Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

A. James Rudin had a recent outstanding commentary titled “Insights of these 3 religious thinkers may be an antidoe to ‘feel-good’ faith”.  The three thinkers are Teilhard de Chardin, Martin Buber and Reinhold Niebuhr.  These three giants are perhaps more relevant today than they were during there lifetimes, influencing a wide range of world leaders including Pope Benedict (Teilhard de Chardin and Martin Buber) to President Obama (Niebuhr).

Martin Buber

I encourage you to read the full article here but set forth below is an excerpt:

“When people utter the mantra “I’m moving on,” it usually means they are leaving behind a crisis, conflict or controversy. But “moving on” sometimes results in abandoning valuable lessons of the past.

This is especially true in religion. When spiritual leaders don’t deliver instant inner fulfillment, people quickly “move on” and embrace new teachers or gurus who promise their followers blessedness. It is a depressing and disillusioning process that creates holy burnout.

I have a modest proposal for those who constantly “move on” in their quest for authentic faith: “Move back” and explore the insights of three major religious thinkers whose once “radical” teachings are receding into the mists of forgetfulness.

During the mid-20th century, Martin Buber (Jewish), Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (Roman Catholic) and Reinhold Niebuhr (Protestant) influenced the religious scene. . .

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Reinhold Niebuhr