Mike Zang - Mythology and Religion

"On Fairy-Stories" brings up a distinction that is oftentimes muddied by cultural convention: the distinction between mythology and religion. Tolkien explains that the two are wholly disparate, however, religion has been communicated throughout the ages via myth, and likewise myth has taken on religious significance, despite being void of such implications by nature.

The telling of the Space Trilogy gives yet another interpretation of myth, albeit without religious meaning. "Out of the Silent Planet" metaphorically demonstrates how we as humans delineate superiority among different cultures, deeming some less human than others. In a way, this does have a religious significance to it, yet Lewis hardly calls to attention any explicit bibical references or direct parallels between the two. Essentially, "Out of this Silent Planet" deals with the contact between humans and an three exotic Martian cultures.

Reinterpretting this text in a historical/mythological sense, we could compare it with the context of Imperialistic age when Western European nations were expanding trade influence and conquering foreign civilizations. This exploitation was often fueled by crooked religious messages, backed by equally crooked misinterpretations of the myths behind them.