The palaeobiologists who peered into the fossil records in the early part of this century were not prepared for what they saw. Pre-Darwinian palaeobiology had been dominated by the need for explanations consonant with the Creator's plan. The first hint of change came from the geologist Charles Lyell, who dismayed sensible people of the 1830s by proclaiming that the natural world was neither static — as God left it — nor young. Later, Darwin proclaimed a wholly material explanation for species, based on the principle of descent with modification. Lyell had opened the door, and Darwin showed God out.
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