315. How Do Incensepunk Stories Imagine the Church’s Future?

315. How Do Incensepunk Stories Imagine the Church’s Future?

From Fantastical Truth by Lorehaven

June 4, 2026 · 1h 17m

About this episode

The episode explores the incensepunk subgenre of sci-fi that envisions a future where faith plays a significant role in culture.

So much sci-fi likes to imagine that humans survive for centuries with some knowledge of classic literature, music, and cultural memory—everything except our religious beliefs. But today we explore a new sci-fi subgenre that dares to suggest the opposite. Faithful priests and other religious heroes of the future may not be wicked villains. In fact, they may be kind of awesome—and potentially fight in powerful mech armor. What is this subgenre some creators call incensepunk ?[1. Photo by Rod Long on Unsplash .] Episode sponsors All That Glows by Lauren Smyth Realm Makers 2026 Conference & Expo Author Update from Author Media Descendant Publishing Mission update New at Lorehaven: Stephen is on break for the annual Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference; welcome to any new listeners he met while teaching about fantastical stories there Now we’re getting ready for Realm Makers. More on that soon. Subscribe free to get updates and join the Lorehaven Guild Concession stand Stephen and Zack are Protestants, and yet often enjoy fellowship with Catholic friends. Many creators of fantastical fiction, such as J.R.R. Tolkien, come from these other traditions. So we wanted to…

People in this episode

Hosts: Stephen, Zack

Guest: Jon James

Topics covered

  • incensepunk
  • science fiction
  • religion
  • cultural memory
  • future of the church
  • fantastical fiction

Keywords

  • incensepunk
  • sci-fi
  • future church
  • religious heroes
  • fantastical stories
  • cultural memory
  • mech armor

Sponsors

Realm Makers

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Author Media, Descendant Publishing, Lorehaven

More episodes of Fantastical Truth

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Fantastical Truth podcast page.