To Touch the Face of God
The Sacred, the Profane, and the American Space Program, 1957-1975
Published on 12. March 2013
Book
Hardback
248 pages
978-1-4214-0788-3 (ISBN)
Description
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth..." In 1968 the world watched as Earth rose over the moonscape, televised from the orbiting Apollo 8 mission capsule. Radioing back to Houston on Christmas Eve, astronauts recited the first ten verses from the book of Genesis. In fact, many of the astronauts found space flight to be a religious experience. "To Touch the Face of God" is the first book-length historical study of the relationship between religion and the U.S. space program. Kendrick Oliver explores the role played by religious motivations in the formation of the space program and discusses the responses of religious thinkers such as Paul Tillich and C. S. Lewis. Examining the attitudes of religious Americans, Oliver finds that the space program was a source of anxiety as well as inspiration. It was not always easy for them to tell whether it was a godly or godless venture. Grounded in original archival research and the study of participant testimonies, this book also explores one of the largest petition campaigns of the post-war era. Between 1969 and 1975, more than eight million Americans wrote to NASA expressing support for prayer and bible-reading in space.
Oliver's study is rigorous and detailed but also contemplative in its approach, examining the larger meanings of mankind's first adventures in "the heavens."
Oliver's study is rigorous and detailed but also contemplative in its approach, examining the larger meanings of mankind's first adventures in "the heavens."
Reviews / Votes
To Touch the Face of God... support[s] the importance of the strength of individual faith, the power of community, and the American need for both heroes and villains of biblical proportions to change the world. -- David Rosman New York Journal of Books Oliver analyses spaceflight and religion in a sophisticated manner, well informed by the scholarly literature of 'new aerospace history,' which examines intersections between space history and other disciplines or themes... Oliver engages histories of theology and religious practice in a broad conversation of motivations, implications, transformations and reinforcements of religion in the history of spaceflight. -- Margaret Weitekamp Times Higher Education Religious and science colletions alike will relish this survey. Midwest Book Review To Touch the Face of God is well-written, with short, precise excursions into what almost amounts to poetry, for example: 'They [the astronauts in space] could not sit for a morning in the manner of Thoreau, slowly incubating epiphany'... It is an important contribution to the study of the complex connections between spaceflight and religion and thus highly recommended. -- Thore Bjornvig Quest: History of Spaceflight Quarterly Oliver's well-research book sparkles with graceful prose and cogent insights... Also refreshing is Oliver's breadth of knowledge, which leads to pregnant thoughts... To Touch the Face of God is a stimulating and original examination of the long Sixties. Looking at America through this unique window-actually a spaceship's portal-reveals things I had not seen before. -- Robert Spinney Fides Et HistoriaMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Baltimore, MD
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Paper over boards
With dust jacket
Illustrations
12 s/w Abbildungen
12 Illustrations, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
488 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4214-0788-3 (9781421407883)
DOI
10.1353/book.21080
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Kendrick Oliver
To Touch the Face of God
The Sacred, the Profane, and the American Space Program, 1957-1975
E-Book
03/2013
Johns Hopkins University Press
€32.99
Available for download
Person
Kendrick Oliver is a reader in American history in the Faculty of Humanities, University of Southampton, United Kingdom.
Content
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Blasphemy of Going Up
1. A Power Greater Than Any of Us: Religion and Secularity in the Formation of the American Space Program
2. Signals of Transcendence: The Rise and Fall of Space-Age Theology
3. Into the Other World: Anticipations of Spaceflight as Religious Experience
4. Perhaps a Meaning to Us: The Apollo Missions as Religious Experience
5. Evil Triumphs When Good Men Do Nothing: Religious Americans and NASA in the Autumn of the Space Age
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliographic Essay
Index
Introduction: The Blasphemy of Going Up
1. A Power Greater Than Any of Us: Religion and Secularity in the Formation of the American Space Program
2. Signals of Transcendence: The Rise and Fall of Space-Age Theology
3. Into the Other World: Anticipations of Spaceflight as Religious Experience
4. Perhaps a Meaning to Us: The Apollo Missions as Religious Experience
5. Evil Triumphs When Good Men Do Nothing: Religious Americans and NASA in the Autumn of the Space Age
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliographic Essay
Index