According to McKnee, what relationship did Dick’s ideas have to (a) Christianity (b) religion and philosophy in general?
McKnee says that "The concept of Christ as a living word fascinated Dick, and much of his writing refers to the doctrine 'of logos'" and Dick associated the logos directly with Christ and Christianity. This shows us that many of Dicks ideas had close ties to Christianity, and many philosophical points to do with religion also.
McKnee continues to argue that "Thus... Scripture, the temporal logos that reflects Gods creative and sustaining word is a finite source from which infinite truth springs." This comes out extremely strongly in Augustine, when he tries to stop using normal words for daily purposes, and only uses his words to preach about the greatness of God.
Clearly many of Dick’s ideas had strong influences by Christianity, this comes through in many of his works. McKnee’s argument that much of Dicks works were influenced by the ‘logos’ proves this, as once this is realized it becomes clear to his readers that there are strong religious currents flowing through many of his works.
Reference List:
McKnee, G. (2004). A Scanner Darkly: Dick as A Christian Theologian. In Pink Beams of Light from God in the Gutter: the science fictional religeon of Philip K. Dick. NY: U Press of America.
A reasonable start - but you really need to take up this statement "Clearly many of Dick’s ideas had strong influences by Christianity, this comes through in many of his works." Using either Scanner Darkly or tMitHC can you provide examples. The inclusion of an explicit discussion of primary texts is generally central to literary criticism.
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