Holy Sci-Fi! Where Science Fiction and Religion Intersect /

Can a computer have a soul? Are religion and science mutually exclusive? Is there really such a thing as free will? If you could time travel to visit Jesus, would you (and should you)? For hundreds of years, philosophers, scientists, and science fiction writers have pondered these questions and many...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Springer eBooks
Main Author: Nahin, Paul J. (Author)
Corporate Author: SpringerLink (Online service)
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: New York, NY : Springer New York : Imprint: Springer, 2014.
Series:Science and Fiction,
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0618-5
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Table of Contents:
  • 1. Introduction
  • Author's Note One
  • God and Skepticism
  • God, Fantasy, and Science Fiction
  • God and Science
  • Author's Note Two
  • 2. Religious Science Fiction Before Science Fiction
  • The 'Start' of Modern SF
  • Before the 'Start' of SF
  • Early Theological SF
  • Theological Maturity
  • 3. Time, Space, God's Omniscience, and Free Will
  • What is Time?
  • Time in SF and Theology
  • The Four-Dimensional World
  • The Block Universe
  • God's Omniscience in Theology and SF
  • 4. Religious Robots
  • Alan Turing, Artificial Minds, and the Souls of Machines
  • Asimov's Robotic Laws
  • Robots and God
  • 5. Computers as God
  • Computers as Local Gods
  • Computers as Planet-Wide Gods
  • Computers as Known Universe Gods
  • 6. Space Travel, Radio, and Alien Encounters
  • The Fiction of Interstellar Space Travel
  • Theology and Early Fictional Alien Encounters
  • Interstellar Radio Messages
  • Direct Encounters
  • 7. Time Traveling to Jesus
  • Time Travel: Fact or Fantasy
  • Theology and the Past
  • Jesus and Time Travelers
  • Quantum Mechanics and God
  • 8. What if God Revealed Himself?
  • Not So Serious Speculations
  • The End of It All
  • Appendix 1: Matching Wits with 'God'
  • Appendix 2: (fantasy) "Some Things Just Have to Be Done By Hand!" and "The Next Time Around"
  • Appendix 3: (science fiction): "A Father's Gift"
  • Appendix 4: "Applied Mathematical Theology" (Gregory Benford)
  • Appendix 5: "Gravity's Whispers" (Gregory Benford)
  • Bibliography of Short Stories Cited.