{"id":96380,"date":"2023-10-19T06:02:45","date_gmt":"2023-10-19T10:02:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=96380"},"modified":"2023-10-17T10:23:12","modified_gmt":"2023-10-17T14:23:12","slug":"teaching-earthseed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2023\/10\/teaching-earthseed.html","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Earthseed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I have long wanted to teach a course in which I could give Octavia Butler\u2019s novels\u00a0The Parable of the Sower<\/em><\/a> and\u00a0The Parable of the Talents<\/em><\/a> the detailed attention they deserve. For anyone interested in the intersection of religion and science fiction, these novels are inevitably going to be fascinating. The main character, Lauren Olamina, is the daughter of a Christian minister but ends up creating her own religion called Earthseed<\/a>. The text that collects her sayings and insights comes to be known as\u00a0The Book of the Living<\/em>. Here is just one example of how timely and prophetic this material is:<\/p>\n

When apparent stability disintegrates,
\nAs it must\u2013
\nGod is Change\u2013
\nPeople tend to give in
\n<\/a>\"\"To fear and depression,
\nTo need and greed.
\nWhen no influence is strong enough
\nTo unify people
\nThey divide.
\nThey struggle,
\nOne against one,
\nGroup against group,
\nFor survival, position, power.
\nThey remember old hates and generate new ones,
\nThe create chaos and nurture it.
\nThey kill and kill and kill,
\nUntil they are exhausted and destroyed,
\nUntil they are conquered by outside forces,
\nOr until one of them becomes
\nA leader
\nMost will follow,
\nOr a tyrant
\nMost fear.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As if that weren\u2019t enough, the story envisages a future impacted by climate change and (decades before Donald Trump ran for president) a politician who promises to \u201cmake America great again.\u201d I\u2019ve mentioned this before, but until now haven\u2019t had the opportunity to make these novels and related or comparable ones the focus of a course. I will do so in my Religion and Science Fiction class when I offer it next semester, but will probably develop this into a distinct class of its own, focused on speculative climate fiction. The course will include Margaret Atwood\u2019s\u00a0The Year of the Flood<\/em> and other novels and short stories, perhaps including Kim Stanley Robinson\u2019s\u00a0The Ministry for the Future<\/em>. Atwood\u2019s and Robinson\u2019s novels both envisage the creation of new religious movements in response to climate change<\/a> and other issues, just as Butler\u2019s do.<\/p>\n

Do you have any favorite stories in the cli-fi genre that you recommend, ones that feature religion in some way? If so, please share your recommendations!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have long wanted to teach a course in which I could give Octavia Butler\u2019s novels\u00a0The Parable of the Sower and\u00a0The Parable of the Talents the detailed attention they deserve. For anyone interested in the intersection of religion and science fiction, these novels are inevitably going to be fascinating. The main character, Lauren Olamina, is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":96386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[1948,2911,6988,8318,10171,10890],"class_list":["post-96380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-fiction","tag-climate-change","tag-dystopian","tag-margaret-atwood","tag-octavia-butler","tag-religion-and-science-fiction","tag-science-fiction"],"yoast_head":"\nTeaching Earthseed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I have long wanted to teach a course in which I could give Octavia Butler's novels\u00a0The Parable of the Sower and\u00a0The Parable of the Talents the detailed\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2023\/10\/teaching-earthseed.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Teaching Earthseed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I have long wanted to teach a course in which I could give Octavia Butler's novels\u00a0The Parable of the Sower and\u00a0The Parable of the Talents the detailed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2023\/10\/teaching-earthseed.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. 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