The Best Chaplain is a Starfleet Captain: Star Trek, Spirituality, and Fictional Spiritual Directors

Speculative fiction has often been a place where questions of morality, theodicy, and ethics are wrestled with. While Star Trek has often portrayed a post-Christian (and perhaps even post-religion) universe, several of its characters, particularly its captains, have played the role of chaplain or spiritual director, guide, and mentor. Star Trek’s Discovery and Strange New Worlds have given us the opportunity to see Christianity remixed. Captain Christopher Pike, whose father taught both science and comparative religions, provides a glimpse into the tension between science and faith. Although not explicitly a priest or minister, Pike fulfills that role to his crew (and to some of his fans), to the point that one fanfic author reinterprets him as a Jesuit priest from the Vatican Science Observatory. This paper explore how Star Trek captains, particularly the most recent incarnation of Christopher Pike, provides fandom with ethical guides and fictional spiritual directors.