As I work my way through the Buffy tv series (“work” is too severe a word here — I’m having a blast), I’m struck by how bilbical themes, language, and images lend themselves to the science fiction imagination. This isn’t earth-shattering news, I know. What’s striking is how the Bible is translated into this medium. Appreciating the wild and wacky symbolism of biblical apocalyptic — including gargantuan bad guys battling the supernatural good in a world that seems like ours but is nevertheless radically transformed — one expects that to have some carrying power into our cultural sci fi milieu. And it does dominate, but that’s not the only biblical genre to make the leap from ancient page to postmodern screen. Themes of journey, home, love, and faith washed with the biblical brush of narrative and poetry show up right regularly, too. I’m going to be following Dr. James McGrath’s blog “Exploring Our Matrix” as he preps to teach a course next semester on the topic of religion and science fiction.
