The author of this book is Phillip E. Johnson, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and well-known critic of Darwinism. Being a professional in the use of evidence, logic and rhetoric, he exposes many shortcomings of the theory of evolution and its philosophical foundation.Three Common Mistakes
Prof. Johnson begins by describing three mistakes Christians commonly make when discussing evolution:
- It's only about length of time - "Evolution" does not mean God-guided gradual creation, but unguided and purposeless change.
- God made the laws and then retired - The important question is not whether God "exists", but whether God cares about us and we are responsive to his purposes.
- Giving away the realm of reason - We must not allow the debate to be framed as faith vs. reason, or belief vs. knowledge, or the Bible and science. God has left evidence of His creation, and this evidence can be uncovered by reason, knowledge and science.
Science and Philosophy
Much of this book is devoted to pointing out the philosophy behind the theory of evolution. First, the prevailing viewpoint of academic scientists is naturalism. Naturalism is the philosophy that the natural world is the only reality and that natural laws are basic truths of reality. Second, the scientific establishment is careful to main a separation of "religious" questions from scientific discussion. In this way, questions about God and ultimate reality are side-stepped. They are considered questions to be discussed by the liberal arts, not the sciences.
This is the point where Prof. Johnson's expertise helps unravel the difficulties though. The point is that scientists have already made a religious/philosophical assumption, that is, naturalism. The question of creation vs. evolution may be debated on either on philosophical grounds (theism vs. naturalism) or if naturalism is assumed, then it may be debated on the basis of the evidence (whether the facts support creation or purposeless evolution). But to close off both avenues of discussion is illogical and unscientific.
One other point here is that from a naturalistic point is view, evolution is not just the best explanation of the origin of life, it is the only explanation. Therefore all of the evidence must support evolution. Any contrary information s simply set aside as a temporary mystery, undoubtedly to be explained by future generations of naturalists.
Macro vs. Microevolution
Prof. Johnson points out that one rhetorical trick used by evolutionists is to leave the term "evolution" undefined and conveniently allow it mean different things at different times. He recommends that at a minimum the terms microevolution and macroevolution be used. Microevolution involves small changes within a species, such as the length of finch beaks in the Galapagos Islands. No one disputes that this can and does happen. However, the evolutionist will assert that these small changes plus time and random chance will lead to the emergence of a new and separate species. But it does not necessarily follow that microevolution plus time and random change will produce macroevolutionary changes, and the fossil record does not support this assertion.
Matter and Information
Another key idea presented in this book is the difference between matter and information. Prof Johnson uses the illustration of a book to describe the difference. A book is a certain amount of paper and ink, but the information in the book is the same even if it is contained in a computer, or some other medium. Applying this idea to life, DNA is just a physical medium containing genetic information. The big question is how did the information get organized in the DNA sequences contained in every cell. Evolutionary scientists have no real answer to this question.
In summary, this is a superb book for anyone interested in digging into the creation/evolution debate. It is targeted to high school age students and their parents, and at 119 pages (plus notes) it is not overwhelming.
InterVarsity Press, ISBN 0-8308-1360-8
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