Theirs was bright faith in dark times.

In November the world marked the 100^th anniversary of the end of World War I. Trench warfare, gas attacks, millions dead. Also, the widespread pre-war vision of unlimited human progress was proven false.

That’s why so much post-war literature took “a dark and hopeless turn.” As WORLD magazine explains, stories, poetry, and other art of that time revealed “a crisis of faith,” except for two writers who escaped this trend.

Despite their experiences in the trenches, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, emboldened by their Christian faith, penned works that acknowledged the existence of evil without leaving readers in despair. Rather than placing hope in humanity’s potential for progress, the stories of Middle Earth and Narnia acknowledged a higher source of “grace and goodness.”

Despite the dominate narrative of the time, their stories showed a “renewed faith in God’s work in the world.” It’s one of many reasons that these two men serve as a model for modern Christians artists today, even in our dark times.

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