By Design: Science and the Search for God - Hardcover

Witham, Larry

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1893554643 ISBN 13: 9781893554641

Publisher: Encounter Books, 2003

Synopsis

At the heart of By Design are two inter-related movements. One is the science and religion dialogue, which stretches from the laboratories of Nobelists to inner sancta of the Vatican. This dialogue attempts to build bridges between two worlds formerly thought to be implacably hostile and incompatible. The other is the intelligent design movement, which by reviving a natural theology of design in nature has challenged the Darwinian strongholds in science and public education. Larry Witham introduces some of the most colorful characters in these movements, and summarizes the scientific developments that have made this dramatic new dialogue possible.

About this title

About the Author

Larry Witham's reports on science and religion have appeared in "Scientific American," "Nature," and "Christian Century," and he is the author of five books, including "Where Darwin Meets the Bible" (Oxford). He and his wife and son live in Maryland.

Reviews

In a follow-up to his recent Where Darwin Meets the Bible, Washington Times reporter Witham surveys the ongoing dialogue between scientists and theologians about the relationship between science and religion. Drawing on interviews with key partners in the conversation, Witham provides a helpful guide to the major issues in this dialogue. While the controversy between creationists and evolutionary biologists has occupied a great deal of the public's attention, Witham points out that scientists and theologians have been dealing with other matters just as weighty and as provocative. He covers topics ranging from the anthropic principle (which argues that the universe's design implies that human life is its intended goal) and genetic engineering to astronomy and intelligent design. In the discussion of intelligent design, for example, Witham talks to one of its major proponents, Michael Behe. Behe is a religious scientist who accepts the workings of evolution as they apply to animals and plants, but who believes that the complexities of human molecular design (the way that blood clots, for instance) can be explained only by the work of an intelligent designer. Through his conversations with a wide-ranging group of scientists and theologians, including John Polkinghorne, Kenneth Miller, Allen Sandage, George Ellis and Paul Davies, Witham adeptly charts the course of the science and religion dialogue as the participants continue to search for common ground.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The late twentieth century has witnessed the emergence of a surprising coalition of biochemists, physicists, neurobiologists, and information theorists determined to bring science and religion together. Ironically, while orthodox scientific materialists continue to struggle to explain such phenomena as how a fine-tuning of stellar mass and cosmic expansion made possible the appearance of intelligent life, or how a primate brain first acquired human consciousness, the advocates of this new synthesis of reason and faith have found these same conundrums surprisingly tractable. Adumbrated by theorists such as chemist Charles Thaxton, and astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez, this new science accommodates much more data simply by acknowledging intelligent design in the architecture of the universe. Witham invites nonspecialists to scrutinize the central tenets of this new-style science and to reflect upon the social effects of a growing dialogue about this science sponsored by such institutions as the Vatican and the Templeton Foundation. A very helpful guide for readers trying to make sense of the science-religion debates breaking out anew on college campuses and in state legislatures. Bryce Christensen
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Edition details

• Publisher: Encounter Books
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1893554643
• ISBN 13: 9781893554641
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 236