1859 and 1871

Darwin's Origin of Species and theologians' response

In 1859 Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, and in 1871 The Descent of Man. The theory conflicted with a literal reading of the biblical creation account. This sparked a long-running conflict between science and religion.

Theologians split into three camps. A minority rejected the theory outright. A majority tried to accommodate it within traditional theology. And some, like Pierre Teilhard de Chardin later, sought to rethink theology itself in light of evolution.