Teilhard: Visionary Scientist
This documentary, 13 years in the making, tells the story of an early 20th Century French Jesuit priest and scientist, who in relentless pursuit of the everlasting on earth, encounters fame, love, and implacable opposition from his church. Despite exile and lifelong censorship, his transformational insights into science and faith provide a prophetic legacy for our technological age. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was born in Auvergne region of France in 1881, fourth of eleven children. His father, owner of large rural estates, taught his son to appreciate nature; his mother who home schooled him gave him a deep spiritual grounding. But even as a young child, Pierre's discovery that his life was fragile put him on track to find something indestructible to depend on. He found that in secret iron treasures, until he discovered they rusted. Then he turned to stones, which led to a hobby of collecting stones and fossils, which then became a career in geology, layered on top of a vocation as a Jesuit priest. As a seminarian he finds that his love for the natural world runs counter to the spirituality he is taught, which is to find holiness by rejecting the world. This creates internal tension that lasts for years. After intense training in philosophy and theology as a seminarian, and three years assigned to teaching Muslim high schoolers in Cairo, Egypt, he is ordained a priest. Shortly before ordination he resolves his inner conflict about loving the world and loving God at the same time. It results in a very personal understanding of evolution that will determine the arc of the rest of his life. From there he is off to Paris, to study geology under the tutelage of the director of the National Museum of Natural History. He also "comes up against the feminine" he will write years later in his autobiography, forming a deep bond with his cousin Marguerite. Marguerite, his childhood playmate in Auvergne, is now in Paris as head of an elite girls' school. Pierre's studies are interrupted by the eruption of The Great War, to be known in history as World War I. He is called up for service for France. Entitled to an officer's rank as a chaplain, he asks instead to serve with the troops as a stretcher bearer. His service results in several medals for heroism. He remarkably is inspired to use all possible down time from the front to write essays, applying evolution to his spiritual life. Marguerite, in hundreds of letters, becomes his sounding board and soul mate. Surviving some 60 battles over 4 and a half years, Teilhard returns to Paris to finish his doctoral studies in science, and to become the head of the geology department at the Institut Catholique in Paris. Students love him, including new Jesuits in training. He loves to teach them about evolution. This leads an older Jesuit theologian to challenge Teilhard about the implications of evolution for the Church's doctrine of Original Sin. If Genesis was not historical, and there was not an actual Adam and Eve, then there could not have been Original Sin. Teilhard offers to write a paper about it, which he finishes shortly before accepting an invitation to participate in an expedition in China with a fellow Jesuit stationed there. His expedition with Emile Licent, SJ, is sponsored by Marcellin Boule, head of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. It is extraordinarily fruitful, resulting in 60 cases of fossils, many of which are still on display in the museum today. But Teilhard's exhilaration is short lived. Upon returning to Paris he is called in my his providincial superior in Lyon, who has been asked by the Jesuit Superior General in Rome, to account for a paper he has mysteriously received written by Teilhard on Original Sin. Teilhard is forced to sign a document that promises not to dispute Church teaching, is forbidden to write anything except scientific papers, is removed from his position at the Institut Catholique, and is exiled indefinitely to China. As Teilhard embraces his fate in China, he becomes a favorite among European and American scientists in Peking. He is put in charge of a newly formed Chinese Geological Survey seeking human origins in digs near Peking, and becomes world famous for his part in the discovery of Peking Man, the most important human fossil find in the world to that date, 1930. He is invited to become a visiting scholar at the American Museum of Natural History, and joins many other international expeditions in the east. In the meantime he produces volumes of scientific writings, along with spiritual essays he is not allowed to publish, along with two books, The Divine Milieu, and The Human Phenomenon. The beginning of World War II, and the Japanese occupation of Peking, ends this activity, placing Teilhard under house arrest. When the war is over Teilhard is finally permitted by his Jesuit superiors to return to France. Teilhard is well received by the scientific establishments and his old Jesuit friends, but the favor with which he is received makes Jesuit superiors all the more worried about his views on evolution. Teilhard is exiled a second time to New York City in 1951, where he will die in 1955. In the meantime, Teilhard has followed the advice of a local Jesuit superior to bequeath his prolific writings to a lay person so that they wouldn't be destroyed by the order after he dies. He wills them to a volunteer secretary, Mademoiselle Jeanne Mortier. Upon his death she immediately takes them to a publisher. Publications begin within the year, and by the early 1960s, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin is a phenomenon in religious circles in many languages around the world. Today he is embraced as a prophet by both science and religion.
- Runtime
- 1h 57m
- Released
- 2024
Details
Release year: 2024
Storyline
This documentary, 13 years in the making, tells the story of an early 20th Century French Jesuit priest and scientist, who in relentless pursuit of the everlasting on earth, encounters fame, love, and implacable opposition from his church. Despite exile and lifelong censorship, his transformational insights into science and faith provide a prophetic legacy for our technological age. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was born in Auvergne region of France in 1881, fourth of eleven children. His father, owner of large rural estates, taught his son to appreciate nature; his mother who home schooled him gave him a deep spiritual grounding. But even as a young child, Pierre's discovery that his life was fragile put him on track to find something indestructible to depend on. He found that in secret iron treasures, until he discovered they rusted. Then he turned to stones, which led to a hobby of collecting stones and fossils, which then became a career in geology, layered on top of a vocation as a Jesuit priest. As a seminarian he finds that his love for the natural world runs counter to the spirituality he is taught, which is to find holiness by rejecting the world. This creates internal tension that lasts for years. After intense training in philosophy and theology as a seminarian, and three years assigned to teaching Muslim high schoolers in Cairo, Egypt, he is ordained a priest. Shortly before ordination he resolves his inner conflict about loving the world and loving God at the same time. It results in a very personal understanding of evolution that will determine the arc of the rest of his life. From there he is off to Paris, to study geology under the tutelage of the director of the National Museum of Natural History. He also "comes up against the feminine" he will write years later in his autobiography, forming a deep bond with his cousin Marguerite. Marguerite, his childhood playmate in Auvergne, is now in Paris as head of an elite girls' school. Pierre's studies are interrupted by the eruption of The Great War, to be known in history as World War I. He is called up for service for France. Entitled to an officer's rank as a chaplain, he asks instead to serve with the troops as a stretcher bearer. His service results in several medals for heroism. He remarkably is inspired to use all possible down time from the front to write essays, applying evolution to his spiritual life. Marguerite, in hundreds of letters, becomes his sounding board and soul mate. Surviving some 60 battles over 4 and a half years, Teilhard returns to Paris to finish his doctoral studies in science, and to become the head of the geology department at the Institut Catholique in Paris. Students love him, including new Jesuits in training. He loves to teach them about evolution. This leads an older Jesuit theologian to challenge Teilhard about the implications of evolution for the Church's doctrine of Original Sin. If Genesis was not historical, and there was not an actual Adam and Eve, then there could not have been Original Sin. Teilhard offers to write a paper about it, which he finishes shortly before accepting an invitation to participate in an expedition in China with a fellow Jesuit stationed there. His expedition with Emile Licent, SJ, is sponsored by Marcellin Boule, head of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. It is extraordinarily fruitful, resulting in 60 cases of fossils, many of which are still on display in the museum today. But Teilhard's exhilaration is short lived. Upon returning to Paris he is called in my his providincial superior in Lyon, who has been asked by the Jesuit Superior General in Rome, to account for a paper he has mysteriously received written by Teilhard on Original Sin. Teilhard is forced to sign a document that promises not to dispute Church teaching, is forbidden to write anything except scientific papers, is removed from his position at the Institut Catholique, and is exiled indefinitely to China. As Teilhard embraces his fate in China, he becomes a favorite among European and American scientists in Peking. He is put in charge of a newly formed Chinese Geological Survey seeking human origins in digs near Peking, and becomes world famous for his part in the discovery of Peking Man, the most important human fossil find in the world to that date, 1930. He is invited to become a visiting scholar at the American Museum of Natural History, and joins many other international expeditions in the east. In the meantime he produces volumes of scientific writings, along with spiritual essays he is not allowed to publish, along with two books, The Divine Milieu, and The Human Phenomenon. The beginning of World War II, and the Japanese occupation of Peking, ends this activity, placing Teilhard under house arrest. When the war is over Teilhard is finally permitted by his Jesuit superiors to return to France. Teilhard is well received by the scientific establishments and his old Jesuit friends, but the favor with which he is received makes Jesuit superiors all the more worried about his views on evolution. Teilhard is exiled a second time to New York City in 1951, where he will die in 1955. In the meantime, Teilhard has followed the advice of a local Jesuit superior to bequeath his prolific writings to a lay person so that they wouldn't be destroyed by the order after he dies. He wills them to a volunteer secretary, Mademoiselle Jeanne Mortier. Upon his death she immediately takes them to a publisher. Publications begin within the year, and by the early 1960s, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin is a phenomenon in religious circles in many languages around the world. Today he is embraced as a prophet by both science and religion.