Across the Gulf of Seven Hundred Years: Aquinas and Teilhard's Metaphysics of Union.

This article focuses on the metaphysical relationship between Thomas Aquinas's classical theism and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's metaphysics of union, highlighting the challenges and contrasts between their views on God, creation, and evolution. Teilhard, writing seven centuries after Aquinas, developed a process-oriented metaphysics influenced by evolutionary science, proposing that God and the world are dynamically united and that creation is an ongoing, evolutionary act rather than a one-time ex nihilo event. In contrast, Aquinas's metaphysics emphasizes God's immutability, simplicity, and creation ex nihilo, with creatures participating in God's act of existence but not affecting God. The article argues that while some dialogue and complementarity between their thought is possible, Teilhard's ideas—such as God's changeability, complexity, and co-creative relationship with the world—mark a significant departure from Thomistic metaphysics, reflecting a panentheistic and processual vision of God that challenges traditional Catholic doctrine.