
A great many churchmen climbed on that bandwagon then, and many more have done it since. The appeal is very great. Why not compromise? Why not be “scientific,” or scientifically respectable? When the Genesis account of creation is such a liability, why not concentrate on other matters of the faith and accommodate the Bible to evolution? Why risk being considered ignorant and backward?
On the literature scene, Shakespeare’s First Folio was published in 1623, and England’s bragging rights expanded even further with the addition of an epic poem on the fall of mankind, written in 1674 by the blind Puritan-poet John Milton (1608–1674). In the prologue of Paradise Lost, Milton asks the Heavenly Muse to sing of the loss of man’s original state. Yet Milton acknowledges that one day, a greater Man will come and make all things new.
a new kind of missionary is needed today, and a new philosophy of starting and financing Christian missions. This new philosophy must go back to the priorities of the early church: make an abundance of Christian literature available in a local language before you send missionaries to that culture.
But an examination of the shelves in any bookstore will show that fantasy, for all its popularity, has a major downside for Christian readers. The market is dominated by unwholesome content—books glamorizing witchcraft, vampirism, zombies, etc.