Essays by Ilia Delio

Website Ilia_20240509_ILIA_[SQR] copy

Ilia Delio, OSF, PhD, is a Franciscan Sister of Washington, DC, and an American theologian specializing in the area of science and religion, with interests in evolution, physics, and neuroscience and the import of these for theology.

Ilia currently holds the Josephine C. Connelly Endowed Chair in Theology at Villanova University and is the author of twenty books, including "Care for Creation" (coauthored with Keith Warner and Pamela Woods), which won two Catholic Press Book Awards in 2009: first place for social concerns and second place in spirituality.

Her book "The Emergent Christ" won a third-place Catholic Press Book Award in 2011 for the area of Science and Religion. Her recent books include "The Unbearable Wholeness of Being: God, Evolution, and the Power of Love" (Orbis, 2013), which received the 2014 Silver Nautilus Book Award and a third-place Catholic Press Association Award for Faith and Science. Ilia holds two honorary doctorates, one from St. Francis University in 2015, and one from Sacred Heart University in 2020.

Learn more about Sr. Ilia and her publications.

metahuman

Towards the Metahuman in 2024

We are on the cusp of a New Year and the crystal ball in New York City, marking the new year, will soon be released in Times Square. While we…

homepage-video-placeholder

A New World is Dawning in our Midst

Dear Friends, I just finished teaching two classes of fifty students, between eighteen and twenty-one years old, on many of the ideas we discuss at the Center for Christogenesis. The…

Dome on earth 0

The World Will Change by Creating a New One

There is a lot of uncertainty at present with the war in the Middle East, the devastation of Ukraine, the mass shooting in Maine and the lack of political leadership…

Underwater view of the sea surface

Science Without Religion is Like an Ocean Without Water

Teilhard de Chardin was a scientist who thought of science as a process; he found joy in exploring the unknown mysteries of matter. In a small essay on the “The Spiritual Power of Matter,” he tells the story of two travelers in the desert, one seeks spiritual truth by leaving the world, the other is lured by matter as the realm of the Absolute. To survive, he must wrestle with Matter and see what it reveals.

the conductor holding baton standing on top of a mountain against night sky with Northern Lights,illustration painting

Rebirthing Religion

In his most recent book, What to believe? Twelve Brief Lessons in Radical Theology, Villanova philosopher, John Caputo, lays out one of the most accessible (and witty) descriptions of radical…

Couple walking on a surreal rainbow bridge, with vibrant colors radiating from their footsteps, symbolizing the journey of love and the shared adventures that await. Generative Ai

Mysticism: The Bridge Between Religion and Evolution

I have always been attracted to mystical theology. God is simply an inexhaustible mystery of love who draws me into the wonder of life. I feel at home among the…