Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Damon Knight selected Blish's novel as one of the ten best science fiction books of the 1950s. He reviewed the novel as "resonat[ing] with a note of its own. . . . it is complete and perfect." On the other hand, Br. Guy Consolmagno, S.J., the director of the Vatican Observatory, suggested that this novel was written without much knowledge of Jesuits, saying that "[its] theology isn't only bad theology, it's not Jesuit theology." In a foreword, Blish mentions that he had heard objections to the theology, but countered that the theology was that of a future Church rather than the present one, and that in any case he set out to write about "not a body of faith, but a man". He also received, and quoted, the official Church policy on contact with extraterrestrial intelligent life forms. The policy described such life forms as being possibly without immortal souls, or having immortal souls and being "fallen", or having souls and existing in a state of Grace, listing the approach to be taken in each case. In 2012 the novel was included in the Library of America two-volume boxed set American Science Fiction: Nine Classic Novels of the 1950s, edited by Gary K. Wolfe. Awards and nominations The novel won a Hugo Award in 1959. The original novella won a Retrospective Hugo Award in 2004. See also Arthur C. Clarke's short story "The Star", where a Jesuit scientist finds out a faith-shaking fact about a supernova. Rebuttal by Betsy Curtis, a sequel and response to The Star, with a doctor who is also a priest speaking with the original story's narrator after his return to Earth. Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow and sequel Children of God which feature a Jesuit linguist/priest who has a crisis of faith confronting alien cultures. References Sources External links 1953 American novels 1958 American novels 1958 science fiction novels American novellas American science fiction novels Ballantine Books books Books critical of Christianity Books critical of religion English-language novels Fiction set in 2049 Hugo Award for Best Novel-winning works Novels by James Blish Novels republished in the Library of America Novels set on fictional planets Religion in science fiction