Church in Space

We're back! Season 2 finally launches after a long hiatus: going underground to escape the Shadow Bishop, Drew and Dan performing with Figrin D'an on his intergalactic concert tour as a covert cover, and rescuing Pastor Dave from the Spa of Innumerable Unpleasures. (Drew and Dan will post recovered audio from their SighOps debriefs as the season goes on.) In this episode: live play! We begin Seaso...

After a long hiatus due to the rigors and chaos of our modern lives -- and not at all due to a massive theological conspiracy to silence those who question religious dogma within the framework of deeply informed speculative fiction, nor who believe The Rings of Power IS canon -- Church in Space will return in a few days. Listen to the announcement for more. If you dare!

In which Pastor Dave and Drew desperately try to make Dan an acolyte of baseball.  They try pointing out that it's a Calvinist game, that you can be really out of shape to play (even professionally), and that there's a whole lot of physics and math involved.  Will Dan be drawn in to this Cult of Sport?  Or is he simply too far down the path of Nerdom to ever succumb? On the way, Dan learns that Am...

In which the 3Ds ponder the presence of aliens influencing human development in ancient times.  Does the Bible document ETs amongst the prophets?  On the way, we learn that Pastor Dave would make the universe's absolute worst Starfleet officer, who even now would feel much more comfortable in the Dark Ages.  Meanwhile, Drew and Dan shudder at the possibility that the solution to the Fermi Pardox i...

In which the 3Ds debate the merits of hard versus soft science fiction -- and wonder which type each of the Gospel writers would be fan boys of.  Along the way, we learn that whoever wrote Matthew really didn't understand the point of poetry; the need for Bryce Dallas Howard and Leah Thompson to direct more sci fi (a lot more, please!); Alan Tudyk is the perfect anti-star; and Dan is disgusted at...

In which Pastor Dave does for evildoers what Carl Linnaeus did for life: creates a classification system useful in wretched hives of scum and villainy everywhere.  The 3Ds promptly debate which villains -- one each from pop culture and the Bible -- fit into which categories.  Thanos and Paul fit in the same phylum; Khan and Cain; Loki and Pilate; Palpatine and Ramses; and so many more!  Along the...

In which the 3Ds contemplate the role of monastics in space.  From Dr. Who to Stargate, monk variants are almost ubiquitous in sci-fi -- usually resembling Catholic or Eastern Mystic traditions.  And they almost always gain special powers through their faith.  Of course, we talk Jedi, too; they're the low-hanging fruit, which doesn't stop us from figuring out that these Force-monks led to their ow...

In which the 3-Ds contemplate Mad Max, and why the Southern Hemisphere's apocalyptic movies are so distinctly different from the Northern Hemisphere's apocalyptic movies.  Australians, in particular, seem to enjoy their post-apocalyptic lives!  Then it's on to Samuel L. Jackson's next role: the Punisher? Gandalf? Khan?  You be the judge.  It's the end of the world as we know it, distilled into a h...

In which the 3-Ds return after an unplanned hiatus (due to unannounced "rolling blackouts," storms, and unseasonal high heat), we discuss the portrayal of climate change in science fiction.  Because reality.  On the way, we discover that Dan is the world's most dangerous lab partner...Drew is hip on hops as we plan the official church brewery...and Pastor Dave reveals he dreams of becoming Emperor...

In which the 3-Ds build on a question from our last episode: who are you, really?  It's all about identity this time around.  We must be having an identity crisis, because all three of us are unusually serious in this show.  "To thine own self be true," quoth Shakespeare...but who be thee?  Does your identity change depending on the situation, or are you always the same person at your core?  Does...

In which the 3-Ds discuss immortality in sci fi, and as it gets closer in real science, would we really want it?  After all, why be immortal if you don't like change...or have a sucky personality you're not willing to change?  And if immortality means transferring your personality and memories into a computer, is that really you?  What makes you...you?  It's pretty heady stuff; Dave posits that im...

In which the 3-Ds contemplate what makes humans so special.  In so much sci fi (and religion), humanity is something very special or unusually dangerous.  What's behind this human hubris?  Lazy writing, an author's low self-esteem, or simple human bias?  And does this all mean that the Bible has it backwards: God didn't create man in His image, but we created God in our image?  If God is omniprese...

In which the 3-Ds ponder whether the emperor and the Galactic Empire in Star Wars were actually the good guys; that naturally leads to a discussion of what makes really good evil in fiction...and whether a Force ghost is trapped between Heaven and Hell.  Dave laments the difficulty in writing a good short sermon, while Dan & Drew riff on Who (and The Doctor's granddaughter).  We wrap it all up rev...

In which, for the first time, the 3-Ds never get to the planned topic; they started chatting about video games and never actually got around to starting the show.  In this randomly overheard conversation they ask (and Drew answers) why there are no full-on religious video games, discuss the changing definition of God, and debate the best style of that most divine of foods: pizza!  (Dave & Dan agre...

In which the 3-Ds ponder whether the Borg have the right idea, and if religion is really about assimilation.  We also learn of The Sermon on the Bridge while reflecting on William Shatner as a Lutheran pastor, hear Luther's opinion about free will, and come up with the concept of Quantum Sin.  And we decide which other sci fi forces could handily beat the Borg.  Cybermen, anyone?

In which the 3-Ds decide there's nothing quite so fun as a good disaster movie.  Like religion, hope is a major component to the success of a disaster movie.  Hope, and having a villain with a British accent -- that's critical.  Just as critical as making sure the end of the world begins in either London or Cardiff if it's a Doctor Who disaster...which gives Scotland the perfect tool for its indep...

In which the 3-Ds find the Easter resurrection reminiscent of reanimated remains: zombies!  Is there a biblical basis for the undead?  We examine the many lives of Lazarus, humanity's Zombie Prime...and wonder if the Resurrection really means we'll all technically be zombies in paradise (hmmm...Zombies in Paradise sounds like a long-lost George Romero film...).  And don't think you won't have to w...

Can a machine have a soul?  The 3-Ds stay unusually focused (mostly) on whether true artificial intelligence can really exist -- and, if it does, whether it has a soul?  And if it doesn't, where do we draw the line with humans?  Just homo sapiens?  What about Neandertals -- do those of us with a lot of Neandertal DNA not have souls?  If we do, why not chimps...elephants...octopi?  For our game, we...

In which the 3-Ds learn how the Federation's economy dovetails nicely with the Bible's (but the Ferengi...not so much), and we figure out where Jesus would boldly go in Star Trek's Federation.

In which the 3-Ds wonder why there are no Protestant galactic empires.  Islamic, Catholic, Judaic, Mormon, Buddhist, and more...sci fi has those in our interplanetary future.  So where are the Lutherans?  Maybe they just don't have the rich collective history cum character development other faiths have, so they're too boring for a rollicking space adventure.  We're pretty certain Tron: Legacy miss...

In which the 3-Ds look at luck tucked into science fiction -- and whether it's providence, predestiny, random chance...or just a convenient way for a writer to advance the plot.  That inevitably leads to the conclusion that from climate change to the pandemic, all bad things that happened since 2016 are the result of the Chicago Cubs winning the world series -- a statistical anomaly so great, it b...

In which the 3-Ds go heavy on Star Wars debating whether the Force is a heresy the Council of Nicea would have banned, or is it part of the Truth and the Way?  On the way, we end up figuring out what constitutes an actual religion...and discover that, by any definition, Ohio State football is indeed a full-on religion.  Oh, and we all pretty much feel that movie theaters would be great -- without...

In which we have no theme, as Pastor Dave posits his game questions throughout the entire episode.  To wit: Which Bible character would have the best Twitter account? What's Hollywood's worst casting in a Bible movie? Which Bible book would have been best told as it happened on TikTok or Vine? Why doesn't God pop by for a snack and chat anymore? Oh, and on the way, we also ponder who could possibl...

In which we answer our first listener question.  Which excites the 3-Ds, because it means we actually have a listener!  The question:  what do we think about James Cameron's Avatar movie? It reminded our listener of her Native American culture and spirituality.  Drew and Dan also discuss reforms for the Lutheran Church involving beer, pretzels, and fig newtons.  And Pastor Dave deeply ponders whet...

In which Mandalorians pop up in Paul's letter to the Ephesians, Pastor Dave spots theological coherence in Marvel's Netflix shows, and how The Lord of the Rings is WAY more realistic than Star Wars.  Oonta goota, Faramir?