C And Axor

 

"...with regard to multiplicity of incarnations, modern biological and astronomical discoveries do not exclude the hypothesis that there are rational creatures elsewhere in the cosmos. While this, together with the incredible vastness of the universe, squares with Buddhist and Hindu imagery, it may be embarrassing for Christians, since it might seem to imply that God will have become incarnate elsewhere - and this takes the edge off Christian criticism of the Hindu conception of avataras, etc.; though the Christian doctrine [of Incarnation] remains the simplest we know, and is the doctrine more consonant with rigid monotheism."

-Ninian Smart, World Religions: A Dialogue (Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, 1969), 8, p. 136.

This book, entirely written by Smart, is a fictional dialogue between:

C, a Christian;

J, a Jew;

M, a Muslim;

H, a Hindu;

CB, a Ceylonese Buddhist;

JB, a Japanese Buddhist.

C, speaking in the quoted passage, thinks that extra-terrestrial incarnations might be embarrassing for Christians whereas Poul Anderson's Fr. Axor thinks on the contrary that "the Universal Incarnation" would validate his faith.