This is one of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors. Teilhard de Chardin was a controversial priest, geologist, and paleontologist in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many of his works were only published posthumously because they were censored by the Catholic Church during his lifetime.
What was his revolutionary idea? For millennia, western civilization considered the essence of reality to be static, and God — being absolutely perfect — would also be absolutely changeless. That’s a vital concept for Greek philosophy. However, believe it or not, that’s an overlay to much of biblical interpretation. The Bible never says that God is changeless — it says that he is consistent. With our nice little Greek-inspired minds, we say, “Well, that’s the same thing, right?” Not necessarily. Okay, so let’s dial things forward from biblical times a bit. Let’s say — just for kicks — that you were a scientist in the late 19th and early 20th century. Biology shows that the essence of life is change (i.e., evolution). Physics shows that even space and time are not constants (that Einstein guy was talking about that). Now, what if you’re a young scientist and priest who starts actually to put together a theology based on change rather than stagnation…
That’s the background to the book (as well as his larger work The Phenomenon of Man) Now, I should mention that it wasn’t his idea alone. The philosophy behind these ideas was developed by Henri Bergson and, later, by Alfred North Whitehead. Teilhard de Chardin provided a complex process theology rather than the paler version of the philosophers. It’s a short book, but it is also remarkably prescient…and Christ is the key. The key to our evolution as a species and the point of history. One of the most compelling points that de Chardin makes is that evolution has a point. The universe was meant to evolve our galaxy. Our galaxy was meant to evolve our solar system and planet. Our planet was meant to evolve us…and what will we become? De Chardin has some compelling ideas there too.
Even if you don’t agree with de Chardin on all points, this book is a beautiful exercise in what could be. Just imagine…