Exotheology

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.
Not to be confused with Astral theology or Astrotheology.

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.

  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.