Religion, SF, and Other Speculative Fictions.


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Your Religion got in my Science Fiction!

Posted by John on January 20th, 2008 at 10:15 pm · 8 Comments

It looks like my professor is going to approve my independent study on religion and science fiction!

I am faced with an embarrassment of riches: even after I cut out fantasy and limit myself to predominantly literary SF (no Star Trek or Babylon V), I’ve still got way too much. It seems the genre gives authors tremendous freedom to experiment with religion, and practically everyone has, from Mary Shelley to Cory Doctorow. My problem (boo hoo, John) is trying to find ways to narrow down the subject matter. Here are some secondary topics that interest me:

If everything goes well, expect to hear a lot more on this intersection of literary SF and religion.

How about you? What are your favorite treatments of religion and religious themes in science fiction stories?

Tags: Religion · Science Fiction and Fantasy

8 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Brian // Jan 20, 2008 at 10:45 pm

    Hands down, B5. Obviously that’s not on your list, most likely because you could probably do a good portion of a study just on different treatments of religion in the show. I got a coworker of mine hooked on it just by lending him the episode “Passing Through Gethsemane”.

    The Dune novels are also high on the list, probably top in literary form for mixing of SF and religious themes. Deep, powerful explorations of religion as an individual and a societal force.

    I’m also rather fond of C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy. Frankly, it’s more religion with SF in it than the other way around, but That Hideous Strength is still one of my favorite books.

    I’ve always felt that fantasy and SF are at their best when tackling profound subjects. For me, it is about looking at the human condition from a different angle, in order to bring the mundane, oft overlooked details into new focus.

  • 2 Rich // Jan 20, 2008 at 11:22 pm

    Zelazny’s “Lord of Light” comes to mind, but I read it so long ago I remember it only vaguely.

    And while not SF but Fantasy, some interesting religious themes abounded in Stephen R. Donaldson’s classic dual-trilogies, “The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever” (a great read if you haven’t discovered them already).

    And while not overtly religious, Card’s Ender books obviously deal strongly with ethics and morality.

  • 3 Elaine // Jan 21, 2008 at 8:06 am

    Speaking of OSC…You might want to take a look at “Pastwatch” if you haven’t already. If I remember correctly, there is a certain amount of religious content there. Certainly, I turned one of my theology professors on to it and she loved it to the point that she said she would consider teaching it when she taught Contemporary Theologies again.

    There is one particular scene (and you will know it when you read it) that has interesting theological implications, especially for anyone familiar with Mormon mythology.

  • 4 TammyT // Jan 21, 2008 at 9:42 am

    My fave is definitely Carl Sagan and Contact. The book is different than the movie, BTW. It goes more into the religious side of it, and a whole group goes into the cosmos, not just one person.

  • 5 Kevin // Jan 21, 2008 at 11:24 am

    I really tried to think of something helpful – but couldn’t. I will say, however, that the “invented religions” topic sounds really interesting! Have fun.

  • 6 xJane // Jan 21, 2008 at 12:45 pm

    oooh, one of my favorite topics!!! I recommend to all & sundry (to read & to write extensive essays about):

  • Titan, which is a series about Gaia, a conscious ring-shaped planet who watches TV & acts like god, creating & requiring worship from the planet members.
  • Archangel, a stand-alone about a society that sounds like it was built by post-apocalyptic (and possibly post-geneticly changed) human Jews. They worship a spaceship in the sky called Yahweh, who kills them with lasers if they mess up, and drops manna if they don’t.
  • Silicone Karma, about a world where “heaven” is where you send your mind, transferred to a hard drive, and live. It’s kinda like a mental bungalow. There is a murder in heaven & its structure is starting to disintegrate. Denizens must save their heaven & themselves without getting deleted.

  • 7 Elaine // Jan 21, 2008 at 3:21 pm

    I thought of another one, from an interesting source considering your topic, John. There is a book called “God Game” by Andrew Greeley who, as you might know, is a Catholic priest and a sociologist. In the novel, a priest who plays computer games becomes the “god” of the characters in the game he is playing when lighting strikes (I think that’s the scenario) while the computer is on. This new set of circumstances sends into some some interesting introspection. This novel from the 1980s sometimes ends up in the general fiction section of libraries, but I’d classify it as science fiction.

  • 8 mel // Jan 21, 2008 at 9:01 pm

    I think my favorite is Neal Stephenson’s “The Diamond Age”. It’s not overtly about religion but the Neo-Victorian aspect and the associated inequities are, I think, of a religious type. Certainly the battle against ignorance/illiteracy/anti-feminism/hierarchical authority/etc are interestingly tied together with a common antagonism … one of religion.

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