Breathed Through Silver: Four Modern Writers and Their Approaches to Christian Fiction

In this thesis, I address the use and appeal of fiction as a medium for exploring Christian ideas by analyzing and comparing how four influential writers from the last hundred years particularly approached exploring Christian ideas in their own fictional works. The four writers I have chosen for this comparative analysis are J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Walker Percy, and Marilyn Robinson. I have selected these four particular writers first of all, because they all address Christian concepts or themes in their fictional stories to one degree or another, while also having widespread recognition both within and without religious circles. In this manner, each of the writers addressed in this thesis have distinguished themselves as representatives of how fiction as a medium can be uniquely used to present or explore Christian ideas in a manner which feels natural and does not alienate nonreligious readers.