The Right Questions: Truth, Meaning Public Debate

An ECPA 2003 Gold Medallion Finalist Phillip E. Johnson pries the lid off public debate about questions of ultimate concern--questions often suppressed by our society's intellectual elite. Moving far beyond matters of creation and evolution, Johnson outlines the questions we all ought to be asking about the meaning of human history, the limits of scientific inquiry, religion and education in a pluralistic society, truth, liberty and moral choices, and God and His Word, Jesus Christ. Johnson deftly demonstrates how the reigning naturalistic philosophy not only squelches public debate but also constrains us to ask the wrong questions. Unless we start with the right questions, Johnson argues, our discussions will be framed by the assumptions of that very philosophy which must be challenged. Johnson asserts that even the Christian church has much too often passively accepted this limiting frame of mind to the detriment of all. But Christian faith and conviction instead ought to lead in opening up the search for truth and meaning through the kind of public education that "teaches in controversy." Then all of us will be prepared to engage in lively, informed and civil debate about the questions that really matter. Why is it always wrong to mix science and religion? What is the ultimate premise, the beginning point, from which logic should proceed? How can a college education prepare students to understand the ultimate purpose or meaning for which life should be lived and to choose rightly from among the available possibilities? What is the appropriate understanding of religion in a pluralistic nation where substantial numbers of Christians, agnostics, Jews and Muslims all need to live together in peace? How can democratic liberalism remain viable when severed from its Christian roots? What is the most important event in human history? Provocative, personal, persuasive and prophetic, Johnson is certain to help us break free from our intellectual and spiritual captivity.

Nancy Pearcey is the Francis A. Schaeffer scholar at the World Journalism Institute, where she teaches a worldview course based on her book Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity. After studying under Schaeffer at L'Abri in the early 1970s, she earned an M.A. from Covenant Theological Seminary, followed by further graduate work in philosophy at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto. She has served as the executive editor of Breakpoint, visiting scholar at the Torrey Honors Institute at Biola University, and senior fellow at the Discovery Institute. A frequent lecturer, Pearcey has spoken to actors and screenwriters in Hollywood; at universities such as Dartmouth, Stanford, USC and Princeton; at national labs like Sandia and Los Alamos; in Congress and the White House; and for political organizations like the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. Her articles have appeared in numerous publications, including The Washington Times, First Things, Human Events and The Regent University Law Review. Pearcey has written or contributed to several works, including The Soul of Science and the ECPA Gold Medallion winner How Now Shall We Live? Her latest book, Total Truth, was featured on C-SPAN, received an Award of Merit in the Christianity Today 2005 Book Awards, and won the ECPA Gold Medallion Award for best book of the year in the Christianity and Society category.
Phillip E. Johnson taught law for more than thirty years at the University of California--Berkeley where he is professor emeritus. He is recognized as a leading spokesman for the intelligent design movement, and is the author of many books, including Darwin on Trial, Reason in the Balance and Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds.