Friday, February 23, 2018

Exploring God's World (1965)



A rare and infamous pamphlet about God's place in space exploration. It has some very nice color drawings and some text that captures one aspect of what 1965 in the United States was like.

Jauncey, James H. Illustrated by Tom Eaglin. Exploring God’s World. Cincinnati, OH: Standard Publishing. (32 p.) 22 cm. Paperback. 1965


IT. Primary/secondary. Color paintings. Discusses God’s place in space flight, exploration of the solar system, undersea exploration, and man’s destiny to use and protect the earth. Illustrations of rockets, space suits, Moon and Mars exploration. No. 2586.

From the introductory section: "Man Voyages Into Space."



I like the large variety of spacecraft that seem to be traveling between Earth and Mars
 I also like this very cheerful illustration of a "space port" where anyone can book their ticket to Mars.
 This rationale for why the United States must go to space first is interesting. Since this was aimed at junior high school students it makes a very specific point about "evil."
 This illustration is just silly, it is not clear whether they are on the Moon, Pluto, Mars or wherever.
 The pamphlet ends with ways American can choose to use the oceans, including evidently undersea drilling and pumping of oil.


2 comments:

  1. Can't believe any school board would approve distribution of such overtly religious writing in JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS. That's when you;re supposed to start QUESTIONING that view of the world. :(

    ReplyDelete
  2. Growing up in the era of the space race (and playing with Major Matt Mason) and grounded in faith my heart skipped a beat when I saw this. Thanks for posting.

    ReplyDelete