Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T13:40:23.889Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Teilhard's Vision and the Environment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2014

Brennan R. Hill
Affiliation:
Xavier University

Abstract

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a pioneer in integrating modern science and Christian theology. He was also a mystic who throughout his life and writings attempted to share the ways in which the divine was the source, power and goal of all creation and to point out how spirit glowed within all of matter. Teilhard's vision of the earth can be most helpful today as we attempt to restore and sustain our environment. In this article I will explore Teilhard's deep reverence for the cosmos and humanity, as well as his views on how God's power works through Christ and the church. Along the way I will suggest how this vision might be linked to our contemporary concerns for our environment. I will close with some recommendations for updating Teilhard's vision so that it might better serve our present day needs.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The College Theology Society 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Chardin, Pierre Teilhard de, The Heart of Matter (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1976), 199ff.Google Scholar

4 Chardin, Pierre Teilhard de, Christianity and Evolution (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1971), 124.Google Scholar

5 Chardin, Pierre Teilhard de, Hymn of the Universe (New York: Harper & Row, 1965), 63.Google Scholar

6 Chardin, Teilhard de, Christianity and Evolution, 78.Google Scholar

7 Ibid, 108.

8 Ibid, 123.

9 Ibid, 117.

10 Ibid, 100.

11 Chardin, Pierre Teilhard de, Human Energy (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1971), 95.Google Scholar

12 Chardin, Teilhard de, Hymn of the Universe, 62.Google Scholar

13 Chardin, Pierre Teilhard de, Let Me Explain (New York: Harper & Row, 1970), 130.Google Scholar

14 Chardin, Pierre Teilhard de, The Future of Man (New York: Harper & Row, 1964), 20.Google Scholar

15 Chardin, Pierre Teilhard de, Science and Christ (New York: Harper & Row, 1968), 34.Google Scholar

16 Chardin, Teilhard de, The Future of Man, 18.Google Scholar

17 Chardin, Pierre Teilhard de, The Phenomenon of Man (New York: Harper & Row, 1965), 180.Google Scholar See also Christianity and Evolution, 136.

18 Chardin, Teilhard de, The Phenomenon of Man, 180.Google Scholar

19 Ibid, 182ff.

20 Chardin, Pierre Teilhard de, Vision of the Past (New York: Harper & Row, 1966), 164ff.Google Scholar

21 Chardin, Teilhard de, Human Energy, 38.Google Scholar

22 Chardin, Pierre Teilhard de, The Divine Milieu (New York: Harper & Row, 1968), 29.Google Scholar

23 Christianity and Evolution, 110–11.

24 Chardin, Teilhard de, Vision of the Past, 173.Google Scholar

25 Chardin, Teilhard de, Let Me Explain, 23.Google Scholar

26 Chardin, Teilhard de, Science and Christ, 135.Google Scholar

27 The Future of Man, 15ff.

28 Science and Christ, 144.

29 Ibid, 145.

30 Chardin, Teilhard de, Hymn of the Universe, 65.Google Scholar See also Christianity and Evolution, 102.

31 The Future of Man, 17.

32 Chardin, Teilhard de, The Heart of Matter, 198.Google Scholar

33 The Phenomenon of Man, 215.

34 Chardin, Pierre Teilhard de, Toward the Future (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1975), 25.Google Scholar

35 Chardin, Pierre Teilhard de, Activation of Energy (New York: Harper & Row, 1971), 234.Google Scholar See also Vision of the Past, 161.

36 The Phenomenon of Man, 230.

37 Teilhard's anthropocentric view is problematic today, since many environmentalists advocate a more earth-centered perspective and place more emphasis on the inter-connectedness of all things.

38 Christianity and Evolution, 123.

39 Ibid, 123.

40 Let Me Explain, 120.

41 Chardin, Teilhard de, The Divine Milieu, 33.Google Scholar

42 Christianity and Evolution, 132.

43 Ibid, 132.

44 The Heart of Matter, 200.

45 Chardin, Teilhard de, Activation of Energy, 242.Google Scholar

46 Chardin, Teilhard de, Toward the Future, 188.Google Scholar

47 Ibid, 188ff.

48 Human Energy, 44.

49 Ibid, 47.

50 Rideau, Emile, The Thought of Teilhard de Chardin (New York: Harper & Row, 1967), 60.Google Scholar

51 Ibid, 62.

52 Let Me Explain, 120.

53 Christianity and Evolution, 80.

54 Ibid, 88ff.

55 Ibid, 87.

56 Science and Christ, 77.

57 The Divine Milieu, 30.

58 Christianity and Evolution, 132.

59 Science and Christ, 80.

60 Toward the Future, 37.

61 The Heart of Matter, 206.

62 Science and Christ, 57.

63 Ibid, 63.

64 Ibid, 63–64.

66 Ibid, 70. See also The Heart of Matter, 99.

67 The Future of Man, 23.

68 Christianity and Evolution, 96.

69 Toward the Future, 191.

70 See Tucker, Mary Evelyn, The Ecological Spirituality of Teilhard, Teilhard Studies, 13 (Chambersburg, PA: Anima Books, 1985), 115.Google Scholar

71 Science and Christ, 98ff.

72 Christianity and Evolution, 119.

73 Ibid, 126.

74 Activation of Energy, 240.

75 Toward the Future, 30–38.

76 The Future of Man, 23.

77 Activation of Energy, 240. See also Toward the Future, 38, 26.

78 Toward the Future, 33.

79 Ibid, 38–39. See Trennert-Helwig, Mathias, “The Church as the Axis of Convergence in Teilhard's Theology and Life,” Zygon 30 (March 1995): 7391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

80 Mich confirms this in the final chapter of his book: see Mich, Marvin L., Catholic Social Teaching and Movements (Mystic, CT: Twenty-Third Publications, 1998).Google Scholar

81 See Christiansen, Drew and Glazer, Walter, eds., “And God Saw That It Was Good”: Catholic Theology and the Environment (Washington, DC: USCC, 1996)Google Scholar and Hill, Brennan R., Christian Faith and the Environment (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1998), 155–87.Google Scholar

82 The Phenomenon of Man, 39.

83 Heller, Michael, “Teilhard's Vision of the World and Modern Cosmology, Zygon 30 (March 1995): 12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

84 Ibid, 16. See Hawking, Stephen, A Brief History of the Time. (New York: Bantam, 1988).Google Scholar

85 Heller, “Teilhard's Vision of the World and Modern Cosmology,” 20.

86 Galleni, Lodovico, “How Does the Teilhardian Vision of Evolution Compare with Contemporary Theories,” Zygon 30 (March 1995): 3138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

87 King, Thomas S.J., Teilhard, Evil and Providence, Teilhard Studies, 21. (Chambersburg, PA: Anima Books, 1989), 115.Google Scholar See also O'Brien, James, “Teilhard's View of Nature and Some Implications for Environmental Ethics,” Environmental Ethics 10/4 (1988): 329–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

88 See King, Ursula, “Teilhard's Reflections on Eastern Religions Revisited,” Zygon 30 (March 1995): 4773.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Many see Thomas Berry as a legitimate successor of Teilhard. Berry is a disciple of Teilhard, but is contemporary in his scientific views, focuses on the evils of environmental destruction, is earth-centered, and has a deep respect for Eastern religions. See Berry, Thomas, The Dream of the Earth (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1988)Google Scholar and—Swimme, Brian, The Universe Story: From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Age—A Celebration of the Unfolding of the Cosmos (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1992).Google Scholar

89 Hymn of the Universe, 30.