The Star

Read for the 12 in 12 Challenge.

This story won the 1956 Hugo for Best Short Story.

This, along with A Case of Conscience by James Blish, is a story from a similar period in which the author confronts the apparent opposition of astrophysics with faith. The 50s were a time of amazing developments in physics and astrophysics, and I imagine that the discoveries must have seemed overwhelming, and challenging to a God-centered universe as detailed in Judeo-Christian faiths. Of course many people have found ways to resolve that conflict since then. But even now, I imagine that some people (perhaps the evangelicals in particular) would find the ideas presented in this story directly challenging.

Well worth a read, if for no better reason than to consider the effects of such science fiction on present-day religious and scientific thought.

Reading this review might be interesting to provide a contracting voice in confronting the confrontations that Arthur C. Clarke presents.