SEARCH Journal

Science, faith and eschatology in Teilhard de Chardin

AS CATHOLICISM and the sciences inhabited the twentieth century together, a literalistic reading of the Bible became increasingly inadequate to explain our origins or, importantly, our ultimate destiny.

AS CATHOLICISM and the sciences inhabited the twentieth century together, a literalistic reading of the Bible became increasingly inadequate to explain our origins or, importantly, our ultimate destiny. The defeat of Neo-Scholasticism by la nouvelle theologie and the ressourcement movement led to a revolution in Roman Catholic theological anthropology. There was a vacuum in our understanding of who we were and where we were going. A vacuum into which stepped many thinkers, few as influential as Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881- 1955) a palaeontologist and Jesuit priest.

The current apocalyptic discourse and war footing of the major powers means that the early twenty-first century mirrors, unfortunately, the early twentieth-century. The existential crisis in the heart of young people also mirrors the existential crisis of the early twentieth, but, as I will show, it is an existential crisis that Teilhard still has a lot to contribute to. To achieve this, what follows will focus on Teilhard’s contribution of a new mode of language, with particular emphasis on his use of a convergent science and faith language, and its relevance to modern discourse.

* Full article available in printed copies.

Paudie Holly

is completing his doctorate on Henri de Lubac, the chief interpreter of Teilhard de Chardin, in the TCD School of Religion, Theology and Peace Studies.