Catholic Dictionary

Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

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TEILHARDISM

The evolutionary theory of the French Jesuit Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955). He held that the universe is subject to four stages of development: 1. cosmogenesis, or evolution from the elements to organized matter; 2. biogenesis, or evolution from organized matter to life; 3, noo-genesis, or evolution from living things to rational beings; and 4. Christogenesis, or evolution from individual rational humanity to a society in which Christ was the Lord of the world. Teilhardism was the object of two critical documents from the Holy See, in 1952 and 1967, which stated that his writings abound "in such ambiguities and indeed serious errors as to offend Catholic doctrine."