The political and philosophical implications of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s thought

This thesis is concerned with the consequences of the thought of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin for Christian social philosophy. Teilhard de Chardin, a Jesuit paleontologist, has of late gained the attention of the academic community because of his reformulation of the traditional Christian understanding of the meaning of existence. This reinterpretation of the meaning of existence is expressed in terms of Teilhard de Chardin's ideas concerning the physical evolution of life towards a transcendent teleological principle; or if you will, it is also transmitted in terms of his advocacy of a phenomenology of history not unlike the Hegelian philosophy of history. Moreover, Teilhard retains a dimension to his thought that is entirely personal, and beyond the permissibility of public intervention. Therefore, he guards against "the totalitarian threat". Finally, it might be said that Teilhard does not violate orthodox Christian doctrine in elaborating his position. In the reworking of the Christian world-view, he makes the doctrine more meaningful for modern man