The philosophy of religion, as expressed by Rousseau and Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, shares a number of common characteristics which can be explained in part by what the latter inherited from the former and in part by common heritages. Both authors affirm jointly the need for religion (by means of theodicy linked to a criticism of both atheists and atheism) and a critique of revealed religion inasmuch as they are also institutions. But Bernardin de Saint-Pierre's reference to nature (already present in Rousseau) is much more radical, which profoundly changes its significance. By specifying and accentuating something that was perhaps slightly ambiguous in Rousseau, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre decisively transformed the religion of the Philosophes : natural religion became the religion of Nature.