Darwin's Nemesis: Phillip Johnson and the Intelligent Design Movement

by William A. Dembski (Editor), Rick Santorum (Foreword)

With the publication of Darwin on Trial in 1991, Cal Berkeley legal scholar Phillip Johnson became the leading figure in the intelligent design movement. Exposing and calling into question the philosophical foundations of Darwinism, Johnson led the charge against this largely unquestioned philosophy of materialistic reductionism and its purported basis in scientific research. This book reviews and celebrates the life and thought of Phillip Johnson and the movement for which he has served as chief architect. Editor William A. Dembski presents eighteen essays by those who have known and worked with Johnson for more than a decade. They provide personal and in-depth insight into the man, his convictions and his leadership of the intellectual movement that called into question the hegemony of Darwinian theory. Contributors include Stephen Meyer Michael Behe Jay Wesley Richards Thomas Woodward Francis Beckwith Timothy Standish David Berlinski Michael Ruse David Keller Jonathan Wells Scott Minnich Nancy Pearcey Jay Budziszewski Marcus Ross Paul Nelson Henry Schaefer III Wesley Allen Walter Bradley Phillip E. Johnson

Genres: Science, Evolution

357 pages, Paperback

First published February 22, 2006

About the author

A mathematician and philosopher, Dr. William Dembski has taught at Northwestern University, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Dallas. He has done postdoctoral work in mathematics at MIT, in physics at the University of Chicago, and in computer science at Princeton University. A graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago where he earned a B.A. in psychology, an M.S. in statistics, and a Ph.D. in philosophy, he also received a doctorate in mathematics from the University of Chicago in 1988 and a master of divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1996. He has held National Science Foundation graduate and postdoctoral fellowships. He is the recipient of a $100,000 Templeton research grant. In 2005 he received Texas A&M’s Trotter Prize.

Dr. Dembski has published articles in mathematics, engineering, philosophy, and theology journals and is the author/editor of over twenty books.

His most comprehensive treatment of intelligent design to date, co-authored with Jonathan Wells, is titled The Design of Life: Discovering Signs of Intelligence in Biological Systems.

As interest in intelligent design has grown in the wider culture, Dr. Dembski has assumed the role of public intellectual. In addition to lecturing around the world at colleges and universities, he is frequently interviewed on the radio and television. His work has been cited in numerous newspaper and magazine articles, including three front page stories in the New York Times as well as the August 15, 2005 Time magazine cover story on intelligent design. He has appeared on the BBC, NPR (Diane Rehm, etc.), PBS (Inside the Law with Jack Ford; Uncommon Knowledge with Peter Robinson), CSPAN2, CNN, Fox News, ABC Nightline, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Reviews

[Mark]

On page 24

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A "FESTSCHRIFT" (TRIBUTE) TO THE "DARWIN ON TRIAL" AUTHOR

Editor William Albert Dembski (born 1960) is a key figure in the "Intelligent Design" movement, who is a professor at the Southern Evangelical Seminary and a senior fellow of the Discovery Institute. He has written/edited many other books, such as 'The Design Inference,' 'Intelligent Design,' 'The Design Revolution,' 'Mere Creation,' 'Uncommon Dissent,' 'Tough-Minded Christianity,' etc.

Dembski wrote in the Preface to this 2006 book, "This volume takes its place alongside other intelligent-design compilations, serving as a handy reference for various ID research topics and personal stories. Yet, as a tribute to our well-loved friend, this book also plays a special role in the ID literature... this book memorializes Phil's achievements in heading the ID movement and thanks him for his influence not only on our lives but also on the wider community of ID proponents and friendly critics." (Pg. 21) Essayists include Stephen Meyer, Michael Behe, Thomas Woodward, Michael Ruse [!], Jonathan Wells, etc., and a "Final Word" by Philip Johnson.

Michael Behe recalls, "I hit what... was a major bump in the road. In a flyer listing the monthly offerings of a book club I belonged to, I saw an ad for 'Evolution: A Theory In Crisis,' by Australian geneticist Michael Denton. I was puzzled. Although I knew some folks ... who disbelieved evolution for religious reasons, I had never heard of a scientist who questioned evolution based on science... [Darwin's] very attempt to explain life by natural law made the natural development of life thinkable... And it was that serene assumption that was shattered for me by Denton's book." (Pg. 41-42)

Woodward observes, "university professors in the arts and literature as well as in social sciences and hard sciences are free ... to hold theistic beliefs... However, according to intelligent-design theorists, these same theists often do not have the freedom to connect their academic work with their deepest convictions about the existence of a deity who transcends and rules the universe." (Pg. 71)

Jonathan Wells recalls, "as a seminary student at Unification Theological Seminary in the late 1970s, I had become convinced that there is a fundamental conflict between theistic religions and Darwinian evolution... I also listened to many talks by Reverend Moon, who was critical of Darwinism for promoting the belief that living beings originated without God's creative activity... In 1978, Reverend Moon chose me and several other seminary graduates to receive church scholarships for further graduate study in theology." (Pg. 164-166)

Another essayist notes, "It is interesting that the ID movement was born in the dark shadows of the 1982 Arkansas creationists court case and the 1987 Supreme Court decision on the Louisiana creationist case, both resounding victories for advocates of a naturalistic monopoly in the study and teaching of social science." (Pg. 313-314)

This book will be of keen interest to anyone studying the Intelligent Design movement.