Intelligent Design Uncensored: An Easy-to-Understand Guide to the Controversy

by William A. Dembski, Jonathan Witt

Overview

What is ID? Why is it controversial?Intelligent design is surrounded by a storm of debate. Proponents and opponents have both sought to have their voices heard above the din. Is it unscientific? Is it a danger to real Christian faith? Is it trying to smuggle God into the classroom?Controversy can create confusion rather than clarity. So here to clear things up is Bill Dembski, one of the founders of intelligent design, who joins with Jonathan Witt to answer these questions and more. They plainly lay out just what intelligent design is and is not. They answer objections with straight talk that is down to earth.You'll be surprised at how often smart people have misrepresented ID. You might be surprised to see exactly how they respond to what turns out to be misleading arguments. Here is the book to make you intelligent about the whole fuss!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780830867141
Publisher:	IVP
Publication date:	04/07/2010
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	175
File size:	428 KB

About the Author

Jonathan Witt (Ph.D., University of Kansas) is research fellow at the Acton Institute in Grand Rapids, MI and senior fellow with Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture in Seattle, Washington. He was formerly an associate professor at Lubbock Christian University. He has published articles in Philosophia Christi, Touchstone, Literature Theology, Windover and Princeton Theological Review and Philosophia Christi.

William Dembski (Ph.D., mathematics, University of Chicago; Ph.D., philosophy, University of Illinois at Chicago) is senior fellow of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture.He has previously taught at Northwestern University, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Dallas. He has done postdoctoral work in mathematics at MIT, in physics at the University of Chicago, and in computer science at Princeton University, and he has been a National Science Foundation doctoral and postdoctoral fellow. Dembski has written numerous scholarly articles and is the author of the critically acclaimed The Design Inference (Cambridge), Intelligent Design (InterVarsity Press) and No Free Lunch: Why Specified Complexity Cannot Be Purchased without Intelligence (Rowman and Littlefield).

William Dembski (Ph.D., mathematics, University of Chicago; Ph.D., philosophy, University of Illinois at Chicago) is senior fellow of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture.He has previously taught at Northwestern University, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Dallas. He has done postdoctoral work in mathematics at MIT, in physics at the University of Chicago, and in computer science at Princeton University, and he has been a National Science Foundation doctoral and postdoctoral fellow. Dembski has written numerous scholarly articles and is the author of the critically acclaimed The Design Inference (Cambridge), Intelligent Design (InterVarsity Press) and No Free Lunch: Why Specified Complexity Cannot Be Purchased without Intelligence (Rowman and Littlefield).

Jonathan Witt (Ph.D., University of Kansas) is research fellow at the Acton Institute in Grand Rapids, MI and senior fellow with Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture in Seattle, Washington. He was formerly an associate professor at Lubbock Christian University. He has published articles in Philosophia Christi, Touchstone, Literature Theology, Windover and Princeton Theological Review and Philosophia Christi.

Table of Contents

1 Fantastic Voyage
2 The Design Revolution
3 The World's Smallest Rotary Engine
4 The Design Test
5 The Poison of Materialism
6 Breaking the Spell of Materialism
7 The Book of Nature: Lifting the Ban
Notes
Subject Index

What People are Saying About This

Dr. Marvin Olasky

"Darwinians fired away throughout 2009, the 150th anniversary of On the Origin of Species, but could not kill the concept of intelligent design. This book is the first salvo of the next 150 years. Dembski and Witt succinctly explain what the war is about in a way understandable to a general audience. If people you know have bought the propaganda that ID is just a gussied-up version of six-day creationism, give them this book."

Jay Richards

"Dembski and Witt are the perfect combination. They deliver an explanation of intelligent design that is at once precise, lucid and, well, witty. Intelligent Design Uncensored shows that ID is not only intellectually serious, but intuitively compelling. ID is widely misunderstood and maligned by its critics, and sometimes hard to grasp, even by its friends. If you're wondering what all the fuss is about, read this book."

Alastair Noble

"The book we've all been waiting for—a down-to-earth and clear explanation of the stunning scientific discoveries which underpin intelligent design theory and its implications, as well as a comprehensive rebuttal of the common objections. This book will excite the layman and provide a valuable starting point for the serious student of the science of origins."

Michael Behe

"Who says accurate, cutting-edge science has to be a bore? Dembski and Witt make the biological nuts and bolts come alive and dance. They show that intelligent design is not only true, it's fun!"

Guillermo Gonzalez

"Don't let its conversational, nontechnical prose fool you; Intelligent Design Uncensored is a first-rate introduction to the intelligent design debate from two writers who know the subject better than just about anyone else. A useful resource for students of all ages!"

Hank Hanegraaff

"A tour de force in which two prodigious intellects apply their remarkable communication skills to the relentless pursuit of truth . . . and a sterling example of open-minded scientific inquiry that allows facts to lead wherever they may. Congratulations to Dembski and Witt for ably dismantling the stereotypical caricature of intelligent design."

Dr. Philip S. Skell

"Intelligent Design Uncensored is a five-star fantastic voyage! Nonscientists will be swept up by the lively, readable story of discovery while aspiring young scientists will learn why their experimental work in the lab will do just fine without Neo-Darwinism telling them where to go."

Editorial Reviews

"Intelligent Design Uncensored is a five-star fantastic voyage! Nonscientists will be swept up by the lively, readable story of discovery while aspiring young scientists will learn why their experimental work in the lab will do just fine without Neo-Darwinism telling them where to go."

Dr. Philip S. Skell

"Iders led by the Discovery Institute wanted an easy-to-understand guide to the Intelligent Design position and got in in Dembski and Witt's Intelligent Design Uncensored."

Marvin Olasky

"Who says accurate, cutting-edge science has to be a bore? Dembski and Witt make the biological nuts and bolts come alive and dance. They show that intelligent design is not only true, it's fun!"

Michael Behe

"Dembski and Witt are the perfect combination. They deliver an explanation of intelligent design that is at once precise, lucid and, well, witty. Intelligent Design Uncensored shows that ID is not only intellectually serious, but intuitively compelling. ID is widely misunderstood and maligned by its critics, and sometimes hard to grasp, even by its friends. If you're wondering what all the fuss is about, read this book."

Jay Richards

"The book we've all been waiting for—a down-to-earth and clear explanation of the stunning scientific discoveries which underpin intelligent design theory and its implications, as well as a comprehensive rebuttal of the common objections. This book will excite the layman and provide a valuable starting point for the serious student of the science of origins."

Alastair Noble

"Dembski, together with Dr. Jonathan Witt, have penned an easy-to-understand guide to the controversy surrounding creationism."

Jim Miller

"Don't let its conversational, nontechnical prose fool you; Intelligent Design Uncensored is a first-rate introduction to the intelligent design debate from two writers who know the subject better than just about anyone else. A useful resource for students of all ages!"

Guillermo Gonzalez

"Darwinians fired away throughout 2009, the 150th anniversary of On the Origin of Species, but could not kill the concept of intelligent design. This book is the first salvo of the next 150 years. Dembski and Witt succinctly explain what the war is about in a way understandable to a general audience. If people you know have bought the propaganda that ID is just a gussied-up version of six-day creationism, give them this book."

Dr. Marvin Olasky

"A tour de force in which two prodigious intellects apply their remarkable communication skills to the relentless pursuit of truth . . . and a sterling example of open-minded scientific inquiry that allows facts to lead wherever they may. Congratulations to Dembski and Witt for ably dismantling the stereotypical caricature of intelligent design."

Hank Hanegraaff

"Intelligent Design Uncensored is a five-star fantastic voyage! Nonscientists will be swept up by the lively, readable story of discovery while aspiring young scientists will learn why their experimental work in the lab will do just fine without Neo-Darwinism telling them where to go."

--Dr. Philip S. Skell, National Academy of Sciences, and Evan Pugh Professor Emeritus, Pennsylvania State University

"Dembski and Witt are the perfect combination. They deliver an explanation of intelligent design that is at once precise, lucid and, well, witty. Intelligent Design Uncensored shows that ID is not only intellectually serious, but intuitively compelling. ID is widely misunderstood and maligned by its critics, and sometimes hard to grasp, even by its friends. If you're wondering what all the fuss is about, read this book."

--Jay Richards, coauthor of The Privileged Planet and author of Money, Greed and God: Why Capitalism Is the Solution and Not the Problem

"Dembski, together with Dr. Jonathan Witt, have penned an easy-to-understand guide to the controversy surrounding creationism."

--Jim Miller, The Daily Sentinel, July 10, 2010

"Iders led by the Discovery Institute wanted an easy-to-understand guide to the Intelligent Design position and got in in Dembski and Witt's Intelligent Design Uncensored."

--Marvin Olasky, World Magazine, September 11, 2010

"Darwinians fired away throughout 2009, the 150th anniversary of On the Origin of Species, but could not kill the concept of intelligent design. This book is the first salvo of the next 150 years. Dembski and Witt succinctly explain what the war is about in a way understandable to a general audience. If people you know have bought the propaganda that ID is just a gussied-up version of six-day creationism, give them this book."

--Dr. Marvin Olasky, editor-in-chief, World, and provost, The King's College, New York City

"Don't let its conversational, nontechnical prose fool you; Intelligent Design Uncensored is a first-rate introduction to the intelligent design debate from two writers who know the subject better than just about anyone else. A useful resource for students of all ages!"

--Guillermo Gonzalez, astrobiologist and coauthor of The Privileged Planet

From the Publisher