The July CSFF Blog Tour feature is Karen Hancock’s The Enclave, a science fiction/suspense novel dealing with such issues as cloning, genetic engineering, and cryogenics. One of the things that struck me about this novel was how necessary it is. We live in an era of scientific revolution, much of it centered on the human genome.

For me as a non-science oriented person, I’d just as soon ignore it all. But the fact is, the discoveries of today will be married to a set of ethics to be determined, and that interplay will affect society. We Christians need to be at the forefront mapping out how right and wrong fit with these new discoveries. Because Man can clone, should he? Because Man can tweak a baby’s DNA to make him taller or stronger or maler, should he?

Karen Hancock opens up a number of these scientific topics, then couples them with an exploration of cult activity. But here’s the thing. Karen says what Christians need to hear. Her story brings serious matters front and center, not in the form of absolutes already digested, but in the form of questions.

After all, the protagonist in The Enclave is a brilliant geneticist, and he is a Christian. Not an Intelligent Design Christian, either, but one who believes in creation. You see the questions that spring to mind with nothing more than that simple description.

It is this aspect of speculative fiction—the ability to look at the hard issues, the complex topics—that I think too many people overlook in a rush to judge.

The Enclave doesn’t dodge any of it, but neither does it give easy or simplistic answers. The problem isn’t “cloning” or the answer, “down with science.” Instead, because of the second story thread, the one for which the book is named, the real problem comes to light—Man has a desire to be God.

The science issues, then, take a backseat. There is no answer to them apart from the answer of bowing to our sovereign God and saying, Your will, not mine. No legislation will insure that cloning will not violate someone’s human rights or spiritual well-being. No advancement in the study of longevity will ensure immortality. In other words, the science issues, while important for us to think about, should only lead us to the realization that God must be honored as God before we proceed in these endeavors.

And as our culture shuttles Him off to the side and claims that faith should be private, not public, we open ourselves up to antichrist figures such as the one that serves as the antagonist in The Enclave. Yet again we see the truth surface in a work of speculative fiction.

Take a look at what the other bloggers on the tour have to say about The Enclave:

Brandon Barr Jim Black Jennifer Bogart Justin Boyer Keanan Brand Gina Burgess Canadianladybug Melissa Carswell Valerie Comer Karri Compton Amy Cruson CSFF Blog Tour Stacey Dale D. G. D. Davidson Jeff Draper Emmalyn Edwards April Erwin Karina Fabian Beth Goddard Todd Michael Greene Heather R. Hunt Becky Jesse Cris Jesse Jason Joyner Julie Carol Keen Krystine Kercher Dawn King Mike Lynch Shannon McNear Melissa Meeks Rebecca LuElla Miller Mirtika Eve Nielsen Nissa John W. Otte Steve Rice Crista Richey James Somers Stephanie Rachel Starr Thomson Steve Trower Fred Warren Dona Watson Elizabeth Williams