xenotheology

Etymology

From xeno- + theology.

xenotheology means the study of alien religion. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.

Why this word is great

XENOTHEOLOGY — [Noun] The speculative study of the religious beliefs and practices of extraterrestrial beings. From the combining form xeno- (from Ancient Greek ξένος (xénos), meaning "foreign, alien") + theology (from Ancient Greek θεός (theós, "god") + -λογία (-logía, "study of")). Unlike theology, which is anchored in human experience and revelation, or exotheology, which often ponders the impact of alien existence on our own doctrines, xenotheology is an act of pure, humbling extrapolation. It imagines rituals conducted beneath a binary star’s cruel light, hymns sung in a methane atmosphere with no vowel sounds, and sacred geometries traced in the dust of an airless moon—a testament to our profound loneliness, and the quiet conviction that meaning must exist, even if we are not its intended audience.

noun

The study of alien religion.“... had added a number of generalists, who had done research in such fields as religious history, xenotheology, deconstruction of scriptures, the anatomy and chemistry of revelation, and the social and economic consequences of prophecy.”