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A Good
Film on Teilhard de Chardin
Now Available 06/04/2024 |
Recently, I watched a new movie on Teilhard de Chardin (see below). It was very well done and devoted a lot of time to the story of Teilhard, including his important relationships with women in his life. And also how much he suffered from his treatment by Rome and his Jesuit Order which forbade him to publish any of his books in his lifetime. |
Just ten people attended his funeral in New York (including two Jesuits). But because he had left his manuscripts to a lay woman and not his Order, just four months after his death his first book came out, The Phenomenon of
Man. And then others. |
The life of Jesuit priest-paleontologist-visionary Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, suppressed by his order for advocating evolution, embodied personal awakening, a search for meaning, scientific adventure, unresolved conflict with authority, and human love. Teilhard Project |
He has come gradually to be recognized as the great scientist, mystic and soul that he was. Sister Jose Hobday, my Seneca friend, told me how when she taught at the Jesuit seminary near Teilhard’s grave ten years after he died, she told the novices one day, “tomorrow is the feast day of
Teilhard’s death, so let’s go to his grave to commemorate him.” They responded, “Who is Teilhard?” |
Grave of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin in the Jesuit cemetery at the Culinary Institute of America, former Jesuit Novitiate in Poughkeepsie, New York, USA. Wikimedia Commons | Teilhard’s significance was large at Vatican II
and Pope Francis cited him in Laudato Sí. Of course he was a great influence on Thomas Berry, Brian Swimme, and Creation Spirituality. After all, it was he who resuscitated the “Cosmic Christ” concept lost in great part during enlightenment Christianity. |
Sadly, Teilhard did not live to see his books published or interact with people reading them. His passion was to marry religion and science once again. Evolution—“that magic word” as he put it. |
He brought alive important concepts of “noosphere” and “omega point” and the “divine milieu.” His passion for ritual–his “Mass of the Earth”– paved the way for our “Cosmic Mass.” One lesson from the movie was how significant his work as |
Yaling Wu from the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences reads an excerpt of ‘The Mass on the World’ (La Messe sur le monde) by Teilhard de Chardin. Video by eRenlai Ricci. |
a
scientist was, especially his work on the Peking Man that had just been discovered in China. In his long exile in China (including being under house arrest during the Japanese occupation in WWII), he helped develop a generation of Chinese paleontologists—so much so that a statue stands of him in China to this day. To be
continued. |
* https://www.pbs.org/video/teilhard-visionary-scientist-pt9dc1
See Matthew Fox, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance, p. 77.
And
Fox, Confessions: The Making of a Post-denominational Priest, pp. 161f., 185, 321, 363-373, 381, 390, 425, 442, 448.
And Matthew Fox and Rupert Sheldrake, Natural Grace: Dialogues on Creation, Darkness, and the Soul in Spirituality and Science .
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And Matthew Fox and Brian Swimme, Manifesto for a Global Civilization.
Banner Image: The history of nature from the Big Bang to the present day, shown
graphically in a spiral with notable events annotated. Every billion years (Ga) is represented by 90 degrees of rotation of the spiral. Image by Pablo Carlos Budassi with the help of the evolutionary biology researcher Professor Rasmus Grønfeldt Winther, on Wikimedia
Commons. |
Responses are welcomed. To add
your comment, or read other comments and enter into dialog, please click HERE to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
Queries for Contemplation |
When did you learn of Teilhard de Chardin? Has he played a role in your spiritual journey? |
The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance
In what may be considered the most comprehensive outline of the Christian
paradigm shift of our Age, Matthew Fox eloquently foreshadows the manner in which the spirit of Christ resurrects in terms of the return to an earth-based mysticism, the expression of creativity, mystical sexuality, the respect due the young, the rebirth of effective forms of worship—all of these mirroring the ongoing blessings of Mother Earth and the recovery of Eros, the feminine aspect of the Divine.
“The eighth
wonder of the world…convincing proof that our Western religious tradition does indeed have the depth of imagination to reinvent its faith.” — Brian Swimme, author of The Universe Story and Journey of the Universe. |
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Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest (Revised/Updated Edition)
Matthew Fox’s stirring
autobiography, Confessions, reveals his personal, intellectual, and spiritual journey from altar boy, to Dominican priest, to his eventual break with the Vatican. Five new chapters in this revised and updated edition bring added perspective in light of the author’s continued journey, and his reflections on the current changes taking place in church, society and the environment.
“The unfolding story of
this irrepressible spiritual revolutionary enlivens the mind and emboldens the heart — must reading for anyone interested in courage, creativity, and the future of religion.”
—Joanna Macy, author of World as Lover, World as Self
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Natural Grace: Dialogues on Creation, Darkness, and the Soul in Spirituality and Science
by Matthew Fox and Rupert Sheldrake
Natural Grace, a
208 page inspired dialogue between theologian Matthew Fox and scientist Rupert Sheldrake, unites wisdom and knowledge from unconventional angles. Considering themselves heretics in their own fields, Matthew and Rupert engage the conversation from postmodern and post-postmodern perspectives, deconstructing both religion and science—while setting the foundation for a new emerging worldview. Having outgrown the paradigms in which they were raised, both Fox and Sheldrake see it as part of their life
missions to share the natural synthesis of spirituality and science rooted in a paradigm of evolutionary cosmology.
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In the Beginning There Was Joy: A Cosmic Celebration for Kids of All Ages
The first book in the Father Fox’s Fantastical Fables series tells the story of the big bang and how humans fit into the awesome, fantastical,
cosmic picture! With artwork curated from illustrators around the world, this book expresses the joy and wonder of all peoples and cultures, planting seeds of respect, cooperation and hope to work together for the healing of our planet. "Matthew Fox does it again, here for our young ones, who so need a positive, cosmic vision
to thrive, or even survive, in a sad time." - Father Richard Rohr, Author of The Universal Christ "Matthew Fox offers a resounding affirmation of what our souls have always suspected: we are made for joy." - Mirabai Starr, Author of God of Love and Wild Mercy |
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UPCOMING EVENTS See Matthew Fox's full calendar
HERE |
Join Matthew Fox in a new, live, 7-week video course hosted by the Shift Network, Cultivating Compassion in Spirituality: What Meister Eckhart & Other World Mystics Can Teach Us About Navigating Collective Turmoil. Tuesdays, May 7 – June 25, 5:00pm - 6:30pm PT. Register HERE. |
Join Matthew Fox and 11 other speakers for a 6-week course on Cosmic Water: The Radical Roots of Mystical Christianity hosted by Advaya.Life (Matthew speaks on June 18). Tuesdays, May 28 - Thursday, July 4, 10:00 am - 12:00 pm PDT Register HERE (for 10% discount use code
FOX-WOW) |
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Creation Spirituality Conversations |
Matthew Fox speaks on "Preserving Things in the Good" at the Unity of Walnut Creek Earth Day worship service held on April 21, 2024. |
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