Author: Johnny (Page 1 of 3)

Sources

Steven Hrotic. Religion in Science Fiction: The Evolution of an Idea and the Extinction of a Genre

Hrotic chronologically tells the metanarrative of religion in genre science fiction. Hrotic discusses the several possible inceptions of SF and how religion played a role even then. He provides summaries of various texts and evidence for certain attitudes that were prevalent in the genre at the time they were written.

Paul J Nahin. Holy Sci-Fi! Where Science Fiction and Religion Intersect

In his text, Nahin discuses philosophical and religious questions presented by other science fiction authors. In brief sections, he discusses Religions in SF, time, time travel, Jesus Christ, omniscient gods in SF, religious robots and computers that became gods in SF.

James F. McGrath. Religion and Science Fiction

McGrath edits and presents a collection of thoughts collated by several of his peers on the various intersections of theology and science fiction, not only in literature, but in film studies, history, philosophy, cultural studies and religious studies as well. The goal of the collection of essays is to bring together the various mediums approach to similar questions and provide a cohesive collection of themes and ideas on the aforementioned topic.

Adam Roberts. The History of Science Fiction

Roberts undertakes the admittedly ambitious task of telling the history of SF, or at the very least connect the dots between the modes of thought in the literary genre throughout the centuries. More importantly, he traces the genre far back to ancient Greece and tells its SF’s story up to the twenty first century.

Rudy V. Busto Relgion/Science/Fiction: Beyond the Final Frontier

Busto presents three SF short stories that promote religious speculation, as opposed to the prevalent belief among layman that religion is an antagonist to SF. He also calls into question the boundaries between SF and religion by examining Minority Literature in the genre and writings by his own students on the topic.

Robert M. Geraci. Robots and the Sacred in Science and Science Fiction: Theological Implications of Artificial Intelligence

Geraci discusses the interesting cocktail of emotions concerning the potential advent of artificial intelligence. He discusses how SF through literature and film has elevated the man made beings to a something divine and how humans may potentially react to these man-made gods.

Introduction Draft

Recently among science fiction academia and aficionados, animosity towards religion has been mitigated. In the genre, the relationship between religion and science has been cyclical, with each coming out on top at different times throughout the decades. Recently however, the two ideologies have seem to have come to a stalemate, they have acquiesced that each has their merits in the world of the future. However, the clash of ideologies has fueled science fiction for over a century, many of the genre’s roots are in challenging theology. SF does not need to generate vitriol, only continue the sport, the great debate. In literature, religion is one of the greatest antagonists of all time in SF, in not all the genres. Without the great adversary that is religion, science becomes complacent. Religion must continue acting as science’s greatest opponent for SF so that we may speculate and prepare for a world with artificial intelligence, a world where we make gods, and we become deities.

Topic Sentences/ Questions

An antagonist isn’t necessarily a villain; it’s can be a force that works towards the same goal as the protagonist.

The best antagonist knows the protagonists weaknesses and force it to make difficult decisions that reveal its true nature.

Would the society be better off without antagonism, without conflict?

What would happen if either theology or science proved victorious in achieving all the answers, or the ultimate answer?

Ultimately, the goal of creating artificial intelligence is to create a being that is greater than us. Should we make to be gods, or should we act as imperfect gods for them?

Should religion be allowed to propagate beyond earth, should human civilization?

In delving deeper into my research of science fiction involving religion, I found a daunting rich fountain of multitudinous ideas. Narrowing down on an idea was an initially a intimidating task that I delayed by researching. What I ultimately found most interesting was the dialogue held between SF authors on the topic of religion throughout the decades.

While SF was greatly influenced by contemporary events, prevalent assumptions and schemas of the genre, attitudes toward religion are nonetheless not as homogeneous as I had believed. In the present political climate, the term echo chamber has aptly surfaced to demonstrate how certain ideas propagate within a community. SF it seems has always acted as a necessary needle for popping the aforementioned bubbles. Science fiction can help us understand something as contentious as religion and help dissolve societal assumptions, schemas within the genre, and the author’s own beliefs.

In hindsight it is easy to scoff at ideas that are clearly misguided, but contemporary assumptions are easily often overlooked. In the nineteenth century, it was widely accepted by academia that religion was obsolete and a vestigial tool of primitive cultures. Equally upsetting, if not more so, was the unchallenged belief that religion survived due to the naivety and gullibility of women. Noted female author Charlotte Perkins Gilman responded to the reductive conclusions of women and religion with her SF novel Herland (1915). Gilman depicts a female utopia without men, and without limited assumptions of female capabilities. I’ll end this thread here, don’t want to spoil anything. Not only does SF help dispel societal assumptions, it helps the authors undo their own assumptions.

Prodigious author Robert A. Heinlein has had left permanent marks in SF and society as a whole, as his works spanned the decades, his views of religion have been agile and amenable. In his novella If This Goes On – Heinlein presents a theocracy with a religious leader that abuses his power to satiate his lust. Moreover Heinlein adds a postscript in which he states that dogma should not be taught in schools at all and that religion is “a personal matter between each man and his God” (150)  Heinlein’s view of religion as an individual pursuit  is clear and unequivocal. It then shocked me when I read a synopsis of a Heinlein’s novel Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) in which he posits that religion can create the deepest communal bonds in a society. Like a master playing chess against him-self, Heinlein seems to engage in discussion with himself through his works.

I would be remiss to not mention that one of the prevalent schemas in SF is that religion is a societal tool for manipulating people and as a result is a widely held belief today. Many texts have been written in which religion is used to either sway the public to ill effect or to their benefit. Religion being an indelible part of society, should Government use religion to sway the people and make them happier, easier to manage? For such questions I’ll examine works of Roger Zelazny, H.G. Wells, and Lester Del Rey.

Sources

Hrotic, Steven. Religion in Science Fiction: The Evolution of an Idea and the Extinction of a Genre. London: Bloomsbury, 2014. Print.

Kreuziger, Frederick A. The Religion of Science Fiction. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State U Popular, 1986. Print.

Kurtz, Paul, Barry Karr, and Ranjit Sandhu. Science and Religion: Are They Compatible? Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 2003. Print.

Nahin, Paul J. Holy Sci-fi!: Where Science Fiction and Religion Intersect. New York: Springer, 2014. Print

Roberts, Adam. The History of Science Fiction. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. Print.