Brother Adam Posted August 12, 2004 Share Posted August 12, 2004 Does anyone know anything about this person or his writings on evolution and the Church. All of his books bear the NNihil Obstat and Imprimatur Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apotheoun Posted August 12, 2004 Share Posted August 12, 2004 [quote name='Brother Adam' date='Aug 11 2004, 05:57 PM'] Does anyone know anything about this person or his writings on evolution and the Church. All of his books bear the NNihil Obstat and Imprimatur [/quote] The only thing that I've ever heard is that he was forbidden from teaching on religious or theological topics by the Vatican. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EcceNovaFacioOmni Posted August 12, 2004 Share Posted August 12, 2004 From what I gather from a Google search, he appears to be a New Age type guy. Very weird. Can't really explain it, but New Age comes to mind. Try a search yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmotherofpirl Posted August 12, 2004 Share Posted August 12, 2004 WARNING REGARDING THE WRITINGS OF FATHER TEILHARD DE CHARDIN Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On June 30, 1962, the Holy Office issued a monitum (warning) regarding the writings of Father Teilhard de Chardin. In 1981 the Holy See reiterated this warning against rumors that it no longer applied. Following is the text of both the monitum and the 1981 statement: Admonition "Several works of Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, some of which were posthumously published, are being edited and are gaining a good deal of success. "Prescinding from a judgement about those points that concern the positive sciences, it is sufficiently clear that the above-mentioned works abound in such ambiguities and indeed even serious errors, as to offend Catholic doctrine. "For this reason, the most eminent and most revered Fathers of the Holy Office exhort all Ordinaries as well as the superiors of Religious institutes, rectors of seminaries and presidents of universities, effectively to protect the minds, particularly of the youth, against the dangers presented by the works of Fr. Teilhard de Chardin and of his followers. "Given at Rome, from the palace of the Holy Office, on the thirtieth day of June, 1962. Sebastianus Masala, Notarius" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Communiqué of the Press Office of the Holy See (appearing in the English edition of L'Osservatore Romano, July 20, 1981) "The letter sent by the Cardinal Secretary of State to His Excellency Mons. Poupard on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of Fr. Teilhard de Chardin has been interpreted in a certain section of the press as a revision of previous stands taken by the Holy See in regard to this author, and in particular of the Monitum of the Holy Office of 30 June 1962, which pointed out that the work of the author contained ambiguities and grave doctrinal errors. "The question has been asked whether such an interpretation is well founded. "After having consulted the Cardinal Secretary of State and the Cardinal Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which, by order of the Holy Father, had been duly consulted beforehand, about the letter in question, we are in a position to reply in the negative. Far from being a revision of the previous stands of the Holy See, Cardinal Casaroli's letter expresses reservation in various passages—and these reservations have been passed over in silence by certain newspapers—reservations which refer precisely to the judgement given in the Monitum of June 1962, even though this document is not explicitly mentioned." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laudate_Dominum Posted August 12, 2004 Share Posted August 12, 2004 I am quite familiar with Teilhard de Chardin, one of the first books I read after my conversion was by him and it reeked of bad doctrine to me even then. He is hardly orthodox, he is more of a Hegelian/Whiteheadian than anything else. There are people out there who would defend him (Henri de Lubac defended him), but overall I see little value in his writings even if you don't think him to be radically in error. And I'm sure he had some good ideas that could be gleaned from his works, but there is so much solid stuff out there that can be read it still seems like a waste of time. God bless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thy Geekdom Come Posted August 12, 2004 Share Posted August 12, 2004 I highly advise against reading this man's books. He expresses the notion that man evolves into God. If you would like, one of the Omaha seminarians wrote an essay about him, I'll see if I can get you a copy. I don't know about the nihil obstats and imprimaturs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apotheoun Posted August 12, 2004 Share Posted August 12, 2004 [quote name='Raphael' date='Aug 11 2004, 09:05 PM'] I highly advise against reading this man's books. He expresses the notion that man evolves into God. If you would like, one of the Omaha seminarians wrote an essay about him, I'll see if I can get you a copy. I don't know about the nihil obstats and imprimaturs. [/quote] I have heard that Teilhard de Chardin had an emanationist view of creation, which means that he was in some sense a pantheist. God bless, Todd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thy Geekdom Come Posted August 12, 2004 Share Posted August 12, 2004 [quote name='Apotheoun' date='Aug 12 2004, 12:15 AM'] I have heard that Teilhard de Chardin had an emanationist view of creation, which means that he was in some sense a pantheist. God bless, Todd [/quote] Yeah, that's what I heard. Like I said, I'll see if I can get a copy of the essay. The author is very knowledgeable (Omaha seminarians always are ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apotheoun Posted August 12, 2004 Share Posted August 12, 2004 [quote name='Raphael' date='Aug 11 2004, 09:19 PM'] Yeah, that's what I heard. Like I said, I'll see if I can get a copy of the essay. The author is very knowledgeable (Omaha seminarians always are ). [/quote] That'd be cool. I know I'd read his essay. I've only read articles on Teilhard de Chardin's thought, but I'll have to investigate what he had to say more deeply in the future, that is, when I have spare time. God bless, Todd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laudate_Dominum Posted August 12, 2004 Share Posted August 12, 2004 [quote name='Apotheoun' date='Aug 11 2004, 11:15 PM'] I have heard that Teilhard de Chardin had an emanationist view of creation, which means that he was in some sense a pantheist. God bless, Todd [/quote] I can testify to this fact, however, as I mention Henri de Lubac has written in defense of Teilhard so you will meet moderns who claim to be orthodox and do not consider Teilhard to be that bad. And of course new age types and particular those into "creation centered spirituality" are inspired by his writings. Another interesting fact is that Teilhard was a priest/scientist who was one of the main guys involved in the "discovery" of Piltdown Man. For those who don't recall, Piltdown Man was the supposed unearthing of a primitive form of man which was seen as a confirmation of the theory of man's evolution from beasts. This "discovery" was later uncovered as a complete fraud. Teilhard's Theology was largely an attempt to ground Theology upon evolutionary principles and it is thoroughly immanentist, pantheistic and false. And as I mentioned before, metaphysically speaking it is highly Hegelian which automatically poses obvious problems with Catholic Theology as we know it (and as it truly is). Peace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laudate_Dominum Posted August 12, 2004 Share Posted August 12, 2004 [quote name='Apotheoun' date='Aug 11 2004, 11:25 PM'] That'd be cool. I know I'd read his essay. I've only read articles on Teilhard de Chardin's thought, but I'll have to investigate what he had to say more deeply in the future, that is, when I have spare time. God bless, Todd [/quote] The texts I read years back (which I can scarce remember- thanks be to God) were [u]The Phenomenon of Man[/u], and [u]The Divine Milieu[/u]. As far as I know these are his major works. And if you are serious about it, I suppose it might be interesting to take a look at de Lubac's defense of Teilhard. The book I have is titled [u]Teilhard Explained[/u], I believe there is somewhere else where de Lubac (a personal friend of Teilhard) writes in his defense, but I don't know the title. God bless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna Posted August 12, 2004 Share Posted August 12, 2004 Good info, esp. Cmom's Holy Office piece. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Posted August 12, 2004 Share Posted August 12, 2004 Donna! Hey, Hi! :wave: And from me, also, Cmom, thanks for letters from Rome. The seminary in my diocese was very pro-Chardin. They even invited speakers from the Teilhard de Chardin Society to come give lectures. And I've heard Chardin quoted (as if he was a saint) in homilies by our diocesan priests ~ and why not? That's how they were formed. But a year or so ago, the Lord put an end to it all. The seminary closed due to lack of enrollments. The bad tree was finally cut down. And I still don't think they realize why. Pax Christi. <>< Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brother Adam Posted August 12, 2004 Author Share Posted August 12, 2004 Interesting. Thank you for the info. I have "The Phenomenon of Man, the Future of Man, and A new synthesis of Evolution by him. Also is "Chardin and the Mystery of Christ" by Mooney. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laudate_Dominum Posted August 12, 2004 Share Posted August 12, 2004 [quote name='Brother Adam' date='Aug 12 2004, 04:28 PM'] Interesting. Thank you for the info. I have "The Phenomenon of Man, the Future of Man, and A new synthesis of Evolution by him. Also is "Chardin and the Mystery of Christ" by Mooney. [/quote] You'd be better off reading the Fathers and Doctors of the Church. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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