As a daughter of missionaries I am always intrigued by how missionaries are portrayed in fiction. In general they don’t fair very well. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver is probably the most recent example of the missionary stereotype in fiction; an obsessed, narcissistic, rigid, white male who has slowly become unhinged and has corrupted the Christian message into something that most Christians would not even recognize.  While I enjoyed Kingsolver’s excellent writing, I was troubled by the pervasive idea that missionaries were the only ones who could become unhinged in this way while aid workers or even business people were somehow exempt from this kind of destructive and culturally insensitive behaviour. Caputo does a better job in his excellent book, Acts of Faith, in portraying the pit falls of going to another country, with a surety that you have the answers that will solve all their problems, whether as a missionary, aid worker or business person. I   do not, dismiss the fact that there have been Christian missionaries who were abusive, or used the Christian message in less than loving ways and I even agree that Christians should be held to a higher standard because of who we are and what we profess to believe. But it does seem that this stereotypical portrayal often misses the good that missionaries have done world wide in promoting education and medical care, helping those who are ostracized or marginalized as part of being faithful and living out God’s love. Ultimately the sign of any good ambassador to another country, whether you are a missionary, an aid worker, a business person, or representing your own country, is humility and a willingness to learn what you do not know.

Which brings us to Michel Faber’s The Book of Strange New Things which is about a missionary who has been asked by the inhabitants of a newly colonized planet to teach them the Bible or the “Book of Strange New Things,” as they call it.

Peter, a former drug addict without formal biblical training, is not your typical pastor, but he and his wife Bea have been working in an economically depressed area of England, and have built a small congregation there. So when USIC, the large corporation that oversees the colonization of the the planet Oasis, asks them to consider becoming missionaries, it is a bit of a surprise, but an intriguing one. Unfortunately, Bea is quickly dropped from consideration during the vetting process, but Peter continues to do well and ultimately ends up being chosen. Although they know that the long distances, separation and risk will have an enormous impact on their relationship, they decide that Peter should go to Oasis and he embarks on this adventure with trepidation and excitement.

After his arrival on Oasis and meeting his other fellow human colonists, Peter makes a trip to visit the inhabitants who have brought him to their planet to teach them the Bible. He is totally unprepared for his encounter with beings who look so alien and yet seem “human” in other ways. Initially their communication is done in rudimentary English and as he begins teaching them the Bible, Peter soon realizes that there are many references that the Oasans do not understand. How do you explain the beauty of the Twenty Third Psalm to someone who has never seen a sheep?  So Peter begins to adapt the Bible for the Oasans and together he and the other members of the congregation slowly begin building a church where they can meet.

Meanwhile back on Earth, things are not going so well.  Bea’s communications are filled fear and worry as food shortages caused by climate change, and strange cataclysmic events that cause global chaos and unrest begin to affect her. The shops where she buys food are closed and the hospital where she works cannot keep up with the influx of poor and needy people who come through its doors. Each message is filled with more and more hardship and although Peter tries to reassure and encourage her, his words sound trite and paternalistic and Bea becomes angry and estranged until finally she confesses that she has lost her faith and Peter realizes the limits of his own.

The Bible stored inside Peter was pure and unadulterated, not a word of it confused with anything else. And yet, for the first time, he was ashamed of it. The holy book he’d spent so much of his life preaching from had one cruel flaw: it was not very good at offering encouragement or hope to those who weren’t religious. With God, nothing shall be impossible, proclaimed Luke, and that message which Peter had always though was the most joyously positive reassurance you could wish for, now turned itself over like a dying insect, and became Without God everything shall be impossible.  

As Peter tries to reach out to Bea as well as to some of the human colonists who are struggling with emotional and spiritual issues, he receives wisdom and encouragement from an unexpected source which allows him to make some necessary but difficult decisions while coming to terms with his own faith.

Faber has done a great job in writing about a person of faith, with flaws and doubts, without falling into the typical stereotypes. Peter is imperfect, his faith is sometimes troubled, he is not certain whether he is communicating the Bible effectively to the inhabitants of Oasis, but he is there doing the best he can. The other characters are also well formed, even the aliens, who are touching in their “otherness.” Faber is extraordinary at describing the planet of Oasis immersing us in the weather, unique landscape, and the lives of its inhabitants and contrasting their lives with the lives of the colonists who try to remain “human” on an alien planet. Although ostensibly about aliens, space travel and space colonization, this genre bending book is really a meditation on faith and the power of love and forgiveness which can broach any divide and cross any distance.

Written by Faber after his wife Eva was diagnosed with an incurable cancer and finished at her bedside in the hospital, Faber has said that this is his last book, which is a huge loss to us all.  However, knowing this context makes the final sentence of this book even more powerful and poignant.

Brenda”s Rating: ***** (5 Stars out of 5)

Recommend this book to: Keith, Ken, Sharon, Marian and Lauren

Book Study Worthy? Yes!

Read in ebook format.