Is CS Lewis a Science Fiction writer?

Sean Michael, one of the few men on the Internet who uses his real name, writes this comment:

My view is the reason why so many SF fans don’t seem to consider CS Lewis’ “Space Trilogy” to be SF is because Lewis was a convinced and devout Christian. IOW, some fans fell for the false line that Christianity is opposed to science.

“Fell for it” is putting it mildly. Anyone who falls for the line of argument that science fiction can only be written by secularists, or by or about secular topics, displays an alarming gullibility, not to mention an ignorance of the origins of the genre.

Jules Verne, the founder of the genre, was a Roman Catholic; HG Wells was a committed atheist and socialist, and delighted in penning desolate visions of a godless world drifting as a speck through an indifferent universe; but on the other hand Olaf Stapledon (the forgotten third of the trio of SF founders) put a monotheistic Creator-god of the Gnostic sort on stage as a character in STARMAKER, and made spiritual development one of the central themes of man’s future evolution (along with, risibly enough, communism) in his majestic LAST AND FIRST MEN.

Read the rest of this entry »

Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.