Science fiction and Fantasy (SF/F) novels and stories often use religious themes as an integral part of the story. This may be due generally to the experimental or exploratory nature of the Science Fiction and Fantasy genre. Of course, the use of religious themes by SF/F authors does not mean that religious faith is necessarily being promoted. Often, the stories are critical of religion as a human institution and theology as a relevant way of thought. However, in this article we consider the use of religious themes in SF/F to achieve different storytelling perspectives using stories that deal with questions of a spiritual or religious nature.

Religious themes cataloged in SF/F as follows:

• After life, eternal state
• Angels and Demons
• Church
• Eschatology, end times
• God(s)
• Hell and punishment
• Humanity, what it means to be human
• Jesus (divine, human, fictional)
• Messiah, who saves humanity
• Metaphysics, forces, powers, and knowledge
• Morality
• Sin and evil
• Theocracy, political governance by religion.

Within these themes, some characters assume a Creator exists while others are agnostic or atheistic. But they all operate and behave in ways that shed light on the author’s use of religion. Read the rest of this entry »

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