Olli-Pekka Vainio. Cosmology in Theological Perspective: Understanding Our Place in the Universe. Baker Academic, 2018. See here to purchase the book.
Olli-Pekka Vainio has a Th.D. from the University of Helsinki, where
he teaches systematic theology. He has also taught at Oxford. As the
title indicates, this book examines cosmological issues from a
theological perspective. It evaluates the challenges and questions that
cosmological issues have posed, or have been believed to pose, to
Christian theology.
I will comment on each chapter, offering my impressions:
Chapter 1: “Every Saga Has a Beginning: Philosophical Cosmologies in the Ancient World.”
This chapter looks at ancient Near Eastern (including biblical),
Norse, and Greek cosmologies. Some interesting details: ancient Egypt
had somewhat of a “Fall” narrative, and Plato did not believe that the
Demiurge prioritized humans in fashioning the cosmos. In terms of its
view on biblical creation narratives, the chapter seems to lean in the
John Walton direction. Stylistically, this chapter was like others: a
lot of information, packed into a few pages. The asset to this approach
is, of course, the abundance of information. The liabilities, on the
other hand, include some sacrifice of depth and a lack of absorbing
prose.
Chapter 2: “The Voyage Home: Cosmos in Early Christian Thought.”
This chapter complemented my recent reading of Craig Allert’s Early Christian Readings of Genesis One
(IVP Academic, 2018). Vainio cites passages in which Origen and, on
some level, Augustine appear to disparage a literal, historical
interpretation of Genesis 1-3 (Origen, De principiis 4.16; Augustine, The Literal Meaning of Genesis).
This chapter also argues, in a sense, that the Ptolemaic understanding
of the universe was not an essential aspect of early Christianity, even
though ancient Christianity tended to adopt it.
Chapter 3: “Resistance Is Futile: Galileo, Newton, and Darwin.”
Among other things, this chapter conveyed how the Copernican model
looked to those who lived when it developed, as opposed to criticizing
those who rejected it in hindsight. On page 48, Vainio states: “There
were several scientific phenomena that the Ptolemaic model could explain
satisfactorily and that were not explained by the Copernican model.”
Chapter 4: “All These Worlds: On the Multiverse.”
This chapter is informative about the historical views in historical
Christianity about the existence of other worlds. There were those who
rejected such a concept, as they adopted Greek philosophy, and there
were Christians (in some cases, non-orthodox Christians) who were open
to the possibility of other worlds and life on those worlds. Vainio lays
out the different scientific proposals on how different universes may
develop. People who are not scientifically inclined may glaze over some
of these discussions, but they might also get something out of them.
Vainio effectively laid out different views and offered his assessment.
Regarding the theological ramifications of the multiverse, Vainio seems
to ask “Why not?” Some Christian theologians regard the multiverse
concept as wasteful, since there are so many empty universes, but Vainio
wonders why God could not work through such means, considering that God
providentially acts through events that, to us, might appear contingent
or even random. At the same time, Vainio raises problems that he has
with the concept of multiverses: if all universes are possible, would
God create or allow a universe that lacks goodness?
Chapter 5: “If It’s Just Us, It Seems Like an Awful Waste of Space: On Human Uniqueness.”
This chapter is about the possibility of life on other planets. It
includes a quote by C.S. Lewis about how skeptics of Christianity assert
that life being on other planets and life being only on earth both
challenge Christianity. Vainio refers to ancient thinkers who reflected
on the possibility of life on other planets. Vainio wrestled briefly
with the problem of evil and the issue of animal suffering, referring to
a thinker who posits that animals, too, may have a post-mortem
existence that would make their pain worthwhile. This chapter surveys
different Christian perspectives on life on other planets, including
that of William Lane Craig, but it does not land anywhere. The result is
that there is a tone of “on the one hand, on the other hand,” and the
chapter does not quite hit the spot.
Chapter 6: “Infinite Space, Infinite Terror: Our Cosmic (In)significance.”
If life only exists on earth, does that challenge Christianity? Why
would God create a vast universe and populate only a tiny planet with
life? Vainio’s answer, essentially, is that God honors the least. A
predictable response, but this chapter also talks about such concepts as
axiarchism, ananthropocentric purposivism, and nonnaturalism, and the
question of whether objective value can exist in an atheistic universe.
Vainio is not afraid to address perspectives that are contrary to his
own, while acknowledging that they raise understandable considerations.
Chapter 7: “In Space No One Can Hear You Scream? God and Being.”
This chapter is largely about how humans can speak meaningfully of a
God they cannot understand. Vainio talks about the Analogia Entis. He
seems to gravitate towards Kierkegaard’s story of God bringing Godself
down to people’s level, in pursuit of a relationship.
Chapter 8: “There Is No Gene for the Human Spirit: Images of God.”
What is the image of God? And can animals or extraterrestrials
possess it? My impression of where Vainio lands is here: the image of
God includes rationality and the capacity for relationships. Animals can
have that, too, on some level, albeit not as much as humans. And humans
do not possess the same level of rationality as angels, who bear the
image of God more fully. A question that I had was how to account for
human disability: do humans with lower IQs or relational skills reflect
less of the image of God? That would be a troubling prospect. There also
was not much biblical exegesis in this chapter, or even the book as a
whole. The book is informative about theologians and philosophers, but
it was rather lacking in terms of a biblical component, so one might
wonder if the theologies hang on anything divinely-authoritative.
Chapter 9: “Come with Me If You Want to Live: Incarnations.”
Suppose that there is life on other planets. Did Jesus Christ die for
them, too? As far as I can recall, this chapter did not address head-on
a major reason that some think life on other planets would pose a
challenge to Christianity: if the sin of two human beings plunged the
entire cosmos into chaos, does that not imply the priority of earth, or
that human life only exists on earth? So much of God’s plan in the Bible
seems to be tied to God’s interactions with earth (Romans 8). This
chapter had its high points, though, as when it addressed the question
of how people on other planets could be saved. An intriguing feature of
this book is that Vainio often asks if, say, people being saved on other
planets is truly inconsistent with things that Christians already
believe, or if the two may overlap. Vainio tries, however, to argue that
Christ could be incarnate on other planets, and he is not very
convincing, in my opinion. If the risen Christ remains a human being,
how can he be aliens, too?
Chapter 10: “To Boldly Go: Beings in Search of Greater Understanding.”
Among other things, this chapter talks about C.S. Lewis’s engagement
with Kant. In a sense, what we see is how things appear to us, not
necessarily what they truly are. Lewis did not go in the direction of
complete skepticism, however. This chapter builds on insights in Lewis’s
Space Trilogy. It is a bit meandering, but, like the book as a whole, it has its share of interesting details and intriguing insights.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. My review is honest.