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Alone in the Universe?: The X-Files, Aliens and God by David Wilkinson
David Wilkinson, a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in England, analyzes our interest in alien life from Star Wars to The X-Files, from science to speculation, offering a convincing answer to the question, "Are we alone in the universe?.
Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
23 people want to read
About the author
David Wilkinson
14 books4 followersDavid Adam Wilkinson is a British Methodist minister, theologian, astrophysicist and academic. He was the Principal of St John's College, Durham (2006-2023), and is a professor in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University. He remains at St John's College, having been appointed, in September 2023, Director of Equipping Christian Leadership in an Age of Science (ECLAS), an international project based at St John’s College. He is the author of several books on the relationship between science and religion, and a regular contributor to Thought for the Day on BBC Radio 4. He has a PhD in astrophysics and is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 12, 2019
There have been a lot of books written on this subject. This one takes on a Spiritual viewpoint and tries to tackle some of the ways our search for intelligent life elsewhere in the universe might (or might not) affect biblical Christianity and vice versa. It was written in the mid nineties, so it is a little dated as far as planetary discoveries are concerned, but this doesn't affect the argument of the book significantly. This is because the arguments offered help go beyond the wonder that comes from big numbers, i.e. That since the universe is so big we can't be the only ones. Immense is not the same as infinite, so many things are possible, but not all. Indeed, the universe vast but this is part of the problem: regardless of others being out there we may be isolated in time (the only intelligence existing now) and by the tyranny of space.
The big sensation at the time of writing was the discovery of structures in a Martian meteorite fragment which could have been caused by bacteria. This is evaluated as are the many claims since ww2 of alien visitations, abductions or mere sightings. Both this analysis, along with the arguments from astronomy mentioned earlier, are persuasive without being dogmatic or narrow. Thus, while he doesn't regard the evidence as strong for the existence of alien life, especially for alien intelligence, he has no underlying disposition against it.
Wilkerson argues that for Christians, even 'hard' creationists, even the proven existence of aliens does not contradict the spiritual foundations of Christianity, as some have claimed. Again, arguments here are incomplete since the concern of the bible is humans and the earth just as our current knowledge of life in the universe is only known from earth also. An interesting point made at this stage is why aliens have become such a fascination for moderns, such that many who use science to discount God, seem less compelled to do so for aliens.
For me there are a few gaps which I thought could have been explored, but it covers a lot of ground in a short space and does so in a readable manner. Christians especially are likely to appreciate the perspectives given, but it wouldn't be uncomfortable for those outside Christianity.
The big sensation at the time of writing was the discovery of structures in a Martian meteorite fragment which could have been caused by bacteria. This is evaluated as are the many claims since ww2 of alien visitations, abductions or mere sightings. Both this analysis, along with the arguments from astronomy mentioned earlier, are persuasive without being dogmatic or narrow. Thus, while he doesn't regard the evidence as strong for the existence of alien life, especially for alien intelligence, he has no underlying disposition against it.
Wilkerson argues that for Christians, even 'hard' creationists, even the proven existence of aliens does not contradict the spiritual foundations of Christianity, as some have claimed. Again, arguments here are incomplete since the concern of the bible is humans and the earth just as our current knowledge of life in the universe is only known from earth also. An interesting point made at this stage is why aliens have become such a fascination for moderns, such that many who use science to discount God, seem less compelled to do so for aliens.
For me there are a few gaps which I thought could have been explored, but it covers a lot of ground in a short space and does so in a readable manner. Christians especially are likely to appreciate the perspectives given, but it wouldn't be uncomfortable for those outside Christianity.
July 16, 2023
A CHRISTIAN THEOLOGIAN LOOKS AT UFOs, ET’S, SPACE TRAVEL, ETC.
Author David Wilkinson wrote in the Preface to this 1997 book, “Everyone who gives a public talk on astronomy… expects one question… ‘Are we alone in the universe?’… such a question is… a fundamental question linking many areas of science, philosophy, and religion. If we are not alone, then what does that say about human beings and our place in the universe? The question… is addressed from many sides, but often these sides work independently. The scientific community addresses the question with very little engagement with the claimed evidence of UFOs and alien phenomena. Those who major on the evidence for aliens visiting Earth address it with little regard for the scientific arguments. The religious community, if it addresses the question at all, does so without real reference to the other two… It seemed reasonable, therefore… to attempt to look at it from all three angles in one book.”
He asks, “Would the confirmation of life on Mars be of any real significance? [Is it] right to say that this discovery poses fundamental questions? Does God have anything to fear from life on Mars? Does life elsewhere in the universe contradict the Bible’s view of the special nature of humanity? These questions… are extremely popular in Western culture these days.” (Pg. 12-13)
He notes, “there is [an] important lesson from Mars. If primitive life is confirmed, it also shows that life does not necessarily develop to intelligent life… If life did begin on Mars, it did not develop into little green women and men. In fact it did not develop beyond even the most primitive form.” (Pg. 31)
He explains that Francis Crick’s view “is that life did not originate on the surface of Earth but was sent here by some intelligence… in an unmanned rocket by a higher civilization billions of years ago. Although such a theory gets around the problems of life originating spontaneously, it creates other problems: How did the living cells originate in outer space, with the extremes of temperature and radiation? If they were sent by another intelligence, then where did that intelligence come from? And how did that life first develop?” (Pg. 46)
He states, “There are … attempts to explain the absence of any signal from extraterrestrial intelligence… [If] intelligent life is sparse in the universe, it might well lie beyond the … region of space that is causally connected to us… there exists a boundary corresponding to the age of the universe beyond which we cannot see. That is, if the universe is fifteen billion years old, we can see only regions of space where light has traveled for fifteen billion years to get to us. If it takes a civilization four billion years to evolve, as it has on Earth, the region that can contact us shrinks to eleven billion light years… Extraterrestrial life may exist in the regions we cannot see, but it cannot be contacted.” (Pg. 70)
He clarifies, “Does [Einstein’s theory] mean that astronauts would not have to go into a deep freeze for long journeys? Not really. It is only close to the speed of light that the time-dilation effect… really matters. For example, the average velocity of the Apollo mission to the moon was about one-millionth of the speed of light. At this speed… time dilation would not be noticeable. It would astronauts four million years to travel to the nearest star… If we were able to accelerate a spaceship to one-tenth the speed of light, then the journey to the nearest star would take forty years… Even at half of the speed of light, which is extremely optimistic, it takes eight years to reach the nearest star with astronauts ‘saving’ one year and twenty-six days… We can see… that the speed of light is an unfortunate barrier to realistic space travel between the stars.” (Pg. 79)
He explains, “There are other interesting speculations concerning travel as well. Carl Sagan asked some colleagues whether or not it was possible for space travelers to cross the vast distances of the universe by means of ‘wormholes’ … [very small ‘tunnels’ linking one black hold with another somewhere else in the universe]… Sagan’s colleagues found that under special circumstances such wormholes could allow the possibility of travel. A ship could enter a black hole in one part of the universe and emerge elsewhere, a sort of shortcut. The main problem with this… is that wormholes are unstable. Any attempt to pass anything through would cause the wormhole to collapse.” (Pg. 81)
Of the supposed ‘spaceships of Ezekiel,’ he comments, “Ezekiel clearly believes he sees a chariot-throne rather than a spaceship… the vision does not describe ‘four flying wheel-shaped craft’ but a rather complicated arrangement of living creatures and four wheels bisecting each other at right angles, thus allowing movement in any direction, although how they were attached to the chariot is an interesting engineering question… How the living creatures with four faces are a part of the UFO is always left out… By taking some elements out of context… and frankly manipulating the words of the text to suggest something that it is not, it is possible to claim this was an alien spacecraft.” (Pg. 103)
He argues, “It is a mistake to … believe that human beings alone have value… We should not make a similar mistake in terms of extraterrestrial life and intelligence. If such life exists, then it has value to God… we have a responsibility to … find out about them, for we could learn more about God’s extravagance in creation. This is a biblical prime directive. Extraterrestrial intelligence does not pose a problem to the Christian belief that men and women are special in the eyes of God. It may even increase the sense of awe at how great this God is who loves his creatures so much.” (Pg. 122)
He notes, “this raises the question of the doctrine of the Fall… Some Christians would stress that the Fall occurred at a particular point of history on Earth and that it had consequences for the whole of the created order. Would other intelligent life be affected by the fall of Adam and Eve? The difficulty is that there is just not enough evidence within the Bible to make confident claims one way or another… how the Fall affects other intelligent life cannot be fully spelled out.” (Pg. 132)
He concludes, “My own view is that at present there is no strong evidence for extraterrestrial intelligence, and scientific arguments are strongly against it. That is not to say that there may be life of sorts in the universe, but we cannot even be confident of that. As a scientist and a Christian I want to encourage the search for extraterrestrial life and intelligence. If it is there, it would help our understanding of some physical processes that we do not as yet fully understand. It would also demonstrate more of the extraordinary creativity of God.” (Pg. 136)
This book will be of keen interest to Christians studying such issues.
Author David Wilkinson wrote in the Preface to this 1997 book, “Everyone who gives a public talk on astronomy… expects one question… ‘Are we alone in the universe?’… such a question is… a fundamental question linking many areas of science, philosophy, and religion. If we are not alone, then what does that say about human beings and our place in the universe? The question… is addressed from many sides, but often these sides work independently. The scientific community addresses the question with very little engagement with the claimed evidence of UFOs and alien phenomena. Those who major on the evidence for aliens visiting Earth address it with little regard for the scientific arguments. The religious community, if it addresses the question at all, does so without real reference to the other two… It seemed reasonable, therefore… to attempt to look at it from all three angles in one book.”
He asks, “Would the confirmation of life on Mars be of any real significance? [Is it] right to say that this discovery poses fundamental questions? Does God have anything to fear from life on Mars? Does life elsewhere in the universe contradict the Bible’s view of the special nature of humanity? These questions… are extremely popular in Western culture these days.” (Pg. 12-13)
He notes, “there is [an] important lesson from Mars. If primitive life is confirmed, it also shows that life does not necessarily develop to intelligent life… If life did begin on Mars, it did not develop into little green women and men. In fact it did not develop beyond even the most primitive form.” (Pg. 31)
He explains that Francis Crick’s view “is that life did not originate on the surface of Earth but was sent here by some intelligence… in an unmanned rocket by a higher civilization billions of years ago. Although such a theory gets around the problems of life originating spontaneously, it creates other problems: How did the living cells originate in outer space, with the extremes of temperature and radiation? If they were sent by another intelligence, then where did that intelligence come from? And how did that life first develop?” (Pg. 46)
He states, “There are … attempts to explain the absence of any signal from extraterrestrial intelligence… [If] intelligent life is sparse in the universe, it might well lie beyond the … region of space that is causally connected to us… there exists a boundary corresponding to the age of the universe beyond which we cannot see. That is, if the universe is fifteen billion years old, we can see only regions of space where light has traveled for fifteen billion years to get to us. If it takes a civilization four billion years to evolve, as it has on Earth, the region that can contact us shrinks to eleven billion light years… Extraterrestrial life may exist in the regions we cannot see, but it cannot be contacted.” (Pg. 70)
He clarifies, “Does [Einstein’s theory] mean that astronauts would not have to go into a deep freeze for long journeys? Not really. It is only close to the speed of light that the time-dilation effect… really matters. For example, the average velocity of the Apollo mission to the moon was about one-millionth of the speed of light. At this speed… time dilation would not be noticeable. It would astronauts four million years to travel to the nearest star… If we were able to accelerate a spaceship to one-tenth the speed of light, then the journey to the nearest star would take forty years… Even at half of the speed of light, which is extremely optimistic, it takes eight years to reach the nearest star with astronauts ‘saving’ one year and twenty-six days… We can see… that the speed of light is an unfortunate barrier to realistic space travel between the stars.” (Pg. 79)
He explains, “There are other interesting speculations concerning travel as well. Carl Sagan asked some colleagues whether or not it was possible for space travelers to cross the vast distances of the universe by means of ‘wormholes’ … [very small ‘tunnels’ linking one black hold with another somewhere else in the universe]… Sagan’s colleagues found that under special circumstances such wormholes could allow the possibility of travel. A ship could enter a black hole in one part of the universe and emerge elsewhere, a sort of shortcut. The main problem with this… is that wormholes are unstable. Any attempt to pass anything through would cause the wormhole to collapse.” (Pg. 81)
Of the supposed ‘spaceships of Ezekiel,’ he comments, “Ezekiel clearly believes he sees a chariot-throne rather than a spaceship… the vision does not describe ‘four flying wheel-shaped craft’ but a rather complicated arrangement of living creatures and four wheels bisecting each other at right angles, thus allowing movement in any direction, although how they were attached to the chariot is an interesting engineering question… How the living creatures with four faces are a part of the UFO is always left out… By taking some elements out of context… and frankly manipulating the words of the text to suggest something that it is not, it is possible to claim this was an alien spacecraft.” (Pg. 103)
He argues, “It is a mistake to … believe that human beings alone have value… We should not make a similar mistake in terms of extraterrestrial life and intelligence. If such life exists, then it has value to God… we have a responsibility to … find out about them, for we could learn more about God’s extravagance in creation. This is a biblical prime directive. Extraterrestrial intelligence does not pose a problem to the Christian belief that men and women are special in the eyes of God. It may even increase the sense of awe at how great this God is who loves his creatures so much.” (Pg. 122)
He notes, “this raises the question of the doctrine of the Fall… Some Christians would stress that the Fall occurred at a particular point of history on Earth and that it had consequences for the whole of the created order. Would other intelligent life be affected by the fall of Adam and Eve? The difficulty is that there is just not enough evidence within the Bible to make confident claims one way or another… how the Fall affects other intelligent life cannot be fully spelled out.” (Pg. 132)
He concludes, “My own view is that at present there is no strong evidence for extraterrestrial intelligence, and scientific arguments are strongly against it. That is not to say that there may be life of sorts in the universe, but we cannot even be confident of that. As a scientist and a Christian I want to encourage the search for extraterrestrial life and intelligence. If it is there, it would help our understanding of some physical processes that we do not as yet fully understand. It would also demonstrate more of the extraordinary creativity of God.” (Pg. 136)
This book will be of keen interest to Christians studying such issues.
September 22, 2020
nice outline of basic facts & ideas
June 25, 2014
Great short book about SETI and it's impact on a Christian's beliefs! I've never seen it this well treated before. Too bad it's already out of print. Rev. David Wilkinson, astrophysicist by day, distinguishes between extraterrestrial life and extraterrestrial intelligence. Does believing in the extraterrestrial existence of other created creatures undermine our faith? Is there life out there, or are we so unique that we're the only intelligent, self-conscious, thinking created creatures in this vast universe with several billion planets and stars? These and more questions are answered in this handy dandy little book!
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March 10, 2011I really enjoyed this book. It covers a vast array of theories and facts on everything from evolution, to creation, to the expanse of the universe. Although it's a pretty deep read, the length of the book is nice and short.
July 6, 2016
Good information. Uses common sense approach to Aliens and Crop Circles and etc. Gives reasonable information on Aliens, Aliens sightings, crop circles and conspiracies. Nice book to read. The Author is a big fan of Seti.
April 19, 2011
This is an excellent and entertaining book.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews