The Case for a Creator: A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence That Points Toward God

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 352 pages
• Published by: Zondervan March 1, 2005
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0310240506
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0310240501
• Book Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Weighs: 10.4 ounces

Product Review
Are Christianity and science incompatible? If there is a God, is he only an impersonal starter force? An introductory high school biology class first propelled Lee Strobel toward a life of atheism. God and science, he reasoned, were mutually exclusive. When the former legal editor of the Chicago Tribune converted to Christianity, he decided to investigate the science he had once accepted as truth. Did science point toward or away from God? As Strobel interviews a variety of scientists on everything from debunking evolutionary icons to the implications of the Big Bang to the existence of the human soul, he builds his case: scientific evidence points toward Intelligent Design.

Although the discussion often veers into the academic, Strobel works hard to make it accessible to those without scientific training. Throughout the book, he salts interview transcript information with interesting personal stories of his own spiritual and scientific quest for knowledge, as well as sometimes over-detailed descriptions of the actual interviews (right down to the type of beverages consumed). Each chapter contains suggestions for further reading on particular issues of science and faith.

Strobel concludes that, when correctly interpreted, science and biblical teaching support each other. He quotes physicist Paul Davies, "…science offers a surer path to God than religion." Open-minded readers will find that this book, and its questions for reflection and group study, invites conversation and investigation.--Cindy Crosby

From Publishers Weekly
Strobel, whose apologetics titles The Case for Christ and The Case for Faith have enjoyed strong popularity among evangelicals, approaches creation/evolution issues in the same simple and energetic style. The format will be familiar to readers of previous Case books: Strobel visits with scholars and researchers and works each interview into a topical outline. Although Strobel does not interview any "hostile" witnesses, he exposes readers to the work of some major origins researchers (including Jonathan Wells, Stephen Meyer and Michael Behe) and theistic philosophers (including William Lane Craig and J. P. Moreland). Strobel claims no expertise in science or metaphysics, but as an interviewer he makes this an asset, prodding his sources to translate jargon and provide illustrations for their arguments. At times, the interview format loses momentum as seams begin to show between interview recordings, rewrites, research notes and details imported from his subjects' CVs (here, Strobel's efforts at buffing his subjects' smart-guy credentials can become a little too intense). The most curious feature of the book—not uncommon in the origins literature but unusual in a work of Christian apologetics—is that biblical narratives and images of creation, and the significance of creation for Christian theology, receive such brief mention. Still, this solid introduction to the most important topics in origins debates is highly accessible and packs a good argumentative punch.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Reader Reviews
This review is from: The Case for a Creator: A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence That Points Toward God (Hardcover) Lee Strobel has written another fantastic book for the beginners-level apologist. This book turned out to be an excellent sequel to his previous two works, "The Case for Christ" and "The Case for Faith." I found the experts that Strobel interviewed to provide excellent cases for "Intelligent Design" based on data from their respective fields of study. Strobel also does a good job of keeping the book entertaining by providing the right mix of technical data and easier-to-immediately comprehend material. This is a good feature so as to keep the reader interested. It must be kept in mind that Strobel discusses 8 or 9 topics, each of which has prompted the writing of a multitude of books covering that topic alone. The reader that wants a comprehensive defense of each individual topic must look elsewhere, and Strobel, as in his previous 2 books, provides a short list of pertinent books at the end of each interview. A solid summary-defense seems to be offered in each case as well as answers to a few objections, but in the limited space devoted to each topic, it is impossible to do complete justice to all of the evidence and to answer every possible objection. One example would be in the first interview with Jonathan Wells where various common evolutionary "icons" (e.g. Java man) are discussed. Wells it seems gives the reader good reason to be skeptical of the evidential value that each icon discussed may actually have for evolutionary theory. However, not all of the icons touted by evolutionists could be discussed, and Strobel rightly concedes as much in his book. One point of this chapter, however, was to evoke a healthy skepticism and desire to scrutinize the evidence that is being touted rather than accepting it as fact uncritically, and I think that Strobel is successful in demonstrating why this should be done by the reader. For a reader wanting to become familiarized with some of the evidence for "Intelligent Design," this book is fantastic. For one wanting to delve deeply into the evidence, this book would still provide a great stepping-stone into deeper-level material, such as the books that Strobel lists at the end of each interview.