1. Travis Perry says:

    I believe it was Robert A. Heinlein, Golden Age science fiction writer, who coined the phrase “Speculative Fiction.” He meant it to only include science fiction and fantasy, but the meaning of the term has expanded somewhat.

    I believe he used the word “speculative” because this kind of fiction writes about worlds that could be rather than worlds that actually are or have been.

    You are entirely right to say that “futile speculations” refers to thinking that rejects God–however, that kind of thinking has occurred at times in writing by science fiction and fantasy authors. Such as the overall tenor of the works by Robert A. Heinlein…

    • I agree, Travis. Much speculative fiction is also futile speculation, but so is much realistic fiction. The genre does not influence whether or not a writer speaks the truth about God, or not. And that’s the point that a lot of people opposed to Christian speculative fiction don’t understand. They miss the “Christian” part, which I would assume gets included because writers want to identify with the truth about God.

      Becky

      • Travis Perry says:

        I think they may also be missing how much a great deal of so-called “non-fiction” contains “futile speculation.” For example, I like the Biblical Archaeological Review, but some of the stuff they record as being true about the Bible at times is both speculative and also contrary to what the Bible actually says…

What do you think?