8th+grade+-+Golden+Age+of+SF+-+Religious+Themes

The religious/spiritual themes present in the stories of the Golden Age of Science __F__iction.

Alyssa Zanone
 * Religious Themes in Science Fiction**

It’s difficult to explain the motives behind others writing styles. What caused a person to write about something that effects them, or something they have an interest is often difficult for others to identify or understand. This would seem to be the case in certain science fiction pieces. Sometimes, the author use religious themes to reflect their beliefs, while in other cases an author may express their opinions on spirituality through other forms, perhaps due to oppression. Typically, an author will either accept the ideas of spirituality or reject them.

“I believe in writing multi-cultural. I try to do it myself, but I can never write as well about a culture I'm not a member of, as I can about a culture I am a member of. I find it in reverse: whenever somebody who is not a Mormon writes about Mormons, they always get it." [|-Orson Scott Card]



However, Card would seem to contradict himself in later life. The author was never Catholic, but some Catholic critics remarked that he wrote the best novel about Catholics they had ever read. This story, called //Speaker for the Dead// later won a Nebula award. Other SciFi writers also expressed their positive attitudes about other religions in their writing as well. Judith Well wrote about a Quaker society in her Science Fiction novel //Pennterra.// Another author, Pier Anthony researched and wrote on the Roma (Gypsies) in //And Eternity// and //Being a Green Mother//. Orson Scott Card also wrote a novel on the life a young Jewish man's life, love, and other experiences called //Enchantment//. There is also a different type of author who expresses their negative opinions on religion through their writing. This is often viewed as hyper-critical, this is a way an author expresses what they cannot always say aloud.

Rarely, an author will find a different way to present their opinions about spirituality. That is new, but not trendy or extremely critical of the groups beliefs. [|J.R.R. Tolkien] wrote a story in the late 1930's to amuse his children. This later developed into a series of adult Fantasy tales. Tolkien was not a religious man, in fact, he considered himself atheist. However, while the things he expressed in his writing may not have been directly religious, they did have spiritual themes. Tolkien claimed that in his stories, any relationship to religion was not allegorical, that he did not intend to bring the issues of religion into his writing. On the other hand, couldn’t some of his subject matter (including the battles between good and evil) be, at least, considered spiritual? While it may not have been intentional, the relationship seems undeniable.

Souces and related pieces: http://www.answers.com/topic/religious-ideas-in-science-fiction http://www.oivas.com/bjb/bjb-es1.html http://www.adherents.com/lit/ http://anitra.net/books/sffh/theology.html