Paul Thigpen, PhD, was an American theologian, historian, editor, and unusually prolific Catholic author whose work became unexpectedly relevant to modern UAP discourse. Best known in Catholic publishing for books on spiritual warfare and the saints, Thigpen also carved out a distinct niche at the intersection of theology, history of ideas, and the rapidly mainstreaming public conversation about nonhuman intelligence (NHI) and UAP. In the early 2020s he emerged as one of the clearest Catholic “bridge voices” for readers trying to hold two realities at once: a traditional spiritual cosmology, and mounting claims that UAP events sometimes point beyond human technology and ordinary explanation. (Catholic News Agency)
At a glance
- Full name: Paul Thigpen
- Born: May 18, 1954, Savannah, Georgia, United States (Catholic News Agency)
- Died: February 24, 2026 (age 71) (catholicworldreport.com)
- Education: BA (Religious Studies), Yale University; MA and PhD (Historical Theology), Emory University (Catholic News Agency)
- Known for: Catholic theology writing (including spiritual warfare); historical synthesis of Catholic debates about extraterrestrial intelligence; public-facing theological engagement with UAP and NHI questions (TAN Books)
- Institutional roles (select): University theology faculty (multiple institutions); appointed to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ National Advisory Council (2008); editor at TAN Books (The Coming Home Network)
Biography
Roots in coastal Georgia, music, and an early confrontation with “the unseen”
Paul Thigpen was born in Savannah, Georgia, and sources associated with his publishing career describe him as a coastal Georgian who grew up on one of the sea islands off the state’s coast. (Audible.com)
Music was not a footnote in his early formation. In his Yale years he sang as a first-tenor soloist with the Yale Glee Club, and in the early 1970s he served as lead singer in a Christian rock band that toured Europe during the pioneering phase of contemporary Christian music. (Audible.com)
Yet the more consequential thread, for understanding his later approach to anomalous claims, is how often “unseen intelligences” appear in his life story. In a 2016 interview, an outlet covering his work reported that he had experimented with occult practices as a teenager and that he connected those experiments with disturbing experiences he interpreted as malicious spiritual phenomena. (CatholicVote org)
That claim is not presented here as proof of anything metaphysical. It matters because it became one of the psychological and theological anchors for how Thigpen later evaluated extraordinary testimony, including UAP encounter narratives: he treated witness reports as real human experiences that can be meaning-laden even when ultimate causes remain contested.
Yale, scholarship, and a detour through skepticism
Thigpen graduated summa cum laude from Yale University with a BA in Religious Studies (1977). (TAN Books)
Later he completed graduate work at Emory University, earning an MA (1993) and PhD (1995) in historical theology, including recognition as a Woodruff Fellow. (Catholic News Agency)
Multiple accounts emphasize that his faith journey was not linear. Reporting on his life, EWTN noted that he was raised Presbyterian, then briefly identified with atheism, before returning to Christianity. (Catholic News Agency)
In the same reporting, Thigpen attributed part of his return to faith to experiences he described as encounters with “powerful, malicious nonhuman intelligences,” recalling that he came to believe in the devil before he came to believe in God. (Catholic News Agency)
For UAPedia readers, this detail is easy to misfile as merely religious autobiography. In context, it is a key to his later posture: Thigpen did not approach NHI as a purely speculative “space life” question. For him, the possibility of nonhuman agency had already been internalized as existentially serious, not entertainment or mere abstract philosophy.
Conversion to Catholicism and the educator-author phase
Thigpen ultimately converted to Catholicism in 1993, after having served as a Protestant pastor. (Catholic News Agency)
He went on to teach theology at the university level, with accounts naming Missouri State University (Springfield), The College of Saint Thomas More (Fort Worth), and Saint Leo University (Savannah) among his faculty appointments. (The Coming Home Network)
By the 2000s and 2010s, he was operating in three overlapping roles:
- Academic and catechetical communicator
- Editor within Catholic publishing, including editorial work with TAN Books (Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts)
- High-output author and journalist
Publisher and platform biographies vary on exact totals, but consistently describe an unusually large body of work: roughly 59–60 books and more than 500 articles, translated widely (often described as 12–16 languages). (TAN Books)
In 2008 he was appointed as a lay representative to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ National Advisory Council (often described as a four-year term). (Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts)
Spiritual warfare as a “method” for discernment, not an excuse for dismissal
A major portion of Thigpen’s public identity came from books on spiritual warfare, demonic temptation, and the lives of saints. His best-known title in that lane, Manual for Spiritual Warfare, was published by TAN Books in 2014. (TAN Books)
He followed with Saints Who Battled Satan (2015) and later works such as Saints Who Saw Hell (2019). (TAN Books)
This background is often invoked in UAP debates as shorthand for “the demonic hypothesis.” What makes Thigpen distinct is that he resisted the simplistic version of that hypothesis. In a 2022 interview, he acknowledged that some alleged “alien encounter” narratives show parallels to experiences Catholic tradition would classify as diabolical, but he also argued that this does not justify writing off the entire phenomenon as a global demonic deception. He added that the great majority of UAP-related sightings and personal experiences do not fit that diabolical pattern. (National Catholic Register)
That combination, spiritual seriousness without blanket dismissal, is a recurring through-line in his UAP-facing work.
Paul Thigpen’s impact on UAP and NHI discourse
The 2022 pivot: extraterrestrial intelligence framed as a Catholic historical debate, with an explicit UAP appendix
Thigpen’s most direct contribution to the UAP field is his 2022 book:
Extraterrestrial Intelligence and the Catholic Faith: Are We Alone in the Universe with God and the Angels? (TAN Books, publication date June 28, 2022). (TAN Books)
Two aspects matter for UAPedia’s biography focus:
- The work is positioned as both historical survey and theological analysis, emphasizing that Catholic intellectual engagement with “other worlds” debates stretches back many centuries rather than being a panicked reaction to modern claims. (The Society of Catholic Scientists)
- The publisher description explicitly notes a concluding appendix addressing UAP (the description uses older terminology), signaling that Thigpen intended the book to meet the UAP conversation directly rather than only addressing distant-life astrobiology questions. (TAN Books)
Entering the UAP “religious register”: the Grusch era and Thigpen’s public stance
As UAP whistleblower claims accelerated public attention in 2023, Thigpen became a quoted Catholic voice willing to take the claims seriously.
A Catholic News Service feature reported (via Catholic Review) that Thigpen had discussed UAP on podcasts with large audiences and that he regarded key whistleblower claims as credible, stating he believed what was reported was “substantially true,” despite official denials. (Catholic Review)
In that same reporting, he framed his 2022 book as “preemptive,” intended to reassure Catholics who might be shaken if the public conversation shifted from “possible life out there” to “advanced nonhuman visitors here.” (Catholic Review)
For our editorial stance, this is a significant marker: Thigpen is not simply defending theological compatibility with hypothetical aliens. He is responding to the culturally disruptive possibility that UAP encounters and retrieval claims point to a present-tense NHI reality.
The Sol Foundation phase: a structured proposal for how the Church could engage UAP reality
Thigpen’s most “UAP-forward” writing appears in his Sol Foundation white paper:
NHI, UAP, and the Catholic Faith: How Will the Church Respond? (The White Papers of the Sol Foundation, Volume 1, No. 5, July/August 2024). (thesolfoundation.org)
Key contributions of this paper, summarized:
- He argues that the topic has become more pressing in light of a worldwide multiplication of credible UAP reports, and that the core question in public consciousness has shifted from “Are they out there?” to “Are they here, right now, with us?” (thesolfoundation.org)
- He recommends the Church approach UAP with a broad investigation that includes scientific evidence and lived experience of those reporting personal encounters, suggesting such evidence could expand and enrich the Catholic understanding of the cosmos. (thesolfoundation.org)
- He outlines practical steps that could be taken by Vatican-level institutions, including engagement with organizations involved in NHI and UAP studies (he explicitly gives the Sol Foundation as an example), convening conferences, encouraging pontifical universities to include NHI and UAP in faith-and-science research, and assigning doctrinal review bodies to clarify compatibility questions. (thesolfoundation.org)
- He also directly addresses the recurring claim that Vatican officials may have long known of NHI reality, highlighting a specific allegation involving the transfer of a crashed craft from Magenta, Italy, to the United States in 1944. He argues that if such claims are groundless, clear denial would reduce speculation, and if they have merit, confirmation would model transparency. (thesolfoundation.org)
- He suggests that Vatican archives may hold materials relevant to NHI and UAP studies and that researchers could be supported in accessing and analyzing those holdings. (thesolfoundation.org)
This is not “belief writing.” It is a blueprint for institutional engagement, and it implicitly treats UAP as a legitimate domain of inquiry rather than a taboo or fringe curiosity.
A recurring theme: the Church is not “catching up,” it has intellectual tools already
In his 2024 writing for the Society of Catholic Scientists, Thigpen reiterated his core historical claim: today’s ETI debate is the newest phase of a conversation in Western thought stretching back at least twenty-six centuries, and the Catholic tradition has long possessed conceptual room to accommodate discoveries without doctrinal panic. (The Society of Catholic Scientists)
He also noted that he had been invited to address the specific topic of ETI and Catholic faith at Sol’s first symposium in November 2023, indicating that his role had become recognized within emerging NHI/UAP-oriented institutions. (The Society of Catholic Scientists)
Death and legacy
Paul Thigpen died on February 24, 2026, at age 71. (catholicworldreport.com)
His legacy for UAP studies is not the collection of sensor data or the investigation of specific cases. Instead, it is a model for how a major global religious tradition can approach UAP and NHI questions without reflexive denial, without lazy reductionism, and without surrendering intellectual rigor.
Thigpen matters because he treated “nonhuman intelligence” as a category that deserves serious discernment across multiple domains: historical, philosophical, theological, experiential, and scientific. Whether one shares his Catholic framing or not, his work demonstrates that UAP realities force conversations that are civilizational in scope, not merely technical.
Timeline
| Date | Event |
| 1954-05-18 | Born in Savannah, Georgia. (Catholic News Agency) |
| Early 1970s | Lead singer in a Christian rock band touring Europe; early involvement in contemporary Christian music. (Audible.com) |
| 1977 | BA in Religious Studies, Yale University (summa cum laude). (Audible.com) |
| 1979 | Small speaking part in the CBS made-for-television film Orphan Train. (Audible.com) |
| Before 1993 | Served as a Protestant pastor; also described as having a period of atheism before returning to Christianity. (Catholic News Agency) |
| 1993 | Converted to Catholicism; earned MA at Emory University (historical theology). (Catholic News Agency) |
| 1995 | Completed PhD in historical theology at Emory University. (The Coming Home Network) |
| 2001-10-01 | The Rapture Trap published (Ascension Press). (Ascension) |
| 2008 | Appointed to the USCCB National Advisory Council (often described as a four-year term). (Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts) |
| 2014-09-04 | Manual for Spiritual Warfare published (TAN Books). (TAN Books) |
| 2015-11-15 | Saints Who Battled Satan published (TAN Books). (TAN Books) |
| 2019-10-07 | Saints Who Saw Hell published (TAN Books). (TAN Books) |
| 2022-06-28 | Extraterrestrial Intelligence and the Catholic Faith published (TAN Books), including an appendix addressing UAP speculation. (TAN Books) |
| 2023-09-30 | Publicly reported as arguing that major whistleblower claims were credible; framed his ETI book as a “preemptive” reassurance for Catholics amid UAP-related claims. (Catholic Review) |
| 2023-11 | Delivered presentation at the Sol Foundation Symposium on NHI, UAP, and Catholic theology. (The Society of Catholic Scientists) |
| 2024-03-01 | Published historical synthesis on Catholic debates about extraterrestrial intelligence for the Society of Catholic Scientists. (The Society of Catholic Scientists) |
| 2024-07/08 | Published Sol Foundation white paper on NHI, UAP, and Catholic faith, proposing concrete institutional responses. (thesolfoundation.org) |
| 2024-12-04 | Published “Aliens and the Catholic Church” at Catholic Answers. (Catholic Answers) |
| 2026-02-24 | Died at age 71. (catholicworldreport.com) |
Bibliography
Primary works by Paul Thigpen (selected, UAP-relevant and foundational)
Thigpen, P. (2022). Extraterrestrial intelligence and the Catholic faith: Are we alone in the universe with God and the angels? TAN Books. (TAN Books)
Thigpen, P. (2024, July/August). NHI, UAP, and the Catholic faith: How will the Church respond? The White Papers of the Sol Foundation, 1(5). (thesolfoundation.org)
Thigpen, P. (2024, December 4). Aliens and the Catholic Church. Catholic Answers Magazine (Online Edition). (Catholic Answers)
Thigpen, P. (2024, March 1). Extraterrestrial intelligence and the Catholic faith: A brief history of an ancient conversation. The Society of Catholic Scientists. (The Society of Catholic Scientists)
Major background works shaping his “discernment” framework (selected)
Thigpen, P. (2001). The rapture trap: A Catholic response to end times fever. Ascension Press. (Ascension)
Thigpen, P. (2014). Manual for spiritual warfare. TAN Books. (TAN Books)
Thigpen, P. (2015). Saints who battled Satan. TAN Books. (TAN Books)
Thigpen, P. (2019). Saints who saw hell. TAN Books. (TAN Books)
References
Duncan, R. (2023, September 30). Aliens, demons or PSYOPS? Catholics study, debate UAP allegations. Catholic Review. (Catholic Review)
Turley, K. V. (2022, July 23). Extraterrestrial intelligence and the Catholic faith: A conversation with Paul Thigpen. National Catholic Register. (National Catholic Register)
Thigpen, P. (Author profile). Paul Thigpen – Audio books, best sellers, author bio. Audible. (Audible.com)
TAN Books. (Author bio). Paul Thigpen, PhD. (TAN Books)
The Coming Home Network. (2011, January 13). His open arms welcomed me: The story of a former evangelical pastor. (The Coming Home Network)
EWTN News. (2026). Theologian Paul Thigpen dies at 71. (Catholic News Agency)
Catholic World Report. (2026, February 25). Paul Thigpen, theologian who explored question of extraterrestrial life, dies at 71. (catholicworldreport.com)
Catholic Answers. (2024, December 4). Paul Thigpen. (Catholic Answers)
Discerning Hearts. (n.d.). IP#60 Paul Thigpen – Catholic answers to Catholic questions on Inside the Pages. Retrieved February 26, 2026, from (Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts)
Payne, D. (2026, February 25). Paul Thigpen, theologian who explored ‘wondrous’ question of extraterrestrial life, dies at 71. EWTN News. (Catholic News Agency)
The Coming Home Network. (2018, October 2). Dr. Paul Thigpen – former Evangelical Pentecostal. (The Coming Home Network)
The Coming Home Network. (2026, February 25). The CHNetwork family mourns the passing of Dr. Paul Thigpen. (The Coming Home Network)
The Society of Catholic Scientists. (2024, March 1). Extraterrestrial intelligence and the Catholic faith: A brief history of an ancient conversation. (The Society of Catholic Scientists)
Teti, R. R. (2016, March 14). Defeating the ancient foe: Seven questions with Paul Thigpen. CatholicVote. (CatholicVote org)
Thigpen, P. (2024, December 4). Aliens and the Catholic Church. Catholic Answers Magazine Online Edition. (Catholic Answers)
The Sol Foundation. (2024). NHI, UAP, and the Catholic faith: How will the Church respond? https://thesolfoundation.org/publications/nhi-uap-and-the-catholic-faith-how-will-the-church-respond/
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