Some are daring to give expression to their malaise, pointing to blind spots and distortions in the overly restrictive view of nature they have inherited from Lyell. So it should not be surprising that a similar view of reality is now emerging in paleontology. The paleontological challenge to Darwinian uniformitarianism is also a return to a more catastrophic view of reality. One of the best articles for understanding the new developments in paleontology is found in a lively and stimulating professional journal called Paleobiology . Here, Gould and Eldredge vigorously restate their theory, defend it against its critics, and summarize the status of the debate it has inspired.
Stability is more fundamental than change.
The gaps in the fossil record are real and will not go away with more collecting. The processes that produce small-scale changes in living organisms are inadequate to explain the origin of the tremendous variety of living forms. Rates of change are far too slow to account for macroevolution. All of these points have been raised by creationists, though, sad to say, rarely as cogently or with comparable sophistication. New is only the degree of emphasis placed on viewing the record as hopelessly biased.