Book Report: “Cosmology in Theological Perspective” by Olli-Pekka Vainio

Understanding Our Place in the Universe

While listening to one of my favorite podcasts a while back (“Jorge and Daniel Explain the Universe”), one of the hosts mentioned that if life were ever discovered on another planet, religion would be “thrown out the window.” In other words, clearly there is no God and our religious formulations of “Him” are fictional, if life is proven to be abundant in the universe.

Is that correct? Would alien life eliminate God?

It’s just one of the questions that European theologian Olli-Pekka Vainio takes up in his recent book, “Cosmology in Theological Perspective: Understanding Our Place in the Universe” (Baker Academic 2018). Vainio is a systematic theologian lecturing at the University of Helsinki, with stays at both Princeton and Oxford. He specializes in reformation theology and philosophy of religion, but also has a hankering for the interplay between religion and science, as I do.

In a scientific sense, “cosmology” is the study of the origin and makeup of the known universe. Quite obviously, our understanding of the cosmos has expanded terrifically in the past few hundred years. Ancient religious cultures (and ancient people of all kinds) believed in some version of a small, earth-centered universe with some collection of divine beings “up” in the “heavens.” We now know the universe is beyond vast in scope, and that we exist as a blip on the timeline on one habitable planet among potentially billions of others. We are at the center of nothing except our own perception. On top of that, scientists are researching the theoretical possibility that our universe is one in an infinite “multiverse.” And even more fundamentally, repeated trips to space did not find God in the heavens. Wherever could he be, then?

While scientists continue to investigate the cosmos—its content, scale, history and future—with joy and curiosity, many theologians have been left behind to pick up the pieces of their small, now irrelevant cosmologies.

Dr. Vainio aims to fix that. In “Cosmology in Theological Perspective,” he does not necessarily argue for the existence of God. (On philosophical grounds, he clearly believes in God’s metaphysical and experiential reality, but he reserves that discussion for other books.) No, the author’s purpose is to contemplate the implications of an expanded cosmology on Christian theology. What does it mean for Christianity that the universe is billions of years old and we are but a blip on some seemingly random planet? Doesn’t that suggest we are less special than we want to believe? What are the implications of the multiverse? What does the fact that we have yet to discover God within our fixed, physical cosmos mean for our understanding of God’s existence and transcendence? What are the possibilities that life on other planets might be discovered, and if it were, what would it mean from a Christian theological perspective? Theologically, does it make sense to believe that Jesus may have incarnated on other planets? Could aliens be “fallen” and “saved” in a way similar to or different from the manner we have been? And what about artificial intelligence? How does the potentially imminent arrival of self-conscious A.I. affect our understanding of what it means to be alive and subject to the metaphysical reality of God? Could beings created with artificial intelligence also bear the “image of God,” as humans do? (And what does it even mean to “bear the image of God”?) Could machines created with artificial intelligence be “fallen” and “saved”?

Part of Vainio’s book is a historical survey, and I was surprised to learn that these are questions that ancient theologians have asked before: Augustine, Aquinas, and Origen have all looked up at the heavens and wondered what it all means with respect to their beliefs. In fact, Vainio writes his book in spiritual partnership with C.S. Lewis, whose “Space Trilogy” and Narnia series addressed questions of science and metaphysics through the theological imagination. Once again, Lewis leads the way for us in merging our hearts and heads in a unified, and more informed, vision.

While fascinating in its subject, “Cosmology in Theological Perspective” is unfortunately not very well-written, in some respects. The format is a bit scatter-shot and the prose not as captivating as the topic. (Although it must be hard writing in a foreign language, as English is to Dr. Vainio.) The book is too technical to be accessible to the average reader—which is a shame, because I know LOTS of average joes in my church who would love to engage with these questions. In fact, they have asked me. At the same time, Vainio’s book is too brief to be of much use to scholars and professionals who want to dig deeper. Each of these chapters is a book in and of itself, and the author’s attempt to keep things moving will not satisfy the professional theologian looking for more.

Having said that, I enjoyed the book and found that it challenged me in important ways. It opened me up to the state of an exciting conversation happening amongst theologians who are keeping up with the times and not afraid of new discoveries about cosmological realities. It reassured me that even (and especially!) from a theological perspective, the mysteries of the universe are not to be feared but embraced with passion and awe. Scientists are our friends and teachers. While new cosmological realities might force us to reconsider some things, these discoveries do not necessarily challenge fundamental philosophical and experiential convictions regarding core religious beliefs in the universe as a created place, and the importance of our place in it. Quite simply, there is no reason that aliens would force us to “throw religion out the window.” Rather the possibility opens up the window to show some things in a whole new light.

Some of these questions were ones I’m familiar with, and some were not. Vainio’s discussions of the image of God and of the possibility of “multiple incarnations” of Jesus on other worlds were mind-bending. (As a sample: Does it necessarily contradict the “dual nature” of Christ as fully God and man to also incarnate in alien form on other planets? Vainio doesn’t necessarily think so. And the philosophy might be on his side.) And I also thoroughly enjoyed the author’s interaction with the “new atheists” on the matter of the apparent insignificance of earth in the grand scheme of things. How can we really believe earth is all that special given our location in the middle of nowhere? But, as the author explains, making that argument ignores an important philosophical discussion on “significance” and “value.” What makes something important? Size? Location? Uniqueness? These are important philosophical conversations that many in the new atheist community ignore for the sake of scoring rhetorical points.

In the end, the author is humble enough to admit that much of his work is speculation. He is just wrestling with possibilities and letting his imagination run wild regarding the new cosmology and what it means for people of faith. But there’s nothing wrong with humble speculation, when properly labeled. For millennia humans have been looking up at the “heavens” and wondered what it all means. Why stop now?

MRH (6/17/2019)