Earthrise

Religion and the Space Program

Online class with Clay Jenkinson

January 27 – February 17, 2024
$300 per person

Registration is closed for this class

The crew of Apollo 8 read the first 10 verses of the Book of Genesis on Christmas Eve in lunar orbit. Buzz Aldrin took communion on the Moon! Edgar Mitchell conducted ESP experiments with friends on Earth from deep space. Many astronauts came back to Earth with a deepened spiritual consciousness. Some became evangelical ministers. Although the space program was a triumph of hard mathematics and Newtonian mechanics, there was a surprising amount of spiritual activity during and after flights. Consider the Overview Effect — the sense that once you had seen the entire earth in a single gaze you graduated to a higher consciousness and could never look at the world in the same way again. 

During four online class sessions with Clay Jenkinson, we’ll discuss all of this generally — and these instances of spiritual activity and observance one by one. We’ll compare the American space program with the Russian experience and (now) the Chinese. And we’ll talk about the “gazing mutinies” that took place on several U.S. manned missions, particularly on Skylab.

Class Schedule

Sessions will be held via Zoom on Saturday mornings for four weeks, January 27 – February 17, 2024 at 11 am Eastern / 8 am Pacific.
Optional Zoom office hours Wednesday evenings.

What We’ll Be Reading

  • To Touch the Face of God: The Sacred, the Profane, and the American Space Program 1957-1975 by Kendrick Oliver.
  • A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts by Andrew Chaikin. 
  • If you only have time to read one book in preparation for this class, prioritize To Touch the Face of God. 
  • Also suggested films to prepare: Apollo 13, Gravity (less than stellar dialogue, but useful in other ways), and The Martian. 

How to Get Started

  • Order the books either on your reading device or through your local book seller. Start reading.
  • Take notes.
  • Make lists of your questions and thoughts so that we can make our sessions rich in discussion.

Clay will provide some questions and discussion prompts and may pre-select passages to discuss.

Online courses are conducted by Dakota Sky Education with fees paid to Dakota Sky Education.
The courses are an educational service, enrollment fees are not tax deductible.