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Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
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==Teachings== {{Transhumanism|People}} Teilhard de Chardin wrote two comprehensive works, ''[[The Phenomenon of Man]]'' and ''The Divine Milieu''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Divine Milieu: Work by Teilhard de Chardin |url=http://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Divine-Milieu |access-date=28 October 2015 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica }}</ref> His posthumously published book, ''The Phenomenon of Man'', set forth a sweeping account of the unfolding of the [[cosmos]] and the evolution of matter to humanity, to ultimately a reunion with Christ. In the book, Teilhard abandoned literal interpretations of creation in the [[Book of Genesis]] in favor of [[Allegorical interpretations of Genesis|allegorical and theological interpretations]]. The unfolding of the material [[cosmos]] is described from [[primordial nuclide|primordial]] particles to the development of life, human beings and the [[noosphere]], and finally to his vision of the [[Omega Point]] in the future, which is "pulling" all creation towards it. He was a leading proponent of [[orthogenesis]], the idea that [[evolution]] occurs in a directional, goal-driven way. Teilhard argued in [[Charles Darwin|Darwin]]ian terms with respect to biology, and supported the [[Modern synthesis (20th century)|synthetic model of evolution]], but argued in [[Lamarckism|Lamarckian terms]] for the development of culture, primarily through the vehicle of education.<ref>{{YouTube|OoI4Bamf-9s|"Teilhard de Chardin, Orthogenesis, and the Mechanism of Evolutionary Change"}} by [http://www.thomasfglick.com/ Thomas F Glick].</ref> Teilhard made a total commitment to the evolutionary process in the 1920s as the core of his spirituality, at a time when other religious thinkers felt evolutionary thinking challenged the structure of conventional Christian faith. He committed himself to what he thought the evidence showed.<ref>Berry, Thomas (1982) "Teilhard de Chardin in the Age of Ecology" (Studies of Teilhard de Chardin)</ref> Teilhard made sense of the [[universe]] by assuming it had a [[vitalism|vitalist]] evolutionary process.<ref name="NormandinWolfe2013">{{Cite book |last1=Normandin |first1=Sebastian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EQVAAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA10 |title=Vitalism and the Scientific Image in Post-Enlightenment Life Science, 1800-2010 |last2=Charles T. Wolfe |date=15 June 2013 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-94-007-2445-7 |pages=10 |quote=vitalism finds occasional expression in the neo-Thomist philosophies associated with Catholicism. Indeed, Catholic philosophy was heavily influenced by bergson in the early twentieth century, and there is a direct link between Bergson's neo-vitalism and the nascent neo-Thomism of thinkers like Jacques Maritain, which led to various idealist interpretations of biology which labeled themselves 'vitalistic', such as those of Edouard Le Roy (influenced by Teilhard de Chardin).}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |title=(Review of) Howard, Damian.Being Human in Islam: The Impact of the Evolutionary Worldview |url=http://teilharddechardin.org/mm_uploads/Fall2011.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Teilhard Perspective |volume=44 |issue=2 |page=12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180304184057/http://teilharddechardin.org/mm_uploads/Fall2011.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2018 |access-date=24 January 2017 |quote=the strong influence of Henri Bergson, via the writings of Muhammed Iqbal, who is seen to represent a Romantic, Naturphilosophie school of "vitalist cosmic progressivism," in contrast to Western mechanical materialism. And Teilhard, much akin to the French Bergson, along with Karl Rahner, are rightly noted as latter exemplars of this life-affirmative option.}}</ref> He interpreted complexity as the axis of evolution of matter into a geosphere, a biosphere, into consciousness (in man), and then to supreme consciousness (the Omega Point). Jean Houston's story of meeting Teilhard illustrates this point.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Facebook |url=https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10222875425787589 |access-date=2021-05-09 |website=www.facebook.com}}</ref> Teilhard's unique relationship to both [[paleontology]] and [[Catholicism]] allowed him to develop a highly progressive, [[cosmic Christ|cosmic theology]] which took into account his evolutionary studies. Teilhard recognized the importance of bringing the Church into the modern world, and approached [[evolution]] as a way of providing ontological meaning for Christianity, particularly creation theology. For Teilhard, evolution was "the natural landscape where the history of salvation is situated."<ref name="Galleni">{{Cite journal |last1=Galleni |first1=Ludovico |last2=Scalfari |first2=Francesco |date=2005 |title=Teilhard de Chardin's Engagement with the Relationship between Science and Theology in Light of Discussions about Environmental Ethics |journal=Ecotheology |volume=10 |issue=2 |page=197 |doi=10.1558/ecot.2005.10.2.196}}</ref> Teilhard's cosmic theology is largely predicated on his interpretation of [[Paul the Apostle|Pauline scripture]], particularly Colossians 1:15-17 (especially verse 1:17b) and 1 Corinthians 15:28. He drew on the Christocentrism of these two Pauline passages to construct a cosmic theology which recognizes the absolute primacy of Christ. He understood creation to be "a [[teleology|teleological]] process towards union with the Godhead, effected through the incarnation and redemption of Christ, 'in whom all things hold together' (Colossians 1:17)."<ref name="Oxford University Press">{{Cite book |last=Lyons |first=J. A. |title=The Cosmic Christ in Origen and Teilhard de Chardin: A Comparative Study |date=1982 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |page=39}}</ref> He further posited that creation would not be complete until each "participated being is totally united with God through Christ in the [[Pleroma]], when God will be 'all in all' (1 Corinthians 15:28)."<ref name="Oxford University Press" /> Teilhard's life work was predicated on his conviction that human spiritual development is moved by the same universal laws as material development. He wrote, "...everything is the sum of the past" and "...nothing is comprehensible except through its history. 'Nature' is the equivalent of 'becoming', self-creation: this is the view to which experience irresistibly leads us. ... There is nothing, not even the human soul, the highest spiritual manifestation we know of, that does not come within this universal law."<ref>Teilhard de Chardin: [https://web.archive.org/web/20050120154909/http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=2287&C=2162 "A Note on Progress"]</ref> ''The Phenomenon of Man'' represents Teilhard's attempt at reconciling his religious [[Catholicism|faith]] with his academic interests as a [[paleontologist]].<ref name="phenomenon1">Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, ''The Phenomenon of Man'' (New York: Harper and Row, 1959), 250–75.</ref> One particularly poignant observation in Teilhard's book entails the notion that [[evolution]] is becoming an increasingly optional [[Process (science)|process]].<ref name="phenomenon1" /> Teilhard points to the societal problems of [[Solitude|isolation]] and [[marginalization]] as huge [[:wikt:inhibit|inhibitor]]s of evolution, especially since evolution requires a unification of [[higher consciousness|consciousness]]. He states that "no evolutionary future awaits anyone except in association with everyone else."<ref name="phenomenon1" /> Teilhard argued that the human condition necessarily leads to the psychic unity of humankind, though he stressed that this unity can only be voluntary; this voluntary psychic unity he termed "unanimization". Teilhard also states that "evolution is an ascent toward consciousness", giving [[encephalization]] as an example of early stages, and therefore, signifies a continuous upsurge toward the [[Omega Point]]<ref name="phenomenon1" /> which, for all intents and purposes, is [[God]]. Teilhard also used his perceived correlation between spiritual and material to describe Christ, arguing that Christ not only has a [[mystical]] dimension but also takes on a physical dimension as he becomes the organizing principle of the universe—that is, the one who "holds together" the universe. For Teilhard, Christ formed not only the [[eschatological]] end toward which his mystical/ecclesial body is oriented, but he also "operates physically in order to regulate all things"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lyons |title=The Cosmic Christ in Origen and Teilhard de Chardin |date=1982 |page=154}}</ref> becoming "the one from whom all creation receives its stability."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lyons |title=The Cosmic Christ in Origen and Teilhard de Chardin: A Comparative Study |date=1982 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |page=152}}</ref> In other words, as the one who holds all things together, "Christ exercises a supremacy over the universe which is physical, not simply juridical. He is the unifying center of the universe and its goal. The function of holding all things together indicates that Christ is not only man and God; he also possesses a third aspect—indeed, a third nature—which is cosmic."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lyons |title=The Cosmic Christ in Origen and Teilhard de Chardin |date=1982 |page=153}}</ref> In this way, the Pauline description of the [[Body of Christ]] was not simply a mystical or [[ecclesial]] concept for Teilhard; it is [[cosmic Christ|cosmic]]. This cosmic Body of Christ "extend[s] throughout the universe and compris[es] all things that attain their fulfillment in Christ [so that] ... the Body of Christ is the one single thing that is being made in creation."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lyons |title=The Cosmic Christ in Origen and Teilhard de Chardin |date=1982 |pages=154–155}}</ref> Teilhard describes this cosmic amassing of Christ as "Christogenesis". According to Teilhard, the universe is engaged in Christogenesis as it evolves toward its full realization at [[Omega Point|Omega]], a point which coincides with the fully realized Christ.<ref name="Oxford University Press" /> It is at this point that God will be "all in all" (1 Corinthians 15:28c). {{quotation|Our century is probably more religious than any other. How could it fail to be, with such problems to be solved? The only trouble is that it has not yet found a God it can adore.<ref name="phenomenon1" />}} ===Eugenics and racism=== Teilhard has been criticized for incorporating elements of [[scientific racism]], [[social Darwinism]], and [[eugenics]] into his optimistic thinking about unlimited human progress.<ref name=JPS>{{Citation |last=Slattery |first=John P. |author-link=John P. Slattery (theologian) |date=21 May 2018 |title=Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's Legacy of Eugenics and Racism Can't Be Ignored |publisher=[[Religion Dispatches]] |url=https://religiondispatches.org/pierre-teilhard-de-chardins-legacy-of-eugenics-and-racism-cant-be-ignored}}</ref> He argued in 1929 that [[Race (human categorization)|racial]] [[Social inequality|inequality]] was rooted in biological difference: "Do the yellows—[the Chinese]—have the same human value as the whites? [Fr.] Licent and many missionaries say that their present inferiority is due to their long history of Paganism. I'm afraid that this is only a 'declaration of pastors.' Instead, the cause seems to be the natural racial foundation…"<ref name=JPS/> In a letter from 1936 explaining his Omega Point conception, he rejected both the [[Fascism|Fascist]] quest for [[Political particularism|particularistic]] hegemony and the Christian/[[Communism|Communist]] insistence on [[egalitarianism]]: "As not all ethnic groups have the same value, they must be dominated, which does not mean they must be despised—quite the reverse … In other words, ''at one and the same time'' there should be official recognition of: (1) the primacy/priority of the earth over nations; (2) the inequality of peoples and races. Now the ''second'' point is currently reviled by Communism … and the Church, and the ''first'' point is similarly reviled by the Fascist systems (and, of course, by less gifted peoples!)".<ref name=JPS/> In the essay 'Human Energy' (1937), he asked, "What fundamental attitude … should the advancing wing of humanity take to fixed or definitely unprogressive ethnical groups? The earth is a closed and limited surface. To what extent should it tolerate, racially or nationally, areas of lesser activity? More generally still, how should we judge the efforts we lavish in all kinds of hospitals on saving what is so often no more than one of life's rejects? … To what extent should not the development of the strong … take precedence over the preservation of the weak?"<ref name=JPS/> The theologian John P. Slattery interprets this last remark to suggest "[[Genocide|genocidal]] practices for the sake of eugenics".<ref name=JPS/> Even after [[World War II]] Teilhard continued to argue for racial and individual eugenics in the name of human progress, and denounced the [[UNESCO statements on race|United Nations declaration of the Equality of Races]] (1950) as "scientifically useless" and "practically dangerous" in a letter to the [[UNESCO|agency]]'s director [[Jaime Torres Bodet]]. In 1953, he expressed his frustration at the Church's failure to embrace the scientific possibilities for optimising [[human nature]], including by the separation of sexuality from reproduction (a notion later developed e.g. by the [[Second-wave feminism|second-wave feminist]] [[Shulamith Firestone]] in her 1970 book ''[[The Dialectic of Sex]]''), and postulated "the absolute right … to try everything right to the end—even in the matter of [[Human subject research|human biology]]".<ref name=JPS/> The theologian [[John F. Haught]] has defended Teilhard from Slattery's charge of "persistent attraction to racism, fascism, and genocidal ideas" by pointing out that Teilhard's philosophy was not based on racial exclusion but rather on union through differentiation, and that Teilhard took seriously the human responsibility for continuing to remake the world. With regard to union through differentiation, he underlined the importance of understanding properly a quotation used by Slattery in which Teilhard writes, "I hate [[nationalism]] and its apparent [[Reactionary|regressions to the past]]. But I am very interested in the primacy it returns to the collective. Could a passion for 'the race' represent a first draft of the Spirit of the Earth?"<ref>{{Citation |last=Haught |first=John F. |author-link=John F. Haught |title=Trashing Teilhard |publisher=[[Commonweal (magazine)|Commonweal]] |date=12 February 2019 |accessdate=26 September 2022 |url=https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/trashing-teilhard}}</ref> Writing from China in October 1936, shortly after the outbreak of the [[Spanish Civil War]], Teilhard expressed his stance towards the new political movement in Europe, "I am alarmed at the attraction that various kinds of Fascism exert on intelligent (?) people who can see in them nothing but the hope of returning to the Neolithic". He felt that the choice between what he called "the American, the Italian, or the Russian type" of [[political economy]] (i.e. liberal capitalism, Fascist [[corporatism]], [[Bolsheviks|Bolshevik]] Communism) had only "technical" relevance to his search for overarching unity and a philosophy of action.{{sfn|Cuénot|1965|p=216}}
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