Theology and Star Trek

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Edited by Shaun C. Brown and Amanda MacInnis Hackney

Type: Studies
Subject: One Film > Star Trek (TV Series)
Keywords: Star Trek, religion
Publishing date: 2023
Publisher: Fortress Academic
Collection: Theology, Religion, and Pop Culture
Language: English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Hardcover • 330 pages
6 x 9 ½ inches (15.5 x 24 cm)

ISBN

978-1-9787071-1-5

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Book Presentation:
After Star Trek: Enterprise concluded in 2005, Star Trek went on hiatus until the 2009 film Star Trek and its sequels. With the success of these films, Star Trek returned to the small screen with series like Discovery, Picard, and Strange New Worlds. These films and series, in different ways, reflect cultural shifts in Western society. Theology and Star Trek gathers a group of scholars from various religious and theological disciplines to reflect upon the connection between theology and Star Trek anew. The essays in part one, “These are the Voyages,” explore the overarching themes of Star Trek and the thought of its creator, Gene Roddenberry. Part two, “Strange New Worlds,” discusses politics and technology. Part three, “To Explore and to Seek,” focuses on issues related to practice and formation. Part four, “To Boldly Go,” contemplates the future of Star Trek.

About the authors:
Shaun C. Brown (PhD, Wycliffe College, University of Toronto) is associate minister at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Garland, TX and an adjunct professor at Johnson University and Hope International University.Amanda MacInnis Hackney (PhD, Wycliffe College, University of Toronto) served as a college and seminary course instructor for seven years, teaching classes in theology, spiritual formation, and ethics. She is the architect and curator of the Women and Theology Research Database.

Press Reviews:
The contributors to Theology and Star Trek have boldly gone to the final frontier of inquiry about the franchise’s treatment of religion, from Gene Roddenberry’s depiction of classical gods as alien travelers to the spiritual practices of Vulcans, Klingons, and Bajorans in later series. Important themes discussed include free will, ecology, and transhumanism, among many others. These essays enhance Star Trek’s optimistic hope for a future in which humans and non-humans work together while respecting our infinite diversity in infinite combinations.
-- Jason T. Eberl, Saint Louis University; co-editor of Star Trek and Philosophy: The Wrath of Kant

The Star Trek multiverse is one of late modernity’s defining explorations of science fiction’s great "What if?" question. For far too long, scholars have ignored the extraordinary depth of religious feeling and the ways in which it defines not only Earthbound cultures, but those beyond our solar system. Theology and Star Trek makes another bold essay into the strange new worlds of the religious imagination.
-- Douglas E. Cowan, Renison University College, University of Waterloo

See the publisher website: Fortress Academic

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