Thirteen scholars--including John F. Haught, Ursula King, and John C. Haughey, SJ--"take off" from where Teilhard de Chardin "left off," opening new windows to the divine mystery, to the evolving person, and to the new energies of love needed for the forward movement of life.

Thirteen scholars--including John F. Haught, Ursula King, and John C. Haughey, SJ--"take off" from where Teilhard de Chardin "left off," opening new windows to the divine mystery, to the evolving person, and to the new energies of love needed for the forward movement of life.

TechGnosis is a cult classic of media studies that straddles the line between academic discourse and popular culture; it appeals to both those secular and spiritual, to fans of cyberpunk and hacker literature and culture as much as new-thought adherents and spiritual seekers How does our fascination with technology intersect with the religious imagination? In TechGnosis—a cult classic now updated and reissued with a new afterword—Erik Davis argues that while the realms of the digital and the spiritual may seem worlds apart, esoteric and religious impulses have in fact always permeated (and sometimes inspired) technological communication. Davis uncovers startling connections between such seemingly disparate topics as electricity and alchemy; online roleplaying games and religious and occult practices; virtual reality and gnostic mythology; programming languages and Kabbalah. The final chapters address the apocalyptic dreams that haunt technology, providing vital historical context as well as new ways to think about a future defined by the mutant intermingling of mind and machine, nightmare and fantasy.

Fifty years after his death, the thought of the French scientist and Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) continues to inspire new ways of understanding humanity's future. Trained as a paleontologist and philosopher, Teilhard was an innovative synthesizer of science and religion, developing an idea of evolution as an unfolding of material and mental worlds into an integrated, holistic universe at what he called the Omega Point. His books, such as the bestselling The Phenomenon of Man, have influenced generations of ecologists, environmentalists, planners, and others concerned with the fate of the earth. This book brings together original essays by leading experts who reflect on Teilhard's legacy for today's globalized world. They explore such topics as: the idea of God and the person; quantum reality and Teilhard's vision; spiritual resources for the future; politics and economics; and a charter for co-evolution.