Cosmic Theology 101

In an article entitled, "Are we all extraterrestrials? Scientists discover traces of DNA in space," the Christian Science Monitor recently reported on the findings of a team of scientists studying meteorites (abstract here; full paper here).  The team looked at a dozen meteorites and found that they contained genetic materials necessary to life, including some that have never been seen before by scientists and did not originate on Earth.  Over the years scientists have found other chemicals that contribute to life in other meteorites, and there is a growing sense that perhaps life on Earth did not originate here but, rather, was seeded by meteorites delivering the necessary components for life.

In other words, the literal creation story in Genesis 1-2 may be eventually rendered even more unscientific than we previously thought.  Life, or at least the building blocks of life, did not even originate on Earth but rather were delivered here by meteorites, which further suggests that the universe harbors the potential for life and apparently randomly delivers the elements of that potential here and there, to this planet and that one indiscriminately.  In a July posting (here), we considered the theological implications of the findings of a team of astronomers that the conditions for complex life probably exist on millions of planets.  What happens to our Earth-bound theologies when and if we come across any form of alien life, let alone intelligent life?

But we don't have to wait for the discovery of life elsewhere in the universe to realize that we need to develop "cosmic theologies" that put our faith in its largest and truest context, the universe itself.  It is likely that we still don't understand what it means to claim that God created the universe.  There are going to be more surprises, ones that render any quibbles with Darwin not only petty but also obsolete, and we need to get ahead of the game as best we can and begin to prepare ourselves for new discoveries that will challenge our thinking in ways we can't even begin to imagine.