Features
- Cover Type: Paperback with 335 pages
- Published by: InterVarsity Press March 1994
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 0830816984
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0830816989
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Book Dimensions:
8.3 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
- Weighs: 10.4 ounces
Product Description
P.J. Moreland and a panel of scholars examine arguments and evidence from astronomy, physics, bio-chemistry, paleontology, and linguistics as they evaluate the creation hypothesis.
Reader ReviewsThis is an excellent introduction to scientific evidence for a creative agent. Although I found some of the criticisms of Darwinism a wee bit ad-hoc, the book as a whole has some powerful arguments from the likes of some of the more noteworthy theists such as JP Moreland, Michael Dembski and Hugh Ross. Ross' essay was probably the best in the book as it dealt with clear, un-ambiguous evidence for a supreme mind. There is also an interesting article on the specificity of language being a sound analogy to the specificity & complexity of DNA. Now, many of the reviewers who gave it one star do not appear to have even read it. Two of them bragged as much. Regardless of the subject matter of a book, I often find it difficult to review a work w/out reading it. I can only cast my suspicion on other people's ability to do so. One of the most frequent criticisms of "Creationism" (for lack of a better term) is that it is unfalsifiable & therefore bad science. I concede the point that it is unfalsifiable, but I would caution an atheist against calling it bad science. Most physicists believe they have it all figured out up to 10^-43 power of one second after the Big Bang (known as the Planck Epoch). Beyond this instant (an incredibly small instant) the universe existed in the state of a singularity of infinite density and infinite temperature. The laws of physics as we know and love them came into being at 10^-43 of one second. Therefore, if the atheist is not to insert an arbitrary double-standard, ALL speculations and theories of "what happened before" MUST be labeled as bad science. I know of few atheists who are willing to demote Sagan's oscillating universe theory or the universe as a quantum-fluctuation-gone-awry paradigm as bad science. However, the atheist cannot have it both ways. Also, due to the enormous "specificity" in the laws of physics which were necessary for life (also known as the Anthropic Principle) the rival claim of the atheist to an intelligent designer is the multiple universe theorem. The idea is that since the odds are so incredible that a universe such as ours' could have emerged from a singularity "just so" (according to the British physicist Roger Penrose the odds are of the magnitude of 10^10^123), there must be many (perhaps an infinite number) of alternate universes. Why? To justify this one. Otherwise, it is mathematically unacceptable to believe that this could be the only universe and yet it turned out "just so." Now, I have no problem with atheists formulating hypotheses such as this. However, when they do so they are commiting the same "crime" that they are accusing the Creationists of. Again, you can't have it both ways. Ultimately, whatever one tries to "place" before the Planck epoch and "outside" this universe is going to be a bad Hypothesis. Period. No matter if it comes from the calibre of a scientist such as Feynman, Dyson or Hawking, it is STILL incapable of being proven or disproven. So, all we can do is take the data that is inside THIS universe & make our inference from there. This book is a good tool for those on both sides of the debate to do just that. If you are close minded (as most of the 1 star reviewers are), there is no need to bother reading any books in the realm of cosmology. For futher reading on the Anthropic Principle I would recommend "Universes" by the philospoher of science John Leslie. A great book.
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