Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) was a French philosopher and Jesuit priest.  He was trained as a paleontologist and geologist and took part in the discovery of both Piltdown Man and Peking Man. Teilhard conceived the idea of the Omega Point and developed Vladimir Vernadsky's concept of Noosphere.

Some of his ideas came into conflict with the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, and several of his books were censured. Teilhard's ‘The Phenomenon of Man’ set forth a sweeping account of the unfolding of the cosmos. He abandoned traditional interpretations of creation in the Book of Genesis in favor of a less strict interpretation. This was viewed by some in the Roman Curia as an undermining of Saint Augustine’s doctrine of original sin.  This led to the Roman Holy Office limiting publication of his works. Later in time, the Second Vatican Council became open to his views and Pope John II later voiced a positive attitude toward Teilhard’s ideas.  In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI praised Teilhard's idea of the universe as a "living host".

Some have classified Teilhard de Chardin as a 'process theologian'.  Process Theology developed out of Alfred North Whitehead's (1861-1947) Process Philosophy - largely from the academic work of Charles Hartshoren (1897-2000). Hartshoren developed a neoclassical idea of God and produced a modal proof of the existence of God that was a development of Anselm of Canterbury's ontological argument.

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