Talking Religion and Science Fiction on Angel Studios' "Lightwise"

What are the connections between science fiction and religion? How are they different and how are they the same? What kinds of questions do they ask and what kinds of answers do they usually provide? 

I was excited to be the first guest on the new Angel Studios filmed podcast, “Lightwise,” a biweekly program that examines topics in the arts, movies, and TV in a way that amplifies the light, or are founded on inspirational and optimistic messages. Angel Studios, producing various films, documentaries, and live action and animated shows through crowd funding, has been making waves in the entertainment industry by garnering smash hit viewership numbers for its products that are rivaling major Hollywood productions. Their TV series “The Chosen,” about the life of Jesus Christ, is not only a major hit, but recently its theatrical release of a special edition of several of their season 3 episodes outperformed mainstream releases from much bigger studios.

 

In the pilot episode you can watch right here, host Joel Ackerman and I talked about how science fiction and religious faith intersect, where they are similar, and how they are different. Both religion and scientific inquiry—and science fiction by extension—I argue, are on the same basic quest. They are both asking the similar big questions of who we are, where is our place in the universe where did we come from, whether or not a sentient being created us, and where we might be going in the future. How those questions are answered, however, is where the two approaches can diverge…but not as much as some might think.

 

So check out the episode and hear us tackle these big questions and discuss how they are reflected in major sci fi entertainment like “Star Wars,” “Star Trek,” “The Matrix,” and literary classics by Mary Shelley, Isaac Asimov, Jules Verne, and H.G. Wells.