Gradualism under Challenge

Abstract

By the start of the twentieth century, gradualism had achieved a state of complete ascendancy over catastrophism, a situation that was to persist for 80 years or more. Nevertheless, as we saw in Chapter 2, the nineteenth century catastrophists and uniformitarians used essentially the same methods, putting science before religious dogma; in consequence, both groups came under criticism from biblical fundamentalists. Catastrophists and uniformitarians alike believed that God had created the laws of nature, and was now letting them operate without interference, at least as far as the material world was concerned. It is true that some major catastrophists tried hard to reconcile the evidence of the fossil record with the story told in Genesis, but where there was clear conflict, they accepted the scientific evidence. It is also true that the catastrophists, having rejected the concept of evolution on grounds that were explicitly scientific, allowed for the possibility that new species had been created in each geological period. However, if that can be used as a reason for dismissing the catastrophists from consideration as serious scientists, the same should apply to Charles Lyell, the champion of uniformitarianism, who held the same views, in principle if not in detail, on this particular issue. Lyell was similarly at one with the catastrophists in believing that humankind had a special status in creation.