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Spirit of Fire: The Life and Vision of Teilhard De Chardin
Spirit of Fire is a popular biography of one of this century's most fascinating religious figures. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) was a Jesuit theologian, mystic, and scientist renowned for his pioneering field work in geology, paleontology, and human origins. His writings have inspired an international host of Teilhard societies. He was also a prophet in the expanding dialogue between religion, science, and, mysticism. In his views of humanity, divinity, and the universe Teilhard anticipated the echotheology of Thomas Berry and the creation spirituality of Matthew Fox.
As recounted in Spirit of Fire Teilhard's life intertwined a passionate intellect with spiritual adventure, a life of exploration of both the physical world and the soul. Steeped in the evolutionary views of contemporary science, Teilhard wrote with a rarely matched power of the real presence of God in the world. As King writes, Teilhard was a man "in love with the world, the world as a vast, living, tangible organism in which human beings belong as an integral part, and he was in love with God whose creative energy and living spirit pulsate throughout everthing that is."
As recounted in Spirit of Fire Teilhard's life intertwined a passionate intellect with spiritual adventure, a life of exploration of both the physical world and the soul. Steeped in the evolutionary views of contemporary science, Teilhard wrote with a rarely matched power of the real presence of God in the world. As King writes, Teilhard was a man "in love with the world, the world as a vast, living, tangible organism in which human beings belong as an integral part, and he was in love with God whose creative energy and living spirit pulsate throughout everthing that is."
176 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 30, 2015
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May 19, 2019
A fascinating journey. In high school, being a somewhat sanctimonious little shit and having become entranced by the romance of archeology, I naturally stumbled over the career of Teilhard de Chardin, a Jesuit whose works challenged some of the more orthodox views of the Catholic Church. He was particularly interested in the interaction and synergistic relationship of the spiritual with matter. Reviewers of other books about Teilhard have suggested it was his interest in evolution that pissed off the church; I think it was his forays into theology that resulted in his periodic exile. While fascinating, this overly hagiographic biography frequently stumbles into adoration.
The author, founding member of the Teilhard Centre in London, is a woman, perhaps significant, given the importance of several women to Pere Teilhard during his life. With Lucile, for example, he conducted a twenty-year correspondence that reflected his desire to help her spiritually, yet "at another level these most personal, most intimate letters speak of a depth and intensity of love as never before in Teilhard." Hmmmm. Lucile for her part, "longed for a fuller giving, a complete union, not only spiritual love and friendship. .." Teilhard's letters in response to her longing suggest he never succumbed. Well, maybe.
As a child growing up in the Auvergne, he had always sought treasures "that were incorruptible and would last. He remembered years later being devastated when his mother threw some curls she had cut of his hair into the fire, and he saw them consumed. He had learned that he was perishable. He began collecting things he thought would last, rocks replacing metal when he saw how iron would rust away.This epiphany led to a lifelong passion for fossils. It's the more striking then that the war would not affect him more. . . In fact, his war essays contained the seeds of most of his more fully ideas that came later. They did seek a reinterpretation of Christianity, "the need for a new image of God, the quest for a practically engaged spirituality appropriate to the needs of a contemporary world." His vision of mankind as one, "sharing a common origin and destiny in spite of all its diversity and diversions. His vision of mankind as universal and one was a pervasive strain running through his thought and writings. That his writing was continually suppressed and prevented from being published by his Catholic superiors is understandable but troubling to me who sees little need for orthodoxy. More evidence of the hagiographic nature of the book is that the Index (the Catholic list of prohibited books) does not appear in the book's index, despite its mention in several places.
I have often been accused of an optimistic outlook on things, indeed, making candy out of excrement, so to speak, but Teilhard makes me look like a piker. In China, doing fossil research, amidst the Japanese atrocities in China and seeing extraordinary extremes of hunger and poverty, he managed to "maintain such an attitude of hope and deep belief in the future of humanity.
The Phenomenon of Man, perhaps his summative work, was finished after his return to China in 1940 following a sojourn in France and America. In it he attempts to answer the question of the significance "of the human being within the vast cosmic process of evolution." A copy finally made its way to Rome in 1945, and he was disappointed to hear that permission to publish had been withheld. The book "demonstrates how the rise of evolution is an immense movement through time from the development of the atom to the molecule and cell to different forms of life and to human beings with greater diversity. This movement exemplifies how the development of ever greater structural complexity leads in turn to an ever greater "within" of things, and increase in consciousness and reflection." The ultimate result of the development of a more collective human consciousness is the appearance of a "super-consciousness" and "ultra-human," which he calls the "Omega point," i.e., God.
Even Teilhard was not immune to doubt, and he wrote toward the end of his life: "How is it, then, that as I look around me, still dazzled by what I have seen, I find that I am almost the only person of my kind [what did he mean by kind, here? Priest or human?:], the only one to have seen? . . . How, most of all, can it be that" when I come down from the mountain" and in spite of the glorious vision I still retain, I find that I am so little a better man, so little at peace, so incapable of expressing my actions, and thus adequately communicating to others, the wonderful unity that I feel encompassing me? Is there, in fact, a Universal Christ, is there a Divine Milieu? Or am I, after all, simply the dupe of a mirage in my own mind? I often ask myself that question."
To which I might respond, does it really matter? Teilhard was a fascinating man who was clearly dedicated to his beliefs and the Church. Despite the book's adulatory nature, one senses the inner turmoil and struggle faced by Teilhard as he sought to make sense out of the universe.
The author, founding member of the Teilhard Centre in London, is a woman, perhaps significant, given the importance of several women to Pere Teilhard during his life. With Lucile, for example, he conducted a twenty-year correspondence that reflected his desire to help her spiritually, yet "at another level these most personal, most intimate letters speak of a depth and intensity of love as never before in Teilhard." Hmmmm. Lucile for her part, "longed for a fuller giving, a complete union, not only spiritual love and friendship. .." Teilhard's letters in response to her longing suggest he never succumbed. Well, maybe.
As a child growing up in the Auvergne, he had always sought treasures "that were incorruptible and would last. He remembered years later being devastated when his mother threw some curls she had cut of his hair into the fire, and he saw them consumed. He had learned that he was perishable. He began collecting things he thought would last, rocks replacing metal when he saw how iron would rust away.This epiphany led to a lifelong passion for fossils. It's the more striking then that the war would not affect him more. . . In fact, his war essays contained the seeds of most of his more fully ideas that came later. They did seek a reinterpretation of Christianity, "the need for a new image of God, the quest for a practically engaged spirituality appropriate to the needs of a contemporary world." His vision of mankind as one, "sharing a common origin and destiny in spite of all its diversity and diversions. His vision of mankind as universal and one was a pervasive strain running through his thought and writings. That his writing was continually suppressed and prevented from being published by his Catholic superiors is understandable but troubling to me who sees little need for orthodoxy. More evidence of the hagiographic nature of the book is that the Index (the Catholic list of prohibited books) does not appear in the book's index, despite its mention in several places.
I have often been accused of an optimistic outlook on things, indeed, making candy out of excrement, so to speak, but Teilhard makes me look like a piker. In China, doing fossil research, amidst the Japanese atrocities in China and seeing extraordinary extremes of hunger and poverty, he managed to "maintain such an attitude of hope and deep belief in the future of humanity.
The Phenomenon of Man, perhaps his summative work, was finished after his return to China in 1940 following a sojourn in France and America. In it he attempts to answer the question of the significance "of the human being within the vast cosmic process of evolution." A copy finally made its way to Rome in 1945, and he was disappointed to hear that permission to publish had been withheld. The book "demonstrates how the rise of evolution is an immense movement through time from the development of the atom to the molecule and cell to different forms of life and to human beings with greater diversity. This movement exemplifies how the development of ever greater structural complexity leads in turn to an ever greater "within" of things, and increase in consciousness and reflection." The ultimate result of the development of a more collective human consciousness is the appearance of a "super-consciousness" and "ultra-human," which he calls the "Omega point," i.e., God.
Even Teilhard was not immune to doubt, and he wrote toward the end of his life: "How is it, then, that as I look around me, still dazzled by what I have seen, I find that I am almost the only person of my kind [what did he mean by kind, here? Priest or human?:], the only one to have seen? . . . How, most of all, can it be that" when I come down from the mountain" and in spite of the glorious vision I still retain, I find that I am so little a better man, so little at peace, so incapable of expressing my actions, and thus adequately communicating to others, the wonderful unity that I feel encompassing me? Is there, in fact, a Universal Christ, is there a Divine Milieu? Or am I, after all, simply the dupe of a mirage in my own mind? I often ask myself that question."
To which I might respond, does it really matter? Teilhard was a fascinating man who was clearly dedicated to his beliefs and the Church. Despite the book's adulatory nature, one senses the inner turmoil and struggle faced by Teilhard as he sought to make sense out of the universe.
February 21, 2018
King's biography of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin is a pretty quick read; it's formatted with very large outside margins, which are full of photographs and quotes. It is one of the few biographies where I felt satisfied with the number of photos; after all, a picture tells all sorts of stories.
Disclaimer: I didn't read the last 14 pages or so. I brought it with me to India because I wanted to donate it to the library at the Shantivanam Ashram I visited (along with Cynthia Bourgeault's Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening and Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee's The Face Before I Was Born: A Spiritual Autobiography (I had hoped to re-read Cynthia's book for the fourth time, but didn't get as far through it as planned, and I also thought I'd keep the Vaughan-Lee book, but I realized I wanted to get some new books that won't be found in the U.S.).
King's quotes are half the interest of this book; she seems to be excellent at picking passages that managed to pique my interest (and, therefore, I would presume, the interest of others). Teilhard isn't the easiest theologian to read, and these tasty appetizers definitely make it worth pulling out their sources.
Disclaimer: I didn't read the last 14 pages or so. I brought it with me to India because I wanted to donate it to the library at the Shantivanam Ashram I visited (along with Cynthia Bourgeault's Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening and Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee's The Face Before I Was Born: A Spiritual Autobiography (I had hoped to re-read Cynthia's book for the fourth time, but didn't get as far through it as planned, and I also thought I'd keep the Vaughan-Lee book, but I realized I wanted to get some new books that won't be found in the U.S.).
King's quotes are half the interest of this book; she seems to be excellent at picking passages that managed to pique my interest (and, therefore, I would presume, the interest of others). Teilhard isn't the easiest theologian to read, and these tasty appetizers definitely make it worth pulling out their sources.
February 4, 2022
Spirit of Fire by Ursula King is certainly a powerful review of the life and times of Teilhard de Chardin. I came to understand him more completely, and I have great sympathies for his views, though I was disturbed by some of his life choices. His optimism is obvious, though I wondered why he needed to invent new words to explain his vision. I have more mixed feelings about his work than ever before. But I suspect that is how it should be. The human journey—our past as well as our future—has never been simple and clear-cut.
November 17, 2014
Read immediately after The Jesuit ad the Skull by Amir Aczel, this one took more time and energy. Teilhard had a beautiful vision of how to blend religion and science, and was one of the most original thinkers I have ever encountered. He struggled with worship of religion, or God, and worship of nature as he experienced it with his senses and as he explored its language and scriptures, or science. I can see his struggle, and I disagree with his ultimate acquiescence to Rome and willingness to compromise, well, everything he was to be obedient. But I understand, and am so sad for the loss, the world’s loss really, because if he had been allowed to publish and speak about his worldview, he could have changed the world. I am glad he is still accessible to those of us who seek him out, but he is still very obscure and lost to most of the world.
Teilhard was innovative when it came to religion, and so accomplished as a scientist, but some of his writing is like wading through heavy, opaque waters. “The truth is that even at the peak of my spiritual trajectory I was never to feel at home unless immersed in an Ocean of Matter.” I imagine the ocean of matter is the actual physical earth, the tangible presence of us on the planet versus the mystical and spiritual realm, so I think he is saying he was only at home there, and never during prayer or nature, but that isn’t true. I think he had to change much of what he wrote to make it more palatable to Rome and the Church, and it lost its meaning. Also there is such meaning and lyricism that is lost in translation. One of my favorite quotes is his, and they translated it slightly differently, and I think it loses some of its power. Original (to me that is): "Throughout my whole life, during every minute of it, the world has been gradually lighting up and blazing before my eyes until it has come to surround me, entirely lit up from within." Now: “The World gradually caught fire for me, burst into flames;…this happened all during my life, and as a result of my whole life, until it formed a great luminous mass, lit from within, that surrounded me.”
Another potentially awkward translation: “Lord Jesus, who are as a gentle as the human heart, as fiery as the forces of nature, as intimate as life itself, you in whom I can melt away and with whom I must have mastery and freedom; I love you as a world, as this world which has captivated my heart; and it is you, I now realize, than my brother-men, even those who do not believe, sense and seek through the magic immensities of the cosmos.” I begin to think Teilhard is fine, it is his translators that are terrible! My take, a great exercise in imagery and words: Lord Jesus, you are tender like a human heart yet powerful like natural forces that underlie the universe and life, and within whom my being can dissolve and know mastery and freedom, I love you as a world, as this world which has captivated my heart, and I now realize it is you that my fellow travelers, even those who do not believe in religion, sense and seek throughout the mysteries of the cosmos. I don’t know if that is what he meant, but it feels right.
He was a priest, he worked on the front lines of WWI, he was a scientist, a writer, a friend, and a world traveler. “As far as my strength will allow me, because I am a priest, I would henceforth be the first to become aware of what the world loves, pursues, suffers. I would be the first to seek, to sympathize, to toil: the first in self-fulfillment, the first in self-denial- I would be more widely human and more nobly terrestrial in my ambitions than any of the world’s servants.” For me, I want to be more nobly human and widely terrestrial.
From the author: “the turmoil of the war clarified his inner vision. It made him realize in a new way that matter was charged with life and with spirit. He felt so deeply, so vividly a love of matter, of life, that in later years…it was his deep-felt conviction ‘that life is never mistaken, either about its road or its destination.’” He coined the term “noosphere” as metaphysical layer encircling the earth comprised of thoughts and energies. It was part of an idea of soul evolution towards increased complexity. My own spiritual beliefs tend to be pantheistic, of nature, of God in everything, and I wholeheartedly believe that we just don’t have the words to describe what the soul is and where it goes and from whence it came, and religions are ways we love god or soul or holiness. And perhaps we don’t have the words yet, because our brains need to evolve a bit more. “One might say that a hitherto unknown form of religion-one that no one could as yet have imagined or described, for a lack of a universe large enough to contain it-is burgeoning in the heart of modern man, from a seed sown by the idea of evolution…far from being shaken in my faith by such as revolution, it with irrepressible hope that I welcome the inevitable rise of this new mysticism…”
Teilhard was innovative when it came to religion, and so accomplished as a scientist, but some of his writing is like wading through heavy, opaque waters. “The truth is that even at the peak of my spiritual trajectory I was never to feel at home unless immersed in an Ocean of Matter.” I imagine the ocean of matter is the actual physical earth, the tangible presence of us on the planet versus the mystical and spiritual realm, so I think he is saying he was only at home there, and never during prayer or nature, but that isn’t true. I think he had to change much of what he wrote to make it more palatable to Rome and the Church, and it lost its meaning. Also there is such meaning and lyricism that is lost in translation. One of my favorite quotes is his, and they translated it slightly differently, and I think it loses some of its power. Original (to me that is): "Throughout my whole life, during every minute of it, the world has been gradually lighting up and blazing before my eyes until it has come to surround me, entirely lit up from within." Now: “The World gradually caught fire for me, burst into flames;…this happened all during my life, and as a result of my whole life, until it formed a great luminous mass, lit from within, that surrounded me.”
Another potentially awkward translation: “Lord Jesus, who are as a gentle as the human heart, as fiery as the forces of nature, as intimate as life itself, you in whom I can melt away and with whom I must have mastery and freedom; I love you as a world, as this world which has captivated my heart; and it is you, I now realize, than my brother-men, even those who do not believe, sense and seek through the magic immensities of the cosmos.” I begin to think Teilhard is fine, it is his translators that are terrible! My take, a great exercise in imagery and words: Lord Jesus, you are tender like a human heart yet powerful like natural forces that underlie the universe and life, and within whom my being can dissolve and know mastery and freedom, I love you as a world, as this world which has captivated my heart, and I now realize it is you that my fellow travelers, even those who do not believe in religion, sense and seek throughout the mysteries of the cosmos. I don’t know if that is what he meant, but it feels right.
He was a priest, he worked on the front lines of WWI, he was a scientist, a writer, a friend, and a world traveler. “As far as my strength will allow me, because I am a priest, I would henceforth be the first to become aware of what the world loves, pursues, suffers. I would be the first to seek, to sympathize, to toil: the first in self-fulfillment, the first in self-denial- I would be more widely human and more nobly terrestrial in my ambitions than any of the world’s servants.” For me, I want to be more nobly human and widely terrestrial.
From the author: “the turmoil of the war clarified his inner vision. It made him realize in a new way that matter was charged with life and with spirit. He felt so deeply, so vividly a love of matter, of life, that in later years…it was his deep-felt conviction ‘that life is never mistaken, either about its road or its destination.’” He coined the term “noosphere” as metaphysical layer encircling the earth comprised of thoughts and energies. It was part of an idea of soul evolution towards increased complexity. My own spiritual beliefs tend to be pantheistic, of nature, of God in everything, and I wholeheartedly believe that we just don’t have the words to describe what the soul is and where it goes and from whence it came, and religions are ways we love god or soul or holiness. And perhaps we don’t have the words yet, because our brains need to evolve a bit more. “One might say that a hitherto unknown form of religion-one that no one could as yet have imagined or described, for a lack of a universe large enough to contain it-is burgeoning in the heart of modern man, from a seed sown by the idea of evolution…far from being shaken in my faith by such as revolution, it with irrepressible hope that I welcome the inevitable rise of this new mysticism…”
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November 6, 2009A wonderful introduction to the world of Teilhard de Chardin. He was way before his time. Even now, we have not caught up with him!
September 11, 2016
An outstanding introduction to Teilhard de Chardin. I wish I had read this book before reading his own works. Ursula King deserves much respect for her writings on his work. Very good indeed.
February 4, 2018
Very good introduction to the life and work of Teilhard de Chardin. It outlines his childhood in a large and loving family in Auvergne; his Jesuit Seminary training; his service as stretcher bearer in the French Army in WWI; his life-long pursuit of sciences; his special interest in the origin of man, and the evolution of all creation. His scientific work informed his theology. The end point of evolution, he reasoned, will be a union of all that is. The dissolution of our dualisms--between spirit and matter, body and soul, races, and religions, will be "like fog before the rising sun".
One of the features of Teilhard's personal development is his disregard of dividing friendships into male and female. He had very close women friends as well as men. Because of the trajectory of his career, his friends were Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, agnostics, etc. He served in the army with men from the French colonies. And his scientific colleagues were an international group of scholars. Living in far-flung places, diversity enhanced his work, his life, and his vision.
Teilhard was considered a persona non grata by his religious superiors in Rome. His vision was too vast, inclusive, and future-oriented. He believed that Christianity "was reaching the end of one of the natural cycles of its existence" and that "we need a Christianity that could be understood and lived in the contemporary world". Given the defensive, conservative 1930's Vatican, his ideas were too forward-looking to be allowed. And so, Teilhard, like so many visionaries before and since, was rejected by his own. His friends managed to hold on to most of his essays and manuscripts, which had an enthusiastic reception by many, both in science and in religion. But none of his writings were allowed to be published during his lifetime.
He died suddenly at age 75, in NYC, Easter Day, 1955.
One of the features of Teilhard's personal development is his disregard of dividing friendships into male and female. He had very close women friends as well as men. Because of the trajectory of his career, his friends were Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, agnostics, etc. He served in the army with men from the French colonies. And his scientific colleagues were an international group of scholars. Living in far-flung places, diversity enhanced his work, his life, and his vision.
Teilhard was considered a persona non grata by his religious superiors in Rome. His vision was too vast, inclusive, and future-oriented. He believed that Christianity "was reaching the end of one of the natural cycles of its existence" and that "we need a Christianity that could be understood and lived in the contemporary world". Given the defensive, conservative 1930's Vatican, his ideas were too forward-looking to be allowed. And so, Teilhard, like so many visionaries before and since, was rejected by his own. His friends managed to hold on to most of his essays and manuscripts, which had an enthusiastic reception by many, both in science and in religion. But none of his writings were allowed to be published during his lifetime.
He died suddenly at age 75, in NYC, Easter Day, 1955.
August 30, 2023
This wonderful biography of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin is almost as dense & engaging as Teilhard's writings! Through the many quotations from his writings, letters & photos, one gets an expert familiarity with this great man, spanning the 74 years he lived. Perhaps one of the most important of the author's chapters is the final one: "Celebrating Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's Legacy". She very realistically assesses the pro's & con's. She cautions the reader that much of what was written about him & his vision after his death may be somewhat or very much inaccurate. One is encouraged to read the primary sources of Teilhard's now books & essays, further cautioning that all of the material is quite dense. Nevertheless, I think this biography, the second edition (2015; the first edition was published in 1996), is probably the best place to start if one is serious in delving into Chardin's life & writings.
May 3, 2018
This is review of the life and work of Teilhard. It is primarily chronological in its approach. The author is a promoter of Teilhard's work, so it is somewhat hagiographic. The extensive accounts of his personal life, including his close personal relationships with women, shed a lot of light on the man and tie him as a person to the ideas he wrote about. The book covers both his scientific and his spiritual work, but the latter is the central focus of interest. The book includes a number of useful resources, such as a list of his published works, in the back. This book is extremely valuable to anyone interested in learning about Teilhard's work.
December 18, 2020
Although the review below is erudite and factually accurate on this biography, I find the cynicism frustrating. This man's deep, personal battles with physical love, rejection and keeping God with him into his life at the front amidst the horror and again in China, alongside more horror, was awe inspiring to me. Although he felt for one moment towards the end of his life that for all his struggles, he hadn't changed, his profound love for life, people and the extraordinary world he felt so privileged to work in - was palpable in this biography.
Certainly I was inspired by the never ending search for God he lived so acutely and so whole heartedly. He was a man to be admired.
Certainly I was inspired by the never ending search for God he lived so acutely and so whole heartedly. He was a man to be admired.
June 12, 2019
This is easily the best biography I have read on Teilhard: comprehensive, sympathetic, and deeply insightful, it brought me to the place where I finally felt like I was beginning to understand and grasp the full dimensions of his ideas and thinking. I have also enjoyed the writings of Ilio Delio and others who have outlined his thinking and then developed the implications of his ideas more fully, but Ursula King's book is very successful in the way it roots the full breadth of his vision in the context of his life! Do read this book if you want to better understand Teilhard!
January 21, 2024
I was interested in Teilhard because it seems his influence has been important in the life of the Church, from the time of the Second Vatican Council up until and including pope Francis. I'm not a believer in evolution. I think it's bad science, so this alone leads me to believe Teilhard, a man of his times, came under the spell of a bad science, which made for an even worse theology. The author of this book does excellent work in presenting both the man and his thought, and I was certainly impressed by both, even though I'm not a believer in Teilhardism.
December 9, 2023
This book is invaluable as an introduction to the writings and spiritual beliefs of Teilhard de Chardin and has inspired me to read some of Teilhard's essays. I also enjoyed the format, which offers a generous number photos and quotations in the margins. As a biography, however, it's not particularly gripping. There's a fair amount of repetition and the tone is more of an encyclopedic overview than an attempt to help us truly understand the experience of a great thinker and mystic.
August 15, 2024
A Vision In Need and Indeed
Teilhard’s theology indeed provides a blue print for the complete renewal of Christianity in this Generative AI world where traditional religious beliefs and practices shall give way to his utimate vision of utlmate Christians. Of faith, hope and love, Teilhard is able to intergrate these virtues under the lens of science and spirituality. Not either or, but both. Will those in power listen?
Teilhard’s theology indeed provides a blue print for the complete renewal of Christianity in this Generative AI world where traditional religious beliefs and practices shall give way to his utimate vision of utlmate Christians. Of faith, hope and love, Teilhard is able to intergrate these virtues under the lens of science and spirituality. Not either or, but both. Will those in power listen?
August 6, 2025
This biography of the Jesuit priest and renowned scientist should be read by everyone who thinks religion and science can't mix. His faith in Jesus is unshakable, and his observations in science (paleontology/anthropology) are important. He sees evolution and man's understanding of God can coexist.
June 13, 2021
An excellent introduction to his life and writings. I do not have a grasp of the deep meaning of his works, that’s my next step.
September 7, 2015
An excellent introduction to the life and work of Teilhard de Chardin. This is a sensitive biography that sets his writing in the context of his life journey. I was very interested in how much time he spent in China and other places outside his native country of France. Like many others before him his thinking and writing was "ahead of the times" and he was sadly not permitted by the Catholic Church (and his Jesuit order) to publish his prolific writings while he was alive. His linking of science and religion, his expansive view of the evolution of life and of humankind's place in it and his hopeful conviction that we are all being drawn inexorably to the Omega point of Christ consciousness were very heartening.
September 10, 2012
. I am looking forward to reading more by him. He definitely was a Christian before his time and still continues to be.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews