Unknowing Podcast: Composting Christianity.  

Podcast host, Brie Stoner, invites theologian and author, Ilia Delio, OSF, PhD, to discuss the role of Teilhardian thinking in helping to compost outdated cosmologies that perpetuate disembodiment in Christianity. Ilea is a Franciscan sister of Washington DC who holds the Josephine C. Connolly Endowed Chair in Theology at Villanova University. She's also the author of 17 books and she lectures internationally on topics including evolution, artificial intelligence, consciousness, and religion.

Brie and Ilia discuss the work of Father Teilhard who was born in 1881.  A controversial priest at the time, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a Jesuit trained paleontologist who worked to understand evolution and faith and was silenced by the Church for his evolutionary ontology (nature of being). As a scientist and priest, Teilhard's life work was predicated on his conviction that human spiritual development is moved by the same universal laws as material development. Teilhard developed a whole world view of science and religion and sought to marry these two disciplines.  As Brie states:  “paleontologist and evolutionary priest, mystical thinker, the language and articulation of a mysticism and spirituality that was so deeply rooted in the materiality of this earth. To me, it felt like the next step in mysticism. It was like mysticism elevated into a scientific and ecological worldview.”

Questions? Please reach out to Marcy Nadeau. We hope you can join us to discuss!