mously as Writings in Time of War (1968). Little known,
these were seminal for his later work and provide one of the
best introductions to his thought.
Teilhard completed his studies in geology and paleon-
tology after the war. Following the brilliant defense of his
doctorate in 1922, he was elected president of the French
Geological Society and appointed to the chair in geology at
the Institut Catholique in Paris, where he could publicly ex-
pound his ideas about evolution and Christianity. This soon
led to difficulties with his church, which continued through-
out his life. Because of these difficulties, he was glad to join
a fossil expedition in China in 1923, where he traversed
much of the Mongolian Desert. China soon became a place
of almost permanent exile, and he spent most of his scientific
career there (1926–1946) after his license to teach at the In-
stitut Catholique was revoked in 1925 as a result of a paper
he wrote on evolution and original sin. Teilhard first worked
with Jesuit fellow scientists in Tianjin, and he then became
a member of the Chinese Geological Survey in Beijing,
where he collaborated in the discovery of the skull of the
200,000-year-old Peking Man at Zhoukoudian. His scientif-
ic work brought him into contact with leading paleontolo-
gists of his time and involved numerous expeditions across
Asia, including trips to India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Sri
Lanka, Vietnam, and Japan, as well as regular travels between
East and West.
The unforgettable experience of World War I was fol-
lowed by the equally formative discovery of the vast conti-
nent of Asia with its variety of peoples and cultures. Many
of Teilhard’s essays were written in China, as were his two
main books, a practical treatise on spirituality, The Divine
Milieu, and his best known, though most difficult work, The
Human Phenomenon, which he wrote from 1938 to 1940.
Teilhard met some of his best friends in China among Amer-
ican and European scientific colleagues; he also first encoun-
tered the American sculptor Lucile Swan in Beijing, with
whom he formed a deep, intimate friendship that lasted until
the end of his life.
Teilhard returned to Paris after World War II and at-
tracted a considerable following for his ideas. In 1948 he was
invited as a candidate for the chair of paleontology at the
Collège de France, but fearing further difficulties with the
Vatican, his order refused permission. Not being allowed to
lecture in public or publish his writings, he accepted a re-
search post at the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropo-
logical Research in New York in 1951, and made two trips
to fossil sites in South Africa. Lonely and suffering, he spent
the last years of his life mostly in New York, where he died
in 1955 on Easter Sunday (April 10), as had been his wish.
He is buried in the Jesuit cemetery at Saint Andrews on the
Hudson.
The posthumous publication of his works raised much
interest and controversy due to the exploratory nature, com-
plexity, and unfamiliar terminology of his new ideas, but also
due to the challenge of his unifying global vision. Although
harshly dealt with by church authorities, Teilhard gained
loyal support from several members of his order, especially
Henri de Lubac and René d’Ouince, his longtime superior,
who described him as “a prophet on trial” in the church of
his time.
THE HUMAN BEING, THE WORLD, AND GOD. Teilhard’s
method is based on a particular kind of phenomenology, dif-
ferent from that of other disciplines. It emphasizes the study
of all phenomena by relating outer to inner “seeing.” Such
seeing involves the correlation of scientific knowledge of the
outer world with a unifying inner vision, whereby the world
is seen as held together by “Spirit.” This holistic approach
leads to a profound transformation of the seeing person and
the world as seen, for seeing more implies being more.
Teilhard’s thought is profoundly ecological—he saw
human beings as an integral part of cosmos and nature, hu-
mankind as part of life, and life as part of the universe. In
this dynamic and organic perspective the human being is not
a static center, but “the axis and leading shoot of evolution.”
The rise of evolution is an immense movement through
time, from the development of the atom to the molecule and
cell, to different forms of life, to human beings with their
great diversity. This evolutionary rise toward greater com-
plexity leads in turn to a greater “within” of things, an in-
crease in consciousness and reflection. The idea of greater in-
teriority emerging within more complex organic structures
is described as the “law of complexity-consciousness,” some-
times called “Teilhardian law,” and it is recognized as one
of Teilhard’s master ideas.Cosmic, human, and divine dimensions are closely in-
terwoven. Each is involved in a process of becoming, or gene-
sis, and all are centered in Christ. Whereas cosmogenesis refers
to the birth of the cosmos, anthropogenesis and noogenesis
refer specifically to the emergence of human beings and the
birth of thought. These are closely studied by modern sci-
ence, whereas Christogenesis, or the birth of God in Christ
as an event of cosmic significance, can be seen only through
the eyes of faith. Cosmic and human evolution are moving
onward to a fuller disclosure of Spirit, culminating in
“Christ-Omega.” The outcome of this forward and upward
process cannot be taken for granted but involves human re-
sponsibility and co-creativity. For this reason, Teilhard was
much concerned with moral and ethical choices, with the
hope and energy needed for creating the right future for hu-
manity and the planet, as expressed in The Future of Man
(1964). Working for the future and helping in “building the
earth” is an important educational task that entails a change
of mind and heart in people. Teilhard inquired into the re-
sources of spiritual energy needed to create a better quality
of life, greater human integration, and a more peaceful and
just world. Although there are thousands of engineers calcu-
lating the material energy reserves of the planet, Teilhard in-
quired about “technicians of the Spirit” who can supply the
necessary spiritual energy to sustain the life of individuals
and the entire human community.TEILHARD DE CHARDIN, PIERRE 9033