Faith in Space: American Religious Belief in Extraterrestrial Life

This roundtable will explore the history of American religious belief in extraterrestrial life by bringing scholars from a number of fields to discuss traditions who have long been convinced that life exists elsewhere in the universe.  The roundtable is designed so that it stands at a number of investigative intersections: American Protestantism and new religious movements, science and religion, apocalypticism and politics, as well as technology and material culture. It will also study a variety of American religious traditions including -- but not limited to -- Puritanism, Swedenborgianism, Mormonism, Seventh-Day Adventism, Theosophy, Scientology, Nation of Islam and a handful of UFO religions. Roundtable participants will also bring their varied academic interests, training and methodologies to bear on the question of where the study of American extraterrestrial religious belief might find fruitful avenues of study going forward.