Science, Fiction, Faith and the Futures

In this two-half-day workshop, leading researchers in the fields of the history of science, science communication, theology, and science fiction studies examine the ways in which science fiction has explored different configurations of science, faith and spirituality.

Supported by the British Society for the History of Science and 'Equipping Christian Leadership in an Age of Science' (St John's College, University of Durham), we will consider how SF can help re-set public discourses around religion, science, theology and technology, and ask how these might help us conceive of alternative, and perhaps more hopeful, futures.

Programme:

Tuesday 6 June 2023

Location: Dana Studio

• 12.30 – 13.00: Welcome and introductions
• 13.00 – 15.00:  The End of the Humanity As We Know It
  • A Lecture on The Blazing World—Isadora Monteiro
  • ‘“We are meat, we are potential carcasses”: Francis Bacon’s Alien’—Dr Andrew M. Butler, Canterbury Christ Church University
  • Making Peace with the Future: Cosmic Need versus Cosmic Horror—Dr. Paul March-Russell, Independent Scholar
  • Science Fiction as Eschatology—Philip Ball, Science Writer
• 15.00 – 15.30:  Tea Break
• 15.30 – 17.30: Future of Religion
  • "Suzume" as the revival of Utagaki: the relationship between Science and Religion in Contemporary Anime—Tetsuro Tanojiri, Kyōtō Bunkyō University
  • "That is how our race was born"—Echos of the Creation-Evolution Debates in the Mechanical World of The Transformers - Dr Gavin Merrifield, The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion
  • The Psychohistory of Religious Futurism: What SF tells us about the Future of Faith—Jim Clarke, independent scholar
  • Science Fiction build our resilience for the future—Maaike E. Harmsen, PhD Student

Wednesday 7 June 2023

Location: Dana Study

• 09.00 – 10.30: Build your own religion
  • AI and the Idea of the ‘Creation’ of Religion in SF Imaginaries and Ideologies—Professor Beth Singler, University of Zurich
  • Exploring religion through science fiction—Chris Beckett, Science Fiction Author
  • “I dare you to do better”: Star Trek, the not-quite-utopia, and a future for humanity— Paula Duncan, University of Aberdeen
• 10.30 – 11.00: Tea Break
• 11.00 – 12.30: Technology of the Spirit
  • Reincarnating, Removing, and Recovering Souls in Cargo (2020, India) and Cold Souls (2009, USA)—Dr Amy Chambers, Manchester Metropolitan University
  • Is There Life on Mars: Placing Faith in Outer Space—Professor Iwan Rhys Morus, Aberystwyth University
  • Cyborgs vs the Metaverse: binaries in the techno dystopian body—Iona Curtius, University of Aberdeen
• 12.30 – 13.00: Concluding Remarks—led by Professor Charlotte Sleigh

A public lecture on ‘How Stories Shape Futures: Faith, Science, and Possibility’ will be hosted at the Science Museum’s Lecture Theatre, at 18.30 on 7 June 2023—book lecture here.