Chalmers, Thomas (1780–1847)
Scottish Presbyterian minister and powerful evangelical orator, well versed
in science and philosophy, who had a significant impact on the debate about
pluralism in the 19th century. Following
an invitation by Brewster to contribute
to the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, Chalmers began to explore the relationship
between Christianity and extraterrestrial life (see Christian
doctrines and pluralism). This formed the subject of seven influential
sermons he delivered in Glasgow in 1815 and which were published in 1817
as A Series of Discourses on the Christian Revelation Viewed in Connection
with the Modern Astronomy. In Britain and America, the sermons sold
by the tens of thousand, editions continuing to appear in the US until 1860
and in the UK as late as the 1870s. Chalmers wrote "... there are other
worlds, which roll afar; the light of other suns shines upon them ..." These
extrasolar planets, he urged "must be the mansions of life and intelligence."
Chalmers saw the abundance of life in the universe as a reflection of God's
generosity and power (see plenitude, principle
of). To the question of how God could care for the Earth in a universe
teeming with worlds and life, Chalmers replied with his microscope
argument. Concerning the redemption, he suggested, just as Christ's
redemptive action has extended over time on Earth, so it may extend over
the vastness of space. The Earth, he proposed, might be "the actual theatre
of a keen and ambitious contest amongst the upper orders of creation" (a
theme later taken up by C. S. Lewis and others
in science fiction). His command of contemporary astronomical knowledge
made his evangelical pronouncements all the more persuasive, and the effect
of his sermons was to help convince many that pluralism could indeed be
reconciled with Christianity.
Related category
• PHILOSOPHY
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