Objections
Sustained: Subversive Essays on Evolution, Law and Culture
Phillip E. Johnson
Synopsis
These essays by the author of Darwin
on Trial, Reason
in the Balance, and Defeating
Darwinism by Opening Minds cover a wide range of topics, including
evolution, law, and culture.
The publisher, InterVarsity Press, September
18, 1998
Incisive essays from the author of Darwin
on Trial.
Phillip Johnson has been called "our age's
clearest thinker on evolution" and the "principal lay critic of Darwinism."
And indeed some of his most persuasive writing has been penned in opposition
to the sacred cow of modern secularism. Here, for the first time, are collected
several of Johnson's pithiest essays attacking the idolatry of Darwin.
But here also are his stimulating thoughts
on a wide variety of other topics, including "pop" science, religious freedom,
American pragmatism, Paul Feyerabend, Winston Churchill, postmodernism
and natural law.
If you have read and appreciated Johnson's
previous books, you'll enjoy this gathering of his finest work written
for magazines and journals. And if you haven't read Johnson before, Objections
Sustained will be an excellent introduction to a thinker who has become
one of the foremost cultural critics of our day.
Phillip E. Johnson has taught law for 30
years at the University of California at Berkeley. A graduate of Harvard
Law School and the University of Chicago, he was a law clerk for Chief
Justice Earl Warren of the U.S. Supreme Court. He is the author of Darwin
on Trial, Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds, and Reason in the Balance.
Praise for Objections Sustained:
"This collection of Johnson's essays, lectures
and book reviews ranges over topics from evolution and culture to law and
religion. Johnson teaches law at the Univ. of California at Berkeley, and
here he approaches his task as if trying a court case, calling to the stand
a number of defendants of evolutionary science - from Stephen Jay Gould
and Richard Dawkins to Richard Lewontin and Daniel Dennett - to undergo
his grueling cross-examination. Johnson also examines the principle of
'equal treatment' of religious and non religious establishments called
for by the Supreme Court's decision on religious freedom. Johnson employs
precise argumentation and a measured tone to make his case against scientific
naturalism and the excesses of constitutional relativism." PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"Phillip Johnson could not be boring even
if he tried. This collection of essays and reviews brings together in permanent
form the creative evaluation and enjoyable writing of one of the most provocative
and independent Christian thinkers at the end of the twentieth century.
Argue with him, admire him, disagree with him - but read him." D. A. CARSON,
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
9
Part 1: Nine Essays About Darwinists &
Darwinism
1 The Pope of the New Religion . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . 15
2 What Is Darwinism? . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . 19
3 Domesticating Darwin . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . 34
4 Extinction: Bad Genes or Bad Luck? . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . 40
5 The Storyteller & the Scientist .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
6 Daniel Dennett's Dangerous Idea . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . 57
7 The Unraveling of Scientific Materialism
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
8 The Gorbachev of Darwinism . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . 77
9 A Metaphysics Lesson . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . 85
Part 2: Essays on Books, Culture and Law
10 Engaging the Third Culture . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . 101
11 The Law & Politics of Religious Freedom:
A Revolution in the Making . . . . . . . . . 108
12 How the Universities Were Lost . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . 114
13 Wundergadfly . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . 121
14 Gideon's Uncertain Trumpet . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . 127
15 Left Behind . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 144
16 Pomo Science . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . 150
17 Harter's Precept . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . 156
18 The Circus of Death . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . 161
19 Genius & Plod . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . 167
20 Facing Orthodoxy . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . 173
21 The Law Written on the Heart . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . 179
22 Making Law Sane . . . . . . . . . . .
184
Customer Comments
Robert Harris from Southern
California, October 24, 1999
Very readable overview of issues related
to modern culture
A readable style, combined with short sentences
and short essays overall, make this volume of book reviews and essays just
the prescription for a busy person interested in some of the cultural and
philosophical issues surrounding the origins debate. Johnson's basic position
can be summed up by a sentence on page 61: "Darwinism is a lot stronger
as philosophy than it is as empirical science." He demonstrates this
fact by coming at it from several angles in the various articles. One of
the interesting facts Johnson reveals is that some evolutionists use the
same scorn and ridicule (rather than evidence) to attack each other as
they do to attack the hated "creationists." The punctuated equilibria evolutionists
call the natural selection evolutionists "Darwinian fundamentalists," while
the natural selection evolutionists call the punctuated equilibria folks,
"Punk eeks" and call the theory "evolution by jerks." Johnson believes
that Darwinism has ten more years only before it gets relegated to history
classes. Whether or not that is the case, the next ten years should prove
very interesting in this arena.
A reader from PA,USA, April
29, 1999
Excellent essays, broad reaching...
Much better than the often psuedo-science
essays of similar books (such as Sagan's Billions
and Billions). Johnson cuts through the illogic of naturalism and
relativism with the ease of a laser scalpel. People whom read his works
and still think fantasy writers like Dawkins are right, have abandoned
all logic and rational methods.
hackman@acavax.lynchburg.edu
from Lynchburg, VA, February 9, 1999
excellent collection of highly readable
essays
This book is a collection of short essays
and book reviews that Johnson has written over the past few years, mostly
revolving around Darwinism and science related topics. Since the publication
of his first book "Darwin
on Trial" Johnson has taken a lot of heat from the scientific community
and others (see the book reviews on this sight) for his anti-Darwin stance.
Here he shows that not only is he not impressed by the opposition's objections,
but he continues to point out the flaws, problems, and inconsistencies
plaguing scientific materialism and Darwinism. He also points out how many
in the scientific community resort to bad logic, and even near deception
in order to present Darwinism as plausible to the public. Some of my favorites
are "A Metaphysics Lesson" which deals with the public schools and controversy
over the teaching of Darwinism, "Wundergadfly" which discusses the life
and thought of philosopher of science Paul Feyerabend, and "The Storyteller
and the Scientist" which deals with the aforementioned way in which evolutionists
must resort to near deception to make evolution appear true. The fact that
these are all short essays and book reviews means that most of them can
be read in a short time period, although, if you're like me, you will find
you have a hard time putting this down.
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