Christianity and Evolution: Reflections on Science and Religion

Front Cover
HMH, Nov 18, 2002 - Religion - 264 pages
The author of The Phenomenon of Man reconciles passionate faith with the rigor of scientific thinking.

With his unique background as a geologist, paleontologist, and Jesuit priest, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a powerful exponent of the view that scientific theories could comfortably coexist with religious faith. To this day, his ideas provoke passionate debates in communities that view science and faith as necessarily separate ideologies.
 
In this collection of nineteen essays, Teilhard seeks to illuminate a middle ground between science and religion that he felt both disciplines could accept. He explores the Fall and original sin, the possibility of life on other planets, and the role that God may have played in the process of human evolution, successfully challenging contemporary theologians to rethink their views of the universe and its creation.
 
“Like other great visionary poets—Blake, Hopkins, Yeats—Teilhard engages the reader both intellectually and sensually.” —The Washington Post Book World
 
“An excellent blend of theological speculation with practical or ascetical application.” —Catholic Telegraph
 

Contents

Note on the Physical Union Between the Humanity of Christ and the Faithful in the Course of Their Sanctification
15
On the Notion of Creative Transformation
21
Note on the Modes of Divine Action in the Universe
25
Fall Redemption and Geocentrism
36
Note on Some Possible Historical Representations of Original Sin
45
Pantheism and Christianity
56
Christology and Evolution
76
How I Believe
96
Reflections on Original Sin
187
The Christian Phenomenon
199
An Essential Distinction
209
What the World is Looking for from the Church of God at this Moment
212
The Contingence of the Universe and Mans Zest for Survival
221
The Plurality of Inhabited Worlds
229
The God of Evolution
237
My Litany
244

Some General Views on the Essence of Christianity
133
Christ the Evolver
138
Introduction to the Christian Life
151
Suggestions for a New Theology
173
Back Matter
247
Back Cover
259
Spine
260
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About the author (2002)

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955) was a Jesuit priest and paleontologist who studied chemistry, physics, botany, and zoology, and received his doctorate in geology. The author of several works of philosophy and religion, including Toward the Future (1973), he is considered by many to be among the foremost thinkers of our time.

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