Christ and Other Worlds according to Origen and John Owen

What if there really were other inhabited planets somewhere else in the galaxy, what if we met an alien species, what if there really is a multi-verse where alternative realities existe? How would Christianity address this, could Christianity survive such a discovery, and how would we begin to make sense of such a thing?

Well, this is not really a new set of questions.

The discovery that we live in a heliocentric solar system and the discovery of the “new world” of the Americas certainly did require something of a reset concerning what people thought about cosmology and the extent of world civilizations, but it was hardly catastrophic. That said, various theologians have pondered the prospect of “other worlds” and Christ’s relationship to them.

Two examples come to mind: Third-century Alexandrian theologian Origen and the sixteenth century English Puritan John Owen.

Origen: “It remains to inquire next, whether there was another world before the one which now exists; and if there was, whether it was of the same kind as the present world, or slightly different or inferior; or whether there was no world at all, but something like that ‘end’ which we understand will exist at the conclusion of all things …; and whether this ‘end’ was in its turn the end of another world, obviously of that which preceded the beginning of the present one, and whether it was the varying falls of intellectual beings which provoked God to form a world of such variety and diversity as this. … Or again, whether for the correction and improvement of those who need it there will be yet another world, either similar to the one that now exists, or better than it, or possibly much worse; and how long will the world that comes after this exist, of whatever sort it be, or whether it will exist at all; and if there will ever be a time when there will be no world anywhere, or if there ever was a time when there was no world at all; or if there have been, or shall be, many worlds; or if it will ever happent aht one world will turn out to be equal to another and similar in all respects and indistinguishable from it” (Princp. 1.3.1).

John Owen said that Christ’s death was sufficient for “the accomplishing of any end and the procuring of any good, for all and everyone for whom it was intended, had there been millions of men more than were ever created.” Furthermore, “If there were a thousand worlds the gospel of Christ might, upon this ground, be preached to them all, there being enough in Christ for the salvation of them all, if so be they will derive virtue from him by touching him in faith.”

So, interesting topic, Christ and other worlds!