Life and Evolution: Why Theology Matters Lucio Florio Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina Abstract The religions include a vision about life that has gravitated for millennia and that seems to survive, even in a time of supremacy of the scientific and technological rationality. In fact, they operate as great shapers of meaning for a large part of humanity. Particularly, the coexistence between a scientific view of the phenomenon of the life with religious understanding frames of it is a fact in many places. In effect, the religious vision continues to confer an ultimate horizon of meaning for many biologists, for a significant number of teachers in biology, as well as for a multitude of believers. There are many people who nurture their vision of life both in science and in some religious conception. For this reason, it is important the analysis of the biblical theology of life. It allows evaluating the scope of a cultural force that persists in its reading of the phenomenon of life, even coinciding with scientific visions of it. One of the aspects to understand is the inclusion of the evolutionary perspective assumed by the present Christian theology of life. The theology of evolution is one of the most significant approaches of this way of thinking about the phenomenon of the life. Moreover, in the current state of risk of the biosphere, the need to promote integrated visions becomes imperious. This is the reason to try to understand the new perspectives of the eco-theology. Key words: Life – Evolution – Theology – Anthropocene – Eco-theology 1. Theology of life and Evolution The evolutionary vision of life has implied a varied reaction on part of Christian theology since its scientific formulation by Charles Darwin. In our time, theological reflection, after a hesitant first stage, has incorporated the evolutionary explanation in its worldview (Pascual 2005; Auletta – Leclerc – Martínez 2011; De Asúa 2009). In fact, there has been an important increase in theological publications on the evolutionary topic. In the field of the Catholic Church, this has occurred even within the scope of its official publications (Martínez 2011, 589-612). Theology has been conceived by the Christian tradition as an understanding of the faith through the available rational resources. Therefore, to think the life as a creature today requires using the paradigm of evolution (Arnould 2010). Since the phase of the controversial debate between evolution and revelation seems to have passed, it is possible elaborate a "theology of evolution". This theology tries to integrate the evolutionary understanding of life, without concordisms, into the theological thought (Lambert 1999). Anyway, there is still a conflict between some religious views and evolution. To be exact, the problem subsists between some different forms of creationism and the neo- Darwinist interpretations. The conflict continues primarily in the North American area, although resonances elsewhere: in Europe (Arnould 2009, 357) and also in Latin America (Machado Silva et alii 2015). However, such polarization does not affect the theology elaborated in other cultural environments. For now, purely literal hermeneutics of the Bible does not predominate in the Catholic field and in much of the European