THE FUTURE OF TEILHARDIAN THEOLOGY

The impossibility of predicting the future allows us only to indicate which theological developments seem to be needed. These developments c oncern our changing perception of the world, which requires a reversal in our understanding of God's Creation, from its most imperfect begin nings to its unforeseeable future. The passing of evolution from the b iological to the human level has opened moral dimensions that must be explored. Rather than return to the beginnings of the church, theology needs to try to understand Christian faith within evolution, no reint erpret the past in the light of the new. In evolution, no final doctri ne is possible. The necessity for doctrine creates a constant tension with the necessity of its revision. New truth must be paid for by suff ering. The need is for a coherent theological vision of Creation, Rede mption, and God's action in the world. Teilhard's metaphysics of union may be the key to it. In this view love becomes the central force of creation, which in Teilhard's view opens into an eternal future in God : in its final stage, evolution becomes Christogenesis.