Understanding the Theology of Ufology

As stated in my introductory article, this Wizzley site will be dedicated to attempting to bridge the gap between Ufology and theology.

Ufology is of course the study of unidentified flying objects with everything associated such as aliens, crop circles, abductions, etc.

Theology is the study of God. At first thought, this would seem to be a very simple thing.  

Most people assume Theology is Bible study but it is so much more.

There are five basic Theological methods which will be covered in this article and utilized in future articles to identify the association with the current phenomenon of Ufology.

The five basic forms or methods of theology are: Form criticism (also known as form critical analysis), Didactic criticism, Dispensational Theology, Historical Theology (closely similar to Dispensational theology) and of more recent decades, Cosmic theology.

Each of these forms of Theological study have their own unique approaches in an attempt to understanding God, His work in the universe, His communication with man, salvation and the culmination of time and eternal life.

1. Form Criticism (also known as form critical analysis) – Simply put, this is an attempt to study God and His work from a literary perspective by “objectively and critically analyzing” the form in which the scripture was written. Basically analyzing scripture as literature.
2. Didactic Criticism – Dissects, teaches and reduces biblical content to its simplest and most logical (and not necessarily obvious) interpretation. With this method, what you see is not always what you get.  This is often used in non-scriptural poetry as well.
3. Dispensational Theology – A mid 19^th to early 20^th century theological method regaining strength during the cold war era; made popular by Pastor/theologians Lewis Sperry Schaeffer and C. I. Schofield. It usually accepts a six thousand year age of the current creation or re-creation of earth while allowing for gaps in scripture of unexplainable historical events.  It also breaks the Bible down to either three or seven parts with each portion labeled as a particular age; e.g. age of creation, age of grace, age of sin or darkness, etc. (Closely akin to this is “Covenant Theology” which is not relevant in our study here. Covenantal Theologians organize all history and theology around several covenants, or arrangements between God and humans.)
4. Historical Theology – Simply looks back through history and attempts to identify God working in and through man to accomplish His goals. Problems exist here because the history used is often limited to the Judeo-Christian West. There is nothing really special here and no labels are given other than those normally associated with history.
5. Cosmic Theology – This is also known by many other names such as Contemporary and Scientific Theology but it is all basically the same and usually identified with a better understanding of prophecy; although of recent, it has become increasingly identified with associating Ufology with Theology. Although used by the Unitarian Church for over half a century, evangelical Theologians such as Hal Lindsey have unintentionally utilized this Theological method to bring “new light” to traditional prophetic interpretation.   Cosmic Theology basically takes man’s contemporary knowledge and mind set and looks backward in time attempting to describe in a new light what the Biblical writer might have witnessed or been trying to say or describe with his limited knowledge.

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