The Cosmic Vision of Teilhard de Chardin

Though the current world crises are overwhelming in their number and complexity, many of these challenges have something in common. Climate change, combatting COVID, and social media’s religious content misinformation all contain clashes between religion and science. Uniting these two clashing forces to face global challenges and find hope is imperative. Trailblazers in this endeavor include, among others, Al Gore, Francis Collins, and Pope Francis. All were influenced by Jesuit scientist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. So, of course, going back to this source of their inspiration would be invaluable. Authors like John F. Haught agree, as they provide new takes on Teilhard de Chardin’s genius. Haught’s recent book, The Cosmic Vision of Teilhard de Chardin deftly outlines Teilhard de Chardin’s scientific and religious-based writings featuring an ever-growing cosmos. Using Teilhard de Chardin’s “lines of thought” (xvii), Haught’s text provides a fascinating viewpoint from which to discuss the future of the universe.

Haught, a theologian, authored numerous publications about cosmology, evolutionary biology, geology, and Christianity. The Cosmic Vision thoughtfully and carefully examines topics through the lens of Teilhard de Chardin’s vision while allowing readers to form their own conclusions. Subjects include evolution and creationism, religion’s changes, morality, suffering, and ecology.

Spiritual directors and those in similar roles are urged to pay attention to not only an individual’s spiritual path but also “the coming to fulfillment of an entire cosmic history” (88). Teilhard de Chardin discusses intrinsic individual growth as part of the expansion of the whole universe. Along these lines, Haught points out how Teilhard de Chardin extends a hand to those who long for “more” but cannot reconcile the existence of a god. He writes, “The majority of scientifically educated people has given up on such a project, settling into their impressions that the immense universe of contemporary natural science has outgrown … the idea of God…” (84). However, Haught goes on to show, through Teilhard de Chardin’s ideas, how readers can reshape their ideas about religion to allow for contemporary thought.

Through The Cosmic Vision of Teilhard de Chardin, Haught outlines Teilhard de Chardin’s insights, opening up possibilities for approaching both present and future global adversities. Human beings do not simply observe and interact with their environment. They are an integral part of the “becoming more” of the entire universe. Therefore, readers are empowered as they understand their place in a natural world filled with a force of love—what Christians and other religions call God. As physicist William H. Bragg famously said during a lecture he gave at Cornell University in 1919, “Sometimes people ask if religion and science are not opposed to one another. They are: in the sense that the thumb and fingers of my hands are opposed to one another. It is an opposition by means of which anything can be grasped.” Perhaps today, that “anything” can be hope.