Reviews for It's My Church and I'll Stay If I Want to: Affirming Catholism

The average rating for It's My Church and I'll Stay If I Want to: Affirming Catholism based on 2 reviews is 1.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-01-26 00:00:00 Michael Ohmart When I was a child, the enlightened nuns in my elementary school taught evolution and maintained that there is no conflict between the truths of science and those of religion. I was out of high school before I realized that there are people who believe that the Bible should be taken literally. About the same time I started learning the Catechism, Pierre Teillard de Chardin--a priest and world-renowned scientist--died in New York. His extraordinary writings, which talk about the mental and spiritual (as well as physical) evolution of humans, were as yet unpublished because of objections from the church hierarchy. In The Jesuit and the Skull, Amir Aczel depicts the life of Teillard, a charismatic man and formidable scholar. He also tells the story of one of the great mysteries of modern science: the disappearance during World War II of virtually all the fossil remains of the extinct hominid, Peking Man. This is a highly readable book that should appeal to those interested in history, biography, anthropology, ethics, religion, or philosophy.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-07-23 00:00:00 Doug Clark Very good book--definitely worth reading. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955), Jesuit, a brilliant paleontologist and a theologian (he would not have claimed to have been a theologian), ran afoul of the Jesuit and Catholic hierarchy because of his views on evolution. The Church forbade him from publishing his works and, to totally silence him, exiled him to China in 1922 and made him stay there until the Communist took over China after World War II. While there, he participated in the discovery of the Peking Man, a major discovery that furthered the acceptance of the theory of evolution. What a testament--God will not be defeated!!!! Teilhard submitted to the authority of the Jesuits, retained his integrity as a world class scientist and never wavered in his faith. Much of his writing, which is now standard reading in many seminaries, recounts his efforts to reconcile science and the Christian faith. This book tells the story of much of Teilhard's life and his participating in one of the great paleontological discoveries of the 20th century, including his faithfulness and the pain and loneliness it caused him.