Let’s review the theories:
1. Mormon theology: Terryl Givens in People of Paradox said, “Science fiction (or the more-encompassing ‘speculative fiction’), though still struggling for respect as serious art, is the literary form best suited to the exposition and exploration of ideas at the margins of conventional thinking, whether in technology, ethics, politics, or religion. And indeed, some Mormon doctrine is so unsettling in its transgression of established ways of conceiving reality that it may be more at home in the imagined universes of Card than in journals of theology.”
(1) the theme of apotheosis—that men and women can progress to the point of becoming divine beings, and
(2) that God has created other worlds and other peoples.
2. Comfortable with rational explanations: Scott Parkin said,
“The idea that there are rational explanations and that it’s okay to explore those explanations is one of the reasons why the rigors of science fiction appeals to so many Mormons. For example, Mormons have a view that science is an explanation of the way God gets things done. Religion answers the question ‘Why?’ and science answers the question ‘How?’ and they are complementary disciplines. So that sense of rationalism within the LDS theological construct brings the religious and speculative science together.” Shannon Hale:
“Mormons believe a lot of things that are pretty fantastic—we believe in miracles and angels and ancient prophets and rediscovered Scripture—so maybe it is almost natural for us to dive into these other stories.”
3. Tight-knit, supportive community: John Brown offers a less theological and more practical explanation for why Mormons have done well in the science fiction and fantasy genres.
“Do we even know if Mormons are over-represented in the SF/Fantasy field?” he questions. His theory is that the inroads Mormons have made into speculative fiction, particularly science fiction, is more regional than it is religious and has more to do with several people having broken into the field (Orson Scott Card, Dave Wolverton, and Tracy Hickman) and then making efforts to teach their craft to young writers, which, because these authors lived in Utah and were affiliated with the tight-knit Mormon community, means they ended up teaching their craft to young Mormons.
4. Mormon literary history: Gideon Burton in his introduction to an online version of the story,
“Pratt’s ‘dream of the future’ recounted in ‘The Angel of the Prairies’ demonstrates an early and ongoing affinity between Mormon theology and speculative fiction.”
5. Strong sense of identity: Scott Parkin acknowledges that Mormons may seem to be particularly involved in the genre not because there are actually more Mormons writing science fiction and fantasy (proportionally to other religious and minority groups), but because Mormons “are more aggressive in identifying themselves as Mormon in connection with their work.”
6. Proximity: Dave Wolverton/David Farland:
“Still, there is a third element that we can look at, and that is that in our own community there are a lot of examples of authors who are “making it” in the field. When I was a missionary, I was introduced to the writings of Orson Scott Card by a local member and became an instant fan of his work. In the same way, when I teach writing workshops, I often hear from people things like, “Ally Condie lives just two houses down the street from me,” or “Stephenie Meyer is in my ward,” or “I listen to Brandon Sanderson’s podcast every week.” With so many stellar examples around us, it’s easy to get inspired as a writer.
7. Peculiar and open to peculiarity: OSC comments:
“Mormons write sci-fi because we’re more open to strange ideas in general, and to these strange ideas in particular. We have a greater openness to fiction that challenges accepted ideas of how the world works or should work, because we already live as Strangers in a Strange Land, no matter where we are.”
Gerald Johnston comments:
“Because our beliefs are already considered Sci-Fi by a lot of the people of the world, we are more comfortable exploring story lines which are off the beaten path while being different enough to surprise and delight others.”
8. Sense of calling: (comments) Brad R. Torgersen:
“What I will say is that writing, for me, feels like one of those talents we’re always exhorted to explore, grow, and multiply. As a teenager I realized I had something in me — call it a knack or maybe an aptitude — and that I probably ought to do something seriously constructive with it. And though becoming professionally published has taken a lot of work — hat tip to my Patriarchal Blessing — I’m finally starting to hit pay dirt.”
9. Rejection from Christian market: (comment) Melissa R. Wolfe,
“Another possible factor is that LDS authors are effectively shut out of the traditional Christian book market. Some sci-fi/fantasy books published by that market are classified as Christian books, not sci-fi/fantasy. As such, these books and their authors might not be included in the total numbers when trying to discover whether sci-fi/fantasy is dominated by LDS authors.
“The few LDS presses focus on other types of books, not sci-fi/fantasy. So when an LDS author has an idea for this type of book, they will not limit themselves to LDS presses when submitting. Authors who identify as strongly Christian will most likely submit to Christian presses, and have their books printed under that heading. Authors who identify as strongly LDS will submit to traditional publishers, and have their books published as sci-fi/fantasy.”
10. Mormons supportive: (comment) Rick Walton,
“There are I believe multiple reasons for this success, but my feeling is that the strongest reason might be that there is a vibrant, tight knit, giving community of writers and it is fairly easy, if you are serious about your writing to get the support you need to develop and eventually publish.”
11. Literacy: (comment) Aaron Gifford,
“All writers start as readers. I would be fascinated to see if there’s statistically significant influence of LDS religion or culture on reading, and in particular, love of reading. Does the LDS faith or culture (or whatever) tend to produce a statistically significant higher number of people who would describe themselves as “loving to read”? If so, it would make sense that with more readers who love reading, there would follow a higher number of writers as well. Any pointers to useful statistics that might validate or invalidate this possibility?”
12. Mormons don’t do theology: Nathaniel Givens,
“I think the biggest reason that Mormons write so much science fiction is that our religion doesn’t have any official theology or creeds. Although we have a very hierarchical institution, they confine themselves mostly to doctrinal statements. If Mormons want to try and dig deeper and understand the meaning behind or connections between elements of official Mormon doctrine, then that becomes sort of their own responsibility. And so there’s just this deep culture of amateur theology in Mormonism: we spend a lot of time just trying to figure out how things might work, theologically. And, since Mormonism also makes doctrinal claims that go well outside of most religions (for example,about what happens before and after this mortal life) and also has long believed in compatibility between science and religion, the direction that Mormons take with their individual speculation is very compatible with sci-fi. After all, American sci-fi writer Pamela Sargent described science fiction as “the literature of ideas”, in Mormonism you have a population of people who are just fascinated with trying to work out these various big ideas that have to do with how we got where we are and where we might get where we’re going. So I think it’s really natural that you would have a lot of speculative fiction (an umbrella term for fantasy and sci-fi) coming out of that culture.”
(comment) DLewis T&S:
“The theological angle seems right, but I almost wonder if you got it backwards. It’s not that so much is left undefined for Mormons, as compared to other religions, that give us space to work things out, but rather that we do have fairly concrete ideas of a pre-/post-mortal life that provides the framework for speculation. Mormons don’t strike me as particularly interested in theological mystery, and its materialist theology, coupled with its literalist art aesthetic, makes mapping out a vision of the future/heaven come more naturally than most. Because we make fairly direct claims about what we’ll be doing in heaven, speculating about the future doesn’t seem that unusual. In short, I wonder if the same spirit animating Mormon sci-fi animated “Saturday’s Warriors” (albeit it to very different aesthetic ends). So as a Catholic writer like Flannery O’Connor turns to the gothic to engage theological mysteries like incarnation, sin, violence, atonement, Mormons are more eager to flesh out its plan-of-salvation-diagram of the future (albeit from within a secular genre) with science-fiction.”
13. Mormon w/out fear of reprisals: (comment) Jettboy said,
“My own speculation why Mormons like science fiction and fantasy is that there are no boundaries. You can hide or openly present your views however much you want. There are no rules and therefore it allows you to break any rule without moral or social restraints. In a word, you can be Mormon without having to explain yourself. The worlds, technologies, magics, and characters do the explaining for you. The only ones who will call you out on it are other Mormons or those who are preocupied with Mormonism. The rest will be blisfully unaware of the infusion of religious images and ideas. Brandon Sanderson’s popular “Mistborn” trilogy probably has more Mormonism in it than the whole Twilight series and no one has so much as written about the religious meanings.”