Making theology more fun (or more geeky)

Usually these things come up after a long night at the White Horse, trying to wind up Drayton and confuse Hnaef (well, usually it's less "trying to wind up" and more "enjoying winding up", but you get the idea), but it was followinwatchingg a Twitter conversation that got me started on this one today.  Here are some essay questions that if they aren't set by Cambridge University Divinity Faculty in their finals exams really ought to be:

• Discuss the development of monotheism in early Hebrew society with reference to Neal Stephenson's Snowcrash
• Discuss the concept of perichoresis with reference to Nick Harkaway's The Gone-Away World
• Discuss theories of reincarnation with reference to Jon Courtenay Grimwood's 9Tail Fox
• Discuss mind-body duality and the concept of soul with reference to Richard  Morgan's Altered Carbon or other titles in the Takeshi Kovacs series
• Discuss the the theology of original sin with reference to R. A. Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
• Discuss the difficulties that personal revelation presents to established hierarchies with reference to Iain M. Banks' Feersum Endjinn
• Discuss the relationship between science and fundamentalist Christianity without reference to Carl Sagan's Contact

And believe me, there's lots more where that comes from.