james mcgrath on religion in science

James McGrath on Religion in Science Fiction

Dr. James McGrath is Assistant Professor of Religion at Butler

University. Dr. McGrath not only teaches on Biblical Studies, but also

on the interesting topic of science fiction in religion. This is a

fascinating area of research interest for me, specifically as it

connects with film and television studies, popular culture studies,

and expressions of contemporary Western spirituality.

Dr. McGrath recently agreed to respond to a few questions and share

his thoughts on this topic.

TheoFantastique: Dr. McGrath, thank you for participating in this

interview. Your academic work in religion and science fiction is a

fascinating one, and one that I have been interested in for some time.

Let's begin with some of your background. How did you come to develop

an interest in and academic focus on religion and science fiction?

James McGrath: Thank you for giving me this opportunity to talk about

this subject that I find extremely interesting, as you probably

already guessed. It was interest that drove it, but it then escalated

beyond anything I initially anticipated. My main area of academic work

is Biblical studies. There seem to be quite a number of people who

work on Biblical studies who also have a side-interest in science

fiction. Marti Steussy, for instance, is an Old Testament/Hebrew Bible

scholar who has actually published sci-fi novels. Perhaps it is

because scholars in these fields tend to be aware of the specific

historical worldview of the Biblical texts, and if we are also people

who reflect on matters of faith, then we realize more than most the

ways in which changing worldviews correlate with developments in

religious worldviews.

Not long before starting to teach at Butler University, I had begun to

return to an exploration of science fiction that had waned for a

while. Perhaps it was because I had very long train commutes that

year, and was finally able to catch up on reading for pleasure (e.g.,

I read several books in Frank Herbert's Dune series then). But there

were also a number of movies of some significance, such as The Matrix.

At any rate, my department at Butler is fairly small, and so there are

opportunities to explore side interests and teach on them. I thus

introduced a core curriculum course on religion and science fiction,

and it was a huge success. I decided that this might be something

worth writing on as well, so I proposed a conference paper on

Christianity, Buddhism and Baudrillard in The Matrix. Before I knew

it, I was finding myself in touch with people who were also working in

these areas. I never anticipated that this would become such a

long-term area of research and publication - but I'm glad it has. This

is due at least in part to not only the continuing appearance of every

more science fiction with religious themes, but also the publication

of an increasing number of scholarly books on the subject as well.

TheoFantastique: This may seem like a basic question, but I notice on

your website that there are a variety of differing answers to it. How

would you define "science fiction" in your studies?

James McGrath: I have pretty much taken a pragmatic approach and been

willing to include anything that bears the label "science fiction."

One can define it more broadly or more narrowly, and one can certainly

get philosophical about the question. One could easily dispute the

placement of The X-Files in that category, for instance, since it is

not really futuristic and very little intersects with science. Indeed,

Richard Dawkins once commented that its message was anti-scientific,

since Scully was consistently wrong in her scientific skepticism. And

if one can include The X Files then one can probably also include Left

Behind. But if I had to offer a definition, it would probably be that

science fiction is a sub-genre of speculative fiction, a more

inclusive category. Sci-fi will by definition involve some particular

reference to or presupposition of some specific development in science

and/or technology. But I wouldn't say it necessarily has to adopt a

purely scientific outlook. I'd classify LOST as science fiction, even

though it is equally mystery, and even though it is unclear precisely

how many of the mysteries will be given answers that are in some sense

scientific by the time the series ends. There is enough scientific

speculation connected to the show for the category to fit.

TheoFantastique: There has been a long connection between science

fiction and religion. Can you sketch some of that in the past, and how

this continues in the present?

James McGrath: Many would identify Frankenstein as the first work of

science fiction, and it certainly addresses religious issues - in

particular the whole notion of technology allowing us to "play God."

One can trace it even earlier, though. Many themes from 1 Enoch, an

ancient Jewish apocalyptic work, resurface in recent science fiction.

Apocalyptic literature was all about journeys to another, celestial

world where the traveler encounters strange non-human creatures.

Perhaps it is really the earliest science fiction. Even though there

was generally no technology involved in the travel, nothing we would

call "scientific explanations," apocalyptic works often share the

critique of (or at least cautionary remarks about) technology implicit

in much of the more pessimistic sci-fi. In 1 Enoch, angels were

responsible for revealing the technologies of making weapons and

jewelry. In Men In Black and more recently Star Trek: Enterprise, the

aliens gave us Velcro. As far back as we can trace literature - which

was itself, at least in part, a technological development, so this

isn't too surprising - we find expressions of concern about the effect

of technology on religious life, on traditional values, and on society

in general. If we define science in such a way as to include

technology even in the "pre-scientific age," then we can trace these

themes from very ancient sources into modern science fiction.

TheoFantastique: How do you explain the connection between science

fiction and religion?

James McGrath: Science fiction gives us the chance to speculate about

big questions. Will humanity travel beyond earth? Will we survive as a

species or will we destroy ourselves? If we could travel in time, what

would we see if we went back to Jerusalem early in the 3rd decade

C.E.? What would we see if we went back to the beginning of the

universe, or forward to its end? In many respects, science fiction

explores the limits of current science and speculates about what might

be beyond them. And it is precisely in the areas where not only our

knowledge but our tools for finding answers run out that people have

traditionally turned to religion for answers.

The other main reason is that religious beliefs are a major source of

our values, and technology raises ethical questions. On the current

Battlestar Galactica series, for instance, we are given the

opportunity to ask what it means to be human. A lot of people find the

idea that human beings are like machines to be dehumanizing and

opposed to the value and worth traditionally attributed to human

persons. But if we succeed in creating artificial intelligences, this

will not necessarily demean us. Very likely, it will force us to

expand the definition of who or what is valuable beyond merely human

rights. The same thing will occur if we ever have contact with

intelligent extraterrestrials. Science fiction provides wonderful

opportunities for getting into those gray areas that most people

avoid, unless they are philosophers.

TheoFantastique: With the cultural changes in the West in the shift to

late modernity or postmodernity do you think there has been an

increase in religious or spiritual topics being discussed or

incorporated within science fiction?

James McGrath: Absolutely. The best example (to preempt your next

question) is to trace the Star Trek series in its various

incarnations. The original series took a wholly modern outlook. There

was no one with any publicly-visible religious beliefs on the

Enterprise. They may have had them, but this was a secular enterprise,

if you'll allow the pun. On their journeys they encountered two kinds

of civilizations: ones that were enlightened and secular like

themselves, and ones that were primitive and in which religion was

mere superstition that was used to manipulate people and/or keep them

from progressing. If we fast forward to Deep Space Nine, we find that

postmodernism has radically altered the outlook of the show. On this

space station, everyone (except for most of the humans, interestingly

enough) has a religious tradition, and everyone participates in each

other's traditions and rituals, with plenty of room for putting

together one's own eclectic smorgasbord of beliefs. Sci-fi certainly

speculates about the future, but it also reflects the present, and

because it is the future as seen from the present, it provides plenty

of opportunities to reflect on our present values and our aims.

TheoFantastique: Let's talk about another specific example. Your

website includes links to Star Wars. Can you give us some examples as

to how this franchise explores religion or spirituality?

James McGrath: Since I've already mentioned Star Trek in relation to

the shift from modern to postmodern, let me use Star Wars as an

example of how Eastern traditions have become influential.

Particularly starting in the 1960s, Americans became aware of and

began exploring Eastern religious traditions - in particular Hinduism

and Buddhism - as never before. Star Wars was the first major motion

picture to not only incorporate such concepts, but to bring them to

center stage. The idea of "the force" certainly has parallels in

Eastern traditions - perhaps Taoism in particular. For a while, many

religion scholars thought that George Lucas had got it wrong - he had

the Jedi speak of the need to "bring balance to the force," but that

seemed to involve wiping out the bad guys. In Taoism, on the other

hand, the notion of a balance between Yin and Yang is not about a

struggle between good and evil, but about opposing forces that are

both necessary to existence. In this tradition, what is evil is losing

the balance.

Having seen the full 6 episodes Lucas has offered us, I now think that

the idea of balance is the right idea. The Jedi had certainly

misunderstood - they had thought that by opposing all attachment,

shutting out emotion (particularly negative ones, but even love was

forbidden), they could eliminate the danger of the dark side of the

force. But they were wrong - the answer was not suppressing emotions

but keeping them under control. In other words, balance. I have often

thought that Anakin/Darth Vader could have said at the end of Episode

III, "But I thought you said you wanted balance." At that point, there

are two Sith and two Jedi left. You could call that balance! In

Episode VI, it is balance that Luke discovers and that enables him to

redeem his father. Anakin had not learned balance: Dooku cut off his

hand, he cut off both of Dooku's and then his head. Luke sees that he

has cut off his father's hand, just as his father had cut off his, and

pulls back from going any further. He says he is a Jedi, like his

father was, but he has actually recovered something the Jedi had

claimed to stand for but had lost sight of: balance.

TheoFantastique: Your website also includes links that explore

religion in The Matrix and Contact. Can you touch on the differing

ways in which religion is explored in these films?

James McGrath: I have a conference paper that is available online at

http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/ati/Visions/V1/mcgrath%20paper.pdf

that talks about some of the religious themes in the Matrix films.

Although it was given before the final installment of the trilogy, I

still think it is a useful discussion of some of the religious and

philosophical traditions in the film. As for Contact, I really like

the film, because on the one hand, it strongly emphasizes critical

thinking, in the way one would expect from Carl Sagan, who gave the

world the "Baloney-Detection Kit." But it also shows parallels and

places where the two can coexist. Sometimes there are things we have

experienced, but for which we do not have proof. Seeking proof,

seeking evidence, is a good thing, but that shouldn't mean that we sit

around doing nothing, and devote ourselves to nothing we cannot

provide evidence for. The film also highlights the important fact that

the existence of intelligent extraterrestrial life raises issues for

terrestrial religions. Authors such as David Wilkinson, Paul Davies,

and Steven Dick have addressed some of these issues. Would Christians,

for instance, believe that the aliens had had their own incarnation of

God, their own revelation? Or would they try to evangelize them? Some

of these scenarios have been explored in science fiction, mostly in

short stories. Ray Bradbury's "The Fire Balloons" is just one of many

examples. Many religious believers set these issues aside and assume

that there cannot be aliens, because of their Christian beliefs. But

not all theologians find Christian belief and a more widely populated

universe incompatible. If one wants to think seriously about theology

in a context in which the possibilities explored in science fiction

are widely known and taken seriously, then one has to tackle these

issues in a much more thoughtful and serious way. Films like Contact

provide a useful starting point for just these sorts of discussions.

TheoFantastique: Australian scholar Adam Possamai has written about

hyper-real religions that draw upon science fiction and other forms of

speculative fiction as sources of mythology for the religion. He

discusses Matrixism and Jediism. Have you seen this phenomenon in your

own research?

James McGrath: I haven't looked into it much, except to note that

there are parallels between fandom and religion, creating communities

around a set of common passions. The Matrix and Star Wars seek to

express ideas from religious traditions in a form accessible to a

contemporary audience, so it is not surprising that they have

adherents. But in most instances, I think that this sort of

self-identification is more a way of rejecting traditional religious

beliefs than genuinely developing alternative ones in any real sense.

If there were any students out there who seriously had Jedi powers,

they would use them in connection with classes: "You don't need to see

my assignments" (waves hand).

TheoFantastique: In my research I have been intrigued by the

connection between Mormonism and science fiction. As Adherents.com

notes, a large percentage of sci fi authors are LDS, and one of the

most prominent is Orson Scott Card. And the late Marion K. Smith who

taught at Brigham Young University spoke of a "link between Mormonism

and speculative fiction" that in his view "is well-rooted in Mormon

cosmology and theology." Can you comment on this?

James McGrath: Glen Larson, creator of the original Battlestar

Galactica, is another example. Mormonism explicitly includes the

belief that there are other planets - indeed, my understanding is that

their doctrine of the afterlife incorporates this. So it is not

surprising that there have been a lot of Mormons connected with

science fiction.

TheoFantastique: What do you think the near future holds in terms of

the relationship between science fiction and religion?

James McGrath: The new seasons of Battlestar Galactica and LOST! I've

got a book that I edited which I hope will come out soon that will

touch on this. Initially, many seemed perplexed that religion and

science fiction should ever intersect at all - one is speculating

about the future, one is stereotypically thought of as being dogmatic

about the past. But we've seen that interaction is not only possible

but natural, and can be invigorating for both. I look forward to more

- both more serious sci-fi that incorporates religious topics in some

way, and more academic studies that take a deeper philosophical and

theological look at recent science fiction. It not only provides for

great thought experiments. It makes talking about very difficult

issues fun.

TheoFantastique: Dr. McGrath, thank you again for your thoughts. This