Conciliando a Teorica de Darwin e a Cultura Biblica

Due to a simplistic interpretation of the Holly Scriptures, the Christian world has for a long time largely rejected the darwinian theory. It was therefore, even in the twenties of the past century, difficult to reconcile the idea of the common origin of all species and a superficial reading of the Book of Genesis. In this context, two catholic priests who were also scientists – Teilhard de Chardin and Henry de Dorlodot – tried to reconcile their scientific adhesion to Darwin’s theory and their faith in God. They held a similar scientific opinion but by different ways. In fact, they got into two opposite situations due to the very different receptions given to their claim: Teilhard de Chardin, severely repressed, was sent to China in order to prevent the diffusion of his ideas whereas de Dorlodot’s book was published and acclaimed. This was probably due to the use made by the second of them of an essentially theological argumentation in order to present the underlining scientific theory. Teilhard de Chardin developed his argu­men­ta­tion through a scientific analysis ending up in philosophical and religious conclusions. On the other hand, some believing scientists were able to find in the de Dorlodot’s argumentation the theological support for their knowledge that they needed.