OF GOD AND LITTLE GREEN MEN: In “Where Is Everyone? Prospecting for extraterrestrial life,” Jennifer Wiseman reviews Jeffrey Bennett’s Beyond UFOs. I found two paragraphs of particular interest to theologians. First, regarding the problem of evil, consider this:

Some of the environmental features increasingly understood as required for life to thrive can also, in certain settings, be catastrophic for life. Consider this: plate tectonics, responsible for horrific earthquakes, devastating countless lives, are now considered essential for recycling the atmosphere and regulating the temperature of “living” planets like Earth. Oceans “lubricate” the system, allowing surface plates to slide. Carbon dioxide from the atmosphere gets deposited to the ground by rain and dissolves into rocks and minerals that are carried to the sea, ending up in the sediments on the sea floor. As plates move, one plate can get subducted under another, carrying the sea floor sediments deep into the hot mantle of the continent. The hot material is eventually vented out into the atmosphere through volcanoes, completing the cycle. Without oceans, rain, and the motions of plate tectonics, the atmosphere would get overburdened with carbon dioxide. This is why Venus, it is posited, is an unbearably hot greenhouse planet, overburdened with thick atmosphere and unsuitable for life, even though it is also in the “habitable zone” around our Sun, as Earth is. Venus, however, has not had the benefits of oceans and plate tectonics to the extent that Earth has. In short, Earth life has needed plate tectonics, the same dynamics that also spawn the earthquakes that cause so much suffering.

Second, regarding what challenges extraterrestrial life might pose to orthodox Christian theology, consider this:

And yet when it comes to the possibility of intelligent life and civilizations beyond Earth, Christians face a tough consideration of how seemingly Earth-bound works of God could extend beyond. How would original sin, the atonement of Christ Jesus, and the Incarnation (that is, God in human form) transfer to intelligent non-humans elsewhere? Physicist and author Paul Davies muses, also in the Post, that “The real threat [to Christianity] would come from the discovery of extraterrestrial intelligence, because if there are beings elsewhere in the universe, then Christians, they’re in this horrible bind. They believe that God became incarnate in the form of Jesus Christ in order to save humankind, not dolphins or chimpanzees or little green men on other planets.” Well, maybe not actually a horrible bind at all, if we give God some credit for being able to redeem Creation beyond Earth in ways that may not have been fully revealed to Earthlings. Billy Graham says, “I firmly believe there are intelligent beings like us far away in space who worship God. But we have nothing to fear from these people. Like us, they are God’s creation.”

Very interesting!

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COMPASSIONATE CONSERVATISM: “Justice, Poverty and the Presidential Race.”

Justice has been variously defined as the quality of being impartial and fair, the equal treatment of equals, and living in accordance with the natural law and the divine plan. It implies integrity in dealing with others and conforming our lives to facts and to truth.

But for those of the Jewish and Christian faith, there is another, crucial element to justice. According to Timothy J. Keller, author of Generous Justice: How God’s Grace Makes Us Just, according to the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament​, the justice (or mishpat) of a society is evaluated by how it treats the widow, the orphan, immigrants, and the poor. “Any neglect shown to the needs of the members of this quartet is not called merely a lack of mercy or charity, but a violation of justice,” Keller writes. “God loves and defends those with the least economic and social power, and so should we. That is what it means to ‘do justice.’”

I point this out because as Republicans ramp up their case for the presidency, this broader, Biblical understanding of justice shouldn’t be neglected (as it has been, frankly, during the Obama presidency, when the poor have suffered disproportionately). A distinctive and lasting contribution of Judaism and Christianity is caring for the weak, the disadvantaged, and the oppressed. “I know that the Lord secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy,” David writes in the Psalms. “The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern,” according to Proverbs. “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did it to me,” Jesus says in Matthew.

At its core is the belief that everyone, no matter at what station or in what season of life, has inherent dignity and rights. These are private concerns for sure, but they are public ones as well. Throughout Scripture, rulers are judged by whether the weak and the disadvantaged in society are cared for or exploited.

How this view of justice relates to particular areas of life where the powers of government are involved can be complicated and subtle, involving issues of crime and order; education, family, and the unborn; economic growth and prosperity; foreign assistance and global health. The temptation is that in the midst of our weak and slowing economy, with so many economic hardships being visited on virtually every strata of American society, the needs of those on the margins of society are forgotten. They don’t possess a powerful special interest group, and there simply aren’t that many public figures interested in taking up their case and their cause. But this neglects a vital, even ennobling aspect of politics.

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WHO SERVES WHOM? “September 11^th, Patriotism, and the Human Spirit.”

The founding fathers referred to this kind of personal sacrifice as civic humanism. Many of them believed that in order for the American republic to survive, its people needed to be willing, at times, to sacrifice their personal interests for the greater good of the nation. A republic was more than just a representative form of government. It required a moral citizenry committed to a common purpose. Writing in 1786 about the role of education in a republic, Philadelphia doctor and signer of the Declaration of Independence Benjamin Rush said that schools should be in the business of training “republican machines” willing to place their love of country over their commitment to family, political parties, and the personal accumulation of wealth.

As Christians, we should approach this kind of civic humanism with caution. While the idea of sacrificing one’s own interests for some version of the greater good appeals to our better angels, we must remember that the founding fathers understood such sacrifice solely in terms of the United States of America. When they talked about sacrificing for the common good, they meant the common good of the nation. The founders believed that Christianity was good for the republic not because it provided a way for people to go to heaven or draw closer to God and each other, but because it helped to produce the kind of moral, self-sacrificing citizenry needed for the republic to survive. In other words, the founders believed that Christianity was important because it served the state, not the other way around.

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EVANGELICAL DOES NOT = FUNDAMENTALIST: Roger E. Olson explains “Why ‘evangelical’ is a label I won’t surrender.” See also his “Announcement of a new book on evangelicalism.”

This book demonstrates quite conclusively that there are now at least two evangelicalisms (in terms of theology).  They are separated by 1) whether or not biblical inerrancy is necessary for authentic evangelical faith (which even Carl Henry denied!), 2) whether a foundationalist epistemology is necessary for authentic evangelical theology (there would go Calvin!), 3) whether theology’s constructive task is ever ongoing until Christ returns (I might mention here an excellent article by Mohler’s associate dean Bruce Ware in JETS some years ago arguing for a revision of the traditional idea of God’s immutability [but apparently that kind of creative thinking isn’t allowed others]), and 4) whether doctrine or experience (conversional piety) is the sine qua non of authentic evangelical faith and life.

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SOMEBODY TELL JIMMY HOFFA! “The gentlemanly art of the insult.”

Today’s political badinage is lame, lamer, lamest compared with the wits of yore.  Churchill, of course, figures prominently here. Told over dinner by Lady Astor, the American-born female member of the House of Commons, that, “If you were my husband, Winston, I’d poison your soup,” Churchill immediately replied, “And if you were my wife, Nancy, I’d drink it.” And then there was the great man’s take-down of the austere Labor minister, Sir Stafford Cripps: “He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.” Another Labor stalwart, Aneurin Bevan, a great supporter of nationalized medicine, was a frequent target of Churchill’s raillery: “I can think of no better step to signal the inauguration of the National Health Service than that a man who so obviously needs psychiatric attention should be among the first of its patients.”

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THE EMERGING MEME: “In GOP Presidential Field, Science Finds Skeptics.”

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OR THE LACK THEREOF: “Bloomberg, religious groups face off over 9/11 prayers.”

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NO PODIUMS, NO REPORTERS: “A New Kind of Presidential Debate.”

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NOT SURPRISING: “Abortion increases risk of mental health problems, new research finds.”

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DEPENDS ON WHOM YOU ASK: “Have Muslim-Christian Relations Improved Since 9/11?” On a related note: “Poll: Many Americans uncomfortable with Muslims.”

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FROM MY MAGAZINE: “Contagious Holiness Over Dinner” by Craig L. Blomberg.