Religion in Science Fiction: The Evolution of an Idea and the Extinction of a Genre (Scientific Studies of Religion: Inquiry and Explanation) - Hardcover

Steven Hrotic

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1472533550 ISBN 13: 9781472533555

Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic, 2014

Synopsis

Religion in Science Fiction investigates the history of the representations of religion in science fiction literature. Space travel, futuristic societies, and non-human cultures are traditional themes in science fiction. Speculating on the societal impacts of as-yet-undiscovered technologies is, after all, one of the distinguishing characteristics of science fiction literature. A more surprising theme may be a parallel exploration of religion: its institutional nature, social functions, and the tensions between religious and scientific worldviews. Steven Hrotic investigates the representations of religion in 19th century proto-science fiction, and genre science fiction from the 1920s through the end of the century. Taken together, he argues that these stories tell an overarching storya metanarrativeof an evolving respect for religion, paralleling a decline in the belief that science will lead us to an ideal (and religion-free) future. Science fictions metanarrative represents more than simply a shift in popular perceptions of religion: it also serves as a model for cognitive anthropology, providing new insights into how groups and identities form in a globalized world, and into how crucial a role narratives may play. Ironically, this same perspective suggests that science fiction, as it was in the 20th century, may no longer exist.

About this title

About the Author

Steven Hrotic is a member of faculty at the department of Religion, University of Vermont.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1472533550
• ISBN 13: 9781472533555
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 240