Battlestar renewed
Thanks to Blogenheimer for the news that Battlestar Galactica has been renewed by the Sci Fi channel for a second season. According to Sci Fi Wire, creator Ronald Moore wants the second season to address questions of religion.
A few years ago, I attended the annual conference of the American Academy of Religion. Dr. Ross Kraemer, currently a professor of Religious Studies at Brown University, chaired a session on Star Trek and religion. The purpose of the session was to determine whether there was sufficient interest and material for a scholarly investigation. The answer must have been yes, because she went on to co-author Religions of Star Trek with fellow religious scholars William Cassidy and Susan Schwartz. Unfortunately I remember little of the session, other than that it was quite crowded, and that Dr. Kraemer firmly but politely shut down an eager audience member who wanted to know her thoughts on religions in Babylon 5.
Point of trivia: did you know that one of the races portrayed in Babylon 5, the Gaim, was named for Neil Gaiman? They sported stylized gas masks like that of Morpheus in early issues of Gaiman’s Sandman.
Dr. Kraemer’s scholarly focus is usually women’s religion of the Greco-Roman world. She is perhaps best known for her work on the text known as “Joseph and Aseneth,” a piece thought to be included in the pseudoepigrapha. More on the story of Joseph and Aseneth can be found here, including reviews of Kraemer’s book When Aseneth Met Joseph.