Extraterrestrial Intelligence and the Catholic Faith: Are We Alone in the Universe with God and the Angels?

by Paul Thigpen

Publisher:

TAN Books

, 2022

For more than half a century, the question of extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) has been widely dismissed in our culture. That wasn't always the case. Some of the best minds of the last twenty-five centuries in Western civilization have grappled with this mystery.

In Extraterrestrial Intelligence and the Catholic Faith, best-selling author Paul Thigpen begins with a fascinating historical survey of the public conversation about ETI, tracing the thought of prominent Catholics and others. Well-known figures such as Plato, Saint John Chrysostom, René Descartes, Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin, Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange, and C. S. Lewis all speculated about the possibilities of life beyond our planet. Even Catholic saints and blesseds spoke of ETI, such as Pope Saint. John Paul II, Saint (Padre) Pio of Pietrelcina, and Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich.

In light of this history, readers will discover answers to these questions:

How do Scripture and Catholic teaching shed light on this topic?

Are alleged encounters with ETI simply a form of demonic deception?

Is belief in ETI compatible with the Catholic Church's teaching?

What might be the spiritual and moral status of ETI, and what relationship might they have to Jesus Christ?

Would the confirmed existence of ETI undermine the Christian faith, as some have claimed?

How can thinking about ETI deepen our faith and enhance our understanding of the Church's teaching about God and His creation, Jesus Christ and salvation, and God's ultimate intention for His creatures?

Still more, a concluding appendix addresses the related issue of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and the speculation surrounding them. Recent developments in astrophysics, technology, and UFO-related disclosures by the Pentagon have reawakened the public discussion about ETI. Extraterrestrial Intelligence and the Catholic Faith is a thorough guide to navigating the conversation from a faithful Catholic perspective.

Product Details

• Title: Extraterrestrial Intelligence and the Catholic Faith: Are We Alone in the Universe with God and the Angels?
• Author: Paul Thigpen
• Publisher: TAN Books
• Print Publication Date: 2022
• Logos Release Date: 2022
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Ebook
• ISBNs: 9781505120158, 1505120152
• Resource ID: LLS:9781505120158
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-29T14:20:28Z

About Paul Thigpen

Paul Thigpen is a native of Savannah, Georgia, and grew up on one of the sea islands along the Georgia coast. He is a summa cum laude graduate of Yale University, where he received a B.A. in Religious Studies. He earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in Historical Theology as a Woodruff Fellow at Emory University. He has served on the theology faculty of several colleges and universities and was appointed in 2008 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to their National Advisory Council.

Paul is an award-winning journalist and the best-selling author of sixty books and more than five hundred journal and magazine articles in more than forty religious and secular periodicals. His works have been translated into sixteen languages and published around the world.

Paul loves to sing. He was a first-tenor soloist with the Yale Glee Club and the lead singer in a Christian rock band that pioneered contemporary Christian music throughout Europe in the early seventies. He also had a small speaking part in the 1979 CBS made-for-television movie ORPHAN TRAIN, in which he played a character named "Thigpen." Paul has even been known to do improv comedy with some of his college students in campus coffee houses.