This paper is intended as a contribution to the study of science and religion in late modern Catholic societies. I explore the treatment of natural philosophy vis-à-vis religious (Roman Catholic) authority, the teaching of Biblical geology, and the use of natural theology in texts from Río de la Plata in the transition from late colonial to early independent times (1770-1815). After reviewing the assimilation of modern science into scholastic teaching and the articulation of reason and religious authority, the article considers the handling of the early history of the Earth in the theses of scholastic teachers and in the geological memoirs of the naturalist priest from Montevideo Dámaso Larrañaga. The core of the paper is devoted to the treatment of natural theology in Larrañaga's Diary of Natural History and in the speeches and documents of enlightened crown bureaucrats. The conclusion is reached that the harmonious character of the relationships between science and religion in this period and location harboured tensions (such as the blurred frontier between natural theology and natural religion) which could be accounted for in terms of the inherent inconsistencies in the programme of Catholic Enlightenment.

中文翻译：

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泥滩上的痕迹。殖民地和早期独立的拉普拉塔河的科学与宗教

本文旨在为现代天主教社会的科学和宗教研究做出贡献。我探索了自然哲学相对于宗教（罗马天主教）权威的处理、圣经地质学的教学，以及在从晚期殖民时期到早期独立时期（1770 年）拉普拉塔河的文本中使用自然神学-1815）。在回顾了现代科学与经院教学的同化以及理性和宗教权威的表达之后，本文考虑了在经院教师的论文和来自蒙得维的亚达马索拉拉尼亚加的博物学家的地质回忆录中对地球早期历史的处理. 论文的核心是致力于处理拉拉尼亚加的自然神学' s 自然历史日记以及开明的皇室官僚的演讲和文件。得出的结论是，这一时期和地点的科学与宗教之间关系的和谐特征存在着紧张关系（例如自然神学与自然宗教之间的界限模糊），这可以解释为：天主教启蒙。