Spiritual matters

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955) was a world-renowned paleontologist. He played a major role in the finding and interpretation of Peking Man, received the Mendel Medal for his scientific accomplishments, and published numerous scientific treatises. During his lifetime, he was also recognized as one of the world’s foremost geologists.

And he was also a Jesuit priest, poet, and visionary whose philosophical work was banned from publication by the Catholic Church mostly because he disputed the literal interpretation of Genesis, proposing instead a poetic mix of religion and evolutionary science.

In Teilhard’s Struggle, Sister Kathleen Duffy argues that Teilhard’s views were often expressed metaphorically. Had they been published in his lifetime, they would have been clarified, revised, and accepted in some...