This website explores the life and legacy of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, an early 20th Century French Jesuit priest and scientist, as it introduces an inspiring film about him, TEILHARD: Visionary Scientist.

STREAM TEILHARD: Visionary Scientist on your device here. This link allows INTERNATIONAL streaming.

WATCH TEILHARD: Visionary Scientist on your TV, with the free PBS app. To download the PBS app, go here. This app is limited to USA.

DVDs of TEILHARD: Visionary Scientist are now available through the Maryland Public Television online store. Order your copy at this link.

We will continue to add information and resources so as to offer a crossroads for conversation about Teilhard – the man, the visionary, the scientist, the mystic. Your support will facilitate the growth of this site, as well as educational outreach.

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IN FOCUS

100 Years Later: The Scopes Trial and Teilhard de Chardin on Evolution

This month of July marks the 100^th anniversary of The Scopes Trial in Dayton, Tennessee. A high school teacher in that city, John Thomas Scopes was accused of violating the state’s Butler Act, which made it illegal to teach human evolution in any public school or university. Also in July 1925, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin faced his own trial over the same subject. Although knowing that all of the scientific evidence supported evolution on a cosmic scale, Teilhard also had a deep love for both Christ and the Church. And so, in July 1925, after a week’s retreat and reflection, Teilhard signed a document, demanded by his Jesuit superiors, repudiating his writings on original sin and evolution. He was removed from teaching, was forbidden to publish anything on religion, and was exiled to China.

Though differing “trials” in some ways – The Scopes Trial was about the legality of teaching evolution, while Teilhard’s case centered on the theological implications of evolution – both mark one hundred years of a seemingly never-ending cultural struggle between science and religious belief. That struggle persists to this day.

Learn more about this period in the life of this French Jesuit priest and scientist in the PBS documentary TEILHARD: Visionary Scientist. Stream it on the free PBS app (download at https://bit.ly/DownloadPBSApp), or use PBS Passport. Or use this direct link, https://to.pbs.org/3R89ycC, available to international viewers as well. See these resources for more information on Teilhard and evolution.