The Emergent Christ: Exploring the Meaning of Catholic in an Evolutionary Universe

Ilia Delio makes fascinating sense of the universe, beginning with the story of cosmic evolution, coursing through the meaning of God in evolution and the emergence of Christ, and concluding with new ways of seeing Christ in all things. As Teilhard de Chardin did in The Divine Milieu, Ilia Delio reveals the sacrament of God at work in the world.

She also explores the spiritual evolution within each of us and suggests that it will change the cosmos as well as the church. She shows that we are at a stage in evolution where our choices will determine what happens next. "Love," she writes, "always seeks the best for the beloved but God is a beggar of love who waits at the soul's door without daring to force it open. The question of Christ emerging as the personal center of the universe is not a question of yes or no but a question of how that love will evolve." She makes one thing perfectly clear: it is happening and the evidence is astounding.

The Emergent Christ is an antidote to the new atheism that says there is no place in evolution for God, let alone a God of love. It is also a spiritual tonic for Christians interested in understanding their place and purpose in this evolving universe.

Ilia Delio, OSF, a Franciscan Sister of Washington, DC, holds the Josephine C. Connelly Endowed Chair in Theology at Villanova University. A native of Newark, NJ, she earned doctorates in pharmacology from the New Jersey Medical School/School of Biomedical Sciences and in historical theology from Fordham University, NY, and is the recipient of a notable Templeton Course in Science and Religion award. Delio is the author of seventeen books including The Unbearable Wholeness of Being and Making All Things New and she lectures internationally on topics including evolution, artificial intelligence, consciousness, and religion.