“The Vast Expanse of Interstellar Space”: Alan Gregory's Science Fiction Theology

Abstract

Vast Expanse of Interstellar Space: Alan Gregory's Science Fiction Theology Science Fiction Theology : Beauty and the Transformation of the Sublime. By Alan P. R. Gregory. Waco, Tex.: Baylor University Press, 2015. $59.95 (cloth).The late Marion Hatchett, professor of liturgies and author of the massive Commentary on the American Prayer Book,1 once told this writer that he believed that the Reverend Howard Galley had written Eucharistic Prayer C in 1969 on a washing machine in a laundromat in the New York City neighborhood of Chelsea. vast expanse of space is a well-known line from it.2 One aspect that might give the anecdote credibility is that by that year, the television series Star Trek3 had impressed such words as interstellar upon the imagination and vocabulary of the American public.Watching episodes of it today, it is perhaps difficult to conceive the impact the show had then. The special effects, costumes, and makeup are cheesy by 1960 standards, never mind todays. The acting was uneven, to say the least. Star Trek made its mark, however, by the mix of characters, especially the half-human, half-alien Mr. Spock. Lieutenant Uhura, a strong and competent leader, was thefirst significant television role played by an African-American woman. Japanese and Russian officers showed that humanity had made peace with its past. The tension between Spock and Captain Kirk was the mainspring of the drama, as they gradually become friends.The stories were by and large well-conceived riffs on social and political themes of the day, as well as some metaphysical musings, especially on the question of what does it mean to be a human being. That is arguably the constant underlying plot line of all the program s episodes, and the five series which have followed it. Because it is set in space, specifically where no man has gone before, with technology like faster-than-light spacecraft drives and teleportation, Star Trek is quintessential science fiction. As such, it is also rife with theological musings. For as John Calvin pointed out, to know is to know oneself, to know what it is to be truly human.4More Star Trek movies are on the way, continuing to follow Spock and Kirk as young officers. The Martian is presently at the top of the box office. Gravity was a recent huge success, as well as Prometheus (the latest of the Alien franchise) and Interstellar, all films with significant theological underpinnings. At this time of writing, there is a storm of publicity to prepare for the imminent release of the seventh film in the Stars Wars series. May the Force be with you! has been a colloquial staple since the first film in the series was released in 1977. is a valediction that is also almost a prayer: God be with you! Those who consider science fiction to be beneath them need to pay attention: these films are all intentionally proclaiming various perspectives on God, humanity, creation, and the sublime to huge global audiences. They affect us all, in one way or another.Therefore, theologians must be conversant in science fictions multitude of theologies, and preachers must become fluent in its major conventions and vocabulary, as well.5ScientifictionClive Staples Lewis is perhaps best known for his fantasy novels set in Narnia. But he wrote three major science fiction novels as well, Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength.6 They are all allegories on Christian themes, seen through the eyes of the recurring character, Dr. Elwin Ransom. Lewis also wrote a reflection on science fiction, or scientifiction, as it was then still being called. In On Science Fiction, Lewis attempts a defense of the genre. He makes a number of points that are still relevant. First, not all readers enjoy science fiction. is mythopoeic, and some people simply loathe such literature, whether fairy tales or fantasies like J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings: It would seem from the reactions it produces, that the mythopoeic is rather, for good or ill, a mode of imagination which does something to us at a deep level. …