Walk down the aisles of most Christian bookstores, or flip through their flyers, and you can’t help but notice that Christian romance novels make up a large part of the book industry’s offerings to women.
Christian romance novels are one of the most popular genres of fiction for Christian readers — and one of the most ignored areas of study for scholars.
Why do these books have such appeal for the self-described evangelical women (usually white, middle and lower class, spanning a wide age range) who buy them? What do women readers get from these novels?
Some scholars have concluded that romance novels do anything but contribute to women’s lives and wellbeing. Tania Modleski, an academic who explored the genre, wrote that romance novels “take the actual situation of women in our society and put it in a context that is soothing and flattering … to convince themselves that limitations are really opportunities.”
Lillian Robinson, another romance researcher, agrees. Her essay on the topic is not-so-subtly titled “On Reading Trash.” She argues that romance novels repeat “what direct experience and dominant ideology have already succeeded in communicating… [that] love really is what motivates and justifies a woman’s life.”
Critics of romance novels usually point to the patriarchal tone of the novels as evidence of the damage they can do. Whether the novel is a “sweet” (without sex) Cinderella story, or a sultrier Pretty Woman tale (to name just two possible incarnations of the popular formula), they usually tell the tale of an emotionally innocent woman who finds personal fulfillment through a relationship — often of submission, always of rescue — to a hyper-masculine and really good-looking man.
The argument goes that if women read it, women believe it. And the message they believe is not always helpful or empowering.
In my own academic research, I set out to discover if Christian romances in particular were trash or treasures or perhaps something in between?
Trash or Treasure?
I interviewed hundreds of readers and writers of Christian romance novels. I also had access to the fan mail of some Christian writers. What I tapped into was a rich body of reader’s testimonies of emotional and spiritual transformation.
I quickly realized that readers of romances, even Christian readers who are often stereotyped as more naive than the general population, know exactly what they are reading. It is fiction, and they treat it as such. Women know the difference between what they read and what they want in real life.
I discovered that women are often inspired by the books to make positive changes in their own lives. They are not passive sponges, soaking up patriarchal messages, but active participants in the reading and the action that ensues from their interaction with the book.
Christian women readers may be more open to having their “lives changed” by a book because, as research supports, they tend to prioritize “heart” over “head.” Their spirits are open to being moved. In fact, most readers, when discussing the books, did not normally talk about the books themselves — their structures, plot devices or diction, they talked about their experiences with the text. Women’s responses to the texts were not primarily critical reviews of books (though most fan letters began with an enthusiastic but very general sentence or two about the novel), but were personal stories about how their lives changed in response to the novels.
Ultimately, their belief in a loving God helps this unique group of readers transform their reading experience. Through their emotional response to characters, readers participate in the emotional journey of the novel.
Since Christian novels are resolved in the always loving nature of God, the reader, too, experiences God’s love when she puts her book down, as woman after woman testified. Readers and writers of Christian romances reminded me repeatedly that the story of God’s love for humanity is a romance, a tale of perfect love.
One of the things that set Christian romances apart from their secular counterpart is this theme of God’s love, and therefore, one’s relationship with God, as the priority in life. What these novels don’t do is portray women as sexually submissive or as sexual objects.
In my opinion, Christian romance novels can actually help women reprioritize their own love lives, so that God, not a man, is central to their happiness. Rather than seeing the readers of Christian romances as women brainwashed by mass culture, I discovered readers open to change and willing to admit their difficulties of self-acceptance. They are open to exploring a confident spirituality and mutual and mature love relationships.
These books are not superficial coping strategies for women trapped in patriarchy. They are also not for everyone. But for those who enjoy them, Christian romance novels are a source of genuine encouragement in the direction in which readers want to grow. And that is in the direction of love.
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