Louis M. Savary - Teilhard de Chardin on Morality: Living in an Evolving World

M ODERN SCIENCE , evolutionary theories, and innovative technology have significantly expanded our intellectual horizons. Scientific findings continue to offer new insights into the mysteries of our universe and ourselves. For people of faith, such new knowledge helps reveal deeper truths about the wonder-filled world that God created for us. This is the evolving world we were given to manage responsibly. The flow of new knowledge also provides a constantly expanding foundation for our spiritual and moral lives.

This book sets out to explain the ethical thinking of French Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (18811955). Hopefully, it will help people reframe and reshape their conscience in light of evolving contemporary knowledge. We have come to realize that Earth is far more than a waiting room for heaven, as many believers in previous generations were taught.

Today, we are challenged to recognize Earth in many new ways: as a giant workplace where we learn to assemble and create our future; as a laboratory where we can explore and test our new ideas; as a stage on which to perform our roles and live out our lifes purpose; as a family home where we grow in love and compassion; as a classroom and school of experience and self-development; as a playground of wonders to delight and inspire us; as a cosmic neighborhood of exotic planets yet to visit; and as a sacred space provided by God to nurture our spirits. Yes, it is all of them at the same time!

Morally, we are called today to think in cosmic dimensions, yet never to forget the little everyday acts of thoughtfulness and caring that form the staple diet of normal human existence. As scientific film director James Marsh stated, We dont need cosmic alibis to absolve us from our daily responsibilities and moral choices.

Each year, we continue to comprehend more and more how our universe came to exist and how sentient life has been evolving on Earth over the past billion years or so. Scientific discoveries have overturned many traditional beliefs about our planet, our solar system, our galaxy, our universe, and the emergence of humans. Until very recently, much of our moral lives and many of our ethical decisions had been based on more traditional beliefs about the age, size, and makeup of the cosmos, as well as the origins of humanity. Many of these beliefs are at least 400some even more than 2,400years old. Teilhard brings us up to date.

In his writings, Teilhard was the first to integrate what we have learned from modern science and evolutionary theory in ways that resonate with Christian theology. For him, the facts and the theological implications of evolution must influence the ways people live out their moral lives. In these pages, we take Teilhards lead and look at todays ethical challenges regarding an evolving universe, an evolving planet, and an evolving human species.

I have spent the past forty years of my life presenting the remarkable insights of this Jesuit priest. I have written books, taught classes, given lectures, and led workshops to explain his ideas. One continuous challenge has been to clarify his often-difficult writing in ways people can more easily understand and find useful.

Although I may claim to have a good grasp of the way Teilhard thinks, I do not purport to be an expert in the field of moral theology. Nor did Teilhard. I leave any fine-point disagreements and debates over Teilhards ideas to more academic, ethical philosophers and moral theologians. I am writing primarily for the lay reader.

In these pages, I simply want to present Teilhards insights and implications for contemporary moral behavior. I use accessible language with examples so that anyone can grasp his ethical principles and put them into practice.

Teilhards way to live a moral life in todays world is presented for those who feel the need for a new way of responding to the problems of our age. Teilhard would say that it is not enough for people of faith merely to be intellectually curious about modern science and evolution. They need to live their moral lives evolutely, that is, by promoting the further development of our planet in whatever ways they can, individually and in collaboration with others. They need to adopt a forward-looking spirituality and to act morally in ways that will keep humanity maturing in heart and mind.

Teilhard proposes a nontraditional but Christian approach to morality and ethical issues. He uses modern scientific discoveries and the theory of evolution as well as New Testament writings to offer readers an integrative framework for making contemporary ethical choices, individually and collectively.

This Teilhard book on morality is needed, especially for people of faith. Not having a satisfactory alternative ethical approach, many contemporary believers have continued using a traditional conscience, provided by the church, which has remained essentially unchanged over the past millennium. That traditional ethical conscience is waiting, not to be jettisoned, but to be reshaped and re-envisioned, because a new consciousness of evolving creation is undeniably emerging in our time.

A new consciousness emerges when new knowledge challenges or transcends the old. A new conscience is needed when new knowledge forces us to rethink what we have traditionally believed to be true not only about our moral life but also about the purposes of God in creation. Teilhard realized that the scientific facts we currently possess about the origins of the universe and evolution of human life force us to shift the very basis of traditional Christian moral theology. Consequently, Teilhard is challenging a morality solidified by the church during the Middle Ages. It was the morality in which he grew up.