{"id":18346,"date":"2013-10-17T13:30:22","date_gmt":"2013-10-17T17:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=18346"},"modified":"2013-10-17T13:30:22","modified_gmt":"2013-10-17T17:30:22","slug":"the-siblinghood-of-saint-augustine-physicist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/10\/the-siblinghood-of-saint-augustine-physicist.html","title":{"rendered":"The Siblinghood of Saint Augustine, Physicist"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The Doctor Who comic book story<\/a> \u201cThe Doctor and the Nurse<\/a>\"\"\u201d features a group that the Doctor calls \u201creligious fanatics.\u201d They encounter them on their home planet of Hipponensis 3. The Doctor explains that the Siblinghood of Saint Augustine, Physicist<\/a> \u201care presentists. They believe the past and future don\u2019t exist \u2013 just the present \u2013 so they have a hard time with time travelers. They think we\u2019re con men.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In the story that precedes it in the collection, \u201cThe Hypothetical Gentleman<\/a>\"\",\u201d there is also a religious focus. A woman named Emily, living in London in 1851, has a telepathic ability. She says \u201cI\u2019ve always had the gift, praise Jesus\u201d (p.26). Once, when she had a \u201cvisitation,\u201d she began speaking in tongues<\/a>, and then wrote in an \u201cangelic script\u201d \u2013 blueprints for a quantum resonator. Later in the story, a being that emerges from the machine is said to be first an angel, then a demon. And towards the end of the story, the Doctor responds to Emily, who is confused since she had thought she was \u201cheeding the call of angels,\u201d by saying \u201cYou\u2019ll find your own answers, Emily. Heaven isn\u2019t out there \u2013 it\u2019s inside of you. You have a good heart and a special gift. It\u2019s what you do with it that matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

That sounds more like Captain Kirk at the end of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, than it does the Doctor. What do others think?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"Both stories also have nice ties into ongoing questions on the televised show. In one, an agent of the Silence works to ensure that a fixed point in time occurs as it \u201cmust,\u201d while in the other, the blueprints for the quantum resonator are written in high Gallifreyan, raising the question of who the being is that was trying to use the resonator to move from hypothetical to actual existence in our universe, and whether the Doctor is or is not the last of the time lords.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t read Doctor Who comics that often. If the treatment of religious themes in this issue<\/a>\"\" is typical, then I may need to do so more often.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Doctor Who comic book story \u201cThe Doctor and the Nurse\u201d features a group that the Doctor calls \u201creligious fanatics.\u201d They encounter them on their home planet of Hipponensis 3. The Doctor explains that the Siblinghood of Saint Augustine, Physicist \u201care presentists. They believe the past and future don\u2019t exist \u2013 just the present \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":18347,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[133,80],"tags":[895,2765,10169,10182,10890,12639],"class_list":["post-18346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-doctor-who-science-fiction","category-religion","tag-augustine","tag-doctor-who","tag-religion","tag-religious-fanatics","tag-science-fiction","tag-time-travel"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Siblinghood of Saint Augustine, Physicist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Doctor Who comic book story "The Doctor and the Nurse" features a group that the Doctor calls "religious fanatics." 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