University of York, November 4-6 2026

Science, or speculative, fiction is a rich area on which church leaders can draw when discussing the social consequences of scientific and technological innovation with their congregations.

In 2023, ECLAS held a conference at the Science Museum in London to that end; later this year, we will gather in York to continue our explorations.

This interdisciplinary conference welcomes interested faith and community leaders as presenters and attendees. Within the conference, we hope to run a specific session dedicated to the practical use of SF in ministry.

 

Call for papers

Over the past decade or so, speculative fiction has come to occupy a significant space in Anglophone culture. Whether expressed through prime-time TV series, framing MMORPGs, or explored by Nobel prize-winning authors, SF stories encourage their audiences to ask difficult and compelling questions about the nature of humanity.

They challenge our stewardship of the world, our capacity for self-transformation and our perceptions of our self-hood.

They simultaneously create visions of the world as it could be, and as it must not be allowed to be.

They ask their audiences, not just who they are, but who they want to be.

In so doing, they draw on spirituality and faith alongside science and technology, to the extent that SF can be regarded as the most theologically oriented of all literary genres.

In this conference, we want to consider how speculative fictions can help reset public discourses around spirituality, faith, science and technology, and open out new possibilities for their future connections. We are interested in work that explores the capacity of fiction to examine different relationships between these aspects of human social life, and how these might help us conceive of alternative, and perhaps more hopeful, planetary futures.

Papers may focus on past or present, and may come from any disciplinary perspective. We welcome submissions from history, politics, theology, literary studies, sociology or science communication, as well as from the natural sciences and from creative practitioners. We are open to single paper or panel submissions, and are keen to encourage imaginative and innovative strategies for presentation/discussion.

Proposals for individual papers should not exceed 150 words in length; those for panels should not exceed 500 words. All submissions should include the author/s name and – where appropriate – institution. They can be submitted to amanda.rees@york.ac.uk

Please also use this email to ask any questions you have about the conference and its theme.

Deadline for submission is August 10, 2026.