(RNS) — Within the historical past of the Catholic Church, too many progressive thinkers had been persecuted earlier than they had been accepted after which embraced by the church.
The checklist consists of St. Thomas Aquinas (whose books had been burned by the bishop of Paris), St. Ignatius Loyola (who was investigated by the Spanish Inquisition) and St. Mary MacKillop (an Australian nun who was excommunicated by her bishop for uncovering and reporting clergy youngster intercourse abuse).
It’s not shocking, then, {that a} French Jesuit scientist, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who tried to bridge the hole between religion and science, received himself in hassle with church officers and his Jesuit superiors within the 20th century. Solely after his loss of life was he acknowledged because the impressed genius that he was.
His story is magnificently instructed in a brand new PBS documentary, “Teilhard: Visionary Scientist,” which was produced by Frank Frost Productions in a 13-year labor of affection. It took Frank and Mary Frost to 4 nations on three continents, a complete of 25 areas, and included greater than 35 interviews.
Teilhard was born in 1881, entered the Jesuits in 1899 and was ordained a priest in 1911. His father nurtured in him a scientific curiosity, and he studied geology, botany and zoology on the College of Paris, in the end turning into an eminent paleontologist who was concerned within the discovery of the Peking Man.
If he had caught to science, he would have led the quiet lifetime of a scholar, but it surely was his try to carry collectively science and religion that received him in hassle. He went past the normal argument that religion and science weren’t in battle and used science as an enter to theology and spirituality. Thus, his writings on Christ had been enhanced by an evolutionary perspective.
He was not allowed to publish throughout his lifetime, though some manuscripts did flow into amongst mates and colleagues. Fortunately, his literary executors had been laypeople, not Jesuits, or his papers would have been buried within the archives.
After his loss of life in New York Metropolis, “The Phenomenon of Man” (1955) and “The Divine Milieu” (1957) had been revealed, resulting in a condemnation of his writing by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Religion in 1962.
His affect grew at and after the Second Vatican Council. Even Benedict XVI picked up on his pondering in an Easter homily the place the pope spoke of the risen Christ as the subsequent step in human evolution.
Teilhard believed that “(s)omeday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we will harness for God the energies of affection, after which, for the second time within the historical past of the world, we can have found fireplace.”
“Teilhard: Visionary Scientist” tells this story properly, with historic photographs and onsite video of locations the place Teilhard lived and labored, together with China. His vital affect on theology is revealed by means of interviews with theologians and others who’ve been touched by his writings.
The movie is a superb alternative to study a person who remains to be influencing the event of theology at this time.
“Teilhard: Visionary Scientist” will premiere on Maryland Public Tv on Might 19 and be out there for nationwide and worldwide streaming for 2 years, starting on Might 20, on the free PBS app.
One other PBS documentary being launched this month is “Hollywood Priest: The Story of Fr. ‘Bud’ Kieser” by Paulist Productions, which can be engaged on “Statue of Limitations: Father Serra and the California Natives.”
