The SF&F of Christianity

There was a recent article in Wired Magazine on Brandon Sanderson, which I shall not link. It was a smug largely incompetent hit piece. While I am a Sanderson fan, I am aware of just how Mormie he is, bending over backwards to not offend the Great and Spacious Building. (Though, praise where praise is due, he was remarkably level-headed and peace-making through this whole thing. Something that all of us are going to have to practice, while also standing for the truth.)

One thing in the article struck me. The Church was repeatedly brought up, as if that were the punchline of a joke that needed no elaboration. In particular, the author said Mormonism is the SF/F of Christianity. At first his derision riled me, but as I thought about it, however much he meant it in mockery, he is far more right about this than anything else. Where other religions have been polished over Millennia, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is quite raw, with loose ends, and rough corners everywhere. This does two things, it keeps the finger of scorn pointed at us something that Brigham said was actually quite important) but it also gives us room and reason to grow. If or when we have an Augustine or Aquinas, we can expect to see God reveal more puzzle pieces that don’t fit neatly into our understanding. He has no intention of having us sit still. We may be peculiar in more than one way.

There is, of course, a danger in obsessing too much over the obscure and poorly understood. We don’t understand nearly as much as as we suppose we do. But there is also a hazard and pride to assuming we have it all figured out. We really don’t. So, with that in mind, let’s glance at the more SF & F edges of the Gospel.

Science Fiction

Orson Whitney said that “We will yet have Miltons and Shakespeares of our own.”. This prophecy applies every bit as much to science as it does to literature. Though it is interesting that SF&F readers and authors are particularly well represented among church members.

Verses in the Doctrine and Covenants about Law and Science are part of what inspired Pres. Nelson to help pioneer open heart surgery.

Our religion speaks of “worlds without number” and whose inhabitants are also children of God. There are obscure references to parts of the Earth itself having been removed. But there are better known verses about the City of Enoch returning, as well as the Ten Tribes.

And it might surprise you how well the prophecies of the Second Coming align with some of the ideas of Immanuel Velikovsky, who wrote books like, Worlds in Collision.

Fantasy

Passing mentions of giants and dragons, as well as cureloms and cumoms. Ancient lost civilizations, known only from ancient records. Human sacrifice, hieroglyphics, and ancient astronomy! Vast migrations amid the Great Deluge. Secret Combinations with murder, intrigue and sex, who make literal deals with the Devil.

Fantastic battles where prophets give guidance, or battles won by faith, rivers move out of their course amid the upheaval of nature. Even land masses rising out of the sea. Fantastic battles among the wicked that would exceed any of Tolkien, yes, even in the First Age of Middle Earth.

Samuel the Lamanite standing on a city wall is as fantastic as any novel I have read.

Immortal prophets still walking the Earth. Revelatory instruments.

And all this in the greatest of all Dispensations, when every power, blessing and glory from previous days shall be manifested again. A gathering not merely from the four corners of the Earth, but from Adam and Eve to the present and future!

There is more that could be said, and I am not as eloquent as I wish.

But yes, we really are the Science Fiction and Fantasy of Christianity. God has great things in store for us, if we are faithful. The best is really yet to come.