Ann Norman explores how the Star Trek fanfic phenomenon sheds light on the origins of Christianity.  Back-of-the-envelope estimates put the size of the Christian community around 100CE, and the number of possible writers in that community, at surprisingly low numbers on a par with actual readers and writers in Ann's particular fanfic subculture about twenty years ago.

Drawing on her deep experience in that community, she offers an original perspective into the possible dynamics of early Christianity, especially the writing of the many Christian gospels. Ann is an expert on Star Trek Fanfic, having written a novel’s worth of Star Trek fanfic (over 100,000 words) while reading voraciously in this genre for several years and collaborating with scores of other fanfic authors. Most of her experience is in the Star Trek: Enterprise fanfic community, where she helped run the website TriaxianSilk.com, which existed for almost 20 years, first as an active community, and then as an archive. Although she is an amateur when it comes to the topic of the origins of Christianity, she has read many books and follows podcasts on the topic. As part of her presentation, Ann will provide a bibliography of reading materials and podcasts about the origins of Christianity. Join us at: http://meet.google.com/jtx-zdjx-oki