In the early 19th century, geology was dominated by catastrophists who argued that cataclysmic events are needed to explain the features of the earth. They were mainly theological apologists who sought these events to make geological history conform to the Bible.
Charles Lyell proposed his revolutionary philosophy of "Uniformitarianism" in his "Principles of Geology" (1830). It advocated that a slow and steady operation of present causes (rivers, rain etc) over a really long period of time to bring about the earth we see now. The present is the key to the past. His opponents weren't really proposing supernatural reasons for catastrophes by 1830 but his theory still made the important contribution of the steady state idea.
Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould
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