Bemused

[pameladlloyd]

While searching for definitions of the term "Urban Fantasy" I came across The Christian Guide to Fantasy. The definitions are . . . slightly skewed, in my opinion.

For example:

Urban Fantasy - A subgenre of Fantasy; the action takes place in this world at this time, with no change in Earth's history, but rather in its dynamics (i.e., physics: usually magic is possible). Another area most often under the influence of secular paganism. [Emphasis mine]

In addition to the statement I highlighted, what bothers me about this "definition" is that it is so vague, it doesn't actually define.

Comments

[jmeadows.livejournal.com]

No, your post was clear enough. I lack sufficient brain sometimes. :)

Yes, a call to action isn't really part of a definition, and neither is saying this subgenre tends to be better written than this other subgenre. That's a matter of taste.

I realize I'm probably oversensitive to this kind of thing, though, because I *am* a Christian who happens to write fantasy, and I'm not sure what someone like this would think about my work. Or if I'd care any more than I'd care about Random Joe liking my work. I do my best. But sometimes I look at my fellow Christians and think, "Man, you're just as scary as you think the rest of the world is."

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's really specific beliefs, per se (Christian, or otherwise), that bother me, so much as an attitude toward others' beliefs, that suggests there's something wrong with people who don't share one's beliefs. That is to say (because I think my previous statement was too convoluted), that, for example, if I act as if my view of the world is the only valid view, and treat you or anybody else as stupid or misguided, just because you hold beliefs different from mine, then I think I'm behaving in a misguided and wrong way.

I have some long-time friends. They're Mennonites, but of the variety who live in the modern world and are, in many ways, indistinguishable from any one else. I met them when some new friends of mine invited me to my first role-playing gathering. The husband works as a lawyer. Some years after meeting them,, I learned that they believe in demons as real entities which can possess people and otherwise interact with us. Now, this is not a belief I hold myself, but I try not to criticize it or to say it isn't true, in part because the fact of the matter is I don't know that it's not true. A few years ago, my own agnosticism came up in a conversation about constitutional issues and my friend of ten years, a lawyer, remember, said right to my face that my beliefs were not protected under the constitution, because they weren't religious. I was shocked, hurt, and confused. To me, his statement seemed so naive of both the legal and philosophical issues as to defy belief. But, he was serious.

I'm not going to back away from what I've just written, although part of me wants to just delete the last paragraph. I knew when I posted on the topic of religion/writing/attitudes that I was treading dangerous ground. But, I do feel strongly that our Constitution, in its language about religious freedom, was expressing an intent that we as Americans would have freedom of thought, especially in the context of religion. I also believe that religious thought is not something limited to membership in a specific group, but includes thought about those philosophical and spiritual subjects which religion addresses, regardless of the position one holds.