Book Description

“Pierre Teilhard de Chardin is one of those unusual men who fit no mold and cannot be easily labeled. A complex and brilliant thinker, he had a simple and mystical faith. A Frenchman who loved his homeland, he spent most of his life in China because he was not allowed by his superiors to teach in French. As a Jesuit priest he held views on creation and evolution considered highly suspect and unorthodox, yet he submitted humbly to his order’s prohibition against teaching or publishing during his lifetime. His profession-palaeontology-called on him to study the past, but the greater portion of his thinking and writing has to do with the future-the future of man and society. Teilhard de Chardin is one of the few modern thinkers who have tried to integrate all phenomena into one system. His first book, The Phenomenon of Man, published after his death, took the reading public by storm because of its vast sweep and bold attempt to create a complex and cosmic system from both a scientific and a Christian point of view. Doran McCarty’s treatment of Teilhard covers all the important aspects of his life and thought. Here you will find discussions of Teilhard’s views on the nature of God, the nature of man, the structure of reality, creation and evolution, democracy and totalitarianism. Here too are explanations of his unique terminology, including centreism, withinness, Christogenesis, Christophere,noosphere, the Omega Point. Dr. McCarty presents Teilhard’s ideas in more traditional terms, while still remaining faithful to the original complexity and terminology. This is especially important since Teilhard never had a chance to refine his thought against the reaction and criticism of the scholarly world. Dr. McCarty’s treatment is an excellent introduction for the person who wants to know more about Teilhard, as well as being a useful and important study of this unique and influential thinker.”- Publisher