Exotheology

Short description: Examination of theological issues as they pertain to extraterrestrial intelligence

For theories that posit that historical religious scripture or mythology was inspired by visits from extraterrestrials, see UFO religion and Ancient astronauts. For the fictional denomination, see Vampire: The Requiem.

The term "exotheology" was coined in the 1960s or early 1970s[1] for the examination of theological issues as they pertain to extraterrestrial intelligence. It is primarily concerned with either conjecture about possible theological beliefs that extraterrestrials might have, or how our own theologies would be influenced by evidence of and/or interaction with extraterrestrials.

One of the main themes of exotheology is applying the concept of extraterrestrials who are sentient, and more to the point, endowed with a soul, as a thought experiment to the examination of a given theology, mostly Christian theology, occasionally also Jewish theology.

## Contents

* 1 Christianity
* 2 Judaism
* 3 Islam
* 4 See also
* 5 References
* 5.1 General references

## Christianity

The Christian writer C. S. Lewis, in a 1950s article in the Christian Herald contemplated the possibility of the Son of God incarnating on extraterrestrial worlds, or else that God could devise an entirely distinct plan of salvation for extraterrestrial communities from the one for humans.[2]

Lutheran theologian Ted Peters (2003) said that the questions raised by the possibility of extraterrestrial life are by not new to Christian theology and do not pose, as said by other authors, a threat for Christian dogma. Peters says that medieval theology had frequently considered the question of "what if God had created many worlds?", as had the earlier Church Fathers in discussion of the Antipodes.[3]

The Catholic theologian Corrado Balducci often discussed the question in Italian popular media, and in 2001 published a statement UFOs and Extraterrestrials - A Problem for the Church?. In a 2008 statement, José Gabriel Funes, head of the Vatican Observatory, said "Just as there is a multiplicity of creatures on earth, there can be other beings, even intelligent, created by God. This is not in contrast with our faith because we can't put limits on God's creative freedom".[4]

Smaller denominations also have similar treatments in passing in their key writings: Christian Science and the Course in Miracles treat extraterrestrials as effectively brother spiritual beings in a non-absolute physical experience, the founder of the former writing, "The universe of Spirit is peopled with spiritual beings,...",[5] and Emanuel Swedenborg wrote, "Anyone with a sound intellect can know from many considerations that there are numerous worlds with people on them. Rational thought leads to the conclusion that massive bodies such as the planets, some of which are larger than our own earth, are not empty masses created merely to wander aimlessly around the sun, and shine with their feeble light on one planet. No, they must have a much greater purpose than that. ... What would one planet be to God, who is infinite, and for whom thousands, or even tens of thousands of planets, all full of inhabitants, would be such a trifling matter as to be almost nothing?"[6]

## Judaism

Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, who was also a physicist, was inclined toward the belief in extraterrestrial life, citing Jewish authorities including medieval philosopher Rabbi Chasdai Crescas (Ohr Hashem 4:2) and 18th century kabbalist Rabbi Pinchas Eliyahu Horowitz (Sefer HaBris). Kaplan says, "We therefore find the basic thesis of the Sefer HaBris supported by a number of clear-cut statements by our Sages. There may even be other forms of intelligent life in the universe, but such life forms do not have free will, and therefore do not have moral responsibility"—at least in the same sense as human beings.[7] Rabbi Kaplan also cites Judges 5:23 ("Cursed is Meroz..."), about which Rashi, the foremost medieval commentator said, "Some say [Meroz] was a planet, and some say [Meroz] was a prominent person who was near the battle area and yet did not come [to intervene]."

Rabbi Norman Lamm, former chancellor of Yeshiva University, also wrote on this subject, saying that if the existence of extraterrestrial life should be confirmed, religious scholars must revise previous assumptions to the contrary. He, too, does not rule out this possibility from an Orthodox Jewish point of view.[8]

Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik is said to have remarked that life on other planets would only reflect God's greatness, which exceeds mortal understanding, while not contradicting the role of the Jewish people to heed the Torah and in so doing to perform God's will here on earth.[9]

## Islam

Depending on the suras cited, the Quran of Islam appears to leave open the door to the idea of extraterrestrials, as in 27:65, situated similarly on a par with humans subject to a divine judgment leading toward a heaven or hell as reward or punishment for the deeds of one's life.[10]

## See also

* Cosmic pluralism
* Exopolitics
* Potential cultural impact of extraterrestrial contact
* Ufology

## References

1. ↑ An early attestation is the title "A Jewish Exotheology" in Norman Lamm, Faith and Doubt: Studies in Traditional Jewish Thought, Ktav Pub. House, 1971, p. 107.
2. ↑ "Dabbling in Exotheology". Time (magazine). 1978-04-24. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,916129,00.html.
3. ↑ Ted Peters, Science, theology, and ethics, Ashgate science and religion series, 2003, ISBN:978-0-7546-0825-7, chapter 6: "Exotheology: Speculations on Extraterrestrial Life"
4. ↑ Vatican scientist says belief in God and aliens is OK Reuters, May 14, 2008 Pope's astronomer insists alien life 'would be part of God's creation', The Independent, 15 May 2008.
5. ↑ Eddy, Mary Baker, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 264:32.
6. ↑ Woofenden, Lee and Annette (2014-12-08). "Aliens vs. Advent: Swedenborg's 1758 Book on Extraterrestrial Life". http://leewoof.org/2014/12/08/aliens-vs-advent-swedenborgs-1758-book-on-extraterrestrial-life/.
7. ↑ [Aryeh Kaplan. "On Extraterrestrial Life."] The Aryeh Kaplan Reader, Artscroll/Mesorah Publications.
8. ↑ "A Jewish Exotheology," published as Chapter 5 in Norman Lamm, Faith and doubt: studies in traditional Jewish thought, Ktav Pub. House, 1971, p. 107.
9. ↑ David Holzer, The Rav: Thinking Aloud, HolzerSeforim, 2009.
10. ↑ "Islam and Extraterrestrial Life". 2015-08-18. http://islam-science.net/islam-and-extraterrestrial-life-2908/.

### General references

* Thomas F. O'Meara, O.P. "Christian Theology and Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life." Theological Studies 60 (1999): 3-30.

* v
* t
* e

Extraterrestrial life

Events and objects|

* ALH77005
* ALH84001
* Cells in the stratosphere
* CI1 fossils
* Murchison meteorite
* Nakhla meteorite
* Polonnaruwa meteorite
* Red rain in Kerala
* Shergotty meteorite
* Viking lander biological experiments
* Yamato 000593

Signals of interest|

| Misidentified|

* CP 1919 (misidentified pulsar)
* CTA-102 (misidentified quasar)

|

Stars|

* KIC 8462852 (unusual light fluctuations)
* EPIC 204278916 (unusual light fluctuations)
* VVV-WIT-07 (unusual light fluctuations)
* HD 164595 signal (unknown origin)

Other|

* SHGb02+14a (radio source)
* Wow! signal (inconclusive)
* Fast radio burst (unknown origin)

Life in the Universe|

* Earliest known life forms
* Habitability of Enceladus
* Habitability of Europa
* Habitability of Mars
* Habitability of Titan
* Habitability of Venus

Planetary
habitability|

* Catalog of Nearby Habitable Systems
* Circumstellar habitable zone
* Earth analog
* Extraterrestrial liquid water
* Galactic habitable zone
* Habitability of binary star systems
* Habitability of orange dwarf systems
* Habitability of red dwarf systems
* Natural satellite habitability
* Planetary habitability

Space missions|

* Beagle 2
* Biological Oxidant and Life Detection
* BioSentinel
* Curiosity rover
* Darwin
* Dragonfly
* Enceladus Explorer
* Enceladus Life Finder
* Europa Clipper
* ExoMars
* Rosalind Franklin rover
* ExoLance
* EXPOSE
* Foton-M3
* Icebreaker Life
* Journey to Enceladus and Titan
* Laplace-P
* Life Investigation For Enceladus
* Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment
* Mars Geyser Hopper
* Mars sample-return mission
* Mars 2020
* Northern Light
* Opportunity rover
* SpaceX Red Dragon
* Spirit rover
* Tanpopo
* Titan Mare Explorer
* Venus In Situ Explorer
* Viking 1
* Viking 2

Interstellar
communication|

* Active SETI
* Allen Telescope Array
* Arecibo message
* Arecibo Observatory
* Berkeley SETI Research Center
* Bracewell probe
* Breakthrough Initiatives
* Breakthrough Listen
* Breakthrough Message
* Communication with extraterrestrial intelligence
* Gauss's Pythagorean right triangle proposal
* Lincos language
* NIROSETI
* Pioneer plaque
* Project Cyclops
* Project Ozma
* Project Phoenix
* SERENDIP
* Search for extraterrestrial intelligence
* SETI@home
* setiQuest
* Voyager Golden Record
* Water hole
* Xenolinguistics

Exhibitions|

* The Science of Aliens

Hypotheses|

* Ancient astronauts
* Aestivation hypothesis
* Cosmic pluralism
* Directed panspermia
* Drake equation
* Extraterrestrial hypothesis
* Fermi paradox
* Great Filter
* Hypothetical types of biochemistry
* Interplanetary contamination
* Kardashev scale
* Mediocrity principle
* Neocatastrophism
* Panspermia
* Planetarium hypothesis
* Rare Earth hypothesis
* Zoo hypothesis

Related topics|

* Astrobiology
* Astroecology
* Biosignature
* Brookings Report
* Planetary protection
* Potential cultural impact of extraterrestrial contact
* Exotheology
* Extraterrestrials in fiction
* Extremophile
* Nexus for Exoplanet System Science
* Noogenesis
* San Marino Scale
* Technosignature
* UFO religion
* Xenoarchaeology

* v
* t
* e

Theology

Conceptions of God

| Theism|

| Forms|

*   * Deism
* Dystheism
* Henotheism
* Hermeticism
* Kathenotheism
* Nontheism
* Monolatry
* Monotheism
* Mysticism
* Panentheism
* Pandeism
* Pantheism
* Polydeism
* Polytheism
* Spiritualism
* Theopanism

|

Concepts|

*   * Deity
* Divinity
* Gender of God and gods
* Male deity
* Goddess
* Numen

Singular god
theologies|

| By faith|

* Abrahamic religions
* Bahá'í Faith
* Judaism
* Christianity
* Catholic
* Islam
* Buddhism
* Hinduism
* Jainism
* Sikhism
* Zoroastrianism

|

Concepts|

* Absolute
* Brahman
* Emanationism
* Logos
* Supreme Being

God as|

* the Devil
* Sustainer
* Time

Trinitarianism|

* Athanasian Creed
* Comma Johanneum
* Consubstantiality
* Homoousian
* Homoiousian
* Hypostasis
* Perichoresis
* Shield of the Trinity
* Trinitarian formula
* Trinity
* Trinity of the Church Fathers
* Trinitarian universalism

Eschatology|

* Afterlife
* Apocalypticism
* Buddhist
* Christian
* Heaven
* Hell
* Hindu
* Islamic
* Jewish
* Taoist
* Zoroastrian

Feminist|

* Buddhism
* Christianity
* Hinduism
* Islam
* Judaism
* Mormonism
* Goddesses

Other concepts|

* The All
* Aristotelian view
* Attributes of God in Christianity / in Islam
* Binitarianism
* Demiurge
* Divine simplicity
* Divine presence
* Egotheism
* Exotheology
* Holocaust
* Godhead in Christianity
* Latter Day Saints
* Great Architect of the Universe
* Great Spirit
* Apophatic theology
* Olelbis
* Open theism
* Personal god
* Phenomenological definition
* Philo's view
* Process
* Tian
* Unmoved mover

Names of God in|

* Christianity
* Hinduism
* Islam
* Jainism
* Judaism

By Faith

| Christian|

* History
* Outline
* Biblical canon
* Glossary
* Christology
* Cosmology
* Ecclesiology
* Ethics
* Hamartiology
* Messianism
* Nestorianism
* Philosophy
* Practical
* Sophiology
* Soteriology

|

Hindu|

* Ayyavazhi theology
* Krishnology

Islamic|

* Oneness of God
* Prophets
* Holy Scriptures
* Angels
* Predestination
* Last Judgment

Jewish|

* Abrahamic prophecy
* Aggadah
* Denominations
* Kabbalah
* Philosophy

Theology portal

0.00

(0 votes)

Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exotheology. Read more

|

Retrieved from "https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Exotheology&oldid=3367206"
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template