Why does Speculative Fiction seem obsessed with priests? In a genre that pushes the bounds of what is possible, it may seem unusual that priest/chaplain coded characters show up often. Contrary to the idea that religion and science are incompatible, speculative fiction often places a religious character at the forefront of space exploration or in the midst of a moral quandry. While many speculative fictional worlds create new religions, some draw upon Christianity, positioning it in a new context. This paper examines priest/chaplain characters in The Sparrow, Doctor Who, Firefly, and Star Trek, demonstrating how these characters allow characters (and the reader) to wrestle with questions of ethics/morality, spirituality, and theodicy.
One of the classic examples of “priests in space,” Fr. Emilio Sandoz’s story in Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow places the Society of Jesus in a role that mirrors its historical role – adjacent to exploration. Instead of the seeking the New World, Fr. Sandoz and his companions (Jesuits and laity) journey to Rakhat to see the world that has been broadcasting radio transmissions to Earth. The journey is not easy, with torture and a crisis of faith – demonstrating what happens when people try to do the right thing for the right reason but with disastrous consequences.
In Doctor Who’s “Time of Angels”, we see a group of what seem to be soldiers, but learn they are actually “The Church”. As the Doctor explains about their leader, Father Octavian, “He's their bishop, they're his clerics. It's the fifty-first century. The church has moved on.” This begs the question, has the church moved on or simply returned to a role in its past? Throughout history, the church has played a militaristic role – one cannot forget the crusades, the Teutonic Knights, and even the Jesuits. It should not come as a surprise, then, that the church is portrayed in such a way. What is surprising, though, is the lack of religious vestments and trappings, leaving antiquated clerical titles in what seems a secular organization. However, the secularity is questioned in the following exchange:
Doctor: Do you trust me?
Father Octavian: I have faith.
In this exchange, we see that there is more to this church militant than simply titles, they do still maintain a belief system guided by faith. The second example of the church militant is more surprising because it is a monastic order. Called the “Headless Monks,” this religious order believes in listening to their hearts instead of their minds, so they behead themselves, pressing the issue of soul versus mind, reason versus spirit. Not to be outdone by the cleric soldiers, the headless monks can fire energy blasts from their hands and channel that energy into the swords they carry. The group follows an entity known as the Papal Mainframe, leaving the viewer to question where the creators intend this as the future of the church and just how much of the militarism comes from evolution and how much harkens back to the church’s history.
Joss Whedon’s Firefly and Serenity give us the character of Shepherd Book, an itinerant preacher who when paired with River gives us a wealth of discussion on the role of faith and spirituality in the wake of a failed rebellion. While Shepherd Book sometimes functions as the voice of wisdom and reason in the midst of his own spiritual crisis, he also proves himself quite handy with a gun:
Zoe: “Preacher, don’t the Bible have some pretty specific things to say about killing?”
Shepherd Book: “Quite specific. It is however somewhat fuzzier on the subject of kneecaps.”
Star Trek’s Discovery and Strange New Worlds gives us the opportunity to see Christianity remixed. In “New Eden” (Discovery S02Ep02), we see a civilization that were rescued by an “angel” during World War III that brought their church to the planet called Terralysium. To solve the problem of their religious diversity, they combine their faiths into one. Captain Christopher Pike, who’s father taught both science and comparative religions, provides a glimpse into the tension between science and faith, from his first encounter with Discovery’s spore drive ("If you're telling me that this ship can skip across the universe on a highway made of mushrooms, I kind of have to go on faith.") to his reinterpretation of Clarke’s law: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic and any sufficiently advanced extraterrestrial intelligence is indistinguishable from God.”
Although not explicitly a priest of minister, Pike fulfills that role and is one of the more explicitly religious and spiritual Starfleet captains.
Drawing up these sources, this paper examines the role of the priest/minister in speculative fiction as a method for wrestling with difficult questions, including theodicy, and investigates the allure of the priest in space.
Why does Speculative Fiction seem obsessed with priests? In a genre that pushes the bounds of what is possible, it may seem unusual that priest/chaplain coded characters show up often. Contrary to the idea that religion and science are incompatible, speculative fiction often places a religious character at the forefront of space exploration or in the midst of a moral quandry. While many speculative fictional worlds create new religions, some draw upon Christianity, positioning it in a new context. This paper examines priest/chaplain characters in The Sparrow, Doctor Who, Firefly, and Star Trek, demonstrating how these characters allow characters (and the reader) to wrestle with questions of ethics/morality, spirituality, and theodicy and why sci-fi seems obsessed with priests in space.