Science and Faith in Teilhard de Chardin, Evolution, Marxism and Christianity (review)

672 BOOK REVIEWS Science and Faith in Teilhard de Chardin. The Teilhard Study Library, vol. 1. New York: Humanities Press, 1967. Pp. 109. $3.00. Evolution, Marxism and Chri.stianity. The Teilhard Study Library, vol. 2. New York: Humanities Press, 1967. Pp. llO. $3.00. There have been at least three phases in tlle promulgation, study, and influence of the philosophical and religious writings of the Jesuit priestpaleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Before the Second Vatican Council, Tcilhard was known through The Phenomenon of Man and The Divine L"tfilieu, and some of his unpublished essays were in the hands of European and Canadian theologians. During and immediately after the Council, in a second phase, there were two developments. :Most importantly , Teilhard's iJeas influenced several of the Council periti and are apparent in some of the Council documents, particularly in the Pa.storal Constitution on the Church in the "\fodern World. At the same time, Teilhard's name and some of his ideas, distorted and undistorted, became a rallying point for the renewd enthusiasm of many Catholics; Teilhard became a fad. In a third phase, two more things happened. Serious general studies of Teilhard's thought began to appear, among them Henri de Lubac's The Religion of Teilhard de Chardin (i\cw York: Desclee, 1967) and Teilhard de Chardin: The Man and His Meaning (i\ew York: Hawthorne, 1965), Christopher Mooney's Teilhard de Chm·din and The Jlystery of Christ (New York: Harper & Row, 1967), and Emile Rideau's The Thought of Teilhard de Chardin (New York: Harper & Row, 1957). And the thought of Teilhard began to have a quite visible impact on Christian thought and especially on theology. Almost all contemporary Catholic theology of original sin is derivative of a fe,Y key ideas of Teilhard's, and almost every effort today to rethink the mystery of creation in terms of an evolutionary world view is heavily dependent on Teilhard's vision. To what degree new emphases in Karl Rahner's theology depend on Teilhard, to what extent Teilhard's influence has contributed to the " theology of hope" current and to the new strong stress on eschatology, how much Teilhardian thought is behind new directions in Catholic spiritual theology -all this can only be guessed at; but certainly Teilhard's influence has been great and widespread. A fourth period is beginning in Teilhard studies. Most of Teilhard's philosophical and theological works are now in print, and there have been a number of general studies of Teilhard that have laid the groundwork for further work. What is beginning to take place is this: at the same time that Teilhard's impact on Christian thought, particularly Catholic theology, is becoming even greater, there are at present underway several studies of Teilhard's thought according to special areas. There are, for example, at BOOK REVIEWS 673 least five doctoral dissertations being written on different aspects of his ethical theory. One work that treats a special theme in Teilhard's thought has already appeared, The One and the Many, by Donald Gray (New York: Herder and Herder, 1969). There are sure to be many other studies that treat of special questions in Teilhard's writings-his idea of God, his ecclesiology, his theology of prayer-and that relate his ideas to present. philosophical and theological activity. The two books reviewed here are properly situated between phases two and three; they are, in part, a product of the now passing fad for Teilhardiana, and they serve as an introduction to Teilhard's work and a guide to its implications. They arc made up of lectures given at the first annual conference of The Pierre Teilhard de Chardin Association of Great Britain and Ireland held in London in 1966. The first volume consists of three essays by Claude Cuenot and a short piece by Roger Garaudy. Cuenot's three lectures-expanded-into-essays are eoncemcd with Teilhard's spirituality, his integration of science and religion, and the over-all structure of his thought. The first presents Teilhard's spiritual doctrine as an answer to the needs of young people who, in Cuenot's analysis, seek a Christian rationale for their will to effective...