Abstract
There is a popular idea that the Western world was creationist until the time of Darwin, and then everyone immediately switched to evolution when On the Origin of Species was published in 1859. If so, why did these scientists switch so quickly? Surely real, biblical creationists would have vigorously attacked Darwin's book. The history of Origin and the rise of evolution is not nearly as simple as the phrase "Darwinian revolution" might lead us to believe. When Darwin published his book, the church had already fallen asleep. Most scientists had stopped looking to the Bible for answers, and Christians assumed that the earth was extremely old. Darwin's "revolution" was actually a relatively gradual process that began before Origin and outlived Darwin himself.