Great Science-Fiction
& Fantasy Works

science-fiction & fantasy literature:
a critical list with discussions

Religion in Science-Fiction & Fantasy Books

"Wait a second." Mojo couldn't let this pass. "If this thing is a saint's heart, why would it help people like Juanita and me? I mean, we weren't exactly on a mission from God when those guys in the Suburban were chasing us. Why would it help us?"

"It helped you because you were thwarting the will of Satan. "That's obvious," Grandmother told him.

"It is?"

--Mojo and the Pickle Jar,
Douglas Bell

Religion in Science Fiction and Fantasy

There is a belief held widely by those unacquainted with science fiction and fantasy, and even a few without that excuse, that the fields are either thoroughly secular or oriented toward bizarre heresies (read: "not the things I hear in the house of worship I attend weekly"). That is, I suppose, neither the most nor the least silly misperception of our fields in the larger world.

Science fiction and fantasy is, like all literature, about us, here, now. Authors--at least the better of them, those we are dealing with on this site--who have elected to till these fields have done so because, among other reasons, they offer special opportunities to deal with large ideas in unconventional ways, ways whose unconventionality may enable the author to better say and the reader to better hear (stretching metaphor a bit) those ideas away from the noisy arenas in which they normally appear. It is thus not at all surprising that many fine science-fiction and fantasy books have a a theological theme or orientation, and listing some of those books is what this page is for.

Selection of titles for this list was by no means a clear-cut process, for a number of reasons. Many science-fiction and fantasy tales deal with what we may call metaphysical questions. In some instances--say, Chesterton, or Charles Williams--the matter at issue is overt enough theology that there is no difficulty. On the other hand, while the oeuvre of James Branch Cabell deals very largely with how mankind may best deal with mortality, I ultimately excluded it because Cabell was, on the face of it anyway, an atheist.

Another consideration was that the religious or theological element or elements needed to be "genuine": that is, not some "religion," however important in the tale, that the author invented only to further a tale not itself primarily addressing theological issues (though invented religions are not a bar as such if they are intended to say or illustrate something meaningful about genuine religion). I thus include not only the works of authors from well-recognized creeds, but those of such as Eric Eddison, whose beliefs--as expressed in the tales--are unique but clearly religious.

Yet another problem area was the several authors, some prolific, in whose work the author's strongly held religious beliefs manifest in the structure of the tale, but not overtly--J. R. R. Tolkien, Cordwainer Smith, Gene Wolfe, and a few others of that sort; I ended up including them, on the simple ground that it is hard to have a meaningful discussion of religion in speculative fiction without their names arising.

In general, I have, as usual in these specialty lists, tried to be inclusive rather than exclusive. Does Roberta MacAvoy's "Damiano" trilogy really belong? Better to leave that to you, I think, than to omit it. On the other hand, I have, with serious misgivings, omitted Roger Zelazny's work; much of that work is pastiches of real religions, from the Greek pantheon to the Egyptian to the Hindu, as well as the invented perhaps-religion of his recurring aliens, but all of Zelazny's work is permeated with deep--almost morbid--concerns with individuality and death, and comments and insights of a truly religious nature pepper those works. In the end, I decided that they do not dominate the works sufficiently to justify listing them all here, but keep him in mind if literature of this sort is of interest to you.

If you--like me--are into lists, here are perhaps the most manifestly and powerfully religious writers represented here:

• G. K. Chesterton
• E. R. Eddison
• R. A. Lafferty
• C. S. Lewis
• David Lindsay
• George MacDonald
• Cordwainer Smith
• J. R. R. Tolkien
• Walter Wangerin Jr.
• Charles Williams
• Gene Wolfe

(So why are so many of these known by initials? There's a PhD thesis topic awaiting an inquiring mind.)

One other thing: I have stuck here to novels--no collections of short stories (excepting George MacDonald's collected "fairy tales").

The Religion-Oriented Works

• Adams, Richard ***
  
  
  • Shardik
  
  
  
• Barrett, Neal ***/*
  
  
  • The Hereafter Gang
  
  
  
• Bell, Douglas # ***
  
  (were I using half-stars I'd have added one)
  
  
  • Mojo and the Pickle Jar
  
  
  
• Bellairs, John ****
  
  
  • St. Fidgeta and Other Parodies *
  
  
  
• Benary-Isbert, Margot # **
  
  
  • The Wicked Enchantment
  
  
  
• Billias, Stephen **
  
  
  • The Quest for the 36
  • The American Book of the Dead
  
  
  
• Blaylock, James ****
  
  
  • The Last Coin
    (There is a preferred edition of this work.)
  • All the Bells on Earth
  
  
  
• Bulgakov, Mikhail **
  
  
  • The Master and Margarita
  
  
  
• Chesterton, G. K. # ****
  
  
  • The Man Who Was Thursday
    (There is a preferred edition of this work.)
  
  
  
• Eddison, E. R. *****
  
  
  • The Worm Ouroboros
    
    
  • The Zimiamvia Trilogy:
    (There was a preferred edition collecting these works.)
    
    • Mistress of Mistresses
    • A Fish Dinner in Memison
    • The Mezentian Gate
  
  
  
• Findley, Timothy **
  
  
  • Pilgrim
  
  
  
• Goldstein, Lisa*
  
  
  • The Red Magician
  
  
  
• Hancock, Niel **
  
  
  • The Windameir Books:
    
    
    • The Circle of Light Tetralogy--
      
      • Greyfax Grimwald
      • Faragon Fairingay
      • Calix Stay
      • Squaring the Circle
      
      
    • The Wilderness of Four Tetralogy--
      
      • Across the Far Mountain
      • The Plains of the Sea
      • On the Boundaries of Darkness
      • The Road to the Middle Islands
      
      
    • The Windameir Circle Tetralogy--
      
      • The Fires of Windameir
      • The Sea of Silence
      • A Wanderer's Return
      • Bridge of Dawn
      
      
  • Dragon Winter
  
  
  
• Hansen, Erik Fosnes ***
  
  
  • Tales of Protection
  
  
  
• Hoban, Russell ****/**
  
  
  • Pilgermann
    (There is a preferred edition of these works collecting all plus a deal more of Hoban.)
  
  
  
• Kathryns, G. A. # ***
  
  (based only on releases under the name G.A. Kathryns)
  
  
  • The Borders of Life
  
  
  
• Kingsley, Charles # *
  
  
  • The Water Babies
  
  
  
• Lafferty, R. A. *****
  
  Lafferty, like other prolific yet under-appreciated authors, is hard to sort into a coherent bibliography--this is the best I could do. Anything you find by him--anything--read and enjoy. The occasional "series" listed below don't fully convey Lafferty: certain characters (like "the eminent scientist Willy McGilly") recur, often as "cameos," throughout all his tales.
  
  The world is not always ready for genius: a shockingly high fraction of Lafferty's published works were never printed in more than a few hundred copies each and remain shamefully rare (and correspondingly expensive); fortunately, John Betancourt at Wildside Press has been doing a yeoman job of bringing Lafferty (and several other fine authors scandalously under-represented by reasonably available editions) back into print--they have a good bit of Lafferty already, including previously limited-quantity works). Note: the limited-edition copy counts are from Dan Knight's 1991 R. A. Lafferty Checklist, and are shown only for works not currently in print.
  
  
  • The Novels:
    
    • Past Master
    • The Reefs of Earth
    • Space Chantey
    • Fourth Mansions
      
      
    • The "Argo" Mythos:
      
      
      • Argo: The Devil is Dead Trilogy:
        
        • Archipelago   [only 1000 copies printed]
        • The Devil is Dead
          
        • More Than Melchisedech:
          (One novel published, for economic reasons, as three books; I don't know, but would bet, that these three are all limited-quantity printings.)
          
          • Tales of Chicago
          • Tales of Midnight
          • # Argo
            (not to be confused with Episodes of the Argo, listed below)
          
          
      • Episodes of the Argo   [only 335 copies printed]
        (Also contains some material erroneously omitted from The Devil is Dead, but not the "interglossia"; the main story, a part of the Argo mythos, should have been subsumed into the novel Argo, but I don't know yet if it was.)
      • How Many Miles to Babylon?    [only 500 copies printed]
        (Includes the "interglossia" from the novel The Devil is Dead, not printed in that book, and a short tale in the Argo mythos cycle.)
        
        
      • Argo: Coscuin Tetralogy:
        (Only those first two of the tetralogy were ever published; the other two reportedly exist, but each only as single-copy unpublished manuscript in the possession of Mr. Greg Ketter, once of Corroborree Press--which published much Lafferty--but now at Dreamhaven Books.)
        • The Flame is Green
        • Half a Sky
        • # Sardinian Summer
        • # First and Last Island
        
        
      • Dotty   [only 330 copies printed]
      
      
    • Arrive at Easterwine
    • Not to Mention Camels
    • Aurelia
    • The Annals of Klepsis
    • Serpent's Egg
    • East of Laughter   [only 1010 copies printed]
    • The Elliptical Grave   [only 300 copies printed]
    • Sinbad: The Thirteenth Voyage
      
      
  
  
  
• Lewis, C. S. **
  
  
  • The Space Trilogy:
    
    • Out of the Silent Planet
    • Perelandra aka Voyage to Venus
    • That Hideous Strength
    
    
  • The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
    (This is one of a set of seven books known as the "Narnia" books; it is the only one I find readable by any other than a very young child.)
  
  
  
• Lindsay, David ***
  
  
  • A Voyage to Arcturus
  
  
  
• MacAvoy, R. A. *
  
  
  • The Damiano Trilogy:
    
    • Damiano
    • Damiano's Lute
    • Raphael
    
    
  
  
  
• MacDonald, George ****
  
  
  • Phantastes
  • Lilith
    
    
  • Children's Books (but readable by adults):
    
    • The Princess and the Goblin
    • The Princess and Curdie
    • At the Back of the North Wind
    • Complete Fairy Tales *
      MacDonald's various fairy tales--many independently famous--have been published in numerous editions, sometimes standalone and sometimes several to a volume; it seems silly not to acquire the complete collection in one volume.
  
  
  
• Mills, Magnus ****
  
  
  • Three to See the King
  
  
  
• Nichols, Ruth **
  
  
  • Song of the Pearl
    (yet another "juvenile")
  
  
  
• O'Brien, Flann ***
  
  
  • The Third Policeman
  • At Swim-Two-Birds
  • The Dalkey Archive
  
  
  
• Peake, Mervyn *****
  
  
  • Mr. Pye
  
  
  
• Pearson, Edward ***
  
  
  • Chamiel
  
  
  
• Pinckney, Josephine # **
  
  
  • Great Mischief
  
  
  
• Smith, Cordwainer ****
  
  Smith's work has been published in numerous collections with overlapping contents. NESFA Press put out a nice two-volume set with all the works, including a couple of previously unpublished stories and some often-omitted content in the novel; those are the two books listed below. But read anything you can get by this wonderful writer.
  
  
  • Norstrilia
  • The Rediscovery of Man
  
  
  
• Theroux, Paul ***
  
  
  • Millroy the Magician
  
  
  
• Tolkien, J. R. R. *****
  
  
  • The Middle-Earth Trio:
    
    • The Hobbit
      (There is a preferred edition of this work.)
    • The Lord of the Rings
      
      The Lord of the Rings as individual volumes:
      
      • The Fellowship of the Ring
      • The Two Towers
      • The Return of the King
      (There are preferred editions of this work.)
      
      
    • The Silmarillion
      (There are preferred editions of this work.)
    
    
  • The History of Middle-Earth:
    This is a set of 13 volumes compiled, edited, and annotated by Tolkien's son Christopher, which presents Tolkien's evolving Middle-Earth legendarium. I also include under this heading the earlier stand-alone Unfinished Tales, which is something like an Appendix for The Silmarillion.
    
    
    • Unfinished Tales
    • The Book of Lost Tales, Part 1
    • The Book of Lost Tales, Part 2
    • The Lays of Beleriand
    • The Shaping of Middle-Earth: The Quenta, the Ambarkanta and the Annals
    • The Lost Road and Other Writings
    • The Return of the Shadow
    • The Treason of Isengard
    • The War of the Ring
    • Sauron Defeated: The End of the Third Age
    • Morgoth's Ring: The Later Silmarillion, Part One
    • The War of the Jewels: The Later Silmarillion, Part Two
    • The Peoples of Middle-Earth
    • The History of Middle-Earth, Index
    
    
  
  
  
• Tournier, Michel **
  
  
  • The Four Wise Men
  
  
  
• Wangerin Jr., Walter # ****
  
  
  • The Books of Parable Duo:
    
    • The Book of the Dun Cow
    • # The Book of Sorrows
  
  
  
• Werfel, Franz # **
  
  
  • Star of the Unborn
  
  
  
• Williams, Charles ***
  
  
  • The Aspects of Power Septet:
    
    • Many Dimensions
    • War in Heaven
    • Descent into Hell
    • The Greater Trumps
    • The Place of the Lion
    • Shadows of Ecstasy
    • All Hallows' Eve
  
  
  
• Wolfe, Gene ****
  
  
  • The Fifth Head of Cerberus
  • Peace
  • The Devil in a Forest
    (classed a "juvenile", at least by fools)
    
    
  • The New Urth Sextet (a tetralogy plus two):
    
    • The Shadow of the Torturer
    • The Claw of the Conciliator
    • The Sword of the Lictor
    • The Citadel of the Autarch
    • The Urth of the New Sun
    • Empires of Foliage and Flower
      (included in the collection Starwater Strains listed below)
    
    
  • Free Live Free
    
    
  • The Latro Trio:
    
    • Soldier of the Mist
    • Soldier of Arete
    • # Soldier of Sidon
    
    
  • There Are Doors
  • Castleview
    
    
  • The New Sun Septet (a tetralogy and a trilogy):
    (These are also available in collections, marked by inclusion in the title of the phrase Long Sun or Short Sun. They also tie, distantly, to the "New Urth" series listed above.)
    
    
    • New Sun: Long Sun Tetralogy--
      
      • Nightside the Long Sun
      • Lake of the Long Sun
      • Calde of the Long Sun
      • Exodus from the Long Sun
      
      
    • New Sun: Short Sun Trilogy--
      
      • On Blue's Waters
      • In Green's Jungles
      • Return to the Whorl
      
      
  • The Wizard Knight Duology:
    
    • # The Knight
    • # The Wizard
    
    
  
  
  

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