Whitehead & Teilhard: Convergence, Divergences, Integrations

The respective work of Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) and Pierre Teilhard De Chardin (1881-1955) continue to inspire distinctive trajectories in modern process philosophy and theology. Although contemporaries for a time, both men were unable to benefit from each other’s vast visions of reality. Yet a shared indebtedness to Bergson’s temporal metaphysics and a commitment to incorporate new advances of the sciences—evolutionary biology and quantum and relativity theory in particular—would stimulate deeply resonant vectors in their thought. Nevertheless, Whitehead and Teilhard continue to be studied largely independent of each other’s contributions. The time has come to fill this scholarly lacuna with deliberate efforts aimed at creative mutual transformation. What results when Whitehead and Teilhard meet? What do they each offer the other such that a mutual deepening might take place? This conference draws together Whitehead and Teilhard scholars to advance the possibilities and relevance of process philosophy and theology through an integrative encounter between these two foundational figures.