As both a Jesuit priest and a scientist, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin sought to bring together elements of the Christian faith with the theory of evolution. The result was a departure from both Christian doctrine and evolutionary science.
Teilhard’s views deeply influenced the New Age world. In fact, as Gary Kah tells us, “Chardin is one of the most frequently quoted writers by leading New Age occultists.”i Here are some of the New Age doctrines that Teilhard promoted:
The universal Christ, or Maitreya, is not Jesus Christ but rather a New Age Ascended Master who is said to come and lead all religions into unity. This universal Christ is an attempt to steal the glory from the true Christ, Jesus. Here are Teilhard’s thoughts on the matter:
...a general convergence of religions upon a universal Christ who satisfies them all: that seems to me the only possible conversion of the world, and the only form in which a religion of the future can be conceived (emphasis added).ii
I believe that the Messiah whom we await, whom we all without any doubt await, is the universal Christ; that is to say, the Christ of evolution.iii
The view that the universe and God are identical, or that nature is God, is a New Age belief that Teilhard supported:
My approach...would be...to narrow that gap...by bringing out what one might call the Christian soul of pantheism or the pantheist aspect of Christianity.iv
I can be saved only by becoming one with the universe.v
One of
the key elements of New Age doctrine is the belief that humans are divine. The idea that people are immortal gods is a lie that Satan has used for millennia to pull people away from God and His truth.
Author Dave Hunt tells us that "Teilhard dreamed of humanity merging into ‘God’ and each realizing his own godhood at the Omega point. This belief has inspired many of today’s New Age leaders.”vi Teilhard said this:
It is a law of the universe that in all things there is prior existence. Before every form there is a prior, but lesser evolved form. Each one of us is evolving towards the God-head.vii
As we know, the belief that the human individual cannot perfect himself or fully
exist except through the organic unification of all men in God is essential and fundamental to Christian doctrine.viii
Catholic theologian
Malachi Martin (1921-1999) describes Teilhard de Chardin's theology in his book
The Jesuits:
Once complete unity has been achieved, Christ—who will be the Omega Point—will appear; man will then be more than man, will be what Teilhard called Ultra-Human, the cosmos will be transformed; and the glory of it all will be established.ix
Based on the prominence of New Age doctrine in Teilhard’s writings, it’s no surprise that a survey of New Agers showed that the leading influence of their "spiritual awakening" was Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.x
Teilhard had strong opinions not only about spirituality but about government as well. Learn more in the next article, Teilhard's One-World Government
i. Gary Kah, En Route to Global Occupation (Lafayette, LA: Huntington House
Publishers, 1992), p. 41.
ii. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Christianity and Evolution (Collins, 1971): 130.
iii. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, as quoted in “Teilhard de Chardin: Christianity and Evolution,” Spiritual Conspiracies Project Journal: 56.
iv. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, as quoted in Kaikhushru Dhunjibhoy Sethna, The Spirituality of the Future: a search apropos of R. C. Zaehner's study in Sri
Aurobindo and Teilhard de Chardin (Associated University Presses, 1981): 108.
v. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Christianity and Evolution (Collins, 1971), as quoted in "The Goal of Hinduism: The Universal Religion," OrthodoxPhotos.com
vi. Dave Hunt and T.A. McMahon, The Seduction of Christianity: Spiritual
Discernment in the Last Days (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers,
1985): 80.
vii. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, as quoted in Sir John Templeton, The Humble Approach: Scientists
Discover God (Templeton Foundation Press, 1998): 92.
viii. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Future of Mankind (New York and Evanston: Harper & Row, 1959).
ix. Malachi Martin, The Jesuits (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988): 288.
x. Marilyn Ferguson, The Aquarian Conspiracy (J. P. Tarcher Inc., 1987).