Darwin on Trial - 20th Edition by Phillip E Johnson (Paperback)

About the Book

Phillip E. Johnson offers a reasoned and scientifically sound evaluation of the support for Darwinism--from fossil records to molecular biology.

Book Synopsis

• In 2006, Christianity Today voted this title to be one of the top 50 books that have shaped evangelicals
• A Christianity Today 1992 Book of the Year Runner-up
• Recipient of a Christianity Today 1992 Readers' Choice Award

Here's the book that has rocked the scientific--and Christian--establishment.

Phillip Johnson's critique of Darwinian evolution touched off explosions among scientists and theologians almost from the day of its publication in 1992. The volatile debate was at first carried on in academic journals and in magazines like Nature and Scientific American. It even engaged the attention of leading evolutionists like Nobel Laureate physicist Steven Weinberg and prominent naturalist Stephen Jay Gould. Johnson was invited to debate several of his opponents at universities across the country. And he was himself the subject of debate: Michael Ruse, author of Darwinism Defended, spoke at an annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science on the topic "Nonliteralist Anti-Evolutionism: The Case of Phillip Johnson."

Darwin on Trial also shook up theistic evolutionists. William Hasker (Huntington College, Indiana) in the Christian Scholar's Review, Howard Van Till (Calvin College, Michigan) in First Things and Owen Gingerich (Harvard Center for Astrophysics) in Perspectives on Science the Christian Faith all published their critiques of Darwin on Trial.

Clearly, Johnson's arguments have been taken seriously by Darwinists of every sort. And though at first the mainstream press seemed to be out of earshot (except for reviews in Publisher's Weekly and The National Review), news of Darwin on Trial eventually reached wider audiences. Last summer, Johnson appeared with William F. Buckley on Firing Line. And in May 1995 he was interviewed on the PBS telecast In the Beginning: The Creationist Controversy with Randall Balmer. These and other indications of expanding interest in his critique is good news for all who wish to bring the debate over Darwinism into the bright light of day.

Review Quotes

"Darwin on Trial is unquestionably the best critique of Darwinism I have ever read. Professor Johnson combines a broad knowledge of biology with the incisive logic of a leading legal scholar to deliver a brilliant and devastating attack on the whole edifice of Darwinian belief."

Michael Denton, molecular biologist and author of Evolution: A Theory in Crisis

"This cogent, succinct inquiry cuts like a knife through neo-Darwinist assumptions."

Publishers Weekly

"This Berkeley law professor's takedown of scientific naturalism launched Intelligent Design and gained creationists a level of public attention they hadn't enjoyed since the Scopes trial."

Christianity Today, October 2006

"Very impressive in its examination of scientific evidence on its own terms. It is careful, scrupulously fair, and consistent in its application of the rules (and the spirit of the rules) of evidence. Johnson argues that naturalist evolution is not based on a fair assesment of the scientific evidence. He concludes that evolution is not only unproven, but contrary to the overwhelming weight of scientific evidence. Evolution is another kind of fundamentalism. This is a very well written book. Professor Johnson's approach is calm, but his arguments have a quiet urgency that prove to be compelling to the intelligent reader. His case is invigorating and persuasive."

The Appellate Practice Journal and Update

Johnson begins his critique of the Darwinian theory of evolition by discussing several legal issues, unsurprising since Johnson is a legal scholar by profession. He then moves to dealing with the question of whether or not the teaching of Darwinian theories in schools amounts to the establishment of a religion of another sort, an athiestic and naturalistic one. He finally uses statements by the late Stephen Jay Gould to show that criticism of the "fact of eveolution" is not allowed, even if biologists and other scientists are in disagreement over the means of evolution.

Not Thunder.com, March 7, 2008

Praise for the first edition: "Darwin on Trial is unquestionably the best critique of Darwinism I have ever read. Professor Johnson combines a broad knowledge of biology with the incisive logic of a leading legal scholar to deliver a brilliant and devastating attack on the whole edifice of Darwinian belief."

Michael Denton, molecular biologist and author of Evolution: A Theory in Crisis

About the Author

Phillip E. Johnson is a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Chicago Law School. He taught law for more than thirty years at the University of California at Berkeley where he is professor emeritus. For the last decade Johnson has also been at the forefront of the public debate over evolution and creation. He has taken his message to such places as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. His InterVarsity Press titles include Reasonin the Balance, The Wedge of Truth, The Right Questions and Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds.