Christianity Left Behind

National Review today published an excellent discussion by Carl Olson of the Left Behind novels and The DaVinci Code, books that rank among the worst I have read in recent memory.

I read the first of the Left Behind novels with some interest, I struggled through the second- the third was a trial of pain. I did not, and will not read the rest of the series. Improbable as it may seem, Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins are actually worse at writing fiction than they are at doing theology. Dan Brown is a slightly better writer than LaHaye and Jenkins (though that is not saying very much) but in The DaVinci Code he betrays a grasp of theology worse than that of LaHaye and Jenkins. One wonders why the books are popular when they combine so much theological error with one-dimensional characters, contrived plotting, and boring dialogue. Olson's attempt to answer this question is worth reading- unlike the books he discusses.