Summary

The opening of The Star introduces the main conflict of the story – a crisis of religious faith. We find the narrator, a Jesuit astrophysicist, on a mission in the far reaches of space. Something awful has happened out there that has made him question his Christian beliefs. "I stare at the crucifix that hangs on the cabin wall... and for the first time in my life I wonder if it is no more than an empty symbol."

Yet, at this early stage in the story, we do not know what has caused the Jesuit's despair, and Clarke keeps us guessing right until the end. We do not even learn that the main character is a Jesuit astrophysicist until the third paragraph, by which time we know that he is on a space shuttle carrying a precious cargo of recordings and photographs...