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The Bridge Between Science & Theology William A. Dembski
 "William
Dembski is perhaps the very brightest of a new generation of scholars
willing to challenge the most sacred twentieth-century intellectual
idol-the unproven notion that all of life can be explained in terms
of natural selection and mutations." Henry F. Schaeffer III,
Graham Perdue Professor and Director, Center for Computational Quantum
Chemistry, University of Georgia "William Dembski's Intelligent Design is a centerpiece in
the current renewal of intellectual responsibility among thoughtful Christians.
Everyone with interest in and responsibility for how science and theology
interrelate should study it carefully. This is especially true for leaders
in education. Dembski is one of the finest minds now at work in our intellectual
and academic culture generally. Walk with him through the mine fields
of what is now called education. You will not find a better guide."
Dallas Willard, professor of philosophy, University of Southern California In the movie Contact, an astronomer played by Jodie Foster discovers a radio signal with a discernable pattern, a sequence representing prime numbers from 2 to 101. Because the pattern is too specifically arranged to be mere random space noise, the scientists infer from this data that an extraterrestrial intelligence has transmitted this signal on purpose. William Dembski sees in this illustration an instance of identifying specified complexity, and he argues that this criteria can be empirically applied to biology and the natural sciences. In Intelligent Design: The Bridge Between Science & Theology (304 pages, cloth, 0-8308-1851-3, $19.99, November 1999, InterVarsity Press), Dembski sets forth the philosophical rationale and scientific research program for design theory. Dembski's position does not rely on belief in the Genesis account of creation. Rather, he demonstrates that intelligent design operates as a scientific theory of information even without any a priori commitment to Christian theism. The criteria of specified complexity is able to detect design in nature even if the researcher remains agnostic as to the identity of the designing agent. This wide-ranging book argues that intelligent design has more epistemic support and provides greater explanatory power for the origins and development of life than Darwinist evolutionary theory. Dembski demonstrates the weaknesses of methodological naturalism and offers proposals for reinstating design within science. An appendix details Dembski's responses to common objections to design theory. |
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