* - “The Selfish Giant” A sweet fable from a man who reached out to the Church at the end of a tragic life.

Poul Anderson - “Operation Chaos”

Mary Doria Russell - “The Sparrow” and “Children of God” - the problem of evil (and, Jesuits in space!)

Great list.

Linus2nd

 

[meteoric]

Charles Williams shows up as a character in C.S. Lewis’s novel The Great Divorce (which I highly recommend for anyone who hasn’t read it yet, especially for Lewis’s views on Purgatory.)

Which character was he?

That book, and George MacDonald’s Lilith, were firmly in my mind when I wrote a Harry Potter Fanfic story. The image of the Afterlife as a place of both danger and promise and dependent on how you chose to live your life resonates with me.

Tom A.
My story is at fanfiction.net/s/3368440/1/Dance-Macabre if anyone wants to read it.

 

[Arizona_Mike]

Which character was he?

That book, and George MacDonald’s Lilith, were firmly in my mind when I wrote a Harry Potter Fanfic story. The image of the Afterlife as a place of both danger and promise and dependent on how you chose to live your life resonates with me.

Tom A.
My story is at fanfiction.net/s/3368440/1/Dance-Macabre if anyone wants to read it.

MacDonald shows up as himself in Chapter 9, and is hailed by Lewis as his mentor: texaslynn.wordpress.com/2011/02/28/the-great-divorce-discussion-chapter-9-george-macdonald/