Metaphysics of Exo-Life, Andrew M. Davis. SacraSage (ISBN: 9781958670040) 2023.

Summary: Metaphysics of Exo-Life constructively engages the naturalistic cosmotheology of Steven J. Dick using A.N. Whitehead’s process metaphysics.

The universe is much bigger than we once thought it. The Hubble and Webb telescopes reveal that our Milky Way, as vast as it is, is but one of millions of galaxies. The observation of habitable planets orbiting stars in our own galaxy leads to the extrapolation that there could be billions of such planets in the universe where living organisms may have evolved, including beings with intelligence equivalent to or greater than our own. That raises interesting questions for any of us who are theologically minded: questions about God, about creatures of other worlds and whether parallels exist to our own understanding of creation, fall, and redemption, and how God manifests God’s self in these numerous worlds.

Cosmotheology is the branch of theology considering such metaphysical questions with regard to exo-life, or life on other worlds. Appropriately, one of the pioneers of this area of thought is NASA historian Steven J. Dick, who has formulated a “naturalistic cosmotheology” centered on evolutionary becoming. He has even observed the ways this resonates with the process theology of A.N. Whitehead, the father of process thought. Dick denies the existence of God in a traditional sense while allowing for the possibility of the evolution of “superintelligences.”

In this book, Andrew M. Davis argues that the “resonances” with A.N. Whitehead’s process theology may be developed in a way that deepens and extends, rather than denies Dick’s thought. He does this by engaging six principles of cosmotheology formulated by Dick. He shows that Whitehead’s thought may be formulated into an inverse statement that deepens and extends Dick’s thought. It also resolves some unanswered questions.

Dick’s six statements are:

1. Humanity is not physically central to the universe.
2. Humanity is not central biologically, mentally, or morally in the universe.
3. Humanity is not at the top of the great chain of being in the universe.
4. Cosmotheology must be open to radically new and non-supernatural conceptions of God…a God grounded in cosmic evolution.
5. Cosmotheology must have a moral dimension, extending to embrace all species in the universe–a reverence and respect for life in any form.
6. Cosmotheology must embrace the idea that human destiny should be linked to natural cosmic events, not to the divine.

Summing up, Dick enunciates an imaginative cosmotheology, or rather, a cosmophilosophy that does not premise the existence of God. Rather, he roots his proposal on evolutionary processes on a cosmic scale. By comparison, Davis affirms much in Dick’s work with regard to evolutionary processes on a cosmic scale and the absence of a God apart from these processes. But where he differs from Dick is in incorporating God into those processes through the process thought of Whitehead. He does this through devoting a chapter to each of Dick’s principles and develops a Whiteheadian inverse principle for each of Dick’s principles. These are:

1. Humanity exemplifies metaphysical principles that are utterly central to the universe.
2. Humanity exemplifies biological, mental, and moral antecedents that are metaphysically central to the universe.
3. Humanity exemplifies the same metaphysical principles that are expressed in various intensities throughout the great chain of being in the universe.
4. Cosmotheology must be open to truly radical and non-supernatural conceptions of God, a God grounding and exemplifying the metaphysical conditions of cosmic evolution.
5. Cosmotheology must provide the ontological basis and stimulus for ideals of moral reverence and respect in the nature of things.
6. Cosmotheology must embrace human destiny as inextricably linked to the destiny of the cosmos as an infinite evolutionary expression of the metaphysical conditions chiefly exemplified in the divine.

Thus, Davis shows how a God inextricably engaged in cosmic evolution, while not privileging human experience, is able to connect that with the existence and experience of other beings. By adopting Whitehead’s process thought, he avoids a supernatural God external to the processes. Rather God is developing apace with the cosmos.

While I do not hold to process theology (I do believe in an eternal, self-sufficient, super-natural God over the cosmos) I appreciate the engagement between and mutual respect of these scholars. Indeed, they have cleared substantial ground in this pioneering area of theology. Specifically, they take planetary and species imperialism off the table. Likewise they engage creatively the questions of God’s engagement in evolutionary processes and questions of morality on a cosmic scale. I’d like to see traditional theists constructively engage this conversation.

In addition, Davis includes two helpful reference articles in the appendix to this book. One is a literature survey of the work of process theologians with regard to extraterrestrial life. The second reprints a foundational article by Lewis S. Ford, “Theological Reflections on Extraterrestrial Life” from 1968. This is a mind-stretching work, but one valuable for conversations between cosmologists and theologians and for anyone interested in thinking deeply about our place in the universe.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through Speakeasy for review.