Vast Universe and Extraterrestrials: Threat or Mystery for the Christian Faith?

Abstract

A vast universe and the recent discovery of over a thousand planets in our galaxy point to the probability of intelligent extraterrestrials. A theologian would not decide whether there are other intelligent, material beings in the universe. Does the Christian faith insist that only one salvation-history exists, that on Earth, the one recorded in the Bible centered on Jesus of Nazareth? A Christian approach to this likelihood begins with basic religious themes: the knowing person, that person’s relationship to God, sin and evil, incarnation. In past centuries a few theologians have pondered this topic like Origen in the third century, a Franciscan university professor in the fifteenth century, and in the late twentieth century Karl Rahner. If the size of the universe stimulates these reflections, religious faith encourages them.