Escapism: Fantasy for Christian Authors

“When consequences and ideologies are not considered in fiction writing, both reader and author can find themselves deceived into believing and admiring a world where there are no issues or consequences of actions.”

Escapism: A Cautionary Tale for Christian Authors of Fantasy

There’s a J.R.R. Tolkien quote floating around the internet: 

Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisoned by the enemy, don’t we consider it his duty to escape?. . .If we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we’re partisans of liberty, then it’s our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can! 

It’s so prolific that choosing one source to cite becomes a subjective decision. But the bigger problem is that Tolkien never made any such statement. Whichever internet pirate capitalized on Tolkien’s name understood Tolkien about as well as Amazon does... but let us not digress.  

Viewing escapist as fantasy contradicts the overall message and approach Tolkien carefully delineates in his On Fairy Stories. Research quickly reveals the reality that Tolkien (and his peer, Lewis) understood that the value of fantasy is rooted in the exact opposite thought realm this mis-quote would have us escape to. The genius of Tolkien and Lewis lies in their understanding—and exemplification—of how fiction saturated in carefully maintained Christian worldview invites exploration of ‘True Reality,’ The eternal reality that creation merely points us to: The Creator, the living God in whom all things have their being (Colossians 1:16-17).  

Tolkien enjoys such ride recognition as a master of fantasy because of the writing mindset he expresses in “On Fairy Stories,” that: 

Probably every writer making a secondary world, a fantasy, every sub-creator, wishes in some measure to be a real maker, or hopes that he is drawing on reality: hopes that the peculiar quality of this secondary world (if not all the details)1 are derived from Reality, or are flowing into it. If he indeed achieves a quality that can fairly be described by the dictionary definition: 'inner consistency of reality', it is difficult to conceive how this can be, if the work does not in some way partake of reality. The peculiar quality of the 'joy' in successful Fantasy can thus be explained as a sudden glimpse of the underlying reality or truth. 

The enduring power, quality, and appeal of fantasy and all creative works by both Tolkien and Lewis is grounded in their Christian understanding of 2 Corinthians 4:16-18: 

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 

This truth holds true for all Christians. We do not seek to escape because our hope is rooted in eternal reality so filled with beauty that it bolsters our courage to bear all things for the sake of eternal life that surpasses even the most beautiful, fantastic realm we might imagine. 

Such hope compels us not to escape, but rather to engage the transient with the eternal, and such hope is only available through the kind of Christian perspective that Paul outlines in 2 Corinthians. Although Tolkien refers strictly to fantasy, his words can be applied to all fiction writing, and this series will explore how we can (1) diagnose and actively avoid escapism in our writing and (2) apply Tolkien’s writing wisdom into actionable advice.  

“Even Christian fiction falls into this unhealthy, modern version of escapism when it fails to carefully depict the reality of God’s presence and sovereignty—even through fiction modes.”

Tolkien’s own works show that he did not value escapism but realism. The commercials for Amazon’s Rings of Power series highlight exactly how that definition is lost on modern viewers and readers who trample on the works of an author they claim to platform—and this and other twisted Tolkien quotes impact young Christian writers in ways they haven’t considered. Writing is a retreat from reality, but Christian writing cannot and should not fall to ‘escapism’. When it does, we not only fall short of the marks of realism Tolkien highlights in “On Fairy Stories,” but we also fall short of proclaiming—to ourselves and to our readers—the glory, grace, and goodness of God.  

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines escapism as “diversion of the mind to purely imaginative activity... as an escape from reality or routine”. Serious writers recognize that this harmless pass-time, may work for pre-writing but must be carefully grounded in reality. In excessive amounts, this mindset can be harmful to good writing, since imagination is not reality.  

Also, this definition is not the escapism that many writers perform. In modern use escapism is not simply evading reality; escapism is avoiding the need to process problems, ideas, and their consequences. Even Christian fiction falls into this unhealthy, modern version of escapism when it fails to carefully depict the reality of God’s presence and sovereignty—even through fiction modes. 

When consequences and ideologies are not considered in fiction writing, both reader and author can find themselves deceived into believing and admiring a world where there are no issues or consequences of actions. Slowly, reality loses its hope while unchecked, ungrounded, unrealistic fantasy increases its appeal, and both writer and reader spend obsessive time in the world they have been trained to praise and conditioned to crave. If not checked, what starts as a harmless preference for the fantastic can grow into a monstrous inability to even focus on any books, movies, and content that don’t cater to our entertainment preferences. Readers calloused to this reality eventually grow callused to truth because they’ve slowly nurtured only the aesthetics of the lie. 

Escapism in fiction, however, is not always a deliberate choice based on preference of genre or aesthetics. Fiction, as it includes the creation of appealing situations, allows an enjoyable method of processing by creating scenarios to directly address issues. In this line of thought, escapism does not have to avoid problems. Sometimes, escapism takes the guise of processing—when the author thinks he processes ideas and consequences but never handles the problem correctly. An even more dangerous side of this form is when authors give consequences to beliefs, but the consequence is not realistic or accurate to scriptural principles. This can result in the most condemning deception: wrong ideas receive blessing (Ezek. 13:22). 

“Because you have disheartened the righteous falsely, although I have not grieved him, and you have encouraged the wicked, that he should not turn from his evil way to save his life,” 

Arguably the most common expression of escapism—especially in Christian fantasy—is when authors completely avoid the world’s problems (biblically labeled sin). Although this scenario occurs in many fiction genres, it often happens in fantasy, which innately claims to be disconnected from reality. By being able to build an entire world, without needing real basis, problems and consequences are often abandoned by writers trying to escape. In this view, escapism simply looks like unbelievable storylines without any problems; plots where wrong beliefs may receive the author’s accidental, silent approval (mistakes happen but are completely ignored or explained away); or worse, wrong beliefs receive the author’s blessing (deliberate sin is rewarded by events or a lack of consequences). 

Another side of escapism is often modeled in dystopian and apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic books: blind acceptance. Essentially, the view states that the world’s issues have always been a certain way and always will be, with no relief, so there is no use in attempting to process. At first glance, this may not seem like a form of escapism, especially since it does not avoid problems but surrenders to them. However, this is still escapism. The method avoids processing ideas and their consequences by stating that there is only negative consequence. It often states that there is no cause or solution for problems and there are no other, correct, beliefs. Through this, it embraces the fact that there is no need for thought at all, only space for hopeless emptiness. This escapes the reality of hope in Christ! 

There’s Hope...and It’s Anchored in True Reality 

Thankfully, being grounded in the truth of God’s Word frees us from escapism by informing right thinking! Writing can be an effective means of processing ideas when it stays focused on the truth. To avoid escapism in writing, there are two things to focus on: reality’s issues and God’s word. Yes, reality is sinful. Humans have disobeyed God’s commands and thus there are false beliefs and negative consequences. But processing does not mean focusing solely on the negative, it means considering problems through the unchanging light of God’s word. God’s word sets a consistent right and wrong—the consequences of evil cannot be avoided, even in fantasy. However, God’s word also provides hope. Christ’s death on the cross as atonement for sin means that there is a path of hope in the real world. Authors seeking to avoid escapism must remember this.  

 Christians are warned of deception and called by the Bible to not be deceived. 

“Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

~1 Corinthians 15:33, ESV 

 Reading and writing books means that authors and readers keep company with the characters and words in the book. When books fall into escapism, their authors and readers can be deceived and fall too much into the same issues they seek to avoid. Understanding escapism helps writers not be deceived by helping them identify winsome but misleading words.  

Christian authors, seeking to express Biblical values in their books, must understand escapism to avoid it. The gospel is the opposite of escapism and, in books plagued by avoidance of consequence, God's word cannot truly be represented. By ignoring that the world is fallen or abandoning hope, authors lose a critical piece of the gospel: either the existence of sin or Christ’s offer of salvation. To shine God’s truth, Christian writers must avoid escapism and defeat deception.