Christ and evolution: a reinterpretation of Teilhard de Chardin's Christology after neo-Darwinism

329 Pages·2016·1.34 MB·English

by  David Brown

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Christ and evolution: a reinterpretation of Teilhard de Chardin's Christology after
neo-Darwinism. Ph.D. thesis, Canterbury Christ Church University.
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Christ and Evolution: A Reinterpretation of Teilhard de Chardin’s
Christology After Neo-Darwinism

by

David Brown

Canterbury Christ Church University

Thesis submitted
for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

2015
Abstract

Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection has provided perhaps the
most significant challenge that Christian theology has faced in the last 150 years.
Although many philosophers of religion have attempted syntheses of religion and
Darwinism, comparably less attention have been paid to how Darwin’s theory of
evolution invites reinterpretations of the particular grammar and specific content of
Christian doctrine. This thesis, an exercise in systematic theology, critically examines
Christian belief in the Person of Christ in light of Darwinism, approaching key
questions as topics for theological, rather than philosophical, reflection. After Darwin,
traditional anthropocentric models of Christian doctrine, focussed on God’s
relationship with the human person in Jesus Christ, are found to be inadequate. Since
the human being is continuous with the wider animal, vegetable, and geological
realm, inextricably linked with the wider ecosphere, Christian theology should now
focus on God’s relationship to the whole cosmos in Christ, viewing the whole
universe as made in the image of God. Likewise, traditional notions of Christian
teleology need to be revised in light of Darwinism. This thesis represent a
constructive theological revisioning of Christian doctrine – and specifically
Christology – seeking to understand Christian faith in Jesus Christ in light of
scientific knowledge. Since Teilhard de Chardin provided the most sustained and
coherent attempt to revision Christian doctrine in light of evolution, the thesis
provides a critical reading of his work, identifying areas of critical weakness in
Teilhard’s responses to theology’s new challenges. Crucially, Teilhard’s Lamarckian
and Bergsonian assumptions are seen to render his theology of evolution
questionable: the rise of neo-Darwinism has meant that his work has become outdated
and in need of revision. Although Teilhard asked many of the right questions, his
solutions are now inadequate. Following a close reading of neo-Darwinist sources, the
thesis provides a constructive corrective to Teilhard’s cosmic Christology, which is
both faithful to orthodox sensibilities and relevant to contemporary developments.
Christ and Evolution: A Reinterpretation of Teilhard de Chardin’s Christology
After Neo-Darwinism

Contents

Chapter 1 – Introduction p.1
Literature Survey p.3
a. Theology and Evolution p.3
b. Christology and Evolution p.9
c. Teilhard de Chardin p.13
Method and Scope p.15
a. Statement of the Problem p.15
b. Theology p.16
c. Philosophy p.18
d. Science p.18
Outline of Thesis p.20

Chapter 2 – Henri Bergson and the Theory of Evolution p.25
Evolution as Progress p.27
a. The Paradigm of Change p.28
b. “Mechanism” and “Finalism” p.29
c. Criticism of Darwinism p.31
d. Proximity to Lamarckism p.34
e. Bergson’s Theory of Evolution p.35
f. Theological Interpretations of Bergson’s Theory p.38
Consciousness: Panpsychism and Pantheism p.41
a. Panpsychism p.42
b. Panpsychism and Lamarckism p.46
c. Consciousness and the Survival of Death p.48
Conclusion p.49

Chapter 3 – Teilhard de Chardin’s Theory of Convergent Evolution p.51
Method: Teilhard as Scientist p.52
Evolution as Progression: Some Preliminary Points p.55
a. Progress p.55
b. Teilhard as Creationist p.56
Teilhard’s Evolutionary Theory as Complexification,
Consciousness, and Convergence p.57
Complexification p.58
a. Complexification as Progression p.58
b. Orthogenesis as Bergsonian Novelty p.60
Consciousness p.61
a. Consciouness as Progress p.61
b. Teilhard as Synthesis between Lamarck and Darwin p.63
Convergence p.66
Critical Thresholds, Emergence, and Qualitative Progression p.70
a. From Biosphere to Christosphere p.72
Implications of Teilhard’s Theory of Evolution p.73
a. The Primacy of Humanity p.73
b. The Role of Death p.74
c. The Evolution of Evolution p.75
d. The Role of Politics p.77
e. The Role of Technology p.78
f. The Role of Education p.82
g. Revelation: The Christological Significance
of Education p.84
h. The Role of the Church p.86
Criticism of Teilhard p.87
a. Eternity of Matter p.88
b. Pantheism and The Loss of the Individual p.89
Conclusion p.94

Chapter 4 – The Relationship between Matter and Spirit: Teilhard’s
Interpretation of Nature and Grace p.95
The Religious Dimension of Evolution p.96
The “Within” and “Without” of Matter p.97
a. The Relationship of Creation and Deification p.98
b. The “Within” of Matter as The Soul p.99
c. The Increasing Importance of the “Within” p.100
d. Matter and Spirit as Darwinian and Lamarckian
Synthesis p.101
e. The Primacy of Spirit p.102
Teilhard’s Mysticism: To Heaven Through Earth p.103
a. The Great Monad p.104
Relationship of Matter and Spirit as the Relationship between
Nature and the Supernatural p.105
a. Teilhard’s Anticipation of Late Twentieth Century
Catholic Theology p.106
b. The Continuing Need for Grace p.108
Panpsychism p.108
a. A Convergent Consciousness p.108
b. Teilhard and Bergson p.110
c. Panpsychism and the Great Monad p.112
God, Panpsychism and Vitalism p.113
a. God as Attraction p.114
b. Teilhard’s Understanding of God as Bergsonian
Élan Vital p.115
c. The Vitalistic Principle as Love of God p.116
Nature and Grace p.119
a. “Seeing” and “Vision” p.119
b. “Seeing” as Faith p.122
c. Teilhard’s Jesuit Spirituality p.122
d. Synergia p.123
e. The Role of the Scientist p.126
f. The Role of Love p.128
g. The Role of Passivities p.129
Original Sin and the Need for Christ p.130
a. Sin as Statistical Necessity p.130
b. The Role of Christ p.134

Chapter 5 – Teilhard de Chardin and the Cosmic Christ p.137
The Starting Point of Teilhard’s Christology p.139
a. Teilhard and Ignatian Spirituality p.139
b. Teilhard’s Reading of Ferdinand Prat’s Theology
of St. Paul p.141
c. Teilhard’s Acceptance of Eastern Christology p.144
d. The Rejection of “Western” Juridicial Categories p.148
Christ as Bond of Matter p.150
a. Christ as Vinculum Substantiale p.150
b. Christ as Élan Vital p.151
c. Christ as Physical Centre of The Universe p.153
Participation p.154
a. Teilhard’s Use of Participation p.154
b. Participation as Divine Milieu p.159
c. Participation: The Relationship between Nature
and Spirit p.163
d. Participation, Divine Milieu, and Kingdom p.165
Cosmic Christ and Ascension: The Role of the Resurrection
and the Holy Spirit p.167
a. Teilhard’s Theology as Christocentric p.169
b. Ascension and Sacramental Theology p.170
Christ’s Cosmic Function as Third Nature p.171
a. Problems with Teilhard’s Theory p.174
b. Teilhard’s Neglect of the Historical p.177
Omega Point as Parousia p.178
a. The Role of Synergia p.181
b. The Rejection of Indefinite Progress p.182
Conclusion p.184

Chapter 6 – Neo-Darwinism: Teleological Neutrality and
Subjectivism p.185
The Development of Neo-Darwinism p.189
a. Charles Darwin and the Emphasis on Preservation p.189
b. Theodosius Dobzhansky: Experimental Evidence
of Preservation p.195
c. Julian Huxley: A Further Attempt as Neo-Darwinian
Synthesis p.198
d. Jacques Monod: The Primacy of Preservation p.199
e. Richard Dawkins: Further Evidence for the Centrality
of Preservation p.202
Contemporary Criticisms of Neo-Darwinism p.205
a. Stephen Jay Gould and Simon Conway Morris:
Re-interpretations of The Neo-Darwinian Synthesis p.205
b. Epigenetics: A Retrieval of Lamarckian Values p.207
The Neo-Darwinian Synthesis p.209
Criticism of Teilhard p.212
Philosophical and Metaphysical Considerations p.214
Doctrine of Humanity (creatures) p.215
a. The Non-Uniqueness of Humanity p.215
b. A New, Neo-Darwinian Ontology p.217
Doctrine of God p.219
a. Materialism p.220
b. ‘Psychological’ Materialism p.221
c. The Non-Influencibility of God p.223
d. Deism p.226

Chapter 7 – A Reinterpretation of Teilhard’s Christology p.230
The Rejection of Western Juridicial Christology and the
Acceptance of Eastern Christology p.231
a. The Eastern Christology p.232
b. The ‘Rejection’ of Eastern Christology p.234
c. Incarnational Deism p.235
Christ as Bond of Matter: A Reinterpretation p.237
a. Christ as “Form” of Creation p.238
b. Incarnation as Proleptic Event p.239
c. A Christological Interpretation of TzimTzum p.240
d. TzimTzum as Formal Deism p.246
e. Incarnation as Divine Milieu p.249
A Re-exploration of ‘Classical Participation’ p.250
a. The “Traditional” notion of Participation p.251
b. Participation and The Relationship Between
Nature and Grace p.252
c. Participation as Christological Doctrine p.253
d. Participation as Imitation p.254
e. Participation: A Neo-Darwinian Interpretation p.258
f. Participation and Imitation: A Subjective Approach p.261
Christ’s Cosmic Function as Third Nature p.262
The Constitution of the God-Man p.264
a. Christ’s Assumption of Creation p.266
b. The Constitution of Christ as TzimTzum p.269
c. Constitution of Christ as Biological Unity p.270
Participation and Imitation: A Subjective Approach p.271
Omega Point as Parousia: A Reinterpretation of Vision p.274
a. Two Biblical Parables p.277
b. The Parable of the Labourers p.277
c. The Parable of the Widow’s Mite p.278
Conclusion p.279

Chapter 8 – Further Problems and the Contextualization in Wider
Roman Catholic Theology p.282
Anonymous Christians p.284
a. “Anonymous Christians” as Ontological Position p.286
b. “Anonymous Christians” in A Neo-Darwinian
Context p.287
The Relegation of the Particularity of Christ p.289
a. The Problem of The Particulariness of Christ as
Historical Problem p.289
b. The Problem of The Particulariness of Christ in
The Context of Neo-Darwinism p.291
The Christocentric Nature of Theology p.293
a. Neo-Darwinism as Christocentric p.294
The Relationship between Nature and Grace p.295
a. Nature and Grace in A Neo-Darwinian Context p.296
b. The Relevance of Vatican II p.296

Bibliography p.298
1
Chapter 1

Introduction

Christology – the study of beliefs in the person and work of Jesus Christ – lies
at the heart of Christian theology; it is, after all, Christian theology. According to the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, the end of catechesis is ‘to reveal in the Person of
Christ the whole of God’s eternal design reaching fulfillment in the Person’ (CCC,
1997, p.107). Likewise, Karl Barth affirmed that ‘if we try to look away from the
name of Jesus Christ even momentarily…Christian theology loses [its] substance’
(Barth, 1956, p.347). Therefore, in the Catechism and Barth, there are two remarkably
influential sources both claiming precisely that Christian theology is impossible, or at
the very least meaningless, without reference to the person of Jesus Christ.
Before Darwin theologians could assert that the human person was the
pinnacle, or apex, of God’s creation. God had created the world for humanity. For
Christian theology, therefore, it was only necessary to speak of God’s relationship to
humanity, focused in the Person of Jesus Christ. As such, much Christological
reflection concerned itself with what God had done for human beings in Christ. This
meant that much of Christology was exclusive of the wider universe. After all,
humanity was special, exclusively made in the image of God and transcended the rest
of creation.
After Darwin, humanity has been displaced from its pride of place, relegated
to the level of all other creation. Humanity is now nothing more than one result (and
that accidental) of the laws of natural selection in the struggle for life. Humanity is