TEILHARDPERSPECTIVE

Volume 46, Number 1 Spring/Summer 2013

A Few Words from ATA President, John Grim

What follows is the text from Dr. John Grim’sspeech at the Unitarian Society of New Haven, CTupon the presentation of the Gandhi Peace Award toBill McKibben on April 18, 2013.

I want to thank the organi-zation, Promoting EnduringPeace, and the organizers ofthis event for the invitation tosay a few words as a way ofintroducing the author, envi-ronmentalist and activist, BillMcKibben. Bill has helped tocreate the largest social move-ment since Civil Rights thatmobilized forty thousandpeople in Washington DC toprotest the proposed Keystonepipeline. May his efforts con-tinue to foster the peace thattransforms the social and envi-ronmental violence of ourtimes.

This is the first time that the Gandhi PeaceAward has been given to an environmentalist sinceit was created in 1960. This marks a shift in ourexpanding awareness of what it means to be apeace-maker in contemporary society, namely,engaging in peace projects that are not simply

human-centered, or centered on ethnic groups ornation-states, but centered on the dynamics of thewhole Earth community. This shift reminds meof what my mentor, Thomas Berry, used to say:“There will be no peace among humans untilthere is peace with the Earth.” I take this peace to

be a fusion, as our programnotes say, of socio-economicjustice and environmental har-mony necessary for sustainablecivilization.

This is certainly descriptiveof Bill McKibben’s work evi-dent from his first book, TheEnd of Nature. Published firstin “New Yorker” magazine andas a book in 1989, this workalerted readers to the funda-mental changes that humanimpacts had affected over theEarth. His wake-up call inthat book and in his ongoingwork has been for shifts inconsciousness in the ways

humans relate to the Earth, namely, a turn fromprojects focused exclusively on human aggrandize-ment at the expense of nature. Bill leads us toimagine the voice of the Earth saying in the faceof unending extractive relationships: “I have givenfreely of my bounty, but you used me!” He brings

Peace Among Humans Through Peace with the Earth

us into awareness of these use-relationshipsthrough the physics of climate change as well asthe morality of Earth systems. Acknowledgingand acting on these relationships is the deep peaceproject of our times.

Certainly this is akin to what Gandhi spoke ofas satyagraha, a truth-force or soul-force. Manyfelt that Gandhi’s call could only be implementedthrough non-violence in the political arena of histime. But Mohandas Gandhi’s agendas werediverse and complex. They were first and fore-most ways of moving the human quest for truthinto the real-politik of nation states. As wellGandhi’s truth-force, satyagraha, brings one intothe possibilities of a deeper spiritual transforma-tion that he described as a divine encounter. Thatis, in the action of resistance to oppressive forcesindividuals open themselves through suffering tospiritual transformations simultaneously withinand beyond themselves. Gandhi expressed thissaying: “God never occurs to you in person butalways in action.”

I recall a gathering we organized at Harvard in2001 where Bill was present. It was the first con-ference on religion and climate change. Bill’s callto us there was to a similar act of imagination. Hesaid: Imagine gatherings where theologians andscholars and activists came together—and did notleave until they had worked out plans for closingdown a polluting power plant, opening up newfunding for alternative energy, or any of a hundredother tasks: specific actions, which they wouldhelp to carry out in the days and weeks ahead.[Daedalus Fall 2001] Action...that was the callthen and it is still Bill’s call now to religious lead-ers and laity.

For it is Bill’s belief that people will rise up tothe moral challenge of climate change. Whatmakes tonight’s award so poignant is that weremember a spiritual teacher, Gandhi, and honoran environmental leader, Bill, who share an under-standing that in conflict both sides are joinedtogether in a deeper reality. The unique disposi-tion of Gandhi’s satyagraha campaign was that

each side had a chance to make the outcome amutually beneficial one. Truthful action governedby the readiness to get hurt and yet not to hurt,was manifest in the principle of ahimsa, or non-violence. What we see in Bill McKibben’s work isa powerful expansion of truthful action into thecommunity of life.

What is it in our day that calls forth satyagrahacampaigns in which the goal is to undertake suf-fering so that others may not suffer, so that othersmay simply live? This is what Bill was ponderingwhen he got dengue fever in Bangladesh. He real-ized he could eventually leave, while others couldnot who were adversely affected by climate changeand profligate energy use in the First world. Thiswas a wake up call for Bill and all of us to climatejustice, and restraint in energy use and materialconsumption. These are environmental concernsthat preoccupy many of us late into the night.

Indeed, this is what inspires the work of theForum on Religion and Ecology that Mary EvelynTucker and I have brought to Yale. We areattempting to mobilize religious traditions torediscover their embeddedness in the Earth andtheir solidarity with those suffering from climateinjustice, drought, and flooding. All religious tra-ditions are struggling to find the language, sym-bols, rituals, and ethics for altering ourlife-threatening behavior, and for encouragingchanges of lifestyle in the face of global warming.Religions are themselves challenged by their ownbilingual languages, namely, their characteristicallystrong language of the transcendence of the divineabove nature, and the relatively weak language ofimmanence of the sacred within nature. Not onlydo religions puzzle over the meaning of matter,they often turn towards applied science andmarket rationality for language to express utilitar-ian relationships to the world. For example, onlyrecently have the extractive powers of the fossil-fuel corporations been questioned in religious set-tings as leaders ponder the negative consequencesof unrestrained energy production by mountain-top removal, fracking, and tar sand oil extraction.

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The horrific effect of these extractive processes onhuman and natural communities is becomingmore visible. Yet, the majority of the religions arestill unable to bridge the gap between theAmerican way of life, and an integration of justice,peace, and environmental harmony.

Indeed, at the Harvard conference that I men-tioned above, Bill McKibben pointed out thatecology may rescue religion at least as much as theother way around. This is an important pointthat I want to conclude on, namely, that religionsawaken to the sacred in the act of responding tothe ecological dilemmas of our time. Climate jus-tice signals the alliance and fusion of a satyagrahacampaign in which all sides have a chance to makethe outcome a mutually beneficial one. Thisawakening of consciousness to the effects of ouractions, to the signs of our future is what I see inBill McKibben’s satyagraha work.

Such transformations of consciousness that leaddirectly to changes in the ways we interact withthe world will hopefully enable life to flourish forfuture generations. Human activity as planetarycreativity may now become religious not simplyfor autonomous individuals, or self-selected soci-eties, but in relation to the larger Earth commu-nity. This challenges the religions at the heart oftheir teachings.

Our contemporary call to climate justice cannotbe answered simply on the basis of doctrine,dogma, scripture, devotion, ritual, belief, orprayer. While all of these are necessary for indi-viduals and communities, our challenges cannotbe met by any of the religions in themselves.Religions are necessary for the transformative turnthat we need to make, but they are not sufficientin themselves. The individual religions mustexplain, acknowledge and undertake massive spiri-tual engagement with the reality of the moraldimensions of climate change. Religions as cul-tural expressions must act not simply for humanneeds but to enhance the community of life. If thereligions can participate in this ecological creativ-ity they may again empower humans to realize

action that is an encounter with God, namely,renewing the integral Earth community.

This is what I hear in Bill McKibben’s workthat both echoes Gandhi’s satyagraha and calls usinto the resistance and regeneration of our times.Please join me in thanking Bill for leading andsustaining the most important soul-force move-ment of our time.

Bill McKibben is theauthor of a dozen booksabout the environment,beginning with The Endof Nature in 1989. He is afounder of the grassrootsclimate campaign350.org, which has coor-dinated 15,000 rallies in189 countries since 2009.Time Magazine calledhim ‘the planet’s best

green journalist’ and the Boston Globe said in2010 that he was ‘probably the country’s mostimportant environmentalist.’ Bill is a frequentcontributor to various magazines including TheNew York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s,Orion Magazine, Mother Jones, The New YorkReview of Books, Granta, Rolling Stone, andOutside. He is also a board member and contribu-tor to Grist Magazine. Bill has been awardedGuggenheim and Lyndhurst Fellowships, andwon the Lannan Prize for nonfiction writing in2000. Bill currently resides with his wife, writerSue Halpern, and his daughter, Sophie, in Ripton,Vermont. He is a scholar in residence atMiddlebury College.

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Paolo SoleriJune 21,1919 - April 9, 2013

What follows is the full text of Paolo Soleri’s obitu-ary from the Arcosanti website(http://arcosanti.org/node/10917)

REMEMBERING PAOLO SOLERI

Today the world has lost one of its great minds.Paolo Soleri, architect, builder, artist, writer, theo-rist, husband, father, born on Summer Solstice,has died at age 93.

Paolo Soleri spent a lifetime investigating howarchitecture, specifically the architecture of thecity, could support the countless possibilities ofhuman aspiration. The urban project he founded,Arcosanti, 65 miles north of Phoenix, wasdescribed by NEWSWEEK magazine as “…themost important urban experiment undertaken inour lifetimes.”

His own lifetime of work is represented inmodels, drawings, books, lectures and museumexhibits throughout the world. Soleri’s exhibitionin 1970 at the Corcoran Museum in WashingtonDC – and the concurrent publication of his land-mark book, CITY IN THE IMAGE OF MAN –changed forever the global conversation abouturban planning on our living planet. His term,

“Arcology” joining the words architecture andecology to represent one whole system of under-standing human life on the earth is meant to serveas the basis for that conversation.

Paolo Soleri’s ideas are embodied on the groundin the flowing forms of his architectural workshopCosanti in Paradise Valley, (now an ArizonaHistoric Landmark) and in the continuing con-struction at Arcosanti, the urban laboratory on thehigh desert in central Arizona. There, to date over7,000 students have participated in its construc-tion. More than 50,000 architecture enthusiastsvisit the site each year.

Over the years Soleri’s architectural commis-sions have included the Dome House in CaveCreek, Arizona, the astonishing Artistica CeramicaSolimene ceramics factory in Vietri, Italy, theIndian Arts Cultural Center/ Theatre in Santa Fe,the Glendale Community College Theater, theUniversity of Arizona College of Medicine chapel,the Scottsdale Pedestrian Bridge and Plaza; and hislatest bas-relief murals part of the new I-17Arcosanti/Cordes Junction Arizona traffic inter-change. In an age of specialization Paolo Solerishowed architecture’s ability to influence and evenlead the search for a new pattern of inhabiting theearth. The awards that resulted from this searchincluded gold medals from the American Instituteof Architects, the Union of InternationalArchitects, the Venice Biennale and the NationalDesign Award from the Cooper-Hewitt/Smithsonian Museum.

Soleri continued questioning and creating untilhis death. The theme of his last project, a series ofcollages entitled “Then and Now”, juxtaposed hisown signature forms with illustrations of life fromantiquity. In this project Paolo Soleri attempted tocapture the critical notion that we are constantlybuilding on the past, on the work of countlessgenerations that have preceded us on the earth.Our own work - and Soleri’s work especially - putinto this context, might be a seed that takes manymore generations to mature and complete.

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Paolo Soleri is survived by two daughters,Kristine Soleri Timm and Daniela Soleri, both ofCalifornia, two grandchildren, and the famousurban research Foundation he began, Cosanti. Aprivate burial will take place at Arcosanti, theinternationally – renowned urban laboratory hefounded in 1970, whose construction continues.Soleri’s body will be placed beside his wife Colly,who preceded him in death by 31 years.

Conference Report:Anthropological Challenges for Today

By David Grumett, University of Edinburgh

When Teilhard visited Rome in October 1948,he sensed powerfully that he had arrived in a tan-gible, organic centre of spiritual unity. In Lettersfrom a Traveller, he wrote: “In these days, it is herein Rome that we find the Christic pole of theearth.” During his visit, Teilhard was struck by“Christianity’s extraordinary, really imperturbableconfidence in the unshakeable solidity of its faithand truth,” acknowledging a “remarkable phe-nomenon there, unique, in fact, in all the world.”

Last November from Friday 9th to Saturday10th, a major conference took place in Rome, atthe Pontifical Gregorian University, whichbrought together about 200 academics, clergy, stu-dents and members of the public to consider theimplications of Teilhard’s theology for a renewedevangelization fifty years after the Second VaticanCouncil. Hosted by the Associazione ItalianaTeilhard de Chardin and the Centre EuropéenTeilhard de Chardin, the event had strong supportfrom the Association Française des Amis de PierreTeilhard de Chardin and the Fondation PierreTeilhard de Chardin. It was chaired by CardinalPaul Poupard, the President Emeritus of thePontifical Council for Culture, and CardinalGianfranco Ravasi, the Council’s currentPresident, sent greetings. Fr François-XavierDumortier, the Rector of the Gregorian

University, was present as were several members ofthe Teilhard family.

Plenary speakers from across Europe addressedaspects of Teilhard’s thought relevant to thetheme. Evangelization was the focus the first ses-sion, with presentations by Mgr André Dupleix ofthe Institut Catholique de Paris and Fr RosinoGibellini of the Italian publisher ÉditionsQueriniana, who made special reference to the apos-tolic constitution Gaudium et Spes. Anthropologyprovided the focus of the second session, with ahelpful overview by Annamaria Tassone-Bernardi,chairwoman of the Associazione Italiana, as well asa fascinating presentation by Fr Antonio Spadaro,editor of the Jesuit journal La Civiltà Cattolica, oncybernetics and my own on Teilhard’s vision foreconomic, cultural and social relationships withspecial reference to the dogmatic constitutionLumen Gentium. In the evening we walked to theChurch of Saint-Louis des Français, where weenjoyed a captivating dramatic rendition of “TheMass on the World” by the Swiss actor JulienLambert interspersed with singing from mezzo-soprano Anouk Molendijk.

Saturday saw a second full day of plenary pre-sentations. Marie-Jeanne Coutagne from theCatholic University of Lyons, a renowned experton the philosopher Maurice Blondel, spoke aboutthe theological and secular ideas of freedom. ThenMgr Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, the auxiliarybishop of Paris and scholar of Henri de Lubac,discussed the resources that Teilhard and de Lubacbeing to the Church’s response to the challengesposed by the Second Vatican Council.Contributions then came from Fr Alfredo Dinis ofthe Catholic University of Braga, Portugal, and FrAgustin Udias from Madrid on the world and thenoosphere. Following lunch, we enjoyed presenta-tions on the implications of Teilhard’s thought forinterfaith relations and the study of religion byGérard Donnadieu, chairman of the AssociationFrançaise, Italian scholar Luciano Mazzoni-Benoni, and Evelyne Maurice from the CentreSèvres in Paris. The final presentation was, appro-

priately, on evolution and the Cosmic Christ, andwas given by Mgr Thierry Magnin, Rector of theCatholic University of Lyons. The proceedingsended with Mass.

Teilhard evidently enjoyed his own visit toRome, evoking in one letter the “beautiful goldenlight.” But how much actual influence did heexert after his death on the Council? During theformal proceedings, his name was mentioned byonly eleven speakers, with many of these refer-ences occurring during the debates over the con-tentious constitution Gaudium et Spes.Nevertheless, the Council was a huge event oflong duration and many dimensions, both formaland informal. Because of this, tracing Teilhard’sfull influence on it accurately would be an impos-sible research task. We know that there was greatinterest in his ideas among many bishops andothers present in Rome during the Council. Forinstance, de Lubac, who was present as a theologi-cal adviser, was frequently asked by groups andindividuals to deliver expositions of Teilhard’sthought, and he reports many occasions on whichTeilhard was invoked by both enthusiasts anddetractors. Moreover, de Lubac published his first,controversial study of Teilhard, The Religion ofTeilhard de Chardin, during the Council, followedtwo years later by a profound and beautiful pre-sentation of Teilhard’s theology, The Faith ofTeilhard de Chardin, in an attempt to correctionmisreadings of the first book. These works were incirculation in Rome during the Council despite anunsuccessful attempt by the city authorities tohave them removed from bookshops. In any case,it is clear that at least some of Teilhard’s broadideas were in circulation at the Council.

What, however, did he take away from Rome?In Activation of Energy, Teilhard wrote two yearslater that, from a Catholic perspective: “If theChurch is not to be false to herself … she cannotbut regard herself as the very axis upon which thelooked-for movement of concentration and con-vergence can, and must, be effected.” PerhapsTeilhard’s Roman sojourn renewed his sense that

spiritual evolution had a necessarily institutionaldimension that only the Church could fulfil. Thisis a message that has not always been rememberedby either his advocates or detractors, resulting in asometimes fractious ongoing relationship with theRoman Catholic Church. Nevertheless, this con-ference received significant coverage in Rome. Anarticle by Éric de Moulins-Beaufort on Teilhardand de Lubac appeared in Osservatore Romano,and we were honored to receive a mention in PopeBenedict’s Angelus address on Sunday, delivered ina wet St Peter’s Square. It would not be an over-statement to say that this event, held in Rome’spremier pontifical university, made a welcomecontribution to the long overdue rehabilitation ofTeilhard within the Roman Catholic Church.

Teilhard, Benedict XVI, and the New Evangelization

Translated Remarks by Gérard Donnadieu,President of Association Française des Amis de Pierre

Teilhard de Chardin

Regarding the proceedings of the Symposiumthat took place in Rome on 9th and 10th ofNovember 2012 : “Anthropological Challenge forToday, A reading of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin infavour of a renewed evangelization, 50 years afterthe council Vatican II.”

This international conference held in Rome willhave been a decisive step in the acknowledgementby the Catholic Church of the thought of therenowned Jesuit, Fr. Teilhard de Chardin, whowas unjustly persecuted and ignored during hislifetime. Let us quote about this the conclusiveremark of Fr. Eugenio Costa of the PapalGregorian University, an organizer with others ofthe conference: “This two day conference has beenan excellent journey through Fr. Teilhard’s thoughtand life. I have wondered how we can explain thispresent, and sometimes passionate, renewed interestin our great friend. The circumstances in which welive, namely, culture, evolution of the mind, research,change of direction - often change the course of life’s

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river, as well as the thoughts of an Author, to followtracks that are sometimes difficult to understand.Then, suddenly, something becomes clear before us…The tenacity and determination of some of the bestpeople prevent these thoughts from being lost, andallow the current to go on stronger and stronger sothat at last the river can be seen!” Yes, the river ofTeilhard’s thought has indeed become visible, withthe irresistible force of a majestic flow nowendorsed by the Catholic Church. This findsexpression not only among theological authorities,indeed, it includes the Pope himself. Such was thesentiment of the members of the conference,when they explicitly received, on Sunday 11thNovember, the blessing of Pope Benedict XVI. Itwas a moment of intense emotion.

This long march went from almost completemisunderstanding of Teilhard by the Church, tohis being acknowledged as a genuine Christianthinker and now to the appreciation of histhought as an asset to the new evangelization. Inthe meantime there have been many moments ofdoubt but also of hope for all those who, like themembers of our Association, have been fighting,since Fr. Teilhard’s death, for a just recognition, atlast, of the man and his work. Let us recall in afew lines the main steps of this long process lead-ing from the misunderstanding of his work to itsintelligent reception.

It is well known that the misunderstanding heendured was a great pain for Teilhard throughouthis whole adult life. Beyond the vexations andhumiliations he suffered from his Church, heremained heroically faithful to it. As early as hisfirst altercation with the Roman Authorities in1924 he had said “One must swallow the impedi-ment through obedience”. And later on he impartedto friends who were advising him to leave theChurch: “Would it be logical for me, by breakingwith my Church, to impatiently strain the growth ofthe Christian branch in which, I am convinced, thesap of tomorrow’s religion is breaking forth? I am aprisoner of the Church because of the very viewswhich show me its insufficiencies.” It is only several

years after his death that some elements of histhought began to be seriously considered by a fewtheologians. First of all by Henri de Lubac, futurecardinal and his faithful friend, who wrote severalbooks in support of Teilhard’s thought demon-strating his orthodox Christianity. This bravecommitment did a lot to avert the risk of censureof the work that Teilhard’s opponents, influentialat the Curia, wanted to snatch from the magis-terium. It also loosened tongues and pens, espe-cially during the Second Vatican Council(1963-1965) of which many commentatorsacknowledge Teilhard’s indirect influence on thedrafting of a number of texts. This aspect wasabundantly recalled at the conference in Rome,especially in connection which the Constitutionon the Church in today’s world Gaudium et Spes,with the Constitution on the Church LumenGentium and even with the Constitution onRevelation Dei Verbum (which is less knownalbeit central to the work of this Vatican Council).After the Council, the wind having changed,many theologians began to quote Teilhard. In thatway Joseph Ratzinger wrote in a theological work,published for the first time in 1968 in Germanyand since then widely translated [1]:”In Jesus-Christ humanization’s process has really reached itsend…It is a great merit of Teilhard de Chardin tohave renewed the meaning of the relations of Christto mankind and by proceeding from the presentimage of the world to have on the whole rightlyunderstood them…and made them accessible again.”Then in 1981, year of the celebration at theUNESCO of the centenary of Teilhard’s birth, theVatican itself initiated a prudent change by send-ing the Apostolic Nuncio as its representative.

In June 1988, Pope John-Paul II came to thepoint of admitting that it is legitimate, and evennecessary, to take into account the new scientificunderstandings in order to renew theological lan-guage. And in October 1996, speaking to an audi-ence of scientists coming from all over the world,he did not hesitate to declare: “New knowledgeleads us today to recognize in the theory of evolution

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more than an assumption”.Well, is it not the devel-opment of the theory of evolution that broughtTeilhard to his vision of the world? And enabledhim to show how important was the spiritualdimension of this theory? And that the Christiancould see in it God’s action at work? Almost onecentury later, the Pope was making his own theTeilhardian thesis!

Yet the summit of this recognition - recognitionand not rehabilitation because we must insist:Teilhard was never condemned by the Church - ofits illustrious son who had been ignored for such along time was the great international Conferenceheld in Rome between the 21at and the 24thOctober 2004, at the Papal Gregorian University.It was presided over by Cardinal Paul Poupard, asa representative of John-Paul II. Before the twohundred members who had come from all overthe world to make an inventory of the scientific,theological and philosophical heritage left by Fr.Teilhard, Cardinal Poupard declared: “In his ownunrivalled way, Teilhard teaches us (as John-PaulII does in epigraph of the encyclical, “Fides etRatio”) how faith and reason are like two wingsallowing the human mind to rise towards the con-templation of truth”. In this way Teilhard officiallybecame a Christian thinker worthy of being stud-ied and taught!

Eventually the last and most significant devel-opments were the numerous references to Teilhardde Chardin’s thought that Benedict XVI madeduring his pontificate. In 2006 to begin with,during the first Easter vigil he presided, BenedictXVI gave a strikingly Teilhardian homily. In theseremarks he highlighted the universal and cosmicdimension of the Risen Christ: “Let us, for once,use the language of the theory of evolution and saythat the resurrection of Christ is the greatest “muta-tion”, the absolutely most decisive jump… that everhappened in the long history of life: a jump of a com-pletely new sort, concerning us and concerning thewhole of History.” Then, as he was giving anextemporaneous homily at the Cathedral in Aosteon the 27th July 2009, referring to the Eucharist,

understood as the world’s offering to the livingand vivifying God, he quoted Teilhard in an echoof The Mass on the World: “It is the great visionTeilhard de Chardin that in the end we will have areal universal liturgy in which the universe willbecome a living Eucharistic host”. At last, in hisbook Lumière du monde [2], as he was questionedabout the credibility of the Gospel narrative, espe-cially about the resurrection of Christ, heanswered: “[God] may have created, through the res-urrection, a new dimension of life. Beyond the bios-phere and the noosphere, as Teilhard de Chardinsaid, He may still have created a new sphere inwhich man and the world are but one with God”.Can we imagine a better definition of whatTeilhard precisely called the Christic?

The second conference that was recently held inRome, with the apostolic blessing of the HolyFather, is in keeping with this continuation.Whereas the 2004 Conference had been therecognition of the thinker and the Christian, the2012 Conference has made Teilhard’s thought asignificant dimension of the new evangelization.The question is not anymore to acknowledge thework but to make it serve the Church of Christ,to make it an asset in the spiritual struggle aheadof us. This aspect was emphasized at the confer-ence by the great convergence of the lecturers’points of view going beyond the differences andthe variety of their approach. The unifying andsynthetic ability of the Teilhardian vision wasextraordinary: it succeeded in assembling, in awonderful synergy, points of view that were verydifferent at the beginning. In order to realize this,be inspired by it and rediscover these remarkabletexts I cannot but advise our readers to acquire theofficial Acts of the Rome Conference (as soon asthey are published, towards the end of 2013) inwhich they will find all the lectures in theirentirety.

Thus, Benedict XVI has been the first popewho named Pierre Teilhard de Chardin in order torefer to him and honor him! What a strange des-tiny for a pope whom the media constantly

described as a conservative, refusing to see hisopen-mindedness and his modernity as a thinkerand a theologian. Because they keep on trying tomake the spiritual realities, particularly those ofthe Church, fit in with their notions borrowedfrom political language – right / left, conservative /progressive – the media condemn themselves tocompletely misunderstand a large part of reality,its very core, which is beyond this simplistic viewand has nothing to do with political accuracy. Bywillingly withdrawing from St. Peter’s seat beforehe could not rely anymore on his physical andintellectual capacities, Benedict XVI has just givento the world and to the Church another exampleof his great intelligence and no less great humility.What should the Catholic Church do today? Fr.Teilhard was wondering in 1954, in a letter toJeanne Mortier [3]. And he immediatelyanswered: “just present to the world the UniversalChrist she has been able (she and she alone) to gener-ate (to make explicit) during the last two millennia”.It seems to me that this is exactly what BenedictXVI has tried to do during his eight years as pope,through his teaching (three encyclical letters of anobvious Christological tone), through his preach-ing and through his very life in as much as itaccepted passivity in order to let himself descendinto Christ (what an extraordinary example hisrenunciation is); And on this road he could notbut meet Teilhard, The Teilhard of The DivineMilieu, of the Mass on the World and of The EverGreater Christ.

[1] Joseph RATZINGER, La foi chrétienne hieret aujourd’hui, Cerf, 2005, p. 159-160[2] BENOIT XVI, Lumière du monde, Bayard,

December 2010, p.220[3] Lettres à Jeanne Mortier, Seuil, 1984, p.163

Following Gérard Donnadieu’s examinationof renewed interest and recognition ofTeilhard’s thought within the Catholic Church,the following letter from an Associationmember highlights the long-standing commit-ment of so many to the vision of Teillhard.

Dear Pope Francis,

I am an 85 year old, retired United Methodistminister who, for about 50 years, has describedhimself as a Teilhardian. Since the mid 60s he hasbeen my spiritual, philosophical, scientific andsocial mentor and guide through his various pub-lished works.

As I am certain you well know, on orders fromthe Vatican, he was forbidden to publish, wasdenied prestigious academic positions in his nativeFrance and was exiled to live in other countries,especially for a long period in China. He died inNew York City on Easter Sunday, 1955, and isburied near there.

The passage of time has amply shown that hewas the preeminent Roman Catholic scientist andseer of the twentieth century.

I am writing to recommend that in whateverway is appropriate, you see that Pierre Teilhard deChardin, S.J. be recognized for his creative andmultifaceted contributions to our understandingof God, the entire created order and the work ofChrist in it. Please release Teilhard from the prisonin which the Roman Catholic Church has kepthim for more than seventy-five years.

On another note altogether, thank you fortaking the name Francis. Francis of Assisi is thepatron saint of millions of Christians, such as I,and non-Christians as well. A mall Statue of SaintFrancis with his “A Simple Prayer” and “TheCanticle of Creation,” has a prominent place on awall of our home.

Your servant in Christ,Richard C. Stazesky

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Teilhard de Chardin’s‘Planetary Mind’ and Our Spiritual

Evolution

We’re pleased to highlight this series of inter-views on the philosophy and contributions ofTeilhard de Chardin. This series was presented aspart of the NPR show “On Being” with KristaTippett (http://www.onbeing.org/). Here are a fewbrief selections from the three individuals inter-viewed: Ursula King, David Sloan Wilson, andAndrew Revkin. The full recordings of the inter-views and other related resources are availableonline at: http://www.onbeing.org/program/teil-hard-de-chardins-planetary-mind-and-our-spiritual-evolution/4965

As Teilhard wrote: “We do well to look at it(Earth) with emotion. Tiny and isolated thoughit is, it bears clinging to its flanks the destiny andfuture of the Universe.” (FOM, 114) Our chal-lenge now is to actualize an integral while multi-form and multicultural Earth community. Howcan we become planetary citizens as a movementtoward a sustainable future?

Krista Tippett, host: It’s a constant theme these days: Where is tech-

nology taking us? Are we heading towards great-ness, or just hyperconnected collapse? Thischallenge, our challenge, was foreseen a centuryago by Teilhard de Chardin.

A world-renowned paleontologist, he helpedverify fossil evidence of human evolution. A Jesuitpriest and philosopher, he penned forbidden ideasthat seemed mystical at the time but are nowcoming true — that humanity would developcapacities for collective, global intelligence; that ameaningful vision of the earth and the universewould have to include, as he put it, “the interior aswell as the exterior of things; mind as well asmatter.”

The coming stage of evolution, he said, won’tbe driven by physical adaptation but by humanconsciousness, creativity and spirit. It’s up to us.We visit Teilhard de Chardin’s biographer, and weexperience his ideas energizing New York TimesDot Earth blogger Andrew Revkin and evolution-ary biologist David Sloan Wilson.

David Sloan Wilson: The main thing he said, which is only now

becoming back in back in vogue, is that in onesense the origin of man was just another species,but in another sense we were an entirely new evo-lutionary process, and that made us in some waysas significant as the evolution of life.

Ursula King: The whole region of cyberspace, you see there

are some people who say Teilhard is the patronsaint of the World Wide Web. He somehow hadthis idea that we will intensify our communica-tion. But what are we doing; what do we do withit?

Andrew Revkin: There are the Kurzweils of the world who

talked about the singularity when they kind of seethe potential for this system to essentially becomemore powerful than we are. But I think what’smuch more powerful right now is this growingcapacity to collaboratively create things — andcollaboratively feel things and experience things asswell. It’s not just a function of computing power,there’s something else that’s going on.

Journey of the Universe Featured at theChautauqua Institution

Responses to Journey of the Universe from schol-ars of the world religions were a highlight of aconference titled Our Elegant Universe held inupstate New York at the Chautauqua Institutionfrom June 24-28, 2013. The ChautauquaInstitution is a leading educational center startedin 1874 that has hosted numerous intellectualsand artists over its long and distinguished history.

Journey of the Universe, inspired by the vision ofTeilhard and Thomas Berry, is a cosmologicalstory of the unfolding of the universe and Earth inwhich life and humans emerge. The film andbook were written by the ATA Vice-PresidentsBrian Swimme and Mary Evelyn Tucker and pro-duced by Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim.

Images and metaphors from the wisdom tradi-tions of the world religions and philosophies arewoven into Journey of the Universe. Indeed, thereare numerous affinities between the world reli-gions and Journey, some of which are described inthe papers that were delivered at the Chautauquaconference on Our Elegant Universe(http://www.ciweb.org/religion-lectures-week-one/). Moreover, the extensive work of the Forumon Religion and Ecology at Yale(http://www.yale.edu/religionandecology/) is alsoa complement to Journey of the Universe as both ofthese projects are concerned with our growingecological crises. As such they are trying to awakenhumans to recognize our dependence on nature’sremarkable complexity and to find a way forwardamidst the unraveling of ecosystems.

The participants in the Chautauqua conferenceincluded scholars of the world religions: MaryEvelyn Tucker, John Grim, Rabbi Larry Troster,Heather Eaton, Safei Eldin Hamed, DavidHaberman, Christopher Chapple, and JamesMiller. These talks are posted on the Journey of theUniverse website: http://www.journeyoftheuniverse.org/conference-at-chautauqua/

Notable Books and Articles

Our first review is of the latest published workof Peter Todd, the author of our most recentTeilhard Study: Teilhard and Other ModernThinkers on Evolution, Mind, and Matter. Forthose who may not yet have had a chance todigest this study, we include the abstract here:

Abstract: In his The Phenomenon of Man, PierreTeilhard de Chardin develops concepts of con-sciousness, the noosphere, and psychosocial evolu-tion. This paper explores Teilhard’s evolutionaryconcepts as resonant with thinking in psychologyand physics. It explores contributions from arche-typal depth psychology, quantum physics, andneuroscience to elucidate relationships betweenmind and matter. Teilhard’s work can be seen asadvancing this psychological lineage or psychogen-esis. That is, the evolutionary emergence of matterin increasing complexity from sub-atomic particlesto the human brain and reflective consciousnessleads to a noosphere evolving towards an Omegapoint. Teilhard’s central ideas provide intimationsof a numinous principle implicit in cosmologyand the discovery that in and through humanityevolution becomes not only conscious of itself butalso directed and purposive.

Todd, Peter B. The Individuation of God:Integrating Scienceand Religion. NewYork: ChironPublications, 2012.

Review by LeonardCruz, M.D.,, M.E.

Q u a n t u mmechanics, depthpsychology, and mys-ticism are blended inPeter Todd’s scholar-ship as he searchesfor a Third-Millennium Theology.Todd effectively strikes a blow to the The GodDelusion, Richard Dawkins’s enormously popular

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2006 book by highlighting that the God Dawkinsseeks to dismantle, a God infused with classicalNewtonian and neo-Darwinian ideas, has alreadybeen silenced and annihilated. Todd correctlypoints out that Dawkins completely ignores revo-lutionary ideas emerging from quantum mechan-ics high priests such as David Bohm (TheUndivided Universe), Erwin Schrödinger (What isLife?), and evolutionary biologists like McFadden,Al-Khalilili (A Quantum Mechanical Model ofAdaptive Mutation) who propose a quantummechanical model of evolution. One consequenceof Todd’s frequent reference to Dawkins is that itmay unintentionally promote The God Delusion.

During the twentieth century, under the bannerof process theology, various explorations of God’sattribute of being mutable were undertaken. TheIndividuation of God is at once a psychologicallywell-informed work and another contribution toprocess theology. Readers who are familiar withcertain bedrock ideas from quantum mechanicswill undoubtedly appreciate Todd’s grasp morethan those for whom ideas like quantum entangle-ment, or emergent phenomenon are entirely newconcepts. It may be helpful to explain some con-cepts and Wikipedia provides some succinctexplanations with suitable references (retrieved2/3/2013 )

Quantum entanglement is a form of quantumsuperposition. When a measurement is made andit causes one member of such a pair to take on adefinite value (e.g., clockwise spin), the othermember of this entangled pair will at any subse-quent time[6] be found to have taken the appro-priately correlated value (e.g., counterclockwisespin). Thus, there is a correlation between theresults of measurements performed on entangledpairs, and this correlation is observed even thoughthe entangled pair may have been separated byarbitrarily large distances.[7]In Quantum entan-glement, part of the transfer happens instanta-neously. [8]

Emergence is the way complex systems andpatterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively

simple interactions. Emergence is central to thetheories of integrative levels and of complex sys-tems.

The negentropy, also negative entropy,[1] of aliving system is the entropy that it exports to keepits own entropy low; it lies at the intersection ofentropy and life. (It is a measure of a systems ten-dency to move toward or sustain complexity andorder.)

Todd suggests that God and man are in anentangled state such that both God’s and man’sindividuation are inextricably bound and relianton one another for completion. This will strikemany Christians as antithetical and heretical, butit may provide process theologians a solid scien-tific basis for their claims.

The book’s first chapter, “The Case againstGod” summarizes the case Dawkins prosecutesagainst God in which he contends that belief in apersonal god constitutes a delusion. In “ReligiousFundamentalism as a Shadow”, Todd notes thatfundamentalism and the literalism it espouses is“One major challenge to the survival of human-ity…” . (p 21) The third chapter, “Mind andDirected Evolution” introduces the most revolu-tionary claims. Insofar as the quality of mind isrevealed even at the quantum level, Todd explainsthat biosystems may be viewed as quantum com-puters. As such, they are capable of evaluatinginfinite probability states, and through naturalselection, efficiently choosing evolutionarychanges that are useful for survival. If for exam-ple, the mutation of the HIV retrovirus involvessomething other than random events, thenhumankind’s collective conscious response may beunderstood as a “metaphorical quantum entangle-ment between the developed and developingworlds…that transcends the confines of national-ism and economic self-interest…” (p48).

In the chapter titled “Consciousness as anOrganizing Principle” the author decries spiritualmaterialism, secularism, and the religion of thestate for their ability to support a “God of insects”

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(p82), wherein spirit and numinosity is repressedand no individuality exists like with beehives orant colonies. This conception of God has menac-ing effects upon the planet and its resources. Inthe totalitarian states especially, “…no individual-ity exists … the individuation process is repressedso that personal self-identity is subsumed to amindless devotion to the state …”. Depth psy-chology, theology, and the numinous qualities ofarchetypal symbols illuminate how man’s concep-tion of God can evolve beyond a transitionalobject.

The last two chapters, “Myth, Symbol, andTransformation” and “A Third-MillenniumTheology” challenge conventional understandingof time’s arrow and reintroduce the numinous inan effort to propose a theology for our currentmillennium. Todd is not suggesting a third-mil-lennium theology as some completed endpoint.However, he seems to be mindful of the simulta-neous threats of thermonuclear warfare, chemical& biological weapons, natural resource depletion,and global warming. These are more dangerous ifhumanity remains fixed in the mindset of religiousfundamentalism, classical Newtonian mechanics,or neo-Darwinian orthodoxy.

The Individuation of God inquires about time andthe illusion of time’s arrow. Todd invokesSchrödinger’s reference to the “tyranny of Chronos” inconsidering the indestructibility of the mind. TheGreek New Testament uses two words for time,Chronos (Χρόνος) and Kairos (καιρός). Kairos isthe indeterminate time, often discovered in the liminalrealm, when something special happens. It can bethought of as the emergent moment, the eternal now,or the realm where the illusion of time’s arrow is tran-scended.

In the end, The Individuation of God is a valiantand well-informed effort to integrate modern sci-ence, psychology, and theology. The Individuationof God successfully interweaves an expansive list ofsources. In the last chapter His Holiness the DalaiLama is quoted, “If science proves some belief ofBuddhism wrong, then Buddhism will have to

change.” (p141). And from Einstein’s essay, “TheWorld as I See It” he quotes, “The most beautifulexperience we can have is the mysterious.” Wearrive at some intriguing conclusions that“Without psyche there would be no theory toexplain the outlines and patterns discovered byscience.” (p150) In the course of God becomingfully human through the incarnation, arises acorollary and possibility, that humanity is becom-ing divine. This is in perfect alliance with Jung’snotion of Christ as a symbol of the coniunctio, forChrist reconciles opposites.

The evolution of God and the evolution of mancannot be separated. There is a trajectory ofhumanity’s conception of God that began with amythopoetic, animistic experience of the divine.This trajectory later traverses the epochs in whichomnipotent, often patriarchal Olympian or OldTestament deities reigned with ferocity and aloof-ness. And this arrives at a “…three-hundred-year-old schism between science and religion” (p160)that yielded a demythologized, annihilated god.Peter Todd’s third millennium theology, may pro-vide a path of return to the Garden of Eden. Thisthird millennium theology is characterized by adeep appreciation for the entangled state of ourinner and outer life, of I and Thou, and of thephysical and the numinous. This theology bringsman’s evolving notion of God full circle where it isonce more infused with myths and symbols. Inthis regard, depth psychology and Jung’s seem-ingly unfathomable explorations continue toenrich us.

At times it may appear at times that Todd toooften refers to ideas previously mentioned, butthis is necessary since many topics are likely to beunfamiliar. The frequent invocation of RichardDawkins’s The God Delusion, makes TheIndividuation of God, appear to be a disputation ofDawkins. This is a small shortcoming, of thisbook but The Individuation of God deserves tostand alone with Dawkins relegated to a footnoteand bibliographic reference.

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Holt, Jim. Why Does the World Exist? AnExistential Detective Story. New York:Liveright, 2012.

Review by Charles D. Matthews

Jim Holt of NewYorker and NewYork Times Reviewof Books fame haswritten a New YorkTimes Top 10 Bookof the Year that isalso a popular final-ist for the NationalBook Critics CircleAward in non fic-tion recounting as itdoes Mr. Holt’sengaging interviewswith the world’sgreat thinkers in thefields of math, physics, artificial intelligence, the-ology, philosophy and literature all of whom areasked to share their thoughts on the “ultimatequestion:” Why is there something rather thannothing?

With engaging elegant and witty references tohistorical scholarship mixed with poignantremembrances of the author’s own recent loss ofhis dog and witness to his mother’s “infinitesimaltransition from being to nothingness” we willinglyand enjoyably travel along with Mr. Holt toPittsburg, Austin, Greenwich Village, NorthOxford, London and Paris, meet some of theintellectual giants of our time and are ultimatelypulled along to the ultimate conclusion that the“ultimate question” remains for most ultimatelyunknown and, for now, ultimately unknowable.

For all the pleasure the book affords, however, itwas disappointing that Mr. Holt did not give atleast a passing reference to Teilhard deChardin, aman who was not only a prolific writer, a priest,and a besieged but unremitting early champion ofevolution but a man possessed of impeccable sci-entific credentials who made it his lifetime’s work

to respond to Mr. Holt’s “ultimate question” andin doing so concluded that the world exists so thatwe who live in it can evolve, become more Christlike and ultimately converge – enfold if you will –in both science and faith, at the same incarnatepoint, and become one in God.

Haught, John. Science and Faith: A NewIntroduction. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2013.http://www.paulistpress.com/Products/4806-6/science-and-faith.aspx

Review by Ursula King, Institute for AdvancedStudies University of Bristol, England

John Haught has managed to create an imagi-nary, provocative dialogue where severalspokespersons argue either for or against differentpositions about science and faith whether there

exists conflict, con-trast or convergencebetween them. Hisbook represents amasterly summary ofsophisticated debatesin very accessibleform.

It opens one’s eyesto the complexdepths of reality andconvincingly provesthat there is stillplenty of room for

theology in an age of science. But it also showsthat now, when we are faced with an immenseevolutionary journey that is still going on and fullof promise, theology requires fresh expression inthe light of transformative scientific knowledge.Readers are invited to become participants in theongoing dialogue and will enjoy the lively debatesand critical reflections offered here. Full of strongarguments, helpful explanations and wise guid-ance, this inspiring book will be of enormous ben-efit to college students and anyone trying to workout their own answers to deeply troubling ques-tions about science and faith in a fast changingworld.

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Emergent Universe OratorioPremiere, Sunday September 15, 3pm

Shelburne Farms, Shelburne Vermont

SAMUEL GUARNACCIA, compositionCAMERON DAVIS, visual art

The Emergent Universe Oratorio is an hour and half long choral and chamberorchestra composition co-presented with visual art conceived in response to thecurrent unfolding scientific cosmology as presented in the 2011 documentary

Journey of the Universe.

The Emergent Universe Oratorio premiere will held in the unique Breeding Barn atShelburne Farms, Vermont, a National Historic Trust building which was at one-time the largest open span wooden structure in America. Shelburne Farms is a

1400-acre working farm, and nonprofit environmental education center located onthe shores of Lake Champlain.

The Oratorio Premiere is co-hosted by collaborative partners Shelburne Farms and All Souls Interfaith Gathering. It is a project of 2020 Strategies,

is supported by grants from the Argosy Foundation, the Puffin Foundation,and sponsored by the American Teilhard Association.

Free and open to the publicDonations at the door will be gratefully accepted.

For more information visit www.samguarnaccia.com or call 802-734-0279

Devi Prayer (Hymn to the Divine Mother) by Cameron DavisOriginal painting is 66” x 60” acrylic on canvas

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Teilhard PerspectiveSpring/Summer 2013ISSN 0741-4250

American Teilhard Associationc⁄o The Spirituality Institute

Iona College715 North Avenue

New Rochelle, NY 10801

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Teilhard Perspective

We welcome suggestions of relevant ideas, books, news, events and contributions of articles for this newsletter.The editor is Tara Trapani, Yale University. The Teilhard Perspective newsletter along with the biannual TeilhardStudies pamphlet and Annual Meeting notices are available through membership. Please contact us at: AmericanTeilhard Association, c/o John Grim, 29 Spoke Drive, Woodbridge, CT 06525. Annual membership is $35.

The Association President is Dr. John Grim, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University,195 Prospect Street, New Haven CT 06520. Email john.grim@yale.edu. Vice Presidents are Dr. Mary EvelynTucker, maryevelyn.tucker@yale.edu, and Dr. Brian Swimme, California Institute for Integral Studies, 1453Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103. For Publications and other information, please email Tara Trapani at:tcmk@aya.yale.edu.

American Teilhard Association, Thomas Berry, and Journey of the Universe WebsitesAt the new ATA site www.teilharddechardin.org can be found a Biography, List of Writings, Pictures and

Quotes, Life Timeline, ATA Events, Teilhard Studies with first page, recent full Teilhard Perspectives,Membership info, Links, and a Brian Swimme interview on Teilhard.

The Thomas Berry site www.thomasberry.org offers a Biography by Mary Evelyn Tucker, a John Grim essay:“Time, History, Historians in Thomas Berry’s Vision,” Writings by Thomas Berry, comments on his The GreatWork, Films about or inspired by, and a List of Books.

A new site www.journeyoftheuniverse.org introduces this title film, book and educational series by BrianSwimme, Mary Evelyn Tucker, John Grim, and an advisory board to carry forward in multimedia fashion theinspiration of Pierre Teilhard and Thomas Berry.

Non-Profit Org.U.S. PostagePAID

Hagerstown, MDPermit No. 208

TEILHARD PERSPECTIVE is published by the American Teilhard Association, a non-profit organiza-tion whose goals are to explore philosophical, scientific, religious, social and environmental concerns in lightof Teilhard’s vision and the role of the human phenomenon in this emerging understanding of the cosmos.