The problematics of dealing with religious questions in science-fiction literature

Referring to his experiences as a reader of science fiction, the author sho ws that this type of literature often deals with subjects of a religious na ture: questions of life after death and of the beyond, of ethics and consci ence and of our relationship to the divine, etc. In this way, sci-fi serves as a real "laboratory of social and religious meaning" which studies the c onsequences of the evolution of the sciences and philosophy. The article se ts forth a framework for the study of religious and theological questions i n the literature of science fiction.