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Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

French philosopher, Jesuit priest, and paleontologist · France · Academics · Lived 1881 to 1955 · aged 73

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A Jesuit priest who dug up Peking Man and tried to reconcile Darwin with Genesis - then had his books banned by the Vatican for theological trouble the Holy Office wouldn't name.

AcademicsWriter / AuthorLiteraturePhilosophyNews BroadcastingFranceEurope20th Century

A life in dates

1955Died10 April 19551946Officer of the Legion of HonourAward1939“Personally, I stick to my idea that we are watching the birth, more than the death, of a World.”In their wordsSeptember 1939Letter from Peking (Summer 1940), quoted in The Last European War : September 1939/December 1941 (1976) by John Lukacs, p. 515

1937Mendel MedalAward1936“The reality of spirit-matter is inevitably translated into and confirmed by a structure of the spirit.”In their wordsA Sketch of a Personalistic Universe (1936)

1934“The truth is, indeed, that love is the threshold of another universe.”In their words"The Evolution of Chastity" (1934), as translated by René Hague in Toward the Future (1975)

“What paralyzes life is lack of faith and lack of audacity. The difficulty lies not in solving problems but expressing them.”In their wordsFebruary 1934"The Evolution of Chastity" (February 1934), as translated in Toward the Future (1975) edited by by René Hague, who also suggests "space"

1924“Science will, in all probability, be increasingly impregnated by mysticism.”In their wordsMy Universe (1924)

1922Auguste Viquesnel PrizeAward1921Knight of the Legion of HonourAward1916“Christ has a cosmic body that extends throughout the universe.”In their wordsCosmic Life (1916)

1915Croix de guerre 1914-1918Award1881Born1 May 1881

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

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In their own words 10

,
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
,
10 statements, newest first

  1. Through the incarnation God descended into nature in order to super-animate and take it back to him.

    1939, Mysticism of Science (1939), Own words

  2. Personally, I stick to my idea that we are watching the birth, more than the death, of a World.

    Sep 1939, Letter from Peking (Summer 1940), quoted in The Last European War : September 1939/December 1941 (1976) by John Lukacs, p. 515, Own words

  3. There is neither spirit nor matter in the world; the stuff of the universe is spirit-matter. No other substance but this could produce the human molecule.

    1936, A Sketch of a Personalistic Universe (1936), Own words

Wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0

Awards

Officer of the Legion of Honour1946
Mendel Medal1937
Auguste Viquesnel Prize1922
Knight of the Legion of Honour1921
Croix de guerre 1914-19181915

Family

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About this person

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was born in France on 1 May 1881 and entered the Jesuits, eventually training as both priest and scientist. He carried stretchers through the First World War, earning the Médaille militaire and the Legion of Honor. His paleontological work took him to China, where he joined the team that discovered Peking Man fossils in the Zhoukoudian caves near Beijing. At the same time he was writing speculative works that blended evolution, Christian mysticism, and ideas borrowed from Henri Bergson - conceiving things like the Omega Point and contributing, with Vladimir Vernadsky, to the concept of the noosphere. In 1962, seven years after his death on 10 April 1955, the Holy Office issued a warning about ambiguities and doctrinal errors in his writings, though it never spelled them out. Scientists have remained split; some popes since have offered measured praise.

Country
France
Category
Academics
Type
Academic
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1881 to 1955 · aged 73

In common with Pierre

Auguste Michel-LévyBoth received Auguste Viquesnel PrizeCharles BarroisBoth received Auguste Viquesnel PrizeAlbert-Félix de LapparentBoth received Auguste Viquesnel Prize

Academics from France 3

Alain Finkielkraut59.1Claude Adrien Helvétius58.8Thomas Piketty59.2

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