Religion in the books

[JoeZhang]

I picked up a copy of Guises of the Mind last night, leaving aside the rather standard Dumas type bits, it's interesting in that I don't think I've picked up any others books from this period of Trek that has such explicit references to religion, faith and the place of both in the modern world.

Are there any other books like this? (I've read all of the recent books so I'm think more from the numbered era).

 

[Therin of Andor]

I don't think I've picked up any others books from this period of Trek that has such explicit references to religion, faith and the place of both in the modern world.

http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Religion

 

[JB2005]

That's a thing, I forget about the Bajorans when you mention religion in Trek. I think that in practice there aren't too many references to modern religions for fear of offending people, but i do seem to recall someone saying that the Captain in SCE (haven't read it so don't know his name) was a practicing Jew and his wife was a rabbi. There was also a reference to Joseph in ASD and phlox mentions having attended a variety of religious services in Broken Bow.

 

[JoeZhang]

That's a thing, I forget about the Bajorans when you mention religion in Trek. I think that in practice there aren't too many references to modern religions for fear of offending people, but i do seem to recall someone saying that the Captain in SCE (haven't read it so don't know his name) was a practicing Jew and his wife was a rabbi. There was also a reference to Joseph in ASD and phlox mentions having attended a variety of religious services in Broken Bow.

I've never found the Bajoran's faith very interesting to be honest. Guises of the mind is interesting in that it features members of a modern faith (nuns/Christianity), explicit references to the bible and what it means to be a believer - Data has a storyline where he goes around talking to the crew about their beliefs and trying to work out what it means for him, if there is a god what does that mean for an Android?

I don't think it quite works as a novel but as I said, it's certainly atypical from what I remember about the numbered books.

 

[JustKate]

My recollection - and I haven't read that many of the books, though I have read several recently - is that religion is addressed more often, but the impression I have is that it is addressed more often mostly because in a book, you can just cover a lot more stuff then you can in an hour-long show or a two-hour movie. So you can have more characters and more plots and, of course, more philosophy.

But that's just my impression.

 

[JB2005]

That's a thing, I forget about the Bajorans when you mention religion in Trek. I think that in practice there aren't too many references to modern religions for fear of offending people, but i do seem to recall someone saying that the Captain in SCE (haven't read it so don't know his name) was a practicing Jew and his wife was a rabbi. There was also a reference to Joseph in ASD and phlox mentions having attended a variety of religious services in Broken Bow.

I've never found the Bajoran's faith very interesting to be honest. Guises of the mind is interesting in that it features members of a modern faith (nuns/Christianity), explicit references to the bible and what it means to be a believer - Data has a storyline where he goes around talking to the crew about their beliefs and trying to work out what it means for him, if there is a god what does that mean for an Android?

I don't think it quite works as a novel but as I said, it's certainly atypical from what I remember about the numbered books.

It would fit with the data of the early seasons though. Where silence has lease springs to mind for example.

 

[Geoff Thorne]

Sword of Damocles hinges on questions of Faith.

 

[Trent Roman]

My recollection of Guises of the Mind--a.k.a. NUNS IN SPACE!, a.k.a. "Get Thee to a Nunnery"--is that not only was it a pretty bad book, but the attempted conflict fizzled on the usual platitudes. Unusual for Trek, perhaps, but not actually contributing anything new. Depending on how liberally one defines 'religion', Gulliver's Fugitives dealt with a number of Terran mythos (mythoi? mythoses? nemesises?).

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[Steve Roby]

I remember really not liking Guises of the Mind. Granted, I'm an atheist, and the ex-Catholic variety at that, but my dim memory of it is that it didn't feel like it was about presenting religious characters or a story about religion as much as it was about woo! Nuns are cool! Churches are cool! Religion is cool! Like a Sister Mary Sue story, almost.