---
title: "Pierre Teilhard de Chardin"
chunk: 11/14
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Teilhard_de_Chardin"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:34:12.127004+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

==== Theology ====
Smith believes that since Teilhard affirms that "God creates evolutively", he denies the Book of Genesis, not only because it attests that God created man, but that he created him in his own image, thus perfect and complete, then that man fell, that is to say the opposite of an ascending evolution. That which is metaphysically and theologically "above" - symbolically speaking - becomes for Teilhard "ahead", yet to come; even God, who is neither perfect nor timeless, evolves in symbiosis with the World, which Teilhard, a resolute pantheist, venerates as the equal of the Divine. As for Christ, not only is he there to activate the wheels of progress and complete the evolutionary ascent, but he himself evolves..

==== New religion ====
As he wrote to a cousin: "What dominates my interests increasingly is the effort to establish in me and define around me a new religion (call it a better Christianity, if you will)...", and elsewhere: "a Christianity re-incarnated for a second time in the spiritual energies of Matter". The more Teilhard refines his theories, the more he emancipates himself from established Christian doctrine: a "religion of the earth" must replace a "religion of heaven". By their common faith in Man, he writes, Christians, Marxists, Darwinists, materialists of all kinds will ultimately join around the same summit: the Christic Omega Point.

=== Lucien Cuénot ===
Lucien Cuénot, the biologist who proved that Mendelism applied to animals as well as plants through his experiments with mice, wrote: "Teilhard's greatness lay in this, that in a world ravaged by neurosis he provided an answer to out modern anguish and reconciled man with the cosmos and with himself by offering him an "ideal of humanity that, through a higher and consciously willed synthesis, would restore the instinctive equilibrium enjoyed in ages of primitive simplicity."

== Legacy ==
Brian Swimme wrote "Teilhard was one of the first scientists to realize that the human and the universe are inseparable. The only universe we know about is a universe that brought forth the human."
George Gaylord Simpson named the most primitive and ancient genus of true primate, the Eocene genus Teilhardina.
On June 25, 1947 Teilhard was honored by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs for "Outstanding services to the intellectual and scientific influence of France" and was promoted to the rank of Officer in the Legion of Honor. In 1950, Teilhard was elected a member of the French Academy of Sciences.

=== Influence on arts and culture ===
Teilhard and his work continue to influence the arts and culture.

Characters based on Teilhard appear in several novels, including Jean Telemond in Morris West's The Shoes of the Fisherman (mentioned by name and quoted by Oskar Werner playing Fr. Telemond in the movie version of the novel).
In Dan Simmons' 1989–97 Hyperion Cantos, Teilhard de Chardin has been canonized a saint in the far future.
His work inspires the anthropologist priest character, Paul Duré. When Duré becomes Pope, he takes Teilhard I as his regnal name.
Teilhard appears as a minor character in the play Fake by Eric Simonson, staged by Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 2009, involving a fictional solution to the infamous Piltdown Man hoax.
There is a broad range of references to Teilhard ranging from quotations, as when an auto mechanic cites Teilhard in Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly to philosophical underpinning of an entire plot, as Teilhard's work does in Julian May's 1987–94 Galactic Milieu Series.

Teilhard also plays a major role in Annie Dillard's 1999 For the Time Being.
Teilhard is mentioned by name and the Omega Point briefly explained in Arthur C. Clarke's and Stephen Baxter's The Light of Other Days.
The title of the short story Everything That Rises Must Converge and the eponymous story collection by Flannery O'Connor is a reference to Teilhard's work.
The American novelist Don DeLillo's 2010 novel Point Omega borrows its title and some of its ideas from Teilhard de Chardin.
Robert Wright, in his book Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny, compares his own naturalistic thesis that biological and cultural evolution are directional and, possibly, purposeful, with Teilhard's ideas.
Teilhard's work also inspired philosophical ruminations by Italian laureate architect Paolo Soleri and Mexican writer Margarita Casasús Altamirano
Robert Hamblin's book of poems, Dust and Light (Ars Omnia Press, 2012), treats Teilhard's life and work.
In artworks:

French painter Alfred Manessier's L'Offrande de la terre ou Hommage à Teilhard de Chardin
American sculptor Frederick Hart's acrylic sculpture The Divine Milieu: Homage to Teilhard de Chardin.
A sculpture of the Omega Point by Henry Setter, with a quote from Teilhard de Chardin, can be found at the entrance to the Roesch Library at the University of Dayton.
The Spanish painter Salvador Dalí was fascinated by Teilhard de Chardin and the Omega Point theory. His 1959 painting The Ecumenical Council is said to represent the "interconnectedness" of the Omega Point.
Edmund Rubbra's 1968 Symphony No. 8 is titled Hommage à Teilhard de Chardin.
The Embracing Universe, an oratorio for choir and 7 instruments, composed by Justin Grounds to a libretto by Fred LaHaye saw its first performance in 2019. It is based on the life and thought of Teilhard de Chardin.
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