TEILHARD 2005: RETROSPECTS AND PROSPECTS

In this 50th anniversary year of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s passing, we first review his life and then his unique synthesis of Christian doctrine with an evolutionary cosmos. In so doing, a 20th scientific materialism which leads to a pointless universe and evolution is contrasted with new understandings of a cosmic genesis that innately grows in animate complexity, consciousness and spirit, as Teilhard foresaw. Teilhard 2005 conferences at the United Nations are next noted, along with a history of the American Teilhard Association. We conclude with some thoughts on science and religion, and a glimpse of a 21st century Teilhardian vision