Oct 1, 2024 08:55 PM
(This post was last modified: Oct 1, 2024 08:56 PM by C C.)
ETs and the Incarnation: Catholic theology in a post-disclosure world
https://www.realclearreligion.org/articl...61955.html
EXCERPTS: In a hearing of the Subcommittee on National Security on July 26, 2023, Mr. David Grusch made the shocking disclosure — under oath — that secret government programs discovered nonhuman biological pilots of UAPs (unidentified aerial phenomena) at undisclosed recovery sites.[1] Based on his testimony, we can infer that these nonhuman pilots traveled from outside our solar system to reach Earth. How might the Catholic Church fruitfully wrestle with this testimony in light of faith and reason?
[...] The Catholic Church’s understanding and interpretation of divine revelation could serve to heal divergent streams of Christianity that, after an ET disclosure, will likely split into two opposing camps. The Fundamentalist Camp (FC) will denounce the existence of ETs or claim them as “devilish frauds.” The air will thicken with Apocalyptic language.
Because the Bible does not explicitly mention ETs, the FC will deny their own eyes just as they have denied paleontological suggesting the development of life — from simple to more complex - over millennia. The FC may double down in reactionary fashion, characterizing those willing to discuss such findings as anti-Christ figures: “God made Adam and Eve, not ZX2091 and ZX3045 from the Andromeda Galaxy!” This reaction may trigger a mass exodus from the FC, as many closely identify faith with biblical literalism, leading them to interpret their doubts about scriptural interpretation as a “loss of faith.”
The Liberal Camp (LC), by contrast, will not only embrace the ET disclosure but use it as an excuse to abandon even the appearance of upholding Sacred Scripture. A hyper-syncretistic interpretation of the cosmic family will push the LC to its limits. Any limitations on our interaction with ETs will be viewed as an “anti-Gospel, earth-bound jingoistic chauvinism.”
The LC may hold ceremonial struggle sessions where participants confess their human-centric sins. Some may envision marriages between ETs and humans as a hope for a more diverse, liberated future. Scriptural interpretations along the lines of The History Channel’s “Ancient Aliens” will abound with a promotion of “cosmic love fests” that look more like hippie communes than Christian rites. Despite these attempts at inclusive effervescence, the LC will likely hemorrhage members. ET disclosure will snap the tenuous tethers to foundational Christian teaching, leaving many wondering why they remain affiliated with Christianity.
The Catholic Church, however, could stand amidst this tumult with a sound, balanced acceptance of ETs, eventually working out how to accommodate these facts within a fuller interpretation of Sacred Scripture. Something akin to a new Divino Afflante Spiritu (Pius XII, 1943) could foster dialogue between Scripture scholars and those engaging with ETs.
The terrestrial nature of Christian Scripture will raise interesting questions, just as liberal theologians questioned the reality of miracles after various scientific advances. Skepticism about the supernatural accounts in Scripture will resurface, but having navigated the Scylla and Charybdis of fundamentalism and liberalism, the Catholic Church will permit seasoned caution when placing Scriptural interpretation in dialogue with the reality of ETs. From this broadened horizon of Scriptural interpretation impacts on foundational doctrines of Christianity will likely follow.
Questions about the Incarnation’s relationship to ET-flesh and the soteriological implications for ETs will flow naturally from the above considerations. Overnight, serious theological journals may come to resemble Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World. Catholic pundits from both traditionalist and liberal wings of the Church will echo the FC and LC.
At its core, ET disclosure will force us to wrestle with whether or not we can speak of human flesh as “cosmological flesh,” which, in an ontological sense, stands in communal relationship with biological matter — that is, “flesh” — of other planetary species of rational beings. When the Second Person of the Trinity took on our Earth-born human flesh, did this “absorb” all of the cosmos - including ET flesh - into the Godhead? If we avoid a war footing with ETs, dialogue might yield valuable theological insights into their salvation and the meaning of the Incarnation.
Sincere dialogue alone will become the hallmark for helpful philosophical and theological debates. What if ETs believe in a Creator of the universe? What if they describe themselves as having a real, abiding relationship with the Creator? What if they tell us that Jesus sounds remarkably like someone on their planet whom they identify as God-in-flesh?
Gregory the Great’s summary of the Incarnation states: “For that which He has not assumed He has not healed; but that which is united to His Godhead is also saved.”[4] This may serve as a roadmap for our debates about the Incarnation and the salvation of ETs. Their flesh would demand honor and respect, just as ours does... (MORE - missing details)
https://www.realclearreligion.org/articl...61955.html
EXCERPTS: In a hearing of the Subcommittee on National Security on July 26, 2023, Mr. David Grusch made the shocking disclosure — under oath — that secret government programs discovered nonhuman biological pilots of UAPs (unidentified aerial phenomena) at undisclosed recovery sites.[1] Based on his testimony, we can infer that these nonhuman pilots traveled from outside our solar system to reach Earth. How might the Catholic Church fruitfully wrestle with this testimony in light of faith and reason?
[...] The Catholic Church’s understanding and interpretation of divine revelation could serve to heal divergent streams of Christianity that, after an ET disclosure, will likely split into two opposing camps. The Fundamentalist Camp (FC) will denounce the existence of ETs or claim them as “devilish frauds.” The air will thicken with Apocalyptic language.
Because the Bible does not explicitly mention ETs, the FC will deny their own eyes just as they have denied paleontological suggesting the development of life — from simple to more complex - over millennia. The FC may double down in reactionary fashion, characterizing those willing to discuss such findings as anti-Christ figures: “God made Adam and Eve, not ZX2091 and ZX3045 from the Andromeda Galaxy!” This reaction may trigger a mass exodus from the FC, as many closely identify faith with biblical literalism, leading them to interpret their doubts about scriptural interpretation as a “loss of faith.”
The Liberal Camp (LC), by contrast, will not only embrace the ET disclosure but use it as an excuse to abandon even the appearance of upholding Sacred Scripture. A hyper-syncretistic interpretation of the cosmic family will push the LC to its limits. Any limitations on our interaction with ETs will be viewed as an “anti-Gospel, earth-bound jingoistic chauvinism.”
The LC may hold ceremonial struggle sessions where participants confess their human-centric sins. Some may envision marriages between ETs and humans as a hope for a more diverse, liberated future. Scriptural interpretations along the lines of The History Channel’s “Ancient Aliens” will abound with a promotion of “cosmic love fests” that look more like hippie communes than Christian rites. Despite these attempts at inclusive effervescence, the LC will likely hemorrhage members. ET disclosure will snap the tenuous tethers to foundational Christian teaching, leaving many wondering why they remain affiliated with Christianity.
The Catholic Church, however, could stand amidst this tumult with a sound, balanced acceptance of ETs, eventually working out how to accommodate these facts within a fuller interpretation of Sacred Scripture. Something akin to a new Divino Afflante Spiritu (Pius XII, 1943) could foster dialogue between Scripture scholars and those engaging with ETs.
The terrestrial nature of Christian Scripture will raise interesting questions, just as liberal theologians questioned the reality of miracles after various scientific advances. Skepticism about the supernatural accounts in Scripture will resurface, but having navigated the Scylla and Charybdis of fundamentalism and liberalism, the Catholic Church will permit seasoned caution when placing Scriptural interpretation in dialogue with the reality of ETs. From this broadened horizon of Scriptural interpretation impacts on foundational doctrines of Christianity will likely follow.
Questions about the Incarnation’s relationship to ET-flesh and the soteriological implications for ETs will flow naturally from the above considerations. Overnight, serious theological journals may come to resemble Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World. Catholic pundits from both traditionalist and liberal wings of the Church will echo the FC and LC.
At its core, ET disclosure will force us to wrestle with whether or not we can speak of human flesh as “cosmological flesh,” which, in an ontological sense, stands in communal relationship with biological matter — that is, “flesh” — of other planetary species of rational beings. When the Second Person of the Trinity took on our Earth-born human flesh, did this “absorb” all of the cosmos - including ET flesh - into the Godhead? If we avoid a war footing with ETs, dialogue might yield valuable theological insights into their salvation and the meaning of the Incarnation.
Sincere dialogue alone will become the hallmark for helpful philosophical and theological debates. What if ETs believe in a Creator of the universe? What if they describe themselves as having a real, abiding relationship with the Creator? What if they tell us that Jesus sounds remarkably like someone on their planet whom they identify as God-in-flesh?
Gregory the Great’s summary of the Incarnation states: “For that which He has not assumed He has not healed; but that which is united to His Godhead is also saved.”[4] This may serve as a roadmap for our debates about the Incarnation and the salvation of ETs. Their flesh would demand honor and respect, just as ours does... (MORE - missing details)
