Christianity and Evolution

Having read most of the works of Teilhard de Chardin, I found Christianity and Evolution to be a rare clarification of what has been written before. Because most of the essays in this book are unpublished, found after Teilhard's death, he seems more free to say what he truly believes without having the Church looking over his shoulder. In these essays Teilhard posits that creation as evolution makes sense in explaining the problem of evil, the profound love of God for man, the illogic of a literal interpretation of the Adam and Eve story, original sin and other myths. A must read for anyone interested in the thinking of Teilhard de Chardin.

"The fact that we now see the universe not as a cosmos but henceforth as a cosmogenesis in no way affects the idea we used to be able to form of the Author of all things. 'As though it made any difference to God'!" P. Teilhard De Chardin, The God of Evolution Evolution Vs Intelligent Design: Panel discussion on Evolution and the scientific method highlighted "Darwin Day" program at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, last March 4th. Sponsored by the Center for Inquiry Community of Indiana, a group that includes atheists, agnostics, humanists, and others skeptical of a divine role in natural processes, followed by a two-hour debate on the subject between a Wyoming paleontologist who supports evolution and a representative of an Ohio organization that supports intelligent design. It could have been more enjoyable albeit inconclusive, if the participants were provided earlier with a copy of this book. De Chardin Essays: Reading Fr. de Chardin enlarges the religious vision of the faithful who search the scriptures (Jn 5:39), and offers scientists an authentic new approach to some problematic theological concepts. These nineteen previously unpublished essays represent his toil to fill the gap with some of his genuine thought in this critical and controversial area. Some of his essays will echo orthodox thought of the eastern Church fathers (Original Sin, Fall & Redemption, Monogenism and Monophysitism), and in others he tries to investigate postmodern issues (Christology & Evolution, Creative Transformation, Universe's Contingence, Plurality, Secularism & Pantheism) Wildiers claims that the problem of secularity in the essays is central to Teilhard's thought. Yet, what fascinated me was linking 'a world in evolution' with an anthropology that exalts the dignity of Man's work, 'a holy love of earth' More interesting to me, an Oriental Orthodox, was his papers on Original Sin and the Fall. He excludes the School of Alexandria, from the rest of the Church as to the derivation of those concepts interpreting Genesis. His twofold difficult way out of the Fall dogma, revisited later when Fr. Matthew Fox contrasted it with his proposed Creation Spirituality, is to "bring the past to life again by means of science, the less we can accomodate either Adam or the earthly paradise." Provocative Author: Pere Teilhard, an eminent paleontologist himself, was a believing scientist who kept asking theologians questions that provoked earnest study and passionate debate, de Chardin's asked questions they had never dared to tackle before! The genius mystic who championed an attempt of a new miticulous presentation to help Christian believers understand his view of scientific reality, captured the attention and stimulated theologian's thought. His theological speculations, like Master Origen, got him into trouble and was under suspicion by the Roman Curia, for the rest of his life. A Theological Advice: Dr. Wildiers advice to lay theologian

Definitely not new-age drivel. I found the essays authoratative, imaginative, and beautifully written. However this book was of limited usefulness for me and ( for different reasons )it may likewise fail to engage those who are not familiar with certain dogmas and apologetic arguments. Teilhard de Chardin wrote most of this in the 1920s before the second Vatican council accepted evolutionary theory. Since then, his enemy has changed from modernism to post-modernism. His essays will seem unnecessarily radical, mystical and, frankly, too preoccupied with Catholicism for skeptics and evangelicals who may be drawn to the book looking for perspectives on the current evolution/creation crisis.Students of the history of religious thought may give this book a higher rating than mine, and justifiably so. I blush to admit that I don't know the significance of the author in that history.

Teilhard de Chardin probably has done more to make Christianity,and God in general, believable to the modern person than perhaps anyone else. His most endearing quality is his ability to, and this is a necessity if believe in a personal God is to survive in light of the modern world, combine science and God in a unified metaphysical system. No longer are religion and science two mutually exclusive realms of truth: for the theist to have a coherent system, he MUST seek a unity of the two spheres. This, though, involves risks. It involves facing up to conflicts between the two and compels an honest seeker of the truth to entertain abandoning his previously beliefs. For such a person (and I consider myself to be one), Teilhard de Chardin's ideas are invaluable. I actually had a crisis of faith while reading "Christianity and Evolution." The cause of this unsettling event is not a demonic, evil, blasphemous spirit contained in Teilhard's exhortations but rather the fact that he is quite honest and unforgiving about the serious difficulties raised by traditinal theism. In a way, he is me what Hume was to Immanuel Kant being that he "awoke me from my dogmatic slumbers." The content of "Christianity and Evolution" is too vast to cover in a review, so instead I will highlight 2 of the more radical or interesting ideas that proceed from it. The Universal Christ- Christ can only truly be Christ if he redeems all of existence. If he only came to save a particular species of animals on a planet orbiting a normal star, in the outskirts of a normal galaxy, in an insignificant cluster of galaxies, in one of the countless superclusters of galaxies then "he is abjectly extinguished, eclipsed by the size of the universe." Traditional Christian theology states that the reason why Christ redeems the world is that it suffers from sin, Original Sin being foremost (see St. Paul's argument about the Two Adams). However, a literal Fall makes absolutely no sense in light of modern science (specifically the evolutionary history of the earth). But regardless of the nature of the Fall, the spirit of the Bible is clear: all of the universe has been corrupted and the whole of existence must be redeemed. From this follows the demand that Original Sin be universalized: not as a transgression made by a man in a garden in the Persian Gulf region 6000 years ago, but as part of the intrinsic structure of the universe.The Problem of Evil- Critics of Teilhard, for example Jurgen Moltmann, argue that Teilhard ignores the "losers of evolution," an accusation that amounts to charging Teilhard with neglecting the problem of evil. However, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, from Teilhardian metaphysics the solution to the problem of evil, the only solution I have ever encountered, surfaces. Classical theism is absolutely destroyed when faced with the problem of evil (see William Rowe's argument for atheism). Teilhard provides a solution, though. It would

After spending a year studying this book, I have concluded that Teilhard could be right on. In the least he offers a delightful synthesis of turn-of-the-century anthropology/science and his religious tradtion. So although I get called a heretic in class, I'd suggest this book to folks who want are frustrated with the lack of scientific reflection in theology.