Urban Christian Fiction

There has been an advent of a new kind of genre in fiction. More and more writers are turning towards the genre of urban Christian fiction. This fiction is basically based upon stories that are vivid and conflicting and full of emotion. The story plots mix up faith, God and the role of the urban church. Even though the name says Christian- a story plot will never deliberately avoid the usage of sex or violence; it will however not use it out of context and will include the two only if it is relevant to do so. The resemblance of this genre is close to street literature or normal urban fiction—the only difference is that the center of the lives of all the characters is God. The characters themselves are essentially Latino or African representing the urban culture. Some are also forms of courtroom drama.

There are two main facets of urban Christian fiction—Drama and Raw Honesty. The former is important as the fiction itself needs a bit of ‘drama’ in the church. The drama is real people doing real things for a real God—sometimes they do not do these things right and are blamed for it. The latter, raw honesty is a trademark trait of urban Christian fiction. The characters are honest towards God about their feelings and do not dilute it. This fiction never aims to hide or cover up sin; rather it lays bare the faults, errors, flaws and the sins of the characters in light of an omniscient God.

The main features of urban Christian fiction are—

• The main character of the plot, in course of the story, gets hurt by the church and tries to heal it by the help of God.

• Raw, unpredictable and gritty by nature.

• The ‘cookie cutter’ method is usually not employed when the main character is solving his/her problems.

• The portrayal of hurt is very real and raw in nature and it is not given forgiveness easily.

• To add drama, church scandals are included.

• The main characters have a very close relationship with God—with Him as the center of his/her universe.

Urban Christian fiction is often a breath of fresh air for the conflicted soul of any reader. The plots often answer forsaken questions in the reader’s mind. These are life changing and inspiring pieces of literature for many people.