“I shall cite evidence to show that they [extraterrestrials] have long since invaded and that their effects can be uncovered by historical research.” —Michael J. Crowe, The Extraterrestrial Life Debate Do you remember your first encounter with Star Wars? I recall lightning-fast ships traversing a distant galaxy, odd-looking aliens socializing at a rough cantina, and…

“Dimidium” sounds like a rare metal, yet it is a planet far away, circling its sun “Helvetios”. Dimidium—more technically called 51 Pegasi b—has something very special to its credit. It is the first planet ever discovered to be circling a sun like ours beyond the solar system. Swiss astrophysicists from Geneva made the breakthrough, hence…

The gap theory helped many Christians in the nineteenth century bridge the chasm between traditional interpretations of Genesis 1-2 and the emerging fossil record. Few people still read the Bible that way, but it was once championed by Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847), the Scottish churchman and eloquent gospel preacher. On the other side of the Atlantic,…

Proper Caution The Paradiso feels like the riskiest book to read, much less write about. To begin with, we have only enough information about Heaven to spark lots of speculation, much of it pretty fanciful. Mark Twain skewered pious visions of Heaven by pointing out that most men he knew don’t act like they’d even…