Can SF or F Enhance People’s Religious Beliefs? I was the moderator, and a good thing, too. The answer is too obvious: No it doesn’t. Few people will come away from F/SF with their religious beliefs altered in any fashion. — SF Author Mike Flynn

A young man who wishes to remain a sound atheist cannot be too careful of his reading. — C.S. Lewis

I was thinking of this subject recently when I came across one of Mike Flynn’s latest posts. I would be part the category of few people who had their religious beliefs altered in any way from reading of F/SF, or to be more accurate to have F/SF have some part in the grace God gave me in conversion.

Science Fiction was my first love as a book reader and it is what turned me from an occasional reader to a book junkie. Partly this was because of the number of SF books my father had and growing up in the time leading to the moon landing. For me this was a time of science conquering everything and answering everything and as a young atheist my inbuilt needs for faith and hope turned science to try to fill those wants. Isaac Asimov easily became my favorite author and I became the type of SF reader that prided themselves on reading hard SF where technical detail and scientific accuracy was important to me. Arthur C. Clarke, Larry Niven, Hal Clement, and of course Asimov were my SF heroes. Clarke’s view of religion throughout his novels and especially Childhood’s End dovetailed nicely with my own views and of course the societal remodeling of so many of Robert Heinlein’s books made him also a favorite author. So my choice of reading fit nicely with the C.S. Lewis quote.

Fantasy though was a genre I did not seek out. It just did not fit in my scientific worldview and if it didn’t have some mock-science basis for the world involved I just could not enter that world. I remember reading one of the Xanth novels which are humorous fantasy adventures that I was so stuck in my worldview that walking skeletons annoyed me so much that I could not finish the book. Though books like “The Once and Future King” had me enthralled so I wasn’t always consistent in what I could not suspend belief for. Perhaps something more mythological was fine for me since I so enjoyed the works of Homer and stories involving the Greek and Roman Pantheons of gods. I could enjoy stories about gods when they were not gods at all but eternal humans with all the human foibles. I never even read the Lord of the Rings until about eleven years ago (making up for that by multiple re-readings).

My opening up to Fantasy was the result that I had pretty much read all the SF I could find at the base library at NAS Whidbey Island and so decided to try a Fantasy series and one where the library had the whole series. I settled on the The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen Donaldson which I enjoyed and became more open to this genre. But SF and especially hard SF was my first love and what I always searched for. Later I started reading some of the Forgotten Realms stories which often followed the common thread of a team of people going after some evil overlord, etc on a quest. While at sea somebody who shared my taste in reading opened up his library of books he had onboard to me and I first became acquainted with R.A. Salvatore with the Icewind Dale Trilogy which I quite enjoyed and had a connection in my movement towards conversion.

One of the things I noticed in reading the various hero quests is the virtues of the heroes. These fantasy heroes were more the classic heroes than the annoying anti-hero we have today. These were heroes who fought temptation and would build up their virtues and not compromise them. I really came to love these stories and I started to wonder why it was that they were so attractive to me when I was not really willing to build my own virtues and had lots of excuses of why I could compromise my own values for convenience sake. I found it quite annoying that I wanted to act like them, but wasn’t really willing to take the time to in fact emulate them. My earlier heroes were the stoic intellectual beings like Sherlock Holmes, Spock, Data, etc who when I failed to emulate them I excused this since they were an ideal not only often non human, but a non human ideal. The Fantasy heroes were a different thing to me since I felt that there example could indeed be followed and that it was very human to want to do so. These realizations did not cause me to want to drive to the closest church and sign up, but they were realizations along the path road of grace.

I started thinking about these things again because I am re-reading the series written by R.A. Salvatore involving Drizzt Do’Urden. During the part of my life before becoming Catholic and I was reading tons of books involving theology from various Christian perspectives I also started to read the start of the Drizzt Do’Urden books and so much in them coincided perfectly in what I was going through and so were important memories for me.

Drizzt Do’Urden as a character is a Dark Elf raised in the Underdark where cruelty and jockeying for position were the rules of the day. This matriarchal society devoted to the Spider-Queen goddess Loth spent their days planning on how to retain these evil goddess’s favor and to overthrow houses above them in ranking. Murder and sacrifice of victims and even family were the norms in this evil society. Drizzt the secondson to Matron Malice the head of House Do’Urden plans to use her new son as either a sorcerer or warrior to build their house, though there is no motherly feelings among the Dark Elves where are persons are to be used to your advantage. His unacknowledged father Zaknafein one of the consorts of Matron Malice and the house’s weapons master begins to train Drizzt. Zak though is the rare Drow not at ease with the evil depravity of the Dark Elves, but comprimies by taking delight in the killing of other Drows and especially the matron mother of other houses, he though wishes more for Drizzt who he sees as being more innocent and naive of the ways of the Dark Elfs. Drizzt indeed like his father is not happy with the world around him which at first he was insulated from and has to come to terms of how he can live in this setting when his conscience is so aroused against it.

Many of the chapters start with reminiscences from Drizzt and the awakening of his moral sense and how he must follow his conscience. He does not see conscience in the modern sense, but as also something that must be informed so that he can act on his conscience directly. In many ways I sees these stories of almost a hagiography in that Drizzt is working towards becoming a saint. He fights against losing himself in the environment in which he leaves and is willing to die to keep from hurting the innocent or not doing all he can to protect a friend. He worries about compromising himself and taking the easy path. At one point he has a mask which can hide his drow features making it easier for him to live among people who would instantly hate him for being a Dark Elf, but determines this a falsity that he can not live with. While the author probably did not intend to write a character with so many Catholic sensibilities and moral sense, nevertheless he did so in the character of Drizzt and re-reading the series I am delighted to see that I did not just read this aspect into the series, but that it was still there to be seen and the series is just as enjoyable as I remembered. Also very enjoyable are his companions along the way made up of various races (Human, Dwarf, Hafling, Svirfneblin) who also show the various virtues and come to see beyond the outward appearance of the Dark Elf.

So while there are many factors in conversion and God uses many different things for each individual I was glad that the series involving Drizzt Do’Urden was one of them and while the Lord of the Rings has become my favorite involving this genre, R.A. Salvatore and the multiple books involving Drizzt Do’Urden and his other books will always hold a special place for me and to bring back memories to me when I return to them.

* You can read Mike Flynn post on the panel he hosted here. Mike Flynn is another of my favorite writers in my first love of SF and I can recommend his whole catalog.

* My favorite SF series is Dune and I have read this series multiple times and I find it interesting now that while Frank Herbert was no theist his worlds did not eliminate religion like so much of SF. He at least acknowledges the very human capacity of religious beliefs which make his gigantic story arc fuller. I have also read all the Dune books written by his son and another author which followed his Frank Herbert’s notes and story arc and I really enjoyed these, but they are not quite as good as his father’s work

I have sometimes wondered as a convert what it would be like to have been a cradle Catholic and to have studied and lived the faith throughout my life. To have fully interiorized the faith. Oh and If I were a lot more intelligent I would get a idea of this what this would be like by the Pope’s latest book Light of the World: The Pope, The Church and The Signs Of The Times by the answers he gives.

This is the third interview book he has done with Journalist Peter Seevald who talked with the pope for an hour each time over six weeks and the book is made up by his questions, follow up questions and the answers the Pope spoke to him. There has been much controversy over one of the Pope’s answer to one question and they focused on a word. Catholic convert Marshall McLuhan said “The Media is the Message” and I would add often that the “Media misses the message.”

Having read the previous to Seevald books along with the large majority of Cardinal Ratzinger’s writings you defiantly get a sense of the man and a man who has in no important ways changed as pope. His honesty and humility is shown throughout the book and he does not allow the interviewer to maker larger claims on what he has achieved than is warranted. Seevald would make factual claims about the size of the Church numerically and the Pope in terms of Power and Pope Benedict wold remind him that while the number of members is numerically large that the number of people living the Catholic faith is much smaller and of course would also dismiss things in term of power. While Pope Benedict XVI has great gifts, he realizes who those gifts are from. Throughout the book the Pope’s replies are very direct and at the same time fully eloquent in reply to the questions. While reading this book I often wished that others would imitate the pope in his honesty in replying to question without the slightest hint of spin or building themselves up.

There are also very human and funny moments in the book. His reply to why he wore the Camauro was hilarious and a warning to those who would give too much meaning to what the Pope wears at times. His talking about his small community in the papal household and their watching of DVDs together was nice look into his life that is so busy. Some of his feelings of becoming Pope have been released before, but this book goes more into those questions and his feelings at the time. He really was surprised to be elected Pope and like so much of his life once again turned himself over fully to Christ and not his predilection of living a quiet intellectual life with his brother for the rest of his days. Also very interesting was his talking about his relationship with Pope John Paul II and that it was his book “Introduction to Christianity” that was a factor in him seeking Josef Ratzinger as head of the CDF. His answers like much of Catholicism are of the both/and type. When it comes to the Church and secularism his answer was about where we could learn from secularism and what we must oppose.

Peter Seewald as interviewer though is also a major part of what makes the book enjoyable. He asks a range of often astute questions that enables us to hear what the Pope thinks about something. Seewald as always has done his homework and has been a close watcher of the Pope and what he has written and said. This brings out a range of topics and important questions that a less skilled interviewer could not even approach. Though the only negative would be that Seewald has a view of Global Warming almost apocalyptic which almost ruins some questions. Though the Pope in answering them does not reply in the same tones and his answers are well-worth reading. Though it certainly seems to be true as evidenced by what the Pope has previously said that he has some belief in human caused global warming.

While the interview considers several controversies this is a book mostly about Jesus and his Church. Of following Christ closely and seeing Jesus as the one who comes. These sections of the book won’t generate any headlines, but they are meant to generate saints. The Pope is first off a disciple of Jesus and one who sees his very life as bringing Jesus to others and in his role as Pope to the world.

When he does address various controversies again you see his discipleship. The sexual abuse crisis is certainly not lost on him and he sees directly this evil and what has been done by those in the church and most of all to the victims. There is an empathy in his tone in no way faked. On women’s ordination and the idea that Jesus couldn’t ordain women because of cultural concerns he directly labeled “nonsense” and that the cultures of the time were filled with priestesses. The issue of lifting the excommunication on the four SSXP bishops and the reason why was a fuller answer than I have seen before and he also addressed that somebody should have checked the internet to have determined the type of man Williamson was since it would have been treated much differently then. Oh and the Pope said something about condoms.

This book was a wonderful read which I admit to binge reading the moment it came in the mail. I though I could hardly love the Pope more, but now there is even more I love about him.

It is almost silly to review a book from our Pope. Really the review should be just go out and buy it or obtain immediately from a library, etc. For those with ebook readers you can buy a DRM-free version of the book from Ignatius Press, along with downloading the audio version, and of course get the book itself.

Ignatius Press – Light of the World

Set Free to Love: Lives Changed by the Theology of the Body is a new book by blogger Marcel Lejeune. Marcel who is the Assistant Director of Campus Ministry at St. Mary’s Catholic Center at Texas A&M has provided us with book of testimonials of how Theology of the Body has changed people’s lives.

This book could almost have been called “Surprised by Theology of the Body” as a homage to Patrick Madrid’s Surprise by Truth series of convert stories. Many of the stories in this book are indeed conversion stories to the Catholic Church where Pope John Paul’s II’s teaching of the Theology of the Body had a major role. Many of the stories involve living lives at odds with Catholic teaching on sexuality and TOB contributed to helping them understand this teaching and to provide healing. Though not all of the stories are conversion stories. The book leads off with a testimonial by a priest where TOB helped to provide him a deeper understanding. There is a mix of stories from religious, priests, and the laity.

I would see the focus and purpose of this book as a way to introduce people to the Theology of the Body through personal stories. Marcel provides an introduction to the subject and you learn more about TOB throughout the book, but it is not an in-depth primer on the subject and is not intended to be. I think that it would certainly spur people on to learn more about TOB. I found most of the stories interesting myself and it makes me want to finally getting around to reading the Pope’s writings as translated and introduced by Michael M. Waldstein. So as a tool for evangelization I would recommend this book. If I were to make any changes to the book I would have started off with one of the conversion stories instead since I think this would have worked out better for the target audience.

Some time ago The Ironic Catholic recommended Mercury Falls by Robert Kroese. There are not too many books in the genre of hilarious novels involving the Apocalypse. Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Sir Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman certainly set the standard for this small genre and setting a very high bar being laugh-out-loud funny from beginning to end.

I was certainly delighted to find that Mercury Falls holds up quite well in comparison. There was much to laugh about, smirk about, groan about, and just plain smile about as I read through this novel. Mercury a rather independent thinking Angel ends up teaming with Christine Temetri a reporter who finds herself only covering nut jobs warning of the coming Apocalypse. Of course this time the Apocalypse has really arrived and Satan has other plans than following the plot spoiler concerning him revealed in the Book of Revelation. Along the way we meet the Anti-Christ who had been living with his mother for support and we learn a lot about the end times and linoleum. Robert Kroese takes these elements and runs with them, puns with them, and shows himself to be a very talented humor writer that should be much more known.

When I received Full of Grace: Encountering Mary in Faith, Art, and Life I thumbed through it and though that this was a great coffee table style book. Full of beautiful pictures of a range of art concerning Mary from the early Church until today. The panels of information on the various pictures provided background information on the artist if known and what seemed to me mostly solid information on the art itself with some good insights.

For the most part the book achieves it’s purpose from a art history point of view along with commentary by the author of the book in her own thoughts and reflections. Most of these thoughts and reflections were interesting and useful. This is not to say that I did not have any caveats, I do and to my mind some rather serious flaws.

This book is published by Random House which I would consider to be rather mixed in the books I have received from them for review. I can’t swear to it but I think the words “Feminist Theologian” were used more times than the word Jesus. I really don’t like agenda theologians because it is not that they don’t have valid insights, it is just that their insights could be so much richer if they did not block part of their view intentionally. For example one of the quotes uses is by Mary Daly who who described herself as a “radical lesbian feminist” and the sidebar quote is about the Church’s “sexist theology.” Even odder is the fact that this same quote shows up in the sidebar twice in this book. Another weird choice is quoting Simone de Beauvoir from “The Second Sex.” To be fair the majority of the quotes were fine and included some more orthodox writers.

The chapter titled “Mother Goddess” I certainly could have done without since it was muddled in it’s explanation that seemed at times to make the charge that Veneration of Mary arose out of goddess worship. The proclamation of Mary as Theotokis in Ephesus was a triumph over the worship of Artemis – not a transference of worship. Certainly the Ephesians shouting with joy in the streets about the proclamation knew the difference since this was certainly a time when minor points of Catholic theology could lead to fist fights.

If you are reading a book detailing what is mostly Catholic art through the centuries and the beauty of his art it is rather incongruent to read:

“Understanding beauty as an attribute of faith and ethical living has long fallen out of favor. Suppressed for much of Christian history as a suspect accomplice to the sinful pleasures of the flesh, the worship of false idols, and the enjoyment of present earthly life in disregard of the future joys of heaven, beauty has been made the beast.”

I found that paragraph to frankly be mind-numbingly dumb. “Suppressed for much of Christian history”, by who? While certainly there have been the iconoclasts in first the Ea t (though cured of this) and then later by Protestants, they did not have an effect of suppressing the art produced by Catholics other than wrecking churches. Later she goes on to complain about Vatican I and Papal Infallibility and how polarizing this was – something she references twice in different parts of the book. Here complaints about the use of Papal Infallibility regarding the Assumption and her Immaculate Conception were out of place in an art history book. These argument especially in regards to Protestants she makes I have always found lacking. As if proclaiming these two dogmas broke the Protestant Camel’s back and if only the Pope hadn’t done this they would have been more open to the Church.

The final chapter was another odd choice. If you are going to close out a book on the history of Marian art and picking out some of the most beautiful examples and wanted to highlight a Cathedral in this regard – which one would you choose. Maybe it is just me, but I would not have picked out “Our Lady of the Angels” in Los Angeles with it’s Vulcan looking Mary as the Cathedral to point out.

What I found annoying was that so much of this book was quite good, but the problems I referenced made it something I could not really recommend full-heartidly. Though someone grounded in their faith might be able to overlook these caveats for what was good in the book.