A request for assistance - on the topic of religion and science fiction

[wynkat_writes]

Hello all,

I have a project brewing that I need some assistance with and I am hoping you all might be able to help me with the first stage of things.

As many of you know, or have figured out by now, much of my writing deals with spirituality, since I also write fanfic and adore Science Fiction I have set for myself the task of looking at where

Comments

[verasteine]

Okay. Wow. Well, I've some ideas but it's hard for me to figure out exactly what you're aiming for, and also, does Sci-Fi for you include fantasy? Because I was instantly thinking of the Jacqueline Carey novels, that take a different run with Christianity and have significant interactions with divinity in them. They're long, however, and porny, so I don't know what you're going for here

[wynkat1313]

Thank you for joining in on this wild ride with me

[verasteine]

Re. Carey, in one of the books she goes and carries the name of God. For me, a non-spiritual person, that was one of the better handlings of spirituality I'd ever read.

DW... I don't know if I agree with you that the Doctor thinks science trumps god, I think he just doesn't believe, and the verse is very much sending the signal that there is no god. I suppose you could read Jack as defying that, but that because they gave the power of the tardis to a human, who couldn't control it. Hmm. Food for thought there.

Re. Star Trek... The characters were not only never religious, but for instance in Enterprise, often religious cults are demeaned or a cover for crime or abuse or something. They wound up almost never showing positive spirituality. DS9 was a real exception to that.

I'm trying to think of other things, but my knowledge of scifi/fantasy is not that broad. I just sort of play in its sandbox from time to time :).

[wynkat1313]

"she goes and carries the name of God

[wynkat1313]

Cool list, thank you.

It's been ages since I watched 2001. I know it played with the whole creation myth concept, but did it also go into stuff beyond that as in actually talking about religion, not just using it as a meta-concept?

[thrace_adams]

I have to second C.S. Lewis - his whole Narnia was an allegory for the Bible. Tolkein - Lord of the Rings - can't give any specific reasons why, I just know it deals a lot with good and evil and doing the right thing

[wynkat1313]

Oh I totally agree with you about how Hollywood deals with Christianity. No religion or group is one thing or one way, and yet we get these cliched images that perpetuate ALL Christians as One thing or the other because that's what sells ads as they say. - Same with Witches and Pagans really. How can we show the most sensational version? oy.

One of the things I adore about Numb3rs is that the main characters are a Jewish family but that its only a minor part of the whole thing. Its not shoved in our faces, its just woven in as part of who they are an how they are living their lives.

These are some of things I am looking for in Science Fiction - because its who I am I guess, a spiritual person who is also a sci-fi fan. I'm looking for that place where embodied/lived/practiced faith coinsides with Science fiction.

[thrace_adams]

OH yes, I didn't mean to imply that Christianity is the only religion/spirituality/faith they malign, they have a very bad reputation for just about anyting.

Oh I like Numb3rs too. Haven't watched it in a while, but it's a good show.

Hmmm...I'll have to give that some thought, a show where faith/etc just is ...

[wynkat1313]

Sorry for taking so long to reply, sinuses ate my brain...

"OH yes, I didn't mean to imply that Christianity is the only religion/spirituality/faith they malign, they have a very bad reputation for just about anyting."

I know hun :) Hollywood and the media like to go after all of us. *sigh*

*hugs*

[rm]

The Dune books (especially the first two), I think are marvelous on this.

Elizabeth Hand's Winterlong and Aestival Tide also do amazing world-building stuff with religion. (The third book in the trilogy, Iarus Descending, isn't that great; the original title for the third book in the series was called The Feast of St. Nynex and seemed to be a different novel entirely from a summary I read at the time -- I think Winterlong is still in Print, but AT (my favorite of the series) and ID aren't).

[wynkat1313]

mmm, been a long time since I have read the Dune books, thank you for the reminder.

Elizabeth Hand books - cool. I have read two of her other books, Waking the Moon and Glimmering which were interesting. I'll see about hunting up these others. Thank you.

[rm]

Those ones are fun, I really think the first two in the series I've mentioned here are some of her best work. (Of course, my online handle for over a decade was "Reive" who is a young hermaphrodite considered unlucky in her (female pronoun used because that's what the books use) domed city because she possessed green-eyes -- and in a world where the outside world is posion, green is the color of death).

[fresne]

A friend of mine sent me a link to this. I don't know if this helps, but

[wynkat1313]

Awesome! Wonderful additions to my list of things to read/watch. Thank you very much.