Darwin on Trial [Paperback]

Phillip E. Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 3, 1993

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In his own era, Darwin's most formidable opponents were fossil experts, not clergymen. Even today, according to the author, the fossil record, far from conclusive, does not support the presumed existence of intermediate links between species. A law teacher at UC-Berkeley, Johnson deems unpersuasive the alleged proofs for Darwin's assertion that natural selection can produce new species. He also argues that recent molecular studies of DNA fail to confirm the existence of common ancestors for different species. Doubting the smooth line of transitional steps between apes and humans sketched by neo-Darwinists, he cites evidence for "rapid branching," i.e., mysterious leaps which presumably produced the human mind and spirit from animal materials. This evidence, to Johnson, suggests that "the putative hominid species" may not have contained our ancestors after all. This cogent, succinct inquiry cuts like a knife through neo-Darwinist assumptions.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Dissecting the writings of Gould, Futuyama, Darwin, and Dawkins with a trenchant sword, law professor Johnson uses an attorney's reasoning to scrutinize the scientists' logic in defining the theory of evolution. Contending that science has distorted research rules to exclude Divine Creation in explaining the diversity of life, Johnson challenges the tenets of natural selection and the evolutionary evidence from fossils and genetic and molecular sources. In the closing chapters, he deals with Darwinism in education and in religion, stating that the evolutionary theory is protected for its "indispensable ideological role in the war against fundamentalism." While the book presents a skewed view of the scientific process, occasionally losing all pretense of objectivity, it may be of value to lay readers seeking a creationist perspective on evolution.
- Frank Reiser, Nassau Community Coll., Garden City, N.Y.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: IVP Books; 2 edition (December 3, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0830813241
• ISBN-13: 978-0830813247
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.7 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (176 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #716,770 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

84 of 108 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A superb introduction to the creation/evolution debate April 20, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

Although most of his arguments are not new, Johnson brings the most important points together in a remarkably concise yet comprehensive format. He has a gift for summarizing the research in each field, then explaining and elucidating the implications of an issue, in just enough words to make it understandable.

He points out the mind-boggling complexity of structures like wings and eyes, but does not dwell on these descriptions like some critics, for he realizes that nearly all informed people agree that living things are that complex. The Darwinian Richard Dawkins writes, "Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose," but insists that "Natural selection is the blind watchmaker, blind because it does not see ahead, does not plan consequences, has no purpose in view. Yet the living results of natural selection overwhelmingly impress us with the appearance of design as if by a master watchmaker, impress us with the illusion of design and planning."

The premise that appearance can be misleading is not unreasonable. Scientists proved the appearance of the sun revolving around the earth to be an illusion. The problem, which constitutes Johnson's central scientific premise, is that there is no evidence that natural selection has the immense creative power Darwinians attribute to it. The Darwinian claim that the numerous theoretical difficulties with Darwinism are false is based not on scientific fact but almost entirely on pure speculation.

Johnson is not a scientist, but his central thesis is philosophical. Darwinians insist that considering divine intervention is unacceptable because science is committed to purely natural explanations.... The problem is, how do scientists know *a priori* that natural processes alone are sufficient to produce the diversity of life on earth? Some may argue that this assumption is well-grounded, but scientists do not have the exclusive authority to tell us whether a *philosophical* assumption is true or not.

His scientific data are all from reputable scientific sources. To this date I have not seen a single valid criticism revealing a major inaccuracy in the data - and I have read many reviews of the book, some by prominent scientists. Stephen J. Gould's review tried to point out several minor inaccuracies, but he misquoted and distorted the book to make that point.

Most of Johnson's factual premises are tacitly conceded by Darwinians themselves. One example: David Raup, an internationally renowned paleontologist, made some remarkable concessions in an essay supposed to *refute* creationism. He wrote the following: (1) Darwin wrote that if smooth evolutionary transitions were not found in the fossil record, his general theory would be in serious trouble. (2) More than a hundred years later, after a tremendous expansion of knowledge about the fossil record, the situation is more or less the same. "We may actually have fewer examples of smooth transition than we had in Darwin's time because some of the old examples have turned out to be invalid when studied in more detail." (3) This can still be reconciled with Darwin's theory in various ways, and although Raup conceded that a more inclusive theory may take its place in the future, he rejected creationism largely because of the belief in a young earth.

While Raup's defense may have seemed reasonable, especially to those who take for granted that all creationists believe in a `young earth,' Raup directly implied that scientists accept Darwin's theory in spite of the fossil evidence. None of the anti-creationist literature with which I am familiar - and I am well-read on the issue - directly contradict what Raup wrote. But with rare exceptions, they try very hard to conceal this implication he was forthright about.

Johnson is careful to avoid certain fallacies earlier critics have made - such as the claim that natural selection is inherently tautological, that it involves pure `chance,' that evolution is `unfalsifiable,' etc. Some reviews of the book, such as one by Eugenie Scott, caricatured his arguments to make it sound like he'd just rehashed old discredited criticisms. In fact, Johnson repeatedly demonstrates an awareness of how Darwinians respond to criticisms of their theory, and he takes these well into account.

The biggest criticism I have of Johnson is his frequent vagueness on whether he is attacking just the theory of natural selection or common ancestry itself. Some proponents of intelligent design, such as Darwin's Black Box author Michael Behe, accept the doctrine of common ancestry. I agree with Johnson that Darwinians use the word `evolution' vaguely to suppress distinctions between different meanings of the term, but he also seems to be saying that common ancestry is too vague a doctrine to be evaluated independently of Darwinian natural selection. The book would be more persuasive if he was clearer where and when he is criticizing each doctrine.

Many of Johnson's articles and essays written after the book are worth reading, but he exhibits a certain shallowness in debating the scientific details of his position with Darwinians. Many other proponents of intelligent design - many of whom are trained scientists - while perhaps not as accessible, support his basic viewpoint with ultimately greater depth and clarity. I particularly recommend the following links:

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars An Academic Lawyer's Overview, Analysis, and Conclusions Concerning Darwin June 16, 2011

By Regular Joe

Format:Paperback

This book by Phillip E. Johnson, titled Darwin on Trial, has been on my bookshelf for some time now. I decided to read Johnson's book after I recently read a comment on Amazon.com by a young scientist who stated he enjoyed it when a scientific theory was disproved, because that is what made being a scientist so exciting for him. Certainly a very curious statement.

Considering Johnson's profession, I thought it was unusual that he would write a book evaluating the strong and weak points of historic Darwinism and also what he called Neo-Darwinism. Johnson is a lawyer, thus the book title Darwin on Trial. He spends the entire first chapter laying out the specific way he approached writing this book. Concerning that, he states the following:

"Before undertaking this task I should say something about my qualifications and purpose. I am not a scientist but an academic lawyer by profession, with a specialty in analyzing and logic of arguments and identifying the assumptions that lie behind those arguments. This background is more appropriate than one might think, because what people believe about evolution and Darwinism depends very heavily on the kind of logic they employ and the kind of assumptions they make. Being a scientist is not necessarily an advantage when dealing with a very broad topic like evolution, which cuts across many scientific disciplines and also involves issues of philosophy. Practicing scientists are of necessity highly specialized, and a scientist outside his field of expertise is just another layman."

Interestingly, Johnson is not a creation-science proponent. He says he is a creationist, one who believes there is a God and it is likely God used evolution as His method of creation.... This puts him in a tenuous position of inciting the ire of both the Neo-Darwinists (naturalists) as well as the Genesis record Christians. That in itself guarantees he will receive a constant barrage of criticism, no matter what he says. After surveying a smattering of the comments on Amazon.com, his critics are many, but few it seems took the time to read the first chapter, which is what I refer to as Johnson's purpose chapter, and instead unloaded their general displeasure with Johnson, himself, his credentials, or what they view as his lack thereof, and his failure to cover a particular scientific or biblical material they deemed critical. Many kept their civility during their disagreement, while others simply forgot where they were--a public forum--unloading on Johnson in what can only be described as a childish tantrum.

Johnson's book is nicely laid out, introducing subjects like Natural Selection, Mutations, Fossil Problem and an examination of why evolution is no longer referred to as a theory, but a fact. This is only a small representation of what Johnson covers in his book. In most of the chapters, he covers how Darwin, Neo-Darwinists and specific scientists describe the general details of the theory of evolution. Using his knowledge of the subject, which I found surprisingly detailed for an academic lawyer, and applying his purpose analysis method, Johnson was, as far as I am concerned, evenhanded with his applause for the natural scientific position, as well as what he found as wanting, misleading and missing, too. I'm sure many of the reviewers will disagree with me here, but this is my book review, not theirs. The following is an example of Johnson's analysis.

"This conclusion seems so obviously correct that it give rise to another problem. Why do other people, including experts whose intelligence and intellectual integrity I respect, think that evidence of local population fluctuations confirms the hypothesis that natural selection has the capacity to work engineering marvels, to construct wonders like the eye and the wing? Everyone who studies evolution knows that Kettlewell's peppered moth experiment is the classic demonstration of the power of natural selection, and that Darwinists has to wail almost a century to see even this modest confirmation of their central doctrine. Everyone who studies the experiment also knows that it as nothing to do with the origin of an species, or even any variety, because dark and white moths were present throughout the experiment. Only the ratios of one variety to the other changed. How could intelligent people have been so gullible as to imagine that the Kettewell experiment in any way supported the ambitious claims of Darwinism? To answer that question we need to consider a fourth way in which natural selection can be formulate."

I found the following statement by Darwin concerning natural selection an eye-widening admission. This book has a number of similar quotes from a variety of Darwinists and Neo-Darwinists:

Darwin wrote that "If it could be proved that any part of the structure of any one species has been formed for the exclusive good of another species, it would annihilate my theory, for such could not have been produced through natural selection" Johnson follows with, "But this is the same Darwin who insisted that he had never claimed that natural selection was the exclusive mechanism of evolution."

I think this gives you an idea of how Johnson handled each subject and his subsequent analytical conclusions. His book is footnoted in the way I personally prefer, at the bottom of the appropriate page for convenience instead of at the end of the book. In addition, Johnson included an impressive 43-page Research Notes section, along with the usual Index. He also included a very personal Epilogue titled The Book and Its Critics [I have the 1993, second edition], which may not be included in the first edition. One interesting item that Johnson includes is the response to this book by one of the oft-referenced scientists, Stephen Gould. A year after the book was published, Gould wrote a 4-page review of Darwin on Trail in an issue of "Scientific American." According to Johnson, "The review was an undistinguished hatchet job, aimed at giving the impression that my skepticism about Darwinism must be due to an ignorance of basic facts of biology. To that end Gould listed a string of objections about matters that had nothing to do with the main line of argument, and even invoked his own third-grade teacher as an authority on how to write chapter transitions."

Finally, Johnson summaries his findings at the end of his book as follows:

"The argument of 'Darwin on Trial' is that we know a great deal less than has been claimed. In particular, we do not know how the immensely complex organ systems of plants and animals could have been created by mindless and purposeless natural processes, as Darwinists say they must have been. Darwinian theory attributes biological complexity to the accumulation of adaptive micromutations by natural selection, but the creative power of this hypothetical mechanism has never been demonstrated, and the fossil evidence is inconsistent with the claim that biological creation occurred in the way."

If you are interested in an overview and analysis of the greater points of Darwinism, this would be a good place to start. There is plenty of information to consider, and enough cited references to do your own fact-checking. Read more ›

61 of 85 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is even confirmed by its critics April 26, 2008

By Stephen Hitchings

Format:Hardcover

I have finally read this book, after years of reading criticisms of it, and I am amazed at what a good case Johnson actually makes and how woefully inept most of his critics have been.
For those who have not read the book, Johnson argues the following points:
* The scientific establishment, rather than defending evolution against criticism, has determined that no such criticism shall take place.
* Evolution is defined so loosely that no criticism of it is possible.
* The term "natural selection" is a tautology and so explains nothing.
* The experimental evidence for Darwinism does not provide "any persuasive reason for believing that natural selection can produce new species, new organs, or other major changes, or even minor changes that are permanent."
* Darwinians are so clever at finding evidence that confirms their theory and explaining the evidence that appears to contradict it, that it looks as if all the evidence is supportive.
* The theory of sexual selection contradicts the theory of natural selection.
* Haeckel's hypothesis that "ontology recapitulates phylogeny" is still taught in schools despite being completely discredited more than a century ago. (This I know to be true, as I still teach a syllabus which requires it.)
* Darwinian theory is not falsifiable, because its supporters cannot or will not make the risky predictions which would allow it to be falsified.
* Anyone who questions the orthodoxy of scientific naturalism, or Darwinism in particular, is rigorously persecuted by the scientific establishment.
This must be one of the most vilified books ever written.... Johnson is repeatedly accused by critics of trespassing into an area in which he has no expertise, as his whole professional career has been devoted to the practice and interpretation of law. These critics appear not to have noticed that this book is a response to a legal decision. He is also accused of trying to prove the case for creationism, whereas his introductory chapter states explicitly that he is not defending creation-science and his book does not address the Biblical accounts of creation." (p.14)
In addition, Johnson is accused of the following: misunderstanding the scientific process and rules of evidence, misrepresenting the works of respected scientists, discrediting the fossil evidence, neglecting the evolution of plants, poor reasoning, inability to frame an argument, abysmal writing, taking criticisms of creationism personally and acting like a spoilt child when his book is criticised.
There is one important respect in which the book is out-of-date: it was published in 1993, several years before the completion of the human genome project, and can thus give no account of the enormous weight of genetic evidence which has poured in since then. But I think Johnson can hardly be blamed for this.
And yet, the astonishing thing is that hardly any of these critics (even the small number who have actually read the book) have even mentioned, much less refuted, his major arguments. Thus his book, unlike the theory he is criticizing, has withstood the test of falsification. From a scientific point of view, this is the strongest possible confirmation that he is right. Read more ›