Religion and Science Fiction Print

Call for Proposals

This Group invites proposals that explore the intersections of religion and science fiction in ways that illuminate theoretical, methodological, and substantive issues in the study of religion. We are especially interested in proposals that invite audience conversation, make use of new media, and imagine presentations coincident with science fiction’s techniques for presenting alternative “sciences” and worlds. For 2012 we seek proposals on the following topics:

  • The religious imagination of Philip K. Dick, especially his recently published The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011)
  • Jesuits in outer space
  • Alternative notions of human being/subjectivity, including gender, sexuality, race, species, mortality, embodiment, etc., and the implications for religious belief and practice
  • Radical alterities
  • Teaching science fiction in the religion classroom
  • Conversations on how religion and science fiction mutate the study of religion

Mission

This Group connects the study of religion to the limitless possibilities for world-making, soul-saving, god-imagining, community-forming, and human-being posed by science fiction (and broadly, “speculative” fictions). Science Fiction (SF) is a literary and visual medium addressing the most basic existential and teleological questions human beings can pose. As the genre of infinite possible worlds, human and superhuman becoming, SF has a unique ability to ask, examine, and suggest answers to the most profound questions and to envision transcendence beyond traditional realist literature or religious interpretations of the world.

Anonymity of Review Process

Proposals are anonymous to chairs and steering committee members during review, but visible to chairs prior to final acceptance or rejection.

Questions?

Rudy V. Busto
University of California, Santa Barbara
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Bruce M. Sullivan
Northern Arizona University
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Method of Submission

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