Teilhard de Chardin and Scientific Cosmology

Transcription

1 Teilhard de Chardin and Scientific Cosmology Gerard Hall SM A Judaeo-Christian Worldview? Trying to piece together a Judaeo-Christian view of humanity and creation is no easy task. Earlier generations simply accepted the biblical cosmology of a static, three-tiered universe with the earth at the centre, the heavens above (where God dwelled) and the underworld (place of Satan and the evil powers). The human had a fixed place within this universe as the pinnacle of divine creation and this was usually read as being "master" of the earth and all its resources. Since the sixteenth century, this cosmology 1 P age

2 has been radically challenged, indeed overturned, by the findings of modern science. We need only think of such names as Copernicus and Galileo (the earth is no longer the centre of the universe), or Kepler and Newton (the movement of planets occurs according to elliptical orbits and gravitational forces). Subsequent studies in astrophysics demonstrate that our planet, solar system and galaxy are but a minor dot on the sea of an immense universe. The new evolutionary and dynamic understanding of this universe demands that we rethink our concepts of God, humanity and the whole created order. This much is clear. The fixed model of a hierarchical and patriarchal universe ruled by God, the Supreme Being, who sits on top of the pyramid over all other beings is a flawed model. Moreover, such a model has been used and continues to be used to legitimate one-sided power relationships. God's power over creation translates into men's dominance of women, aristocratic oppression of peasants, human destruction of nature, white cultural supremacy over brown and black peoples, etc. It is not only our theories that need to be changed. Our fundamental praxis of human 2 Gerard Hall SM: Teilhard de Chardin & Scientific Cosmology

3 interrelatedness and human relatedness to God and the world needs to be radically transformed. In particular, the new scientific cosmology questions a static model of creation as something that God did "in the beginning". Such a God becomes the great clockmaker or grand designer who now sits back in some nontemporal realm divorced from day-to-day human and earthly affairs. Ironically, such a deistic view of God and mechanistic view of the world are being challenged as much from scientific as from theological perspectives. One has only to think of twentieth century thinkers as Einstein (relativity theory), Hubble (theory of an expanding universe) and Heisenberg (principle of indeterminacy) to acknowledge a dynamic, immanent, non-measurable, spiritual principle within the universe itself. Teilhard de Chardin and the Cosmic Christ In theological terms, the divine, human and cosmic dimensions of reality are intertwined in one dynamic, ongoing, creative event. It was the mastermind of Teilhard de Chardin in this century to link traditional theological claims with new scientific understandings. He did this through his reflections on the "cosmic Christ" whom he saw as the immanent principle of the evolving cosmos, the divine energy that creates and sustains the universe--and who will bring it to completion. Christ is not an external power governing the universe from outside--neither as clockmaker nor lawgiver--but the innate principle of the universe's own dynamic processes. Teilhard's cosmic Christ is the unifying power of love within the universe through which matter is transformed into spirit. Within this universe, the human is still the pinnacle of creation, but this is not because 3 Gerard Hall SM: Teilhard de Chardin & Scientific Cosmology

4 of some external, divine decree. Nor does humanity "rule over" the earth and its creatures as some type of arbitrary task-master. Rather, within the evolutionary processes of life, conscious existence represents a "genetic threshold". In turn, this "matter-come-to-consciousness" reaches its own climactic point in the Incarnation. Here, Teilhard builds on Pauline images of the cosmic Christ who is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end, of the entire created order (see Colossians 1:15ff.; Ephesians 1:9ff.). Teilhard's vision has been variously critiqued as too poetical or mystical. Critics suggest that it is insufficiently attentive to the social, political and economic realities of a world threatened by nuclear destruction, environmental devastation and materialistic greed. Moreover, it remains anthropocentric: the human being is primarily defined in terms of superiority over nature rather than in interdependence with it. Teilhard's vision also seems to assume what we can call the "myth of progress" when, in reality, life on earth is for most of its inhabitants a downward spiral of health and living standards rather than a progressive movement upwards. Also, Teilhard's vision of divine love as the principle of life, although firmly based on Judaeo-Christian ideals, does not adequately dirty its hands with the hard demands of peace, equality and justice. 4 Gerard Hall SM: Teilhard de Chardin & Scientific Cosmology

5 Nonetheless, we must acknowledge that the Teilhardian worldview takes us significant steps along the way of dialogue between theology and science. It says that, to be Christian, one does not have to ignore the insights of modern science (one does not need to be a 'creationist'). It also critiques certain attitudes to the world attitudes that saw the 'world' and material things as essentially evil that have plagued Christians and other religious thinkers throughout the ages. Moreover, it is to Teilhard's credit that he reinstates the Judaeo-Christian God of the Scriptures within an evolutionary vision of creation. God is no longer to be conceived as a transcendent reality at a distance from the human and created order, for this God is the very heart and centre the divine immanent principle of the creative processes of the universe. Popular Translated Works by Teilhard de Chardin SJ Christianity and Evolution. Harvest Book, The Divine Milieu. Harper Perennial Modern Classics, The Future of Man. Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc., The Heart of the Matter. Harvest Books, The Phenomenon of Man. Harper Perennial Modern Classics, Gerard Hall SM: Teilhard de Chardin & Scientific Cosmology

6 Readable Works on Teilhard de Chardin SJ Ilia Delio. Christ in Evolution. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, The Emergent Christ: Exploring the Meaning of Catholic in an Evolutionary Universe. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, Making All Things New: Catholicity, Cosmology, Consciousness. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, Personal Transformation and a New Creation. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, This short article by Gerard Hall on Teilhard de Chardin & Scientific Cosmology was used for teaching the successful Science & Religion Course Award, Centre for Theology and Natural Sciences, University of California, It was taught on the Brisbane Campus of Australian Catholic University in the early to mid- 2000s. The award was co-won and the course co-taught on several occasions by Drs Brian Kelty and Gerard Hall. The bibliography has been renewed. GH 5/10/18 6 Gerard Hall SM: Teilhard de Chardin & Scientific Cosmology