Astrotheology
Astrotheology is a discipline combining the methods and domains of space science with systematic theology. Astrotheology concerns the theological, cultural, and ethical implications of space exploration and identifies the elements of myth and religion in space science. Astrotheology is a "multi-disciplinary branch of theology that takes up the relationship between God and the creation, especially the creation of the universe over time." Ted F. Peters envisions astrotheology as "the meeting point between theologians and astrobiologists." A.C. Pieterse describes the field as a "prophetic wormhole that relates space-time to eschatological transformation", a theology of nature rather than a natural theology.
History
A.. C. Pieterse traces the "seeds" of astrotheology to the works of Greek philosophers such as Leucippus, Democritus, Epicurus, and Lucretius who "held that cosmos is infinitely large, with an infinite number of patterns that could sustain intelligence." The theologian Ted Peters similarly identifies ancient debates on the plurality of worlds as a starting point for astrotheology, tracing it from Aristotle through to Thomas Aquinas, Jean Buridan, and William of Ockham.The word, hyphenated as, first appears in a tract by the Anglican clergyman William Derham. For Derham, the task of this discipline was to "glorify God by stressing the immensity and magnificence of God's creation." Derham advocated a chronology of space science broken into three eras, the Ptolemaic, the Copernican, and post-Copernican. In 1855, Edward Higginson published a series of four lectures, separating astrotheology into an earlier Jewish period and a modern period, the former regarding the mythology of ancient Israelites and the latter encompassing "modern philosophical views of the solar system and the fixed stars."