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1 PART ONE AUTHOR’S INTRODUCTION T hough frightened for a moment by evolution, the Christian now perceives that what it offers is nothing but a magnificent means of feeling more at one with God and of giving oneself more to him. In a pluralistic and static Nature , the universal domination of Christ could, strictly speaking , still be regarded as an extrinsic and super-imposed power. In a spiritually converging world this “Christic” energy acquires an urgency and intensity of another order altogether. . . . Christ invests himself organically with the very majesty of creation. And it is in no way metaphorical to say that the human finds him/herself capable of experiencing and discovering God in the whole length, breadth and depth of the world in movement. To be able to say literally to God that one loves him, not only with all one’s body, all one’s heart, all one’s soul, but with every fiber of the unifying universe—that is a prayer that can only be made in space-time. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin I work as a secretary in Manaus, a large city in the Amazon area of Brazil. When I step out of my apartment in the morning, I step into a thick haze of smoke. My doctor tells me that I have a serious respiratory infection from breathing all this bad air. The papers tell us that the rainforest is burning this year as it never did before. They say that in some places even the lakes are on fire. We have had the worst drought in twenty-five years, and this has caused many trees to dry out and be vulnerable to fire. In addition, the government continues to pay people to slash and burn their land, cut down the tropical trees, and use the land for farming. The farmers soon find out that the soil lasts only several years, and then they have nothing. But we never seem to learn. Now they tell me that El Niño is going to bring even more droughts and make things even worse. It is very discouraging. Selena Casara, Manaus, Brazil 2 Ilia Delio, O.S.F. On Christmas Eve 1968, the first astronauts in orbit around the moon appeared live on television. Frank Borman read the opening verses of Genesis: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the water. And God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.” Borman concluded his message with: “Greetings from the crew of Apollo 8. God bless all of you on the good earth.” Borman and his crew were the first people to see the beauty of the earth as a blue and white gem spinning in the vastness of space, and the reading of Genesis seemed an appropriate response.1 The photograph of the planet earth, reprinted in all the major magazines, triggered immense awe as people marveled at the tiny blue marble-like globe suspended in space. What could not be seen, however, was the excessive pollution and violence that has damaged and continues to damage the face of the earth. Nor could the astronauts’ photograph capture the dynamism of the universe in which planet earth is embedded, an expanding, evolutionary universe, composed of millions of galaxies . The only visible beauty of the photograph was the picture of earth as a unified whole, as if a single note of music was written in the vast corners of space. Creation is a mystery. How it came into existence, why it is here are questions that scientists struggle to answer today. The Bible provides stories of creation that form the basis of Christian belief. It speaks of a Creator God and of harmony and order in the universe; however, it neither tells us how creation came into existence nor how it maintains its existence apart from its dependency on God. Because these questions intrigue both scientists and theologians alike, they comprise the basis of a lively discussion today in the areas of religion and science. Our intention here is not to examine the details of creation but to highlight insights from the Franciscan tradition on the meaning of creation and the relationship of humans to creation. Francis ofAssisi has been known for centuries as a lover of nature and creatures. In 1980 Pope John Paul II named...

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