What I'm using is, in this scheme, clearly a #3:



I have extensive travel between universes, some accidental or providential (a la the origin of the Telmarines in Narnia), some deliberate (by an expensive use of what I'm calling "applied metaphysics"). The trade between universes includes the Bible as chief among other books, and many if not most of the people who entered the young world and settled in the area with which I am concerned were Christians. This is more as if King Frank and Queen Helen had brought Hebrew and Greek interlinear Testaments with them than if Peter had been carrying a King James Bible ... But the place where this becomes a worldbuilding problem for me is how the Church developed there. (I should make a thread about that.)

A good example of 1 is Watership Down. It is a favorite book of mine.

I will have to look that one up, Tsahraf; much thanks!

eru

* peruses thread * Funny, I don't think I fit an any of Patrick's 4 categories.... * raises eyebrows * Very funny....

Of all of them, I believe I am closest to number 1, though...there is no Bible from earth in any degree or way, but it is not 4. My world has a Bible of it's own, prophecies, history, and so on according to that world rather than earth – but I do not think it would be a good idea to write my own Bible, for many of the reasons discussed here. So I solved the problem, at least I have so far, by...not directly quoting it. And if I do directly quote it is a very small snippet that is the same as a quote from our own Bible.

Crafty circumventer! I was thinking of that too. I suppose you could do like the Chronicles of Narnia, where Narnia itself was a vehicle for visualization of the Bible, thus a "different" Bible would be superfluous.

Um ... no, it's not. The reason there isn't a Bible in Narnia is that the Talking Animals aren't much for books.

kingjon.

From what I have right now, I'm using an approach similar to Juliet's. It's not really writing your own Bible. It's writing your own histories. Think of it as #4, except spanning the entire history of the universe. Not quite #4, I guess. Almost.
Basically, when you write, your beliefs are incorporated into the story in basic ways. Use that Gandalf example if you want (could someone tell me where that is? I would like to look it up.). Now think of it this way. You're writing a giant story, and incorporating your values. Except instead of them being instinctual, you have your deity telling someone. The best example would be the ten commandments, because they're fundamentals. Instead of having Mosesfigure lead Israeltribe out of Placeofslavery, and subsequently climbing Highsacredmountain to receive paraphrasedcommands, you can have an entirely different situation in which they receive the commandments. That's the general idea.
Does that make sense or is it confusing?
In any case, it's easy to combine #4 with this. From the POV of a converted MC, it will be mainly instinctual. If they're teaching someone else, you can paraphrase basic ideas. Have you read the Light of Eidon series? I think they're a good example of what I'm trying to explain.
I'll try to post an example in the fireside at some point.

Makes sense to me, Aldara. That sounds interesting--I think it's similar to what I plan on doing.

I think if I were still writing high fantasy, I'd have an approach no one has tried:

Namely, I don't care whether there are Scriptures or not, but there will be the Church.

Now, hear me out. I'm not a Protestant anymore; I believe the Church is a real, hierarchical organization charged with preserving the truth and guided by the Holy Spirit to assure that She will always do so. As such, the Scriptures IMO are just the chief part of the Church's Holy Tradition. So, then, God could easily have given them a Church but no Scriptures. They would then hold the tradition the same way Christians did before the canon was settled: by oral tradition.

Now I don't expect y'all to agree with my view of authority, but for a fantasy world, I think you'd have to admit that this is one legitimate way to handle the situation without magic Bible portals or writing our own Scriptures.

Of course, if there are any good people in your stories then there is technically the Church. There was before the full Bible was written, though parts of the Bible may have been present with Adam. But anyone can be saved, whether or not they have any part of the Bible.

Romans 1
20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, [even] his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Is this what you mean?

No, that's not what I mean. In my theology, the Church is not simply an abstract, invisible collection of believers known only to God; it's a visible, hierarchical organization. If the world is at a stage analogous to the Old Testament, then the Church will presumably be looking forward to Christ, as it did in the Old Testament. If the world has already been redeemed, the Church there will likely resemble the Catholic or Orthodox Church. There will have been apostles or something like them (maybe our own Apostles, depends on the world), and there will be bishops, priests, liturgies, and sacraments, though perhaps not under those names.

EDIT: To clarify, I realize most of you will not agree with this theology, and I also realize that this is not the place to debate it. But I am throwing it out there as a way God could work in an alternative world, even if He doesn't do it that way here.

When you portray God (and thus, God's word) in a fictional situation, especially in a Fantasy situation, it would not be to say, "This is what God would do," any more than you are saying that the Fantasy situation actually happened. Rather you are portraying what you have learned or believed about God, and expressing it by a made up situation. Thus only a Catholic(Catholic right?) would have an hierarchy of that sort in their fantasy.

Speculating about God doing something you do not believe he would do would be... rather pointless. And of course misleading if you did not make it clear that this is not what you really believe.

My world is... different. I think I can say no more than that, "everything is not all that is, and everything is upside down."


I do not feel very abstract and invisible, though that would be neat. *grins *
The Church I was referring to, which would be present if you had a story about good guys at all, is the believers, who are all part of the Church, whether or not you have an hierarchical organization.