ABSTRACT
Religious thinkers have long entertained the idea of the existence of extraterrestrial intelligent (ETI) “worlds,” not only in “heaven” amidst the angelic hosts, but also in “the heavens” of the physical cosmos as well. At the very least, an encounter with alternative intelligent worlds would be one more in a series of occasions that modern cosmology has provided for theology to move beneath surface impressions and deepen its sense of nature and God. From a theological point of view, any intelligent provinces beyond Earth would be grounded in the same creative principle that the theistic creeds point to as the source of all things “visible and invisible". Generally speaking, “purpose” means the realizing of a value. Cosmic purpose does not have to imply a particular finis or end. Most of the theological content of the dominant traditions comes from religion’s reaction to crises rather than anticipation of them.
