Christian Fantasy has two potential definitions depending on the author’s purpose.
Definition #1: Fantasy Fiction Written by Christian Authors
In this definition, Christian authors have chosen to write fantasy fiction without mentioning God explicitly. They often have themes of Christianity written into their stories, such as redemption, good versus evil, or true love. Many authors choose to do this for two reasons: profitability and ministry.
Unfortunately, the Christian market is extremely narrow. In fact, some Christians believe that fantasy fiction itself is wrong. See Focus on the Family’s response to that here. Because the market is so small, some authors choose to write for the general fantasy audience because it is easier to sell books there.
The other aspect is ministry. Some Christian authors have written fiction that appeals to the general market so that they can convert others to Christianity or at least introduce them to Christian principals. These books are often categorized as clean fantasy, rather than Christian Fantasy.
Problems that some Authors encounter when choosing to write in this way
There is nothing wrong in writing fantasy fiction without Christian elements (JRR Tolkien anyone). In fact, the idea of a specific Christian genre is relatively new, as most classic authors had Christian influence woven throughout their stories and there wasn’t a Christian genre. However, in a world that is increasingly divided, it seems that the Christian genre emerged.
Evidences of the problems many Christian authors encounter when they try to have stronger Christian themes in their books is in negative reviews. One that automatically comes to mind is Brent Weeks, who wrote for the general market. His latest book, The Burning White, has strong Christian themes. This resulted in tons of negative reviews.
It seems quite stupid that an audience that accepts the many gods present in things like Dungeons and Dragons and other epic fantasy novels can accept that, but when Christianity becomes more apparent, they balk. But that is the truth that a Christian author who writes fantasy fiction for the general market must be willing to accept.
Definition #2: Fantasy fiction written by Christian authors with specific Christian references
Christian Fantasy is fantastical fiction that contains elements of faith, such as prayer, reading the Bible, or an allegorical God figure.
Readers are looking for a “God” figure or specific references to Christianity. The most obvious is Aslan from The Chronicles of Narnia, but there are many authors like myself who use other names for God. If there isn’t a “God” figure in the story, there might be references to Christianity, such as the Bible or Word.
Problems that some Authors encounter when choosing to write in this way
Most authors who write in this genre are writing for the Christian audience. Unfortunately, the audience for these books is narrow, and it doesn’t help that Amazon’s best selling Christian fantasy list is muddled with what appears to be paranormal romance. This is the first problem these authors encounter: a narrow audience.
Additionally, some authors encounter Christians who don’t like the use of magic in their books, even if it is written with a Christian worldview. Some readers may not even want to read about fantastical creatures, such as unicorns, dragons, or griffins. This makes the audience for writers who write Christian Fantasy with these elements even more narrow.
My books fall under the second definition, and in the blog posts below, I explore both explicitly Christian Fantasy and clean fantasy: