Geekklesia discussion

As for me, I'm just starting Douglas Cowan's Sacred Space, and really looking forward to it.

Sacred Space: The Quest for Transcendence in Science Fiction Film and Television

I've been reading Douglas Cowan's _Sacred Space: The Quest for Transcendence in Science Fiction Film and Television_, and today I saw this statement: ""(A)lthough science fiction does not abjure religion, it points out in no uncertain terms how limited, how pedantic are our terrestrial religious notions." (p 88)"

Is this fair? What do you think?

There are popular authors who do this; there are also popular authors who take a different view--it might be argued whether C. S. Lewis counts (his Space Trilogy is science fiction from before the "space age"), but Ray Bradbury certainly does. I remember one episode of Bablyon 5 that handled the question of human religion versus alien religions in a quite interesting manner, displaying the diversity of human beliefs against the rather monolithic belief systems of each of the alien cultures.

But then the question is whether you are asking whether that is a fair assessment of science fiction or a fair assessment of human religions.

M. J., first of all let me thank you for your reply and apologize that its taken me so long to respond. I have been doing a LOT of traveling lately, in places where it has been difficult to get a reliable internet connection, and I hate replying to message boards on my phone.

Having said all of that, its interesting that you mention B5, as Cowan spends a great deal of time looking at that series in his book. I think its interesting that series with atheists/secular humanists as the main creative forces B5, Buffy/Firefly, Star Trek franchise) seem to have the most exciting things to say about religion.

At this point, I'm not sure if I was referring to SF or human religion when I wrote that. Although, the question does resonate with a quotation from Carl Sagan that Cowan included in his opening chapters that referred to how small the god of most human religions (including Christianity) seemed when compared with the infinities of space. So perhaps I was asking about the fairness of the statement against religion, i.e., do we present a limited version of God?

I think part of the "problem" is that most "human" religions are humanocentric, and Christianity is in that sense the most egregious: it is about The God becoming human to save particularly humans, along with the rest of the universe in some way that it not clarified. The problem arises because of the now fairly accepted dogma in science, that there must be uncounted intelligent species scattered among the galaxies, and therefore what happens here on earth cannot possibly have universal significance.

I disagree. I read just recently that there is what we might call a "fudge factor" in the formula. One of the factors is the probability that life would occur given the conditions for life, which in the popular formula is given as almost certain, but for which there is no evidence and according to one theorist might be almost negligible. I think the probability of other intelligent life in the galaxy is extremely low, not extremely high. If I am right, it is still possible that we are the only sentient mortal beings in the universe.

Even if I am wrong, though, that does not mean that we are not "center stage", the place where the most important events in the universe are happening. That would only mean that we have the message the aliens need, not the other way around. How they get the message is not entirely clear to me; but then, I don't know that they exist so it is not yet a problem.

Saying that humanity is God's primary concern is only limiting if we know as a fact that there is anyone else in the universe requiring His attention. In a sense, the notion that God would have created millions of rather similar intelligent creatures in different galaxies makes Him less interesting, not more; I'm inclined to think that whatever is out there is very different from sentient life, simply because an infinite God cannot express Himself once in all of time and space, so "encore" is the one thing He is least likely to do.

New book for me: The Vampire Defanged by Susannah Clements


http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005Q5V...

New read is Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book . I'm about half way through, but its much better than I expected.

the Man in the High Castle by Phillip Dick and Orthodoxy by G K Chesterton.

Looks like a nice variety!

I like to keep a good a mix of new/old and/or fiction/non-fiction.

Just added books that I've completed to the group's shelves. Which, if any have members of this group read?

What should we read?

I'm finishing up Holy Superheroes! Revised and Expanded Edition: Exploring the Sacred in Comics, Graphic Novels, and Film: Exploring the Sacred in Comics, Graphic Novels and Films, right now, and then looking to start Marvelous Myths: Marvel Superheroes and Everyday Faith soon. Any interest in starting a discussion on this?

Can anyone help me find a book I sampled and lost? It was titled (I think) some variant on INRI (the inscription over the cross) and the idea was that alien communications made some sort of reference to scripture or theology.
Any glimmer of recognition?
Thanks

Can anyone help me find a book I sampled and lost? It was titled (I think) some variant on INRI (the inscription over the cross) and the idea was that alien communications made some sort of reference to scripture or theology.
Any glimmer of recognition?
Thanks
-Cole