ABSTRACT
As we come to the end of our survey of ways that religion intersects with science fiction, it may be obvious that we have just scratched the surface of this complex and multifaceted topic. We started off by puzzling over the fluidity of definitions for both terms (religion and science fiction, including the broader formulation, speculative fiction). This led us to consider some of the myriad approaches SF creators have taken to exploring and representing specific religious traditions. Complicating our study, however, was the propensity of SF to invent new religious forms and expressions. “What might count as religion, and how would we know?” we asked. We grounded our study by recalling the mythological roots of much religion and much fiction considered speculative, whether called science fiction, fantasy, or something else. We also focused on certain core concerns of religious studies as represented in SF: the idea of divinity, the concept of evil, and the nature of humanity. SF's interest in alien encounters drew on all those concerns, we found, in projecting possible outcomes of human engagement with the “not human” or “other.” We turned to the particular contributions SF makes through imaginative formulations of gender, race, and the issues associated with both. Finally, we turned to “final things” as represented by apocalyptic scenarios of end times.
