Redemption in Science Fiction: Saving Anakin Skywalker and Melody Pond

I have long been struck by the profundity of Star Wars’ vision of redemption. While many Christians treat it as a given that the casting of Satan, Hitler and perhaps the majority of human beings into a lake of fire for eternity is a satisfactory outcome, Star Wars offers – as do some Christians – [...]

Religion and Science Fiction: Now Available for Kindle!

I just received word that Religion and Science Fiction is now available for Kindle through Amazon.com. The price for the Kindle edition is almost as low as the discounted price for which you can still get the print edition until the end of this month, via the publisher’s web site. Use the discount coupon code [...]

Reasons to Buy Religion and Science Fiction: You Want To Believe

Fox Mulder on the X-Files had a poster of a UFO in his office, with the words “I Want To Believe.” The poster became famous. But why is it such a popular image? And what is the relationship between that sort of belief and religious belief? Many staple fringe ideas of our time – some [...]

Where’s Wall-E?

From IO9. You’ll definitely want to click through, since it is much easier when the image is enlarged!

Is the Bible Better in the Original Klingon?

IO9′s article on dramatic works that should be performed in sci-fi languages reminded me of an activity I did once in a class on religion and sci-fi, getting students to “translate” (in actual fact, imagine they are explaining) a passage from the Bible or other Scriptures to someone from another planet. It provides an interesting [...]

Sense of Wonder

I received my copy of Sense of Wonder: A Century of Science Fiction yesterday. I really do have a sense of wonder as I ponder what it has managed to do, bringing together actual science fiction stories and critical essays on a range of topics and issues from a range of perspectives, in a massive [...]

Pythonesque Optimism

I discovered the blog Geeks of Doom yesterday. It included this T-shirt image that all fans of Monty Python will understand and enjoy. While a few of you may actually want to get the T-shirt, I suspect that even those who don’t will want to share the image. Also from that site is a lot [...]