Spirit of Fire: The Life and Vision of Teilhard De Chardin - Softcover

King, Ursula

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1570751773 ISBN 13: 9781570751776

Publisher: Orbis Books, 1998

Synopsis

Spirit of Fire is a popular biography of one of this century's most fascinating religious figures. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) was a Jesuit theologian, mystic, and scientist renowned for his pioneering field work in geology, paleontology, and human origins. His writings have inspired an international host of Teilhard societies. He was also a prophet in the expanding dialogue between religion, science, and, mysticism. In his views of humanity, divinity, and the universe Teilhard anticipated the echotheology of Thomas Berry and the creation spirituality of Matthew Fox.
As recounted in Spirit of Fire Teilhard's life intertwined a passionate intellect with spiritual adventure, a life of exploration of both the physical world and the soul. Steeped in the evolutionary views of contemporary science, Teilhard wrote with a rarely matched power of the real presence of God in the world. As King writes, Teilhard was a man "in love with the world, the world as a vast, living, tangible organism in which human beings belong as an integral part, and he was in love with God whose creative energy and living spirit pulsate throughout everthing that is."

About this title

Review:

Teilhard de Chardin, a 20th-century Jesuit priest and paleontologist, is a favorite theologian of contemporary notables such as Al Gore, Mario Cuomo, Marshall McCluhan, and cyberguru John Perry Barlow. Cuomo has said, "Teilhard made negativism a sin. He taught us how the whole universe--even pain and imperfection--is sacred." Ursula King, in Spirit of Fire: The Life and Vision of Teilhard de Chardin, has written an accessible, entertaining, and lavishly illustrated biography of Teilhard. His writings were all but ignored during his lifetime, but now serve as a lifeline for people of faith struggling to define divine imperatives for ecological responsibility and technological engagement.

About the Author:

Ursula King is Professor Emerita and Senior Research Fellow at the University of Bristol.

About this edition

• Publisher: Orbis Books
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 1570751773
• ISBN 13: 9781570751776
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 176