Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics : Philosophical, Theological, and Scientific Perspectives

The last decade saw the arrival of a new player in the creation/evolution debate--the intelligent design creationism (IDC) movement, whose strategy is to act as "the wedge" to overturn Darwinism and scientific naturalism. This anthology of writings by prominent creationists and their critics focuses on what is novel about the new movement. It serves as a companion to Robert Pennock's Tower of Babel, in which he criticizes the wedge movement, as well as other new varieties of creationism. The book contains articles previously published in specialized, hard-to-find journals, as well as new contributions. Each section contains introductory background information, articles by influential creationists and their critics, and in some cases responses by the creationists. The discussions cover IDC as a political movement, IDC's philosophical attack on evolution, the theological debate over the apparent conflict between evolution and the Bible, IDC's scientific claims, and philosopher Alvin Plantinga's critique of naturalism and evolution. The book concludes with Pennock's "Why Creationism Should Not Be Taught in the Public Schools." The wedge at work: how intelligent design creationism is wedging its way into the cultural and academic mainstream / Barbara Forrest Evolution as dogma: the establishment of naturalism / Phillip E. Johnson Naturalism, evidence, and creationism: the case of Phillip Johnson / Robert T. Pennock Response to Pennock / Phillip E. Johnson Reply: Johnson's Reason in the balance / Robert T. Pennock When faith and reason clash: evolution and the Bible / Alvin Plantinga When faith and reason cooperate / Howard J. Van Till Plantinga's defense of special creation / Ernan McMullin Evolution, neutrality, and antecedent probability: a reply to McMullin and Van Till / Alvin Plantinga Molecular machines: experimental support for the design inference / Michael J. Behe Born-again creationism / Philip Kitcher Biology remystified: the scientific claims of the new creationists / Matthew J. Brauer and Daniel R. Brumbaugh Methodological naturalism? / Alvin Plantinga Methodological naturalism under attack / Michael Ruse Plantinga's case against naturalistic epistemology / Evan Fales Plantinga's probability arguments against evolutionary naturalism / Branden Fitelson and Elliott Sober Creator or blind watchmaker? / Phillip E. Johnson Phillip Johnson on trial: a critique of his critique of Darwin / Nancey Murphy Welcoming the "disguised friend" - Darwinism and divinity / Arthur Peacocke The creation: intelligently designed or optimally equipped? / Howard J. Van Till Is theism compatible with evolution? / Roy Clouser Is genetic information irreducible? / Phillip E. Johnson Reply to Phillip Johnson / Richard Dawkins Reply to Johnson / George C. Williams Intelligent design as a theory of information / William A. Dembski Information and the argument from design / Peter Godfrey-Smith How not to detect design - critical notice: William A. Dembski, The design inference / Branden Fitelson, Christopher Stephens, and Elliott Sober The "information challenge" / Richard Dawkins Who's got the magic? / William A. Dembski The wizards of ID: reply to Dembski / Robert T. Pennock The panda's thumb / Stephen Jay Gould The role of theology in current evolutionary reasoning / Paul A. Nelson Appealing to ignorance behind the cloak of ambiguity / Kelly C. Smith Nonoverlapping magisteria / Stephen Jay Gould Why creationism should not be taught in the public schools / Robert T. Pennock Creation and evolution: a modest proposal / Alvin Plantinga Reply to Plantinga's "modest proposal" / Robert T. Pennock.

The last decade saw the arrival of a new player in the creation/evolution debate—the intelligent design creationism (IDC) movement, whose strategy is to act as "the wedge" to overturn Darwinism and scientific naturalism. This anthology of writings by prominent creationists and their critics focuses on what is novel about the new movement. It serves as a companion to Robert Pennock's Tower of Babel, in which he criticizes the wedge movement, as well as other new varieties of creationism.The book contains articles previously published in specialized, hard-to-find journals, as well as new contributions. Each section contains introductory background information,articles by influential creationists and their critics, and in some cases responses by the creationists. The discussions cover IDC as a political movement, IDC's philosophical attack on evolution, the theological debate over the apparent conflict between evolution and the Bible, IDC's scientific claims, and philosopher Alvin Plantinga's critique of naturalism and evolution. The book concludes with Pennock's "Why Creationism Should Not Be Taught in the Public Schools."