Why do people enjoy fantasy stories? I’ve been pondering this as of late, noticing the modern world’s fascination with fantasy, sci-fi, dystopia, and so on—anything make-believe. (Certainly, the genres of contemporary and historical fiction haven’t died, but fantasy seems like the preference of many, specifically the younger generation.) Ultimately, how in line with Christian beliefs is this preference for strange worlds unlike our own? While Christ’s parables are often cited in support of stories’ power to portray truth, I’ve found fewer poignant arguments in favor of fantasy stories’ ability to be vehicles of the Gospel.1 Perhaps this is because there is an unconscious assumption that the marks of a Christian story are 1) explicit mention of God and matters of faith or 2) an implied Christian worldview of human affairs with no explicit mention of faith. Either of those can be used in a story with or without dragons...