Overview
“Whitehead and Teilhard remain two of the most significant philosopher-theologians of the last 100 years. This book, written by the leading experts on each thinker, is the most important step in bridge-building in several decades. The topics include life on other planets, panpsychism, and the environmental crisis, culminating with ‘The Christic: Teilhard’s Last Will and Testament.’ A must-read text for all who recognize the continuing centrality of these two key thinkers.” ꟷPhilip Clayton, Ingraham Professor, Claremont School of Theology
“If you want to glimpse the possible future of religion and theology in the context of constructive interaction of science and religion, read this volume full of wonderfully innovative ideas. Delio, Davis, and their colleagues conjoin and revitalize for today’s world the process philosophy of Whitehead and the evolutionary visions of Teilhard, resulting in a worldview consistent with current ideas of 13.8 billion years of cosmic evolution.” ꟷSteven J. Dick, former Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology; former NASA chief historian
“Cutting edge scholars Delio and Davis have edited a volume making a decisive point: the reality within which we live wraps up our minds as well as our bodies into a cosmic destiny that is directional, purposeful, and worshipful.” ꟷTed Peters, co-editor, Theology and Science
The works of Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) and Pierre Teilhard De Chardin (1881-1955) continue to inspire distinctive trajectories in theology and philosophy. Although contemporaries for a time, both men were unable to benefit from each other’s vast cosmological visions, and they continue to be studied largely independent of each other’s contributions. What results when Whitehead and Teilhard meet? What do they each offer the other such that a mutual deepening might take place? What is their shared relevance to contemporary concerns across philosophy, science, religion, and ecology? The first of its kind, this book draws together key Whitehead and Teilhard scholars to advance the possibilities of process philosophy and theology through an integrative encounter between these two foundational figures.
Ilia Delio, OSF, a Franciscan Sister of Washington, DC, is Josephine C. Connelly Endowed Chair in Christian Theology, Villanova University, and founder of the Center for Christogenesis. Her area of research is systematic-constructive theology with a focus on evolution, quantum physics, and artificial intelligence and the import of these for Christian doctrine and life. Her many books include The Not-Yet God, The Hours of the Universe, Christ in Evolution, and Birth of a Dancing Star: My Journey from Cradle Catholic to Cyborg Christian (all with Orbis).
Andrew M. Davis is an American process philosopher and theologian. He is academic and research director for the Center for Process Studies, where he researches, writes, and organizes conferences on various aspects of process-relational thought in relation to current issues across science, philosophy, and religion/theology. He is author, editor, and co-editor of twelve books, including Mind, Value, and Cosmos: On the Relational Nature of Ultimacy, Process Cosmology: New Integrations in Science and Philosophy, and Metaphysics of Exo-Life: Toward a Constructive Whiteheadian Cosmotheology.
Cover design: Diane Mastrogiulio
Cover image: wikimedia
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