Raised in a conservative Christian household, Samuel was taught to find divine truth in scripture, but visits to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City began to reshape his understanding. Walking through the museum’s vast halls, he encountered a world far older and more intricate than he had imagined—a world written in stone rather than parchment. Standing before ancient fossils, he felt a quiet invitation to see the sacred not in words but in the slow unfolding of life. He was captivated by the towering dinosaur skeletons, the delicate imprints of ancient ferns, and, most of all, the trilobites—small, intricate, and impossibly old. Holding a trilobite in the museum’s gift shop, he sensed a connection across millions of years, a presence lingering in the remnants of deep time, challenging his earlier beliefs.
He began to see God in the unfolding of life on Earth, not as a distant ruler but as a presence woven into evolution and transformation. The idea of revelation shifted for him; fossils became a form of scripture, stories written not in ink but in the sedimentary layers of time. He became, as he would later say, a Fossil Mystic. “Bones,” he said, “are as sacred as books, and perhaps more sacred, because they contained living beings.” And, reflecting on his own sense of worship, he added, “Church, for me, is a liturgy, to be sure, but it’s been going on for three and a half billion years on Earth, and even longer when we think of the universe.”
When asked if he saw something like love in the fossil record or in the unfolding of the cosmos, he paused before answering. “I do,” he said, “but it’s a different kind of love. Not just the love of two people tenderly caring for one another, or the love of a prophet taking up for the downtrodden, but a love that is itself an eros toward life, toward beauty, within the whole of the universe.” He spoke of a love that includes tragedy, the passing away of life, the disappearance of species, the shifting of worlds—yet still, life presses forward. “Love isn’t just about preservation,” he said. “It’s about transformation. And that’s what fossils teach us.”
In this, Samuel came to see something profoundly resonant with open and relational theology. The divine presence he sensed in evolution was not a controlling force but a lure toward flourishing, an invitation extended to every living being, moment by moment. The God he once imagined as dictating history now felt more like a patient artist, offering possibilities for growth, adaptation, and beauty—sometimes accepted, sometimes lost. And yet, nothing was ever truly lost. Just as the fossil record holds the memory of life’s unfolding, God, too, receives all that happens, holding every joy, every loss, and every moment of existence in loving remembrance forever. Samuel found solace in the idea that even extinction was not erasure, but a story woven into a deeper whole, cherished and preserved in the very heart of God.
What are Tribolites and Where are They Found?
A trilobite is an extinct marine arthropod that lived in Earth's oceans for about 270 million years, from the Cambrian to the Permian period. They had segmented bodies, hard exoskeletons, and are among the earliest known complex life forms in the fossil record. Scientists have identified over 20,000 species of trilobites, with some estimates suggesting more than 25,000 species. Trilobite fossils are found worldwide, preserved in sedimentary rock formations that were once ancient seabeds. Some of the best-known locations for trilobite fossils include:
United States – Particularly in Utah, Oklahoma, and New York
Canada – Especially in the Burgess Shale of British Columbia
Morocco – Home to many well-preserved and diverse trilobite species
Russia – Notable finds in the Ural Mountains and Siberia
United Kingdom – Fossils found in Wales and England
China – Especially in Yunnan Province, known for early Cambrian trilobites
Australia – Fossils found in regions like South Australia
These fossils are often discovered in limestone, shale, and other sedimentary rocks that formed in ancient ocean environments.
A Process Theology of Trilobites
Creativity as a Fundamental Principle – The existence of trilobites and their diverse evolutionary paths reflect the creative advance into novelty, a core principle in process thought. Life continuously finds new ways to express itself, and each trilobite species was an experiment in adaptation, form, and function.
Prehension and the Withness of the Past – Whitehead’s concept of prehension suggests that the past is always present in the becoming of new moments. Trilobites, though extinct, continue to influence present-day life through their contributions to evolutionary history, their role in shaping ecosystems, and their presence in human imagination and study.
The Ongoing Self-Creation of the Earth – The Earth is not a static stage upon which life unfolds but an active participant in the story of existence. The process of fossilization itself is part of Earth's creativity, preserving remnants of the past while shaping new geological formations.
The Interconnectedness of All Beings – Trilobites were not isolated creatures but part of vast ecological networks, interacting with other organisms, shaping and being shaped by their environments. Their lives were enmeshed in relationships that contributed to the evolutionary trajectories of countless species that followed.
Subjective Aim and Evolutionary Development – Each trilobite, like all organisms, had its own subjective aim—its internal drive toward satisfaction in its immediate moment. Though evolution operates on long timescales, individual trilobites sought food, moved through their environments, and engaged in survival strategies, reflecting a micro-level process of momentary decision-making.
Tragic Beauty and the Role of Loss in Creation – The extinction of trilobites, like all mass extinctions, can be seen as part of the tragic beauty of the universe. Life flourishes, declines, and transforms, and yet, through these transitions, new possibilities emerge. Beauty in process thought is not the absence of suffering but the weaving together of experience into a richer whole.
The Lure of the Future Even in the Distant Past – The presence of trilobites in deep time suggests that even billions of years ago, the universe was in a state of becoming. The divine lure—Whitehead’s concept of God’s role as the source of possibility—was at work then, just as it is now, guiding evolution toward complexity, consciousness, and creativity.
Ecological Responsibility as a Response to the Past – Recognizing that trilobites and countless other species have disappeared due to natural and human-caused extinctions invites reflection on our ethical responsibility toward the living world. If the Earth is a process of ongoing creativity, our choices shape what future fossil records will say about the Anthropocene.
The Sacredness of Geological Time – Time is often viewed anthropocentrically, but trilobites help shift our perspective to a deeper, more expansive temporal awareness. Geological time, with its long arcs of formation and decay, reveals a sacred unfolding beyond human scales, calling for humility and wonder.
Memory and the Consequent Nature of God – In process thought, nothing is ever truly lost but is woven into the divine experience. The lives of trilobites, their struggles and satisfactions, are not erased but taken up into the divine reality, contributing to the ever-growing richness of the cosmos.
Each of these ideas helps reframe fossils not just as remnants of a distant past but as living witnesses to the ongoing story of the universe—one in which beauty, transformation, and relationality are at the heart of existence.
Theology of the Fossil Mystic
Deep Time – The world is an ancient and sacred space, shaped by the slow work of geological forces. To the Fossil Mystic, fossils are not just scientific specimens but texts that reveal truths about existence, the divine, and our place in the unfolding story of life.
Two Worlds – The Fossil Mystic exists at the intersection of theology and geology, embracing a mysticism of transformation and impermanence. This is a spirituality that sees the divine in the evolutionary movement of life, where change, adaptation, and extinction are part of the unfolding of existence.
Bones as Scripture – Fossils serve as records of emergence, struggle, and renewal, offering insight into the patterns of life. Just as theologians seek wisdom in scripture, the Fossil Mystic finds meaning in the imprints of trilobites, ammonites, and dinosaur bones.
Communion Across Time – To hold a fossil is to touch a moment of history, a fragment of a world that still connects to our own. The Fossil Mystic sees this act as a form of communion, a way of engaging with the past through the material memory of the Earth.
Process – Fossils show that existence is always changing, with species emerging and disappearing while life continues in new forms. The Fossil Mystic embraces a perspective that holds both joy and loss, seeing them as part of the rhythm of existence.
Resurrection – Instead of resurrection as a singular event, the Fossil Mystic sees it as a process where life, even in death, is reshaped and given new form. The cycles of the Earth reveal that nothing is ever truly lost—only reabsorbed and reconfigured into new possibilities.
Extinction and Hope – The Fossil Mystic recognizes extinction as a real and ongoing process, from the disappearance of past species to the current loss of biodiversity. Within these losses, there are also patterns of persistence and adaptation, reminding us that change is continuous.
Wisdom from the Land – The Fossil Mystic draws from Indigenous traditions that recognize the Earth as a living archive of wisdom, embedded in its stones and landscapes. Thinkers like Teilhard de Chardin, Thomas Berry, and Whitehead reinforce this vision, seeing evolution as a process of connection and becoming.
Love as a Cosmic Force – Love is not just a human emotion but a force that shapes relationships, cooperation, and adaptation over time. The Fossil Mystic sees fossils as traces of these connections, reminders of how life has been shaped by interaction and interdependence.
Protect the Sacred Story – Honoring fossils means honoring the living web of life, recognizing that our actions shape the future record of the Earth. The Fossil Mystic carries a responsibility to protect biodiversity today so that life’s unfolding story can continue.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the significance of fossils. In the middle of the nineteenth century the discoveries of the fossil hunters used to worry poor Ruskin to death, he wrote in a letter in 1851, “my faith, which was never strong, is being beaten to gold leaf…If only those Geologists would let me alone I could do very well, but those dreadful Hammers! I hear the clink of them at the end of every cadence of the Bible verses.”The testimony of fossils over the ages has been remarkably eloquent when we have wanted to listen; and now with mass spectrometers, electron microscopes and secondary X-ray detectors, these long dead organisms can speak to us of the past in ways they never could before.With Richard Corfield, Research Associate in the Department of Earth Sciences at Oxford University; Dianne Edwards, Distinguished Research Professor in Palaeobotany at Cardiff University; Richard Fortey, Senior Research Palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum.