1938–1955

Teilhard de Chardin: evolution, the "Omega Point" and the eschatology of process theology

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin accepted the principle of evolution but rejected the Darwinian emphasis on the survival of the fittest: all reality moves toward greater complexity, that is, toward a higher degree of consciousness. The culmination of evolution is the union of all people in a "megasynthesis," in the Omega Point, which at the same time transcends the process as its driving force; this goal is Jesus Christ, homo futurus, and Teilhard called the universal union in Christ "Christogenesis." In The Phenomenon of Man he proposed two scenarios for the future – utopian and apocalyptic, and in his late works the apocalyptic picture prevailed: humanity leaves the Earth and "spiritually" joins Omega. Unlike Teilhard, Whitehead's process theology foresees no consummation of history: since God is not omnipotent, the victory of good is not guaranteed, perishing entities are preserved in "objective immortality," and "resurrection" is reception into the life of God.