The Body of Knowledge

Welcome to this brief sketch of the "body of knowledge." Below you will find the previously discussed diagram, as well as a sampling of available books and videos. Links to a few noted websites are on your right.

Body of Knowledge Diagram

Books/Publications/Video Sampling

· Darwin on Trial, Phillip Johnson. This is the book that basically started the Intelligent Design (Wedge) movement. Johnson wrote it in reaction to atheist Richard Dawkins book: The Blind Watchmaker.
· Darwin's Black Box, Michael Behe. Won the "best book" award from Christianity Today. Behe is a tenured biochemist, who shows that some of the most fundamental biochemical objects (e.g., bacterial flagellum) cannot be explained on the basis of Darwin's theory.
· Intelligent Design: The Bridge Between Science & Theology, William Dembski. Dembski is a multi-degreed mathematician who has attempted to put intelligent design on a mathematical foundation using the concept of "complex specified information." Latest book: No Free Lunch, continues this argument.
· Reason in the Balance and The Wedge of Truth, Phillip Johnson. Two more books addressing the defacto religion of America: methodological naturalism. His latest book, The Right Questions, is due out from IVP in the next few months.
· The Creator and the Cosmos, Hugh Ross. Ross is a astrophysicist, and founder of Reasons to Believe, an evangelical ministry based on the assumption that the Big Bang is true, and lines up with Genesis 1. See his web site for other books, tapes and articles which he has authored.
· Show Me God, Fred Heeren. Heeren is a reporter who interviews some rather famous scientists (including Stephen Hawking) in his search for evidence of God and His design in the cosmos. A good evangelical book in a popular, readable style. Also has a video showing interviews with several prominent astronomers, interspersed with humorous interviews with lay persons. (This book & video may have to be purchased directly through his Daystar web site: www.daystarcom.org)
· Three Views on Creation and Evolution. 3 articles by Paul Nelson & John Mark Reynolds (young earth creationism), Robert Newman (old earth day-age creationism) and Howard Van Till (theistic evolution) with reflections by Richard Bube and Phillip Johnson. Good place to see 3 contrasting views of creation by professing Christians, although the analogical view and the framework view are not covered.
· Mere Creation. Editor: Dembski. A collection of articles growing out of the Intelligent Design conference at Biola College in 1996. Good overview of the various issues.
· Of Pandas and People, Davis & Kenyon. A supplement to high school biology textbooks that informs students about the design alternative to Darwinian evolution. Kenyon is the author of "Biological Predestination" who later found from his research and that of others that intelligent design was the only reasonable explanation for the biological complexity at the molecular level. For this he was ostracized by his fellow faculty at San Diego State University (chronicled on the pages of the Wall Street Journal).
· Good Science, Good Faith, Jack Collins. We eagerly await publication this book which, as Jack says, is written for people who have no specialist training in theology or philosophy. He covers the intersection of science in faith without dodging the difficult issues, such as the interpretation of Genesis 1 & 2 and the age of the earth. Fills a gap in the body of knowledge. Whereas Pandas and People covers the biological issues, this work provides the much-needed theological and philosophical information from the hand of an expert in Hebrew, who has scientific training at MIT.
· Unlocking the Mysteries of Life. This is a superb video, including interviews with scientists such as Kenyon and Behe, and wonderful animation of the inner workings of DNA, demonstrating the incredible complexity involved the operation of every cell in our bodies. Available from the www.arn.org web site. Return to Top.