Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was born in Orcines (France). He was a Jesuit priest, paleontologist, and mystical author. He was able to conceive of cosmic and evolutionary biology within the framework of a profound Christian understanding of creation, without being intimidated by scientific research that progressively set earlier and earlier dates for man’s appearance and his biological origins in inferior animal species. He wrote: “Those thinkers are absolutely mistaken, therefore, who imagine they can prove man’s nature to be purely material simply by uncovering deeper and more numerous roots of his being in the earth. Far from annihilating spirit, they merely show how it mingles with and acts upon the world of matter like a leaven” (P. Teilhard de Chardin, Hymn of the Universe [New York: Harper and Row, 1969], p. 78). Some perplexing elements in his thought, along with some ambiguities, have led to reservations regarding a few theological-philosophical consequences that could be drawn from his writings.