May 5, 1999

Mitford author pulls faith off the bookshelf
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___If Baptist readers of the "Mitford" series of novels think Father Tim, the central character, seems more like a Bap-tist preacher than an Episcopal priest, it's probably because Jan Karon likes Baptists.
___Though a devout Episcopalian, Karon has a deep appreciation for Baptists' commitment to Scripture and faith-filled living.
___After all, those are core

Jan Karon

attributes of her central characters in the five best-selling novels that so far comprise the Mitford series: "At Home in Mitford," "A Light in the Window," "These High, Green Hills," "Out to Canaan" and "A New Song."
___Father Tim frequently quotes Scripture, both in the pulpit and out. (His dog, Barnabas, stops dead in his tracks when his master recites the Good Book.) And through his words and deeds in the small village of Mitford, Father Tim frequently points people to Christ as their only hope for redemption.
___"If I have a theme in these books, it is one of redemption," Karon said.
___Some might see this as a handicap for marketing fiction in a publishing world dominated by murder mysteries, seamy romances and tell-all biographies. Yet Karon has turned it into an advantage.
___The faith-driven content of the Mitford series "has been received with thunderous applause" she said during a recent interview in Dallas, where she had stopped as part of a promotional tour for the new book. "People were starving to death to have that part of their being represented in fiction."
___While the first four Mitford books together sold 3.5 million copies and lingered for weeks on the New York Times bestsellers list, the fifth volume, released April 15, is on track to meet or exceed that record. In its first eight days, "A New Song" sold a half-million copies.
___Early readers of "A New Song" were giving it rave reviews on Amazon.com, the online bookseller.
___A reader from Greenbrier, Tenn., describes the latest Mitford volume as "incredible" and notes that Karon "is a gifted author who can be sweet without being sappy and inspirational without being preachy."
___That's a description Karon probably would cherish, because at age 6, she wanted to be a preacher and at 10 she wanted to be a writer. "Now I'm a writer writing about a preacher," she explained, drawing her childhood goals full circle.
___It's also an apt description because Karon approaches her writing with the zeal of an evangelist. And in "A New Song" she in effect becomes a preacher, penning the words to an actual sermon preached by Father Tim. The topic of that sermon: The importance of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
___During her stop in Texas, Karon read that sermon as part of her speech to the Dallas Women's Club. She got a standing ovation afterward.

"I cannot and will not write without lifting up the Savior."

___"I want to talk about the Lord to as many people as possible," she explained afterward. "That's why I try to go to the big crowds."
___The Christian faith is an integral part of her personal mission as an author, she said. "I cannot and will not write without lifting up the Savior."
___If unable to embody her spiritual life in her writings, "why bother?" she asked.
___Of course, it helps when your main character is a minister.
___But a minister is the perfect character through whose eyes to view the life of a small town, Karon said. "He gets to see everything ... and we get to see everything, get to know everything."
___The bottom line, though, is that Father Tim is not a character of Karon's own making, she said. "I did not choose Father Tim; Father Tim sort of chose me. God moved me in that direction."
___Father Tim's character also is the fruit of a twist in the plot line of Karon's own life. A successful advertising executive in San Francisco and New York City, she did not become a believer until she was 42 years old.
___"I came to the end of myself," she said matter-of-factly. "That's when God could really work."
___She quoted the philosopher Blaise Pascal, who wrote that there is a "God-shaped vacuum" in the heart of every person. "I knew there was an emptiness in me, a giant vacuum. But I didn't know how to fill it.
___"Jesus didn't mean much to me," she said, explaining that Christianity had been presented to her as a child as a religion of wrath and Old Testament vengeance.
___She suspects others have the same feelings. They, too, sense a void in their lives but don't know how to fill it. But if they'll read the Mitford series, they'll be told in explicit detail. And they'll be shown a kinder, gentler side of the Christian life as exemplified in Father Tim and his small-town flock.
___"Father Tim's ministry is a ministry of grace, a very New Testament ministry," she said. "He allows people to be themselves. He never pushes himself or Jesus Christ on anybody. ... He is a man who simply loves his people into the kingdom of God."
___In each book, Karon works in the plan of salvation and what Baptists would call the "sinner's prayer," a simple prayer to commit one's life to God through faith in Jesus.
___And for those readers who already are believers, the Mitford books provide a healthy dose of encouragement, Karon said. "People who know Jesus want to hear other people talk about it."
___She believes that's one reason her books have developed such a loyal following among people ages 10 to 90, both male and female. "There is no demographic" to the readership, she said, other than "they're the nicest people in the world."
___Another reason is that the stories are entertaining and intriguing without using profanity or glorifying immoral behavior, Karon said.
___"We're being scared to death every time we turn on the TV. ... Everything is so frightening all the time. Where is any decency?"
___While it may appear that violence and mayhem are the only things real today, "I'm also writing about something that's real," she said, "decent people living normal lives."
___That makes her style of writing hard to classify. It's not mystery. It's not suspense. It's not romance. But it includes elements of all three.
___"Mitford is its own genre," she suggested. "It loosely fits into the English category of the village novel."
___This, she said, is the same genre that Garrison Keillor's popular "Lake Wobegon" books would fall into.
___With the fifth Mitford book out of the way, Karon has plans to write two more Mitford novels, a novella and a cookbook. She won't say what else lies ahead for Father Tim and his wife, Cynthia, although they will have a happy ending.
___"I promise you a happy ending," she said. "I love happy endings."
___One of the best ways to ensure a happy ending in life is to talk about your faith, she insisted.
___"I do recommend to believers that they start talking about their faith," Karon said. "And they must be bold. We need to share our faith in this hurting world. There is no excuse for hiding the love of Jesus Christ from other people."

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