Czech Teilhard Association
Czech Teilhard Association was launched in January 2020 in the Czech Republic. Within our country, we aim at interconnecting as many admirers of Teilhard’s work as possible and pursue together the goal to publish Czech translations of his works, including correspondence. During the first year of existence our association gained 108 members. Even though we are designed as a national association, we aspire to establish eventual cooperation with similar organisations from abroad and we are also open to members from abroad or foreigners living in the Czech Republic.
If you are interested in supporting our association, you can either donate a Teilhard book, help us to find a sponsor, sponsor us yourself or become a member.
Sponsorship or membership fee (20 €, 20 $ or 500 CZK) can be sent to our bank account:
IBAN: CZ3920100000002901745463
BIC/SWIFT: FIOBCZPPXXX
Please do not forget to include your e-mail in the message for the payee, otherwise we won’t be able to give you thanks or register you as a member.
We intend to publish the complete set of Teilhard’s texts because we believe they have the potential to change the perspective on the meaning of human actions and personal responsibility for the form of the world – and to answer the question: What can I do as an individual with my limited powers here and now that the world advances towards greater unity in diversity, towards greater complexity and intensity of being? Teilhard’s evolutionary vision of the world is according to our opinion fundamental also for the revival of Christianity and new possibilities of pastoral care.
There were only four of altogether thirteen volumes of the collected works of Teilhard de Chardin (and a few essays) translated and published in the Czech language milieu. Teilhard’s letters remain completely unknown to Czech readers. Therefore, we intend to publish first Teilhard’s letters from the First World War which were addressed to his cousin Marguerite. According to our opinion, they belong amongst the most interesting texts ever written at the war front. Our idea is to publish one volume per annum. For this reason, we will also apply for different grants and seek financial support from private donors as well as other sponsors, i.e., philanthropic foundations, etc. Therefore, we will be very grateful for any suggestion where to apply for relevant grants or ask for financial help.
Another activity we want to pursue within our association is to provide access to original texts of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin for Czech readers who usually do not have them. For that reason, we plan to open the Library of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, which is going to be located at a South Bohemian homestead in Prostřední Vydří. At this point, it is important to know that the association for promoting the works of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was founded formally as a branch of the cultural association “Homestead uProstřed” which takes care of the homestead, its reconstruction and cultural utilisation. The Library of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin will extend the portfolio of cultural-intellectual activities (including the possibility of research/art residencies) this site offers. The foundation for the library comprises of the complete set of Teilhard’s collected works, a few letters, approximately 20 titles of secondary literature, and a copy of Teilhard’s unpublished diary. It is not much, but our aim is to start building this library up. Therefore, we would be very happy and grateful for any donation of a book (English, French or German) related to Teilhard’s person and work.
The initiator of the association is Františka Jirousová (*1980). She is a writer, Doctor of Philosophy, and serves as president of the “Homestead uProstřed” association. She studied at the Faculty of Arts at Charles University in Prague and defended her dissertation entitled “Evolution as a Way to God in the Work of Teilhard de Chardin”, which is going to be published in 2020. Františka works as a book editor and therefore she will edit translations we aim to publish. She also spent nine months as a Fulbright-Masaryk fellow in Teilhard’s archive at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. where she became acquainted well with the rich works of Teilhard de Chardin.
The co-founder of the association is the psychotherapist Martina Jerie Lukášková who provides a base for the association in Prague, where members can meet regarding Teilhard’s texts. She is also responsible for technical and graphical services as well as for the promotion of published translations. She has been interested in Teilhard’s writings for a long time and she is committed to the task of its dissemination in society.
Translations of Teilhard’s texts will be published by the Czech renowned publishing house Malvern (http://www.malvern.cz).
For further information please contact Františka by e-mail: frantiska.jirousova@gmail.com