Philosophy of Religion

Christianity and Evolution

♡+

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

1971

Christianity and Evolution collects Teilhard de Chardin's theological essays written between 1920 and 1950 — many circulated privately during his lifetime because Church authorities would not permit their publication. The essays address the central theological challenge of his thought: how to reconceive Christian doctrine — creation, the Fall, original sin, the redemption, the Incarnation — in the light of an evolutionary understanding of the universe. Teilhard argues that traditional theology framed these doctrines against a static, fixed cosmic backdrop; evolution requires them to be rethought in terms of process, emergence, and convergence. Original sin cannot mean a historical fall from perfection; the Incarnation must be understood as the universe becoming personal; redemption must mean the transformation of creation rather than rescue from it. These essays are more speculative and theologically adventurous than his published works, and essential for understanding his mature position.