Star Trek and Sacred Ground: Explorations of Star Trek, Religion, and American Culture

Rating:
Summary: Buy it, but read it back to front.
Review: This book is an ambitious collection of theme-sorted essays, all relating various aspects of Star Trek to those of religious life. Most of the essays are considered and well researched, and the occasional good idea does creep in. Tagged throughout with Christian outlook, this rarely oppresses a reader not sharing that view, though the book might level better by adding input from other great faiths (many ayaat from the Qur'an make pertinent connections to Trek for example).

One problem I've found infecting similar attempts is a detectable bias of the author. Taken as a whole the work does not suffer this, although a few exceptions do greet the reader like a coffee table on the shins. (The title of my review reveals several such bruises; the original series is maligned repeatedly, with misquoted, selective evidence, as anti-theistic.) And this book does suffer from a plenitude of sloppy editorial errors, including a bibliographical howler - it *must* be a joke, right? - in misspelling Phil Farrand's name.

All in all though, this book remains an impressive achievement and a credit to the contributors. This one's worth the time and the purchase for the true Trekker.

Rating:
Summary: Buy it, but read it back to front.
Review: This book is an ambitious collection of theme-sorted essays, all relating various aspects of Star Trek to those of religious life. Most of the essays are considered and well researched, and the occasional good idea does creep in. Tagged throughout with Christian outlook, this rarely oppresses a reader not sharing that view, though the book might level better by adding input from other great faiths (many ayaat from the Qur'an make pertinent connections to Trek for example).

One problem I've found infecting similar attempts is a detectable bias of the author. Taken as a whole the work does not suffer this, although a few exceptions do greet the reader like a coffee table on the shins. (The title of my review reveals several such bruises; the original series is maligned repeatedly, with misquoted, selective evidence, as anti-theistic.) And this book does suffer from a plenitude of sloppy editorial errors, including a bibliographical howler - it *must* be a joke, right? - in misspelling Phil Farrand's name.

All in all though, this book remains an impressive achievement and a credit to the contributors. This one's worth the time and the purchase for the true Trekker.