How does the work of Teilhard relate to the concept of NOMA?

Answer 1

Stephen Jay Gould proposed the concept of Nonoverlapping Magisteria (NOMA). He proposed that the domain or magisterium for science is the empirical realm - what the universe is made from and why it works the way it does. He said that the magisterium of religion includes the ultimate meaning and moral values. These magisteria are nonoverlapping - science does not comment on the ultimate meaning of life, while religion should not comment on the natural world.

If accepted, this concept takes questions about creation and evolution out of the religious magisterium, while theologians can be free to comment on the meaning of life. Of course, not all theologians accept Gould's ideas, and feel free to contine to comment on the empirical realm, often in ways that are at variance with the facts established by science, but sometimes in ways intended to harmonise religion and science. One of the supposed solutions is known as "theistic evolution". This accepts the reality of evolution, while keeping an important role for God in somehow guiding that evolution.

Teilhard de Chardin proposed that God is responsible for the direction of evolution but that the intervention is subtle, quite different to "intelligent design". Teilhard follows the understanding of an evolutionary progression from inanimate matter through primitive life and invertebrates to fish, amphibia, reptiles, mammals, and finally man, with always an increase in consciousness. With man a threshhold is crossed - self-conscious thought, or mind, appears. But even humans do not represent the end-point of evolution, for this process will continue until all humans are united in a single Divine Christ-consciousness, the "Omega Point". He looks for a middle ground that will allow theologians to comment on the natural world, and thus abnegates the concept of Nonoverlapping Magisteria.