Christian science fiction

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Christian science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction, in which there are strong Christian themes, or which are written from a Christian point of view. As with most forms of Christian literature the boundaries are not clearly defined. A Christian theme may be subtle, expressed by way of analogy, or more explicit. Some Christian writers do not always write with Christian themes to the fore. Others, while writing to entertain, may have explicit presentations of the gospel included in their stories. Christian science fiction can also fall under the broader subgenre of Spiritual science fiction.

As with all science fiction, the boundaries with other genres may blur, with elements of fantasy present in some cases. Others, such as the stories by Richard J. Sutcliffe are alternate history. Christian bookstores, like some of their secular counterparts are often unsure how to deal with such stories, and may shelve what few they carry under the rather generic and somewhat unhelpful label "futuristic literature".

The key to classifying speculative literature as science fiction is whether the plot depends on some aspect of science or technology, that is, whether the "science" aspects constitute a major character without which the plot would fall apart. Lacking this characteristic, some other genre tag might be more appropriate.

[edit] Examples

Philip K. Dick was a convert to the Episcopal Church. Many of his novels and short stories combine religious themes with science fiction, most explicitly in the books from VALIS onward.

The Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye could also be considered Christian science fiction, though the emphasis is on Christian prophecy in the future rather than scientific advance, and so a better term for this series may be "future-history fantasy" or "apocalyptic fantasy".

Christianity is also examined in other science fiction, sometimes from a sympathetic point of view and sometimes not. Examples of this include A Case of Conscience by James Blish and The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven.

[edit] See also

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