Space opera is a mix of many different 19th century genres into one. While Arthur C Clarke's The Nine Billion Names of God took me into a compilation of urban fantasy and technical science fiction, while sticking to the space opera genre of expansive possibilities.
The urban scene is set by Dr. Wagner, a modern-day scholar and the first character the reader meets. He's the owner of the modern computer that will help the monastery, and they're negotiating the use of the machine in Manhattan. While the author could have used any religion, he chose to keep it to one of our modern religions that exists today -- Tibetan Buddhism.
The science fiction part of Clarke's short story starts with a detailed paragraph of how a machine would help a Tibetan monastery. The lama of the monastery begins the story with, "'Your Mark V Computer can carry out any routine mathematical operation involving up to ten digits...we use a special alphabet of our own. Modifying the electromatic typewriters to deal with this is, of course.'"
Lastly and most importantly, Clarke sticks to space opera-esc expansive possibilities by combining machinery with one of the most ancient religions in the world. Clarke depicts the worlds of science and religion as separate ways of life attempting to come together in this seven page short story. On page one, the lama from the monastery says, "'It is somewhat alien to your way of thought (Dr. Wagner's scholarly thinking), so I hope you will listen with an open mind while I explain it.'" By page three, science and religion are working together: "As the sheets had emerged from the electromatic typewriters, the monks had carefully cut them up and pasted them into enormous books."
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