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I need your help #bookstodon. One of the classes I'm taking at the graduate level this semester is Religion & Science Fiction. I read more fantasy, and would like to do my research paper on something that's not obvious (like ST/BS5/Matrix/etc.) & I'd love to use more modern sf rather than the golden age classics.
Anyone have any interesting ideas for my research paper on regarding the intersection of religion and science fiction?
@bookstodon #sciencefiction #scifi #ReligiousStudies #academia
@KitMuse @bookstodon A couple of Heinlein novels that spring to mind are Job and Stranger in a Strange Land, both of which have religious themes.
Also the science backed religion in the first Foundation novel by Asimov. And Childhoods End by Clarke has some broad cosmic themes to it, although they don't emerge till late in the book.
Edit. Sorry, just noticed you wanted to avoid the Golden Age
@KitMuse @bookstodon The Gnome trilogy by Terry Pratchett is SF, and Pratchett has his usual deconstructive fun with religion in it. Their belief in Arnold Bros(est 1905) as God, and the dogmatic insistence that there can be nothing outside The Store is a rich seam, cleverly mined.
@tokensane @bookstodon @KitMuse
I'll second both of these. "Job" in particular is one of the best direct satires I've seen of authoritarian Christianity. The other weirdly enough is the the Gnostic Gospels; it's an alternate garden of Eden story that's absolutely wild.
@tokensane @KitMuse @bookstodon
The first that comes to mind is The Nine Billion Names Of God by Arthur C Clarke, but I think that's Golden Age.
Lord Of Light by Roger Zelazny probably is, too.
Hmm, I shall ponder some more.