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

For those who like to see Star Trek taken seriously as the subject of folkloristic inquiry, there have been a few forays into an examination of Trek culture. Enterprising Women, by Camille Bacon-Smith (University of Wisconsin Press, 1994) leaps most prominently to mind. There, a serious examination of Trek fans as a subculture or folk group demonstrated that there are fruitful areas of research for those folklorists willing to venture into the realm of popular culture. Star Trek and Sacred Ground: Explorations of Star Trek, Religion, and American Culture takes a different approach. In this collection of essays, the religious ramifications of the various Star Trek series are explored from a number of different angles. While the contributors often seem to contradict each other in their analysis of the religious messages inherent in the shows, this variety of viewpoints also demonstrates that Star Trek is an area of not only sacred ground, but also fertile ground for study.

This collection is divided into three sec-tions: "Religion in Star Trek," "Religious and Mythic Themes," and "Religion and Ritual in Fandom." In the first two sections, the authors focus the most heavily on textual analysis and interpretation to make their points about the religion that is or is not present in Star Trek. They explore all aspects of the Trek "canon" in the television series and movies produced by the official Star Trek franchise. All four television series are included (Star Trek; Star Trek: The Next Generation; Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; and Star Trek: Voyager), as well as several of the nine motion pictures that have been released to date. Some of the diversity of interpretation on the part of the authors comes from the fact that, while Star Trek does have one original creator, Gene Roddenberry, the television episodes and films were written by multiple authors and overseen by a changing group of producers.

The authors of the articles within the collection hail from various backgrounds, which shows in the diversity of approaches to the material. While many received their training in religious studies, there are anthropologists and sociologists among them. This variety of approaches enriches the collection to some extent but, unfortunately, the text at times is disconcertingly disparate and confusing. Some authors (most notably Anne Pearson in "From Thwarted Gods to Reclaimed Mystery?: An Overview of the Depiction of Religion in Star Trek") point out that Gene Roddenberry, creator of the Star Trek universe, was himself less than enamored of religion, which is evident in the treatment of religion and religious belief within the various television series and movies. Others (most strikingly Larry Kreitzer in "Suffering, Sacrifice, and Redemption: Biblical Imagery in Star Trek") take great pains to point out the Christian imagery inherent in Star Trek. One wonders at times if the authors are not simply finding what they are looking for in the vast Star Trek universe—but perhaps this is part of the point that is being made about the richness of the subject being addressed and its relationship to American culture.

For the folklorist, at first glance this book appears to contain little of immediate relevance, the exploration of popular culture itself being a subject of debate by folklorists. Still, the third and briefest section on "Religion and Ritual in Fandom" does provide analysis of Trek culture that is both relevant and useful to folklorists. Both of the collection's editors place their own articles in this section.

Folk philosophy and belief inspired by Star Trek are addressed by author Michael Jindra in his article "Star Trek to Me Is a Way of Life: Fan Expressions of Star Trek Philosophy." In Jindra's analysis, Star Trek is used as a point of reference—replacing for some the more traditional framework of religion—for the construction of both identity and worldview. His argument is...