I have previously argued that the state of ‘theology’ and ‘religious studies’ in most English Universities is such that one could hardly distinguish between the two disciplines, in their institutional presuppositions, their objectives and goals, and in their methodological procedures. It just happens that the subject of one is Christianity, and that of the other, religions other than Christianity. Were a ‘theology’ department to be renamed ‘religious studies’ overnight everything could probably continue as it did before, although there would be understandable pressures to include more study of religions other than Christianity. Here, I would like to pursue one feature of a tradition-specific department, such as I canvassed, whereby theology could break free from the homogeneous secularisation of the discipline that currently predominates and offer students within the university an intellectually rigorous alternative. If I am told that I should teach in a Roman Catholic seminary—a frequent criticism—I suggest that one vocation of the Roman Catholic Church, and this may be true of other churches, requires the rigorous educating of lay faithful. Roman Catholic, Anglican and Jewish parents in many parts of the country have the opportunity to send their children to denominational specific schools, endorsed and supported by the government. If all enquiry is tradition-specific, and the legitimacy of enquiry within often highly reputable religious foundations is publicly accepted at primary and secondary level—why not take the argument to Higher Education level? This paper is devoted to keeping that question open.

Pope John Paul II’s apostolic letter published on May 22 1994, by coincidence the anniversary of the burning of Joan of Arc at the stake, stated in peremptory fashion that the admission of women to priestly ordination is not subject to debate among Roman Catholics, and the nonnegotiability of this statement has been insisted on more recently by Cardinal Ratzinger. In deference to this admonition I propose neither to debate the issue itself nor evaluate the theological and exegetical arguments on both sides, though it will not be possible to leave them completely out of account. What I would like to do instead is reflect on what is at stake for the church leadership, theologically and practically, in excluding women from the ministerial priesthood and doing so in such uncompromising terms as to even forbid the faithful to debate the subject. To pose the question in this way is not meant to insinuate that there can be no reasonable and arguable grounds for an exclusively male priesthood nor does it imply a dismissive attitude to arguments put forward in official documents in favour of the exclusion of women, much less assume that these arguments are advanced disingenuously. At the same time, I think it can be said that our reasons for holding certain positions are often unacknowledged and unarticulated even to ourselves, and are in any case more primordial than the arguments we elaborate in defence of these positions. In other words, our agenda is not always fully displayed in our arguments, which I imagine also holds for arguments put forward in official church documents.

As science finally eliminates the moon as a living habitat telescopes probe ever further for extraterrestrial vitality. NASA expects, barring terrestrial catastrophes, to probe Mars every two years eventually recovering Martian rocks for laboratory investigation. These, with Martian fragments already found in Antarctica, may soon resolve whether or not life has existed, lives now, or will evolve on that frigid, thin atmosphered planet. The European Space Agency anticipates launching early next century an ‘Interferometry Observatory’ to seek signals of life from relatively earthlike planets. These explorations from both sides of the Atlantic, with advances in astronomical science, the popularity of space fiction, art, and para-religious phenomena make certain that, for the foreseeable future, people will wonder about extra terrestrial life, its possibilities, its traces, its evolutionary potential, and its unnoticed presence even now.

Humans have wondered about star folk for a surprisingly long time. In the golden age of Greece philosophers debated the possibilities of a plurality of worlds including planets with intelligent life. In the 5th century BC Pythagoras thought the moon, visible from earth then as now, was inhabited. So did Epicurus and famously somewhat later the prolific essayist and biographer Plutarch. Parmenides, Plato and Aristotle dismissed pluralism. But some early church Fathers, including Clement of Rome, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen and Jerome, were open to possibilities of stellar life. Aquinas, like Augustine, thought this earth alone was habitable but resolutely affirmed Divine omnipotence. Three years after Thomas’ death the Bishop of Paris (Etienne Tempier) in 1277 fuelled speculation about extraterrestrials by condemning the proposition ‘that the First Cause cannot make many worlds’.