In the late 18th and early 19th century several proposals were made such as Lamarck’s that species were transformed into new species. This culminated in Darwin’s theory that all species were transformed from other species (hence there is common descent). In the 19th century creationists continued to hold to a non-transformist view that all species were specially created by God and were fixed and unchangeable. A new creationist position arose in the 20th century that might be called “semi-tranformism” because it allows for speciation and extinction but affirms the creation of a limited number of fixed kinds of organisms.
This simple narrative is not being communicated very well. Creationists today are still considered non-transformists because they have not clearly articulated the difference between the new creationism and the old creationism.
July 2013