Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Born May 1, 1881Orcines, France

Died April 10, 1955 (aged 73)New York, New York, USA

Nationality FrenchFields Paleontology, philosophy,

theology cosmology,evolutionary theory

Known for The Phenomenon of Man,The Divine Milieu, thesynthesis of theology andscience

Inuences St. Paul, St. John theEvangelist, Origen, St.Gregory of Nyssa, St.Ignatius of Loyola, HenriBergson

Inuenced Henri de Lubac, ThomasBerry, TheodosiusDobzhansky, Lopold SdarSenghor, Pope Benedict XVI

Pierre Teilhard de ChardinFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaPierre Teilhard de Chardin SJ(French: [pj teja d ad]; May 1,1881 April 10, 1955) was a Frenchphilosopher and Jesuit priest who trainedas a paleontologist and geologist and tookpart in the discovery of Peking Man.Teilhard conceived the idea of the OmegaPoint (a maximum level of complexity andconsciousness towards which he believedthe universe was evolving) and developedVladimir Vernadsky's concept ofnoosphere.Teilhard de Chardin has twocomprehensive works. First, ThePhenomenon of Man, sets forth asweeping account of the unfolding of thecosmos and the evolution of matter tohumanity to ultimately a reunion withChrist. Following the leads of St. Ambroseand St. Augustine, he abandoned literalinterpretations of creation in the Book ofGenesis in favor of allegorical andtheological interpretations.The second comprehensive work ofTeilhard de Chardin is The Divine Milieu,in which he attempted to do two things.First, in the 19th and early 20th centuriesthere was a belief among some Catholicsand other Christians that in order to beholy one had to devote himself orherself to purely religious activity and thatsecular work had no lasting value.Teilhard de Chardin, consistent with theJesuit motto of nding God in all things,wanted to demonstrate that secular work(including his own scientic work) was anintegral element of creation and the Incarnation, so that for religious reasons,Christians should be committed to whatever work they were doing and oering itup for the service of God. Teilhard wants to show how all human activities andeorts toward personal growth and human progress can be used to help the

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growth and development of the Body of Christ. Not only are human eorts usefulin this regard, but they are also somehow necessary. Even though people performthese actions as ordinary human beings, and they look like ordinary humanactions, they are simultaneously being transformed in the divine milieu andbecome actions done in, with, and through Christ.Some of Teilhard de Chardin's ideas came into conict with certain ocials in theRoman Curia and in his own Jesuit order. Specically, Teilhard's superiors thoughtthat Teilhard's views on the doctrine of original sin were contrary to Catholicdoctrine. As a result, many of Teilhard's writings were prohibited from beingpublished during his lifetime. Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi said inJuly 2009: "By now, no one would dream of saying that [Teilhard] is a heterodoxauthor who shouldnt be studied."[1]

Contents1 Life

1.1 Early years1.2 Academic career1.3 Paleontology1.4 Service in World War I1.5 Research in China1.6 World travels1.7 Death

2 Controversy with church ocials3 Rehabilitation and Incorporation into Catholic Theology4 Teachings5 Legacy

5.1 Scientic5.2 Arts and Culture5.3 Bricks and mortar

6 Bibliography7 See also8 References9 Further reading10 External links

10.1 Pro10.2 Contra10.3 Other

Life


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Society of Jesus

History of the JesuitsRegimini militantis

SuppressionJesuit HierarchySuperior General

Adolfo NicolsIgnatian Spirituality

Spiritual ExercisesAd majorem Dei gloriam

MagisNotable Jesuits

St. Ignatius of LoyolaSt. Francis Xavier

St. Peter FaberSt. Aloysius GonzagaSt. Robert Bellarmine

St. Peter CanisiusSt. Edmund Campion

Pope Francis

Early yearsPierre Teilhard de Chardin was born in the Chteau ofSarcenat at Orcines, close to Clermont-Ferrand,France, on May 1, 1881. On the Teilhard side he isdescended from an ancient family of magistrates fromAuvergne originating in Murat, Cantal, and on the deChardin side he is descended from a family that wasennobled under Louis XVIII. He was the fourth ofeleven children. His father, Emmanuel Teilhard(18441932), an amateur naturalist, collected stones,insects and plants and promoted the observation ofnature in the household. Pierre Teilhard's spiritualitywas awakened by his mother, Berthe de Dompiere.When he was 12, he went to the Jesuit college ofMongr, in Villefranche-sur-Sane, where hecompleted baccalaureates of philosophy andmathematics. Then, in 1899, he entered the Jesuitnovitiate at Aix-en-Provence where he began aphilosophical, theological and spiritual career.As of the summer 1901, the Waldeck-Rousseau laws,which submitted congregational associations'properties to state control, prompted some of theJesuits to exile themselves in the United Kingdom.Young Jesuit students continued their studies in Jersey.In the meantime, Teilhard earned a licentiate inliterature in Caen in 1902.Academic careerFrom 1905 to 1908, he taught physics and chemistry in Cairo, Egypt, at the JesuitCollege of the Holy Family. He wrote "...it is the dazzling of the East foreseen anddrunk greedily... in its lights, its vegetation, its fauna and its deserts." (Lettersfrom Egypt (19051908) ditions Aubier)Teilhard studied theology in Hastings, in Sussex (United Kingdom), from 1908 to1912. There he synthesized his scientic, philosophical and theological knowledgein the light of evolution. His reading of L'volution Cratrice (The CreativeEvolution) by Henri Bergson was, he said, the "catalyst of a re which devouredalready its heart and its spirit." His views on evolution and religion particularlyinspired the evolutionary biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky. Teilhard was ordaineda priest on August 24, 1911, aged 30.Paleontology


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From 1912 to 1914, Teilhard worked in the paleontology laboratory of theMuseum National d'Histoire Naturelle, in Paris, studying the mammals of themiddle Tertiary period. Later he studied elsewhere in Europe. In June 1912 heformed part of the original digging team, with Arthur Smith Woodward andCharles Dawson, to perform follow-up investigations at the Piltdown site, after thediscovery of the rst fragments of the (fraudulent) "Piltdown Man", with someeven suggesting he participated in the hoax.[2] Professor Marcellin Boule(specialist in Neanderthal studies), who so early as 1915 astutely recognised thenon-hominid origins of the Piltdown nds, gradually guided Teilhard towardshuman paleontology. At the museum's Institute of Human Paleontology, hebecame a friend of Henri Breuil and took part with him, in 1913, in excavations inthe prehistoric painted caves in the northwest of Spain, at the Cave of Castillo.Service in World War IMobilised in December 1914, Teilhard served in World War I as a stretcher-bearerin the 8th Moroccan Ries. For his valour, he received several citations includingthe Mdaille militaire and the Legion of Honour.Throughout these years of war he developed his reections in his diaries and inletters to his cousin, Marguerite Teillard-Chambon, who later edited them into abook: Gense d'une pense (Genesis of a thought). He confessed later: "...the warwas a meeting ... with the Absolute." In 1916, he wrote his rst essay: La VieCosmique (Cosmic life), where his scientic and philosophical thought wasrevealed just as his mystical life. He pronounced his solemn vows as a Jesuit inSainte-Foy-ls-Lyon, on May 26, 1918, during a leave. In August 1919, in Jersey,he would write Puissance spirituelle de la Matire (the spiritual Power of Matter).The complete essays written between 1916 and 1919 are published under thefollowing titles:

Ecrits du temps de la Guerre (Written in time of the War) (TXII of completeWorks) Editions du SeuilGense d'une pense (letters of 1914 to 1918) Editions Grasset

Teilhard followed at the Sorbonne three unit degrees of natural science: geology,botany and zoology. His thesis treated of the mammals of the French lowerEocene and their stratigraphy. After 1920, he lectured in geology at the CatholicInstitute of Paris, then became an assistant professor after being granted ascience doctorate in 1922.Research in ChinaIn 1923 he traveled to China with Father Emile Licent, who was in charge inTianjin of a signicant laboratory collaboration between the Natural HistoryMuseum in Paris and Marcellin Boule's laboratory. Licent carried out considerable


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basic work in connection with missionaries who accumulated observations of ascientic nature in their spare time. He was known as (pinyin: Drjn) inChina.Teilhard wrote several essays, including La Messe sur le Monde (the Mass on theWorld), in the Ordos Desert. In the following year he continued lecturing at theCatholic Institute and participated in a cycle of conferences for the students ofthe Engineers' Schools. Two theological essays on Original Sin sent to atheologian at his request on a purely personal basis were wrongly understood.[citation needed]

July 1920: Chute, Rdemption et Gocentrie (Fall, Redemption andGeocentry)Spring 1922: Notes sur quelques reprsentations historiques possibles duPch originel (Notes on few possible historical representations of originalsin) (Works, Tome X)

The Church required him to give up his lecturing at the Catholic Institute and tocontinue his geological research in China.Teilhard traveled again to China in April 1926. He would remain there more orless twenty years, with many voyages throughout the world. He settled until 1932in Tientsin with Emile Licent then in Beijing. From 1926 to 1935, Teilhard madeve geological research expeditions in China. They enabled him to establish ageneral geological map of China.In 1926 Teilhards superiors in the Jesuit Order forbade him to teach any longer.In 19261927 after a missed campaign in Gansu, he traveled in the Sang-Kan-Hovalley near Kalgan (Zhangjiakou) and made a tour in Eastern Mongolia. He wroteLe Milieu Divin (the divine Medium). Teilhard prepared the rst pages of his mainwork Le Phnomne Humain (The Human Phenomenon). The Holy See refusedthe Imprimatur for Le Milieu Divin in 1927.He joined the ongoing excavations of the Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian as anadvisor in 1926 and continued in the role for the Cenozoic Research Laboratory ofthe Geological Survey of China following its founding in 1928.He resided in Manchuria with Emile Licent, then stayed in Western Shansi(Shanxi) and northern Shensi (Shaanxi) with the Chinese paleontologist C. C.Young and with Davidson Black, Chairman of the Geological Survey of China.After a tour in Manchuria in the area of Great Khingan with Chinese geologists,Teilhard joined the team of American Expedition Center-Asia in the Gobi Desertorganised in June and July, by the American Museum of Natural History with RoyChapman Andrews.Henri Breuil and Teilhard discovered that the Peking Man, the nearest relative of


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Pithecanthropus from Java, was a faber (worker of stones and controller of re).Teilhard wrote L'Esprit de la Terre (the Spirit of the Earth).Teilhard took part as a scientist in the Croisiere Jaune (Yellow Cruise) nanced byAndre Citroen in Central Asia. Northwest of Beijing in Kalgan, he joined theChinese group who joined the second part of the team, the Pamir group, in Aksu.He remained with his colleagues for several months in Urumqi, capital ofSinkiang. The following year the Sino-Japanese War (19371945) began.In 1933, Rome ordered him to give up his post in Paris.Teilhard undertook several explorations in the south of China. He traveled in thevalleys of Yangtze River and Sichuan in 1934, then, the following year, in Kwang-Ifand Guangdong. The relationship with Marcellin Boule was disrupted; themuseum cut its nancing on the grounds that Teilhard worked more for theChinese Geological Service than for the museum.[citation needed]During all these years, Teilhard strongly contributed to the constitution of aninternational network of research in human paleontology related to the wholeEastern and south Eastern zone of the Asian continent. He would be particularlyassociated in this task with two friends, the English/Canadian Davidson Black andthe Scot George B. Barbour. Many times he would visit France or the UnitedStates only to leave these countries to go on further expeditions.World travelsFrom 1927 to 1928 Teilhard stayed in France, based in Paris. He journeyed toLeuven, Belgium, to Cantal, and to Arige, France. Between several articles inreviews, he met new people such as Paul Valry and Bruno de Solages, who wereto help him in issues with the Catholic Church.Answering an invitation from Henry de Monfreid, Teilhard undertook a journey oftwo months in Obock, in Harrar and in Somalia with his colleague Pierre Lamarre,a geologist, before embarking in Djibouti to return to Tianjin. While in China,Teilhard developed a deep and personal friendship with Lucile Swan.[3]From 19301931 Teilhard stayed in France and in the United States. During aconference in Paris, Teilhard stated: "For the observers of the Future, the greatestevent will be the sudden appearance of a collective humane conscience and ahuman work to make."From 19321933 he began to meet people to clarify issues with the Congregationfor the Doctrine of the Faith, regarding Le Milieu divin and L'Esprit de la Terre.He met Helmut de Terra, a German geologist in the International GeologyCongress in Washington, DC.


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Teilhard participated in the 1935 YaleCambridge expedition in northern andcentral India with the geologist Helmut de Terra and Patterson, who veried theirassumptions on Indian Paleolithic civilisations in Kashmir and the Salt RangeValley.He then made a short stay in Java, on the invitation of Professor Ralph vanKoenigswald to the site of Java man. A second cranium, more complete, wasdiscovered. This Dutch paleontologist had found (in 1933) a tooth in a Chineseapothecary shop in 1934 that he believed belonged to a giant tall ape that livedaround half a million years ago.In 1937 Teilhard wrote Le Phnomne spirituel (The Phenomenon of the Spirit) onboard the boat the Empress of Japan, where he met the Raja of Sarawak. The shipconveyed him to the United States. He received the Mendel Medal granted byVillanova University during the Congress of Philadelphia in recognition of hisworks on human paleontology. He made a speech about evolution, origins and thedestiny of Man. The New York Times dated March 19, 1937 presented Teilhard asthe Jesuit who held that man descended from monkeys. Some days later, he wasto be granted the Doctor Honoris Causa distinction from Boston College. Uponarrival in that city, he was told that the award had been cancelled.[citation needed]1939: Rome banned his work Lnergie Humaine.He then stayed in France, where he was immobilized by malaria. During hisreturn voyage to Beijing he wrote L'Energie spirituelle de la Sourance (SpiritualEnergy of Suering) (Complete Works, tome VII).1941: de Chardin submitted to Rome his most important work, Le PhnomneHumain.1947: Rome forbade him to write or teach on philosophical subjects.1948: de Chardin was called to Rome by the Superior General of the Jesuits whohoped to acquire permission from the Holy See for the publication of his mostimportant work Le Phnomne Humain. But the prohibition to publish it issued in1944, was again renewed. Teilhard was also forbidden to take a teaching post inthe College de France.1949: Permission to publish Le Groupe Zoologique was refused.1950: de Chardin was named to the French Academy of Sciences.1955: de Chardin was forbidden by his Superiors to attend the InternationalCongress of Paleontology.1957: The Supreme Authority of the Holy Oce, in a decree dated 15 November1957, forbade the works of de Chardin to be retained in libraries, including those


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of religious institutes. His books were not to be sold in Catholic bookshops andwere not to be translated in other languages.1958: In April of this year, all Jesuit publications in Spain (Razn y Fe, SalTerrae,Estudios de Deusto) etc., carried a notice from the Spanish Provincial ofthe Jesuits, that de Chardins works had been published in Spanish withoutprevious ecclesiastical examination and in deance of the decrees of the HolySee.1962: A decree of the Holy Oce dated 30 June, under the authority of Pope JohnXXIII warned that ... it is obvious that in philosophical and theological matters,the said works (de Chardins) are replete with ambiguities or rather with seriouserrors which oend Catholic doctrine. That is why ... the Rev. Fathers of the HolyOce urge all Ordinaries, Superiors, and Rectors ... to eectively protect,especially the minds of the young, against the dangers of the works of Fr. Teilhardde Chardin and his followers. (AAS, 6 August 1962).1963: The Vicariate of Rome (a diocese ruled in the name of Pope Paul VI by hisCardinal Vicar) in a decree dated 30 September, required that Catholicbooksellers in Rome should withdraw from circulation the works of de Chardin,together with those books which favour his erroneous doctrines. The text of thisdocument was published in daily LAurore of Paris, dated 2 October 1963, and wasreproduced in Nouvelles de Chretiente, 10 October 1963, p. 35.DeathPierre Teilhard de Chardin died in New York City, where he was in residence atthe Jesuit Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, Park Avenue. On 15 March 1955, at thehouse of his diplomat cousin Jean de Lagarde, Teilhard told friends he hoped hewould die on Easter Sunday.[4] In the Easter Sunday evening of 10 April 1955,during an animated discussion at the apartment of Rhoda de Terra, his personalassistant since 1949, the 73-year-old priest suered a heart attack; regainingconsciousness for a moment, he died a few minutes later.[5] He was buried in thecemetery for the New York Province of the Jesuits at the Jesuit novitiate, St.Andrew's-on-the-Hudson in Poughkeepsie, upstate New York.[6]

Controversy with church ocialsIn 1925, Teilhard was ordered by the Jesuit Superior General WlodimirLedchowski to leave his teaching position in France and to sign a statementwithdrawing his controversial statements regarding the doctrine of original sin.Rather than leave the Jesuit order, Teilhard signed the statement and left forChina.This was the rst of a series of condemnations by certain ecclesiastical ocials


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that would continue until after Teilhard's death. The climax of thesecondemnations was a 1962 monitum (reprimand) of the Holy Oce cautioning onTeilhard's works. From the monitum:

"The above-mentioned works abound in such ambiguities and indeedeven serious errors, as to oend Catholic doctrine... For this reason,the most eminent and most revered Fathers of the Holy Oce exhortall Ordinaries as well as the superiors of Religious institutes, rectorsof seminaries and presidents of universities, eectively to protectthe minds, particularly of the youth, against the dangers presentedby the works of Fr. Teilhard de Chardin and of his followers".[7]

However, it is noteworthy that the Holy Oce did not place any of Teilhard'swritings on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (Index of Forbidden Books), whichexisted during Teilhard's lifetime and at the time of the 1962 decree.

Rehabilitation and Incorporation into CatholicTheologyShortly thereafter, prominent clerics began a strong theological defense ofTeilhard's works. Henri de Lubac (later a Cardinal) wrote three comprehensivebooks on the theology of Teilhard de Chardin in the 1960s. While de Lubacmentioned that Teilhard was less than precise in some of his concepts henevertheless armed the orthodoxy of Teilhard de Chardin with a stinging rebuketo Teilhard's critics We need not concern ourselves with a number of detractorsof Teilhard, in whom emotion has blunted intelligence.[8] Later that decade abright young German theologian, Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI)spoke glowingly of Teilhard's Christology in Ratzinger's famous Introduction toChristianity:

It must be regarded as an important service of Teilhard deChardins that he rethought these ideas from the angle of themodern view of the world and, in spite of a not entirelyunobjectionable tendency toward the biological approach,nevertheless on the whole grasped them correctly and in any casemade them accessible once again. Let us listen to his own words:The human monad can only be absolutely itself by ceasing to bealone. In the background is the idea that in the cosmos, alongsidethe two orders or classes of the innitely small and the innitely big,there is a third order, which determines the real drift of evolution,


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namely, the order of the innitely complex. It is the real goal of theascending process of growth or becoming; it reaches a rst peak inthe genesis of living things and then continues to advance to thosehighly complex creations that give the cosmos a new center:Imperceptible and accidental as the position they hold may be inthe history of the heavenly bodies, in the last analysis the planetsare nothing less than the vital points of the universe. It is throughthem that the axis now runs, on them is henceforth concentrated themain eort of an evolution aiming principally at the production oflarge molecules. The examination of the world by the dynamiccriterion of complexity thus signies a complete inversion of values.A reversal of the perspective...This leads to a further passage in Teilhard de Chardin that is worthquoting in order to give at least some indication here, by means of afew fragmentary excerpts, of his general outlook. The UniversalEnergy must be a Thinking Energy if it is not to be less highlyevolved than the ends animated by its action. And consequently ...the attributes of cosmic value with which it is surrounded in ourmodern eyes do not aect in the slightest the necessity obliging usto recognize in it a transcendent form of Personality.[9]

Over the next several decades prominent theologians and Church leaders,including leading Cardinals, Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI all wroteapprovingly of Teilhard's ideas. In 1981, Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, on behalf ofPope John Paul II, wrote on the front page of the Vatican newspaper, l'OsservatoreRomano:

"What our contemporaries will undoubtedly remember, beyond thediculties of conception and deciencies of expression in thisaudacious attempt to reach a synthesis, is the testimomy of thecoherent life of a man possessed by Christ in the depths of his soul.He was concerned with honoring both faith and reason, andanticipated the response to John Paul II's appeal: 'Be not afraid,open, open wide to Christ the doors of the immense domains ofculture, civilization, and progress.[10]

Cardinal Avery Dulles, S.J. said in 2004:


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"In his own poetic style, the French Jesuit Teilhard de Chardin likedto meditate on the Eucharist as the rstfruits of the new creation. Inan essay called The Monstrance he describes how, kneeling inprayer, he had a sensation that the Host was beginning to grow untilat last, through its mysterious expansion, 'the whole world hadbecome incandescent, had itself become like a single giant Host.'Although it would probably be incorrect to imagine that the universewill eventually be transubstantiated, Teilhard correctly identied theconnection between the Eucharist and the nal glorication of thecosmos." [11]

Cardinal Christoph Schnborn wrote in 2007:

"Hardly anyone else has tried to bring together the knowledge ofChrist and the idea of evolution as the scientist (paleontologist) andtheologian Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J., has done. ... Hisfascinating vision ... has represented a great hope, the hope thatfaith in Christ and a scientic approach to the world can be broughttogether. ... These brief references to Teilhard cannot do justice tohis eorts. The fascination which Teilhard de Chardin exercised foran entire generation stemmed from his radical manner of looking atscience and Christian faith together." [12]

Pope Benedict XVI, in his book Spirit of the Liturgy incorporates Teilhard's visionas a touchstone of the Catholic Mass:

And so we can now say that the goal of worship and the goal ofcreation as a whole are one and the samedivinization, a world offreedom and love. But this means that the historical makes itsappearance in the cosmic. The cosmos is not a kind of closedbuilding, a stationary container in which history may by chance takeplace. It is itself movement, from its one beginning to its one end. Ina sense, creation is history. Against the background of the modernevolutionary world view, Teilhard de Chardin depicted the cosmos asa process of ascent, a series of unions. From very simple beginningsthe path leads to ever greater and more complex unities, in whichmultiplicity is not abolished but merged into a growing synthesis,leading to the Noosphere, in which spirit and its understanding


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embrace the whole and are blended into a kind of living organism.Invoking the epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians, Teilhard lookson Christ as the energy that strives toward the Noosphere andnally incorporates everything in its fullness. From here Teilhardwent on to give a new meaning to Christian worship: thetransubstantiated Host is the anticipation of the transformation anddivinization of matter in the christological fullness. In his view, theEucharist provides the movement of the cosmos with its direction; itanticipates its goal and at the same time urges it on. [13]

TeachingsIn his posthumously published book, The Phenomenon of Man, Teilhard writes ofthe unfolding of the material cosmos, from primordial particles to thedevelopment of life, human beings and the noosphere, and nally to his vision ofthe Omega Point in the future, which is "pulling" all creation towards it. He was aleading proponent of orthogenesis, the idea that evolution occurs in a directional,goal driven way, argued in terms that today go under the banner of convergentevolution. Teilhard argued in Darwinian terms with respect to biology, andsupported the synthetic model of evolution, but argued in Lamarckian terms forthe development of culture, primarily through the vehicle of education.[14]Teilhard makes sense of the universe by its evolutionary process. He interpretscomplexity as the axis of evolution of matter into a geosphere, a biosphere, intoconsciousness (in man,) and then to supreme consciousness (the Omega Point.)Teilhard's life work was predicated on the conviction that human spiritualdevelopment is moved by the same universal laws as material development. Hewrote, "...everything is the sum of the past" and "...nothing is comprehensibleexcept through its history. 'Nature' is the equivalent of 'becoming', self-creation:this is the view to which experience irresistibly leads us. ... There is nothing, noteven the human soul, the highest spiritual manifestation we know of, that doesnot come within this universal law."[15] There is no doubt that The Phenomenon ofMan represents Teilhard's attempt at reconciling his religious faith with hisacademic interests as a paleontologist.[16] One particularly poignant observationin Teilhard's book entails the notion that evolution is becoming an increasinglyoptional process.[16] Teilhard points to the societal problems of isolation andmarginalization as huge inhibitors of evolution, especially since evolution requiresa unication of consciousness. He states that "no evolutionary future awaitsanyone except in association with everyone else."[16] Teilhard argued that thehuman condition necessarily leads to the psychic unity of humankind, though hestressed that this unity can only be voluntary; this voluntary psychic unity he


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termed "unanimization." Teilhard also states that "evolution is an ascent towardconsciousness", giving encephalization as an example of early stages, andtherefore, signies a continuous upsurge toward the Omega Point,[16] which forall intents and purposes, is God.

Our century is probably more religious than any other. How could itfail to be, with such problems to be solved? The only trouble is thatit has not yet found a God it can adore.[16]

LegacyPierre Teilhard de Chardin is honored with a feast day on the liturgical calendarof the Episcopal Church (USA) on April 10.[17]

Scientic"Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution" by TheodosiusDobzhansky draws upon Teilhard's insistence that evolutionary theory providesthe core of how man understands his relationship to nature. Key researcherscredit Teilhard for the development of the modern evolutionary synthesis thataccounts for natural selection in the light of Mendelian genetics.[citation needed]George Gaylord Simpson named the most primitive and ancient genus of trueprimate, the Eocene genus Teilhardina.Evolutionary biologist Jeremy Grith described Teilhard as a "visionary"philosopher and a contemporary "truth-sayer" or "prophet".[18]

Arts and CultureTeilhard and his work continue to inuence the arts and culture. Charactersbased on Teilhard appear in several novels, including Jean Telemond in MorrisWest's The Shoes of the Fisherman[19] (mentioned by name and quoted by OskarWerner playing Fr. Telemond in the movie version of the novel) and FatherLankester Merrin in William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist.[20] In Dan Simmons'198997 Hyperion Cantos, Teilhard de Chardin has been canonized a saint in thefar future. His work inspires the anthropologist priest character, Paul Dur. WhenDur becomes Pope, he takes Teilhard I as his regnal name.[21] Teilhard appearsas a minor character in the play Fake by Eric Simonson, staged by Chicago'sSteppenwolf Theatre Company in 2009, involving a ctional solution to theinfamous Piltdown Man hoax.


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References range from occasional quotationsan auto mechanic quotes Teilhardin Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly[22] to serving as the philosophicalunderpinning of the plot, as Teilhard's work does in Julian May's 198794 GalacticMilieu Series.[23] Teilhard also plays a major role in Annie Dillard's 1999 For theTime Being.[24] Teilhard is mentioned by name and the Omega Point brieyexplained in Arthur C. Clarke's and Stephen Baxter's The Light of Other Days.[25]The title of the short-story collection Everything That Rises Must Converge byFlannery O'Connor is a reference to Teilhard's work. The American novelist DonDeLillo's 2010 novel Point Omega borrows its title and some of its ideas fromTeilhard de Chardin. Robert Wright, in his book Nonzero: The Logic of HumanDestiny, compares his own naturalistic thesis that biological and culturalevolution are directional and, possibly, purposeful, with Teilhard's ideas.Teilhard's work also inspired philosophical ruminations by Italian laureatearchitect Paolo Soleri, artworks such as French painter Alfred Manessier'sL'Orande de la terre ou Hommage Teilhard de Chardin[26] and Americansculptor Frederick Hart's acrylic sculpture The Divine Milieu: Homage to Teilhardde Chardin.[27] A sculpture of the Omega Point by Henry Setter, with a quote fromTeilhard de Chardin, can be found at the entrance to the Roesch Library at theUniversity of Dayton.[28] Edmund Rubbra's 1968 Symphony No. 8 is titledHommage Teilhard de Chardin.Bricks and mortarSeveral college campuses honor Teilhard. A building at the University ofManchester is named after him, as are residence dormitories at GonzagaUniversity and Seattle University.

BibliographyThe dates in parentheses are the dates of rst publication in French and English.Most of these works were written years earlier, but Teilhard's ecclesiastical orderforbade him to publish them because of their controversial nature. The essaycollections are organized by subject rather than date, thus each one typicallyspans many years.

Le Phnomne Humain (1955), written 193840, scientic exposition ofTeilhard's theory of evolution

The Phenomenon of Man (1959), Harper Perennial 1976: ISBN0-06-090495-X. Reprint 2008: ISBN 978-0-06-163265-5.The Human Phenomenon (1999), Brighton: Sussex Academic, 2003:ISBN 1-902210-30-1

Letters From a Traveler (1956; English translation 1962), written 192355


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Le Groupe Zoologique Humain (1956), written 1949, more detailedpresentation of Teilhard's theories

Man's Place in Nature (English translation 1966)Le Milieu Divin (1957), spiritual book written 192627, in which the authorseeks to oer a way for everyday life, or the secular, to be divinised.

The Divine Milieu (1960) Harper Perennial 2001: ISBN 0-06-093725-4L'Avenir de l'Homme (1959) essays written 192052, on the evolution ofconsciousness (noosphere)

The Future of Man (1964) Image 2004: ISBN 0-385-51072-1Hymn of the Universe (1961; English translation 1965) Harper and Row:ISBN 0-06-131910-4, mystical/spiritual essays and thoughts written 191655L'Energie Humaine (1962), essays written 193139, on morality and love

Human Energy (1969) Harcort Brace Jovanovich ISBN 0-15-642300-6L'Activation de l'Energie (1963), sequel to Human Energy, essays written193955 but not planned for publication, about the universality andirreversibility of human action

Activation of Energy (1970), Harvest/HBJ 2002: ISBN 0-15-602817-4Je M'Explique (1966) Jean-Pierre Demoulin, editor ISBN 0-685-36593-X, "TheEssential Teilhard" selected passages from his works

Let Me Explain (1970) Harper and Row ISBN 0-06-061800-0,Collins/Fontana 1973: ISBN 0-00-623379-1

Christianity and Evolution, Harvest/HBJ 2002: ISBN 0-15-602818-2The Heart of the Matter, Harvest/HBJ 2002: ISBN 0-15-602758-5Toward the Future, Harvest/HBJ 2002: ISBN 0-15-602819-0The Making of a Mind: Letters from a Soldier-Priest 19141919, Collins(1965), Letters written during wartime.Writings in Time of War, Collins (1968) composed of spiritual essays writtenduring wartime. One of the few books of Teilhard to receive an imprimatur.Vision of the Past, Collins (1966) composed of mostly scientic essayspublished in the French science journal Etudes.The Appearance of Man, Collins (1965) composed of mostly scienticwritings published in the French science journal Etudes.Letters to Two Friends 19261952, Fontana (1968) composed of personalletters on varied subjects including his understanding of death.Letters to Lontine Zanta, Collins (1969)Correspondence / Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Maurice Blondel, Herder andHerder (1967) This correspondence also has both the imprimatur and nihilobstat.de Chardin, P T (1952). "On the zoological position and the evolutionarysignicance of Australopithecines". Transactions of the New York Academy ofSciences (Mar 1952) 14 (5): 20810. PMID 14931535(//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14931535).de Terra, H; de Chardin, PT; Paterson, TT (1936). "Joint geological andprehistoric studies of the Late Cenozoic in India". Science (6 March 1936) 83


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(2149): 233236. doi:10.1126/science.83.2149.233-a (http://dx.doi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.83.2149.233-a). PMID 17809311(//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17809311).

See alsoEdouard Le RoyThomas BerryList of science and religion scholars

List of Jesuit scientistsList of Roman Catholic scientist-clerics

References^ http://ncronline.org/news/pope-cites-teilhardian-vision-cosmos-living-host

1.^ "Teilhard and the Piltdown 'Hoax'"(http://www.clarku.edu/~piltdown/map_prim_suspects/teilhard_de_chardin/Chardin_defend/teilhardandpilthoax(lukas).html)

2.

^ Aczel, Amir (4 November 2008). TheJesuit and the Skull: Teilhard deChardin, Evolution, and the Search forPeking Man. Riverhead Trade. p. 320.ISBN 978-1-594489-56-3.

3.

^ Smulders, Pieter Frans The designof Teilhard de Chardin: an essay intheological reection(http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&num=10&lr=&ft=i&cr=&safe=images&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbo=u&tbs=bks:1&source=og&q=%22Three%20days%20later%2C%20on%20Easter%20Sunday%2C%20he%20was%20quite%20suddenly%22&sa=N&tab=wp&cad=cbv#sclient=psy&hl=en&lr=&tbs=bks%3A1&q=%22On+March+15%2C+1955%2C+he+told+friends+he+hoped+he+would+die+on+Easter+Sunday%2C+the+feast+of+his+own+Messe+sur+le+monde.%22&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&fp=8652cbd0fdc5ba22) 1967

4.

^ Smulders, Pieter Frans The designof Teilhard de Chardin: an essay intheological reection(http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&num=10&lr=&ft=i&cr=&safe=images&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbo=u&tbs=bks:1&source=og&q=%22Three%20days%20later%2C%20on%20Easter%20Sunday%2C%20he%20was%20quite%20suddenly%22&sa=N&tab=wp&cad=cbv#sclient=psy&hl=en&lr=&tbs=bks%3A1&q=%22In+the+afternoon%2C+at+the+house+of+friends%2C+he+was+felled+by+a+heart+seizure%3B+regaining+consciousness+for+a+moment%2C+he+died+a+few+minutes+later%22&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&fp=8652cbd0fdc5ba22) 1967

5.

^ "Pierre Teilhard De Chardin"(http://www.ndagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6725251).Find a Grave. Retrieved October 21,2010.

6.

^ Warning Considering the Writings ofFather Teilhard de Chardin(http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/arch/dechardin.txt), SacredCongregation of the Holy Oce, June30, 1962.

7.


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^ Cardinal Henri Cardinal de Lubac,S.J. The Religion of Teilhard deChardin, Image Books (1968)

8.

^ Ratzinger, Joseph Cardinal; PopeBenedict XVI; Benedict; J. R. Foster;Michael J. Miller (2010-06-04).Introduction To Christianity, 2ndEdition (Kindle Locations 2840-2865).Ignatius Press. Kindle Edition.

9.

^ Cardinal Agostino Casaroli praisesthe work of Fr. Teilhard de Chardin toCardinal Paul Poupard, then Rector ofthe Institut Catholique de Paris L'Osservatore Romano, June 10, 1981@ TraditionInAction.org(http://www.traditioninaction.org/ProgressivistDoc/A_020_CasaroliTeilhard.htm)

10.

^ A Eucharistic Church: The Vision ofJohn Paul II McGinley Lecture,University, November 10, 2004

11.

^ Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn,Creation, Evolution, and a RationalFaith, Ignatian Press (2007)

12.

^ Ratzinger, Joseph Cardinal; PopeBenedict XVI (2009-06-11). The Spiritof the Liturgy (Kindle Locations260270). Ignatius Press. KindleEdition.

13.

^ "Teilhard de Chardin, Orthogenesis,and the Mechanism of EvolutionaryChange" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoI4Bamf-9s) by Thomas FGlick (http://www.thomasfglick.com/).

14.

^ Teilhard de Chardin: "A Note onProgress" (http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=2287&C=2162)

15.

^ a b c d e Pierre Teilhard de Chardin,The Phenomenon of Man (New York:Harper and Row, 1959), 25075.

16.

^ Holy Women, Holy Men (ChurchPublishing Inc, 2010), pp. 320-321.http://books.google.com/books?id=2I6RmJ4JiuAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=holy+women+holy+men&hl=en&ei=agc9TYmRDIP78AbY1KSwCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-preview-link&resnum=1&ved=0CCwQuwUwAA#v=onepage&q=teilhard&f=false

17.

^ Grith, Jeremy (2013). FreedomBook 1(http://www.worldtransformation.com/freedom-book1-we-couldnt-confront-integrative-meaning/). Part 4:4B. WTMPublishing & Communications.ISBN 978-1-74129-011-0. RetrievedMarch 28, 2013.

18.

^ Moss, R.F. (Spring 1978). "Suering,sinful Catholics". The Antioch Review(Antioch Review) 36 (2): 170181.doi:10.2307/4638026 (http://dx.doi.org/10.2307%2F4638026).JSTOR 4638026 (//www.jstor.org/stable/4638026).

19.

^ "Bill Blatty on "The Exorcist" "(http://web.archive.org/web/20020123033633/http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Lot/5160/blatty.html).www.geocities.com, retrieved from theWayback machine. Archived from theoriginal (http://web.archive.org/web/20091027135935/http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Lot/5160/blatty.html) on 2002-01-23.Retrieved 2009-11-13.

20.

^ Simmons, Dan (1 February 1990).The Fall of Hyperion. Doubleday.p. 464. ISBN 978-0-385-26747-2.

21.

^ Dick, Philip K. (1991). A ScannerDarkly. Vintage. p. 127.ISBN 978-0-679-73665-3.

22.


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^ May, Julian (April 11, 1994). Jack theBodiless. Random House ValuePublishing. p. 287.ISBN 978-0-517-11644-9.

23.

^ Dillard, Annie (8 February 2000).For the Time Being. Vintage.ISBN 978-0-375-70347-8.

24.

^ Clarke, Arthur c. (2001). The Lightof Other Days. Tom DohertyAssociates, LLC. p. 331.ISBN 0-812-57640-3.

25.

^ "Liste des uvres de Manessierdans les muses de France Wikipdia" (http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_des_%C5%93uvres_de_Manessier_dans_les_mus%C3%A9es_de_France).fr.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 2009-04-19.

26.

^ "The Divine Milieu by FrederickHart"(http://www.jeanstephengalleries.com/hart-divine.html).www.jeanstephengalleries.com.Retrieved 2009-04-19.

27.

^ "UDQuickly Past Scribblings"(http://campus.udayton.edu/udq/scribblings/0708scribblings.html).campus.udayton.edu. Retrieved2009-04-19.

28.

Further readingAmir Aczel, The Jesuit and the Skull:Teilhard de Chardin, Evolution and theSearch for Peking Man (RiverheadHardcover, 2007)Pope Benedict XVI, The Spirit of theLiturgy (Ignatian Press 2000)Pope Benedict XVI, Introduction toChristianity (Ignatius Press, Revisededition, 2004)John Cowburn, S.J., Pierre Teilhard deChardin, a Selective Summary of HisLife (Mosaic Press 2013)Claude Cuenot, Science and Faith inTeilhard de Chardin (Garstone Press,1967)Andre Dupleix, 15 Days of Prayer withTeilhard de Chardin (New City Press,2008)Robert Faricy, SJ, Teilhard de Chardin'sTheology of Christian in the World(Sheed and Ward 1968)Robert Faricy, SJ, The Spirituality ofTeilhard de Chardin (Collins 1981,Harper & Row 1981)

Robert Faricy, SJ and Lucy RooneySND, Praying with Teilhard deChardin(Queenship 1996)David Grumett, Teilhard de Chardin:Theology, Humanity and Cosmos(Peeters 2005)Dietrich von Hildebrand, Teilhard deChardin: A False Prophet (FranciscanHerald Press 1970)Dietrich von Hildebrand, Trojan Horsein the City of GodDietrich von Hildebrand, DevastatedVineyardThomas M. King, SJ, Teilhard's Mass;Approaches to "The Mass on theWorld" (Paulist Press, 2005)Ursula King, Spirit of Fire: The Lifeand Vision of Teilhard de Chardin [1](http://www.maryknollsocietymall.org/description.cfm?ISBN=978-1-57075-177-6)(Orbis Books, 1996)


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Richard W. Kropf, Teilhard, Scriptureand Revelation: A Study of Teilhard deChardin's Reinterpretation of PaulineThemes (Associated University Press,1980)David H. Lane, The Phenomenon ofTeilhard: Prophet for a New Age(Mercer University Press)Lubac, Henri de, SJ, The Religion ofTeilhard de Chardin (Image Books,1968)Lubac, Henri de, SJ, The Faith ofTeilhard de Chardin (Burnes andOates, 1965)Lubac, Henri de, SJ, The EternalFeminine: A Study of the Text ofTeilhard de Chardin (Collins, 1971)Lubac, Henri de, SJ, Teilhard Explained(Paulist Press, 1968)Mary and Ellen Lukas, Teilhard(Doubleday, 1977)Jean Maalouf Teilhard de Chardin,Reconciliation in Christ (New CityPress, 2002)George A. Maloney, SJ, The CosmicChrist: From Paul to Teilhard (Sheedand Ward, 1968)

Mooney, Christopher, SJ, Teilhard deChardin and the Mystery of Christ(Image Books, 1968)Murray, Michael H. The Thought ofTeilhard de Chardin (Seabury Press,N.Y., 1966)Robert J. O'Connell, SJ, Teilhard'sVision of the Past: The Making of aMethod, (Fordham University Press,1982)Noel Keith Roberts, From PiltdownMan to Point Omega: the evolutionarytheory of Teilhard de Chardin (NewYork, Peter Lang, 2000)James F. Salmon, S.J., 'Pierre Teilhardde Chardin' in The BlackwellCompanion to Science and Christianity(Wiley-Blackwell, 2012)Louis M. Savory, Teilhard de Chardin The Divine Milieu Explained: ASpirituality for the 21st Century(Paulist Press, 2007)Robert Speaight, The Life of Teilhardde Chardin (Harper and Row, 1967)Helmut de Terra, Memories of Teilhardde Chardin, (Harper and Row and WmCollins Sons & Co., 1964)

External linksPro

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's books in the Internet Archive(http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Pierre%20Teilhard%20de%20Chardin%22)Chardin, Pierre Teilhard de The Phenomenon of Man(http://www.archive.org/details/phenomenon-of-man-pierre-teilhard-de-chardin.pdf) Scanned book in the Internet ArchiveChardin, Pierre Teilhard de The Phenomenon of Man in ePub(http://arthursbookshelf.com/Other-stu/Fenelon/The%20Phenomenon%20Of%20Man%20-%20Pierre%20Teilhard%20de%20Chardin.epub), MOBI (http://arthursbookshelf.com/Other-stu/Fenelon/The%20Phenomenon%20Of%20Man%20-%20mobi.zip) and PDF(http://arthursbookshelf.com/Other-stu/Fenelon


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/The%20Phenomenon%20Of%20Man%20-%20Pierre%20Teilhard%20de%20Chardin.pdf) formats (without illustrations)Teilhard de Chardin (http://teilhard.com/) (A site devoted to the ideas ofTeilhard de Chardin)The Teilhard de Chardin Foundation (http://www.mnhn.fr/teilhard/indexE.html)The American Teilhard Association (http://www.teilharddechardin.org/)Teilhard de Chardin (http://tcreek1.jimdo.com) A personal website

ContraWarning Regarding the Writings of Father Teilhard de Chardin(http://www.catholicculture.org/library/view.cfm?recnum=3160) The SacredCongregation of the Holy Oce, 1962Medawar, Peter A review of The Phenomenon of Man(http://www.cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/Medawar/phenomenon-of-man.html)Mind, N.S., 70 (1961) pp. 99106McCarthy, John F. A review of Teilhardism and the New Religion byWolfgang Smith (http://www.rtforum.org/lt/lt25.html#II) 1989

OtherWorks by or about Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n79-32934) in libraries (WorldCat catalog)Web pages and timeline about the Piltdown forgery hosted by the BritishGeological Survey (http://www.bgs.ac.uk/discoveringGeology/geologyOfBritain/archives/piltdownMan/home.html)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pierre_Teilhard_de_Chardin&oldid=603596649"Categories: 1881 births 1955 deaths 20th-century French philosophers20th-century Roman Catholic priests Christian mysticsFrench Christian theologians French Jesuits French paleontologistsFrench religious writers Members of the French Academy of SciencesOciers of the Lgion d'honneur People from Puy-de-DmeRoman Catholic clericscientists Roman Catholic theologiansUniversity of Paris alumni Villanova University alumni CosmologistsTheistic evolutionists

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