Teilhard de Chardin, between myth and heresy

a free translation from the italian traditional blog 'cordialiter'

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2013

Teilhard de Chardin, between myth and heresy

Years ago I bought from a dealer in antique books a booklet entitled

 "Teilhard de Chardin, between myth and heresy," written by P. 

Hyacinth Scaltriti OP and published with ecclesiastical imprimatur

 in the early '60s.In the book, the learned Dominican priest's

 thesis refuted some of the famous Jesuit theologian's

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's thesis, considered one of the greatest

 exponents of the "new theology."

Some will say that what Fr Scaltriti thought about it matters little, because

 what really matters is what the Holy See says. Well, the Supreme 

Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, at the time under the

 leadership of the heroic Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, published

 a "Monitum" signed by Bishop Sebastiano Masala, to warn the bishops,

 superiors of religious institutes, rectors of seminaries and 

Directors of the University, about the dangers of the works of P.

 Theilard de Chardin, because (and I quote) "in the field of philosophy

 and theology is clearly seen that the works mentioned contain such

 ambiguities and even errors so serious, that offend Catholic doctrine."

On the same day in which the Monitum was published (30 June 1962),

 "L'Osservatore Romano" published an article in which was refuted

 some theses teilhardiane. Here are some: "[...] the dangerous

 ambiguities and errors that occur in certain expressions of Teilhard 

about the traditional Catholic concept of creation (move back to

 the Fourth Lateran Councils and Vatican I). [...] In his conception 

of the relationship between God and the Cosmos, Teilhard de Chardin 

has weaknesses that can not be passed over in silence. He, it is true,

 explicitly states and over the necessity and transcendent personality

 of God, however, in the logic of his thought Teilhardian divine

 transcendence is not expressed in a sufficient way.God is portrayed

 as supreme unity that somehow is incorporated in the universe, 

so the divine unity in some way becomes a participant of the cosmic

multiplicity and God in a sense is made a more perfect assimilation 

of the Cosmos. [...] In the essay already quoted, "The Christique," 

reads even - and says "en vrai sens" - a "troisième nature" of Christ, 

not human, not divine, but "cosmic"! We do not want to take the letter

 and "en vrai sens" as Teilhard writes at this point, otherwise it would

 be pure heresy. [...] We also know that Teilhard did not infrequently 

make statements not entirely consistent, if not sometimes contrary 

or contradictory, and we want to concede that the thought 

of Teilhard remained in a phase of distress. However, his writings

 in many places are always more or less mixed with Catholic doctrine.

 [...] Truly our century has a great need of authentic witnesses to Christ,

 but we hope that they do not have to inspire the "system" 

scientific-religious Teilhard. We felt it necessary to express our criticism 

of the thought, not the person - repeat - to warn scholars, and

 especially the young, against the errors and ambiguities contained 

in the writings of Teilhard. And making our reflections, we believe we have

 acted in the mind of Monitum, which is published today in our newspaper. "