Another regurgitation of the typical popular article that covers this topic every year. Yes, it’s superficial; yes, it has to quote a Baptist pastor who gives little indication of ever having thought deeply about the subject. BUT … it offers some new...
ExoTheology
UFOs, ETs, and Religion (Balducci’s Conundrum, Part 4)
In my third post summarizing religion scholar Christopher Partridge’s overview of UFO religions and abduction spiritualities, I noted the similarity between the ascended masters of occult Theosophy and the space aliens described by George Adamski. In my closing...
The Flaw of the Excluded Middle
Here’s a link to an excellent article written years ago by a famous professor of Christian missions (Dr. Paul Hiebert, who was an anthropologist as well). It relates conceptually to the discussion of ETs. It argues against the rationalistic Western...
Thoughts on “Roman Catholic Views of Extraterrestrial Intelligence”
As noted in an earlier post, the document When SETI Succeeds: The Impact of High-Information Contact contains an interesting essay entitled, “Roman Catholic Views of Extraterresrial Intelligence” by Douglas A. Vakoch. The essay begins on page 181 of the...
Religious Implications of SETI’s Success, Part 1
I’d like to thank RRRGroup of the UFO Iconoclasts blog for bringing a recent (2000) document to my attention. The document concerns the SETI program and the implications for humanity should SETI succeed in making contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life....
UFOs, ETs, and Religion (Balducci’s Conundrum, Part 3)
In the last post, I quoted Christopher Partridge’s article in UFO Religions as follows: “Whilst there are some differences between the theosophical masters / mahatmas of wisdom (who were usually thought to reside in Tibet), and the early accounts of...
Vatican Baptizes ET
It’s not Balducci speaking (yet). There have been a lot of articles lately on how the Vatican’s chief astronomer says there might be ETs. I’m trying not to yawn. Actually, this is OLD news–as in CENTURIES and even a MILLENNIUM old. Amazing how...
UFOs, ETs, and Religion, Part 2 (Balducci’s Conundrum continued)
As I mentioned in my last post, Christopher Partridge writes the first chapter of the book he edited (UFO Religions). The introductory chapter is called “Understanding UFO Religions and Abduction Spiritualities.” Partridge begins by briefly overviewing...
UFOs, ETs, and Religion, part 1
If you’ve read the “Purpose” page on this blog, you know that the focus of this blog is the intersection of the UFO phenomenon (and its spin-off phenomenon, “alien” abduction) with religion. While my academic and personal background is...