A Meaningful World: How the Arts And Sciences Reveal the Genius of Nature (Paperback)

by Benjamin Wiker (Author), Jonathan Witt (Author) "IMAGINE AN ALIEN WHO VISITS EARTH ONCE EVERY thousand years, a sort of intergalactic park ranger making the rounds, filing reports, just doing his job..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, Charles Darwin, William Shakespeare (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"A Meaningful World cleverly integrates the intricacy found in literary classics with the aesthetic beauty of scientific discovery..." -- —Gerald Schroeder, author of Genesis and the Big Bang, The Science of God and The Hidden Face of God

"A Meaningful World is a wise and witty romp through the fallacies of reductionism." -- —Phillip Johnson, author of Reason in the Balance

"A Meaningful World is simply the best book I've seen on the purposeful design of nature." -- —Michael J. Behe, Department of Biology, Lehigh University

"Here is a convincing case for a universe charged not only with meaning, but with the glory of God." -- —James W. Sire, author of The Universe Next Door and Why Good Arguments Often Fail

"A Meaningful World is astounding, breathtaking! This is a book about both the beauty of science and the beauty of creation......" -- Scott Hahn, Professor of Theology and Scripture, Franciscan University, President, St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology

Product Description
About the Book

Meaningful or meaningless?

Purposeful or pointless?

When we look at nature, whether at our living earth or into deepest space, what do we find?

In stark contrast to contemporary claims that the world is meaningless, Benjamin Wiker and Jonathan Witt reveal a cosmos charged with both meaning and purpose. Their journey begins with Shakespeare and ranges through Euclid's geometry, the fine-tuning of the laws of physics, the periodic table of the elements, the artistry of ordinary substances like carbon and water, the intricacy of biological organisms, and the irreducible drama of scientific exploration itself.

Along the way, Wiker and Witt fashion a robust argument from evidence in nature, one that rests neither on religious presuppositions nor on a simplistic view of nature as the best of all possible worlds. In their exploration of the cosmos, Wiker and Witt find all the challenges and surprises, all of the mystery and elegance one expects from a work of genius.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 257 pages
• Publisher: InterVarsity Press (July 31, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0830827994
• ISBN-13: 978-0830827992
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #137,364 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wide-Eyed Wonder, October 20, 2006

By	Gord Wilson "alivingdog.com" (Bellingham, WA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This book somewhat builds on the anthropic principle, the idea that our planet is finely tuned for life. It follows the long-out of print and highly readable contribution by Augros and Stanciu, The New Story of Science. The authors search the world for evidences of not simply design, but genius, and examine human genius to see what it might look like. Along the way they not only ruminate over a myriad dazzling ideas and observations, but also bring a much-needed cooling down to the pitched debate over intelligent design.

The surprise is how well-written the book is. Any reader dipping into lay-level science tomes notices at once that it's going to be rough going. This book, however, is a joy to read, and the authors take their place with other lively and intriguing science authors like Michael Berlinski, Heinz Pagels, Rudy Rucker and Nigel Calder.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Who's the one with faith in what is unproven?, January 11, 2007

By	Michael W. Lux (Santa Rosa, Ca. USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Wiker and Witt have convinced me. At each point I started out with "Aw, c-mon!" and ended with "How come nobody told me about this before?" Years ago I felt a little embarassed for God, that He knew so little about science. Now I'm embarassed for our scientific establishment. This book definitely bolstered my faith. It's clear enough for a dumb sheet metal worker (me) to understand. Why four stars? I don't give anything five.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Summation of Evidence of Design, September 24, 2006

By	D. Friedman - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Benjamin Wiker and Jonathan Witt have coauthored a very compelling account of why science and the arts reveal design and genius in nature. This accomplishment serves as a summation of the various written accounts of the revival of the theory of design as the overarching philosopical explanation of the physcial world. Stating that the sum is greater than the individual parts, Wiker and Witt have written a thorough attack upon the materialist reductionist belief system and exposed the central false assumption of our times.

It can be surely argued that Wiker and Witt overused the analogy of Shakespeare and use the phrase " materialist reductionism" more than one too many times. Since most of us understand the concept, it would have been helpful for them to strengthen the argument by contrasting meaning with other secular maladies and thinkers. This is still easily a five star performance.

Critics will argue that this book merely rehashes familiar arguments in the ID literature. Wiker and Witt admit that this is the case. To some extent, this is the path of all philosophy and this blend of philosophy and science will challenge honest and thoughtful people to follow the evidence where it leads and that is inexorably towards meaning and design.

I strongly recommend that everyone own this book.

Wiker and Witt ask in the first chapter if a scientist can be a scientist if the universe is meaningless or even less than purposeful? The fact that we know so much about nature and the universe suggests very strongly that nature is not a work of chance but of great genius and precision. We do our students a grave disservice by telling them point-blank that it is all a fortutious bit of luck that the world is the way that it is. Scientists, young and old, have the opportunity to chart even greater levels of understanding about our world.

Perhaps the greatest lie about ID is that it squashes science and intellectual curiosity. Surely, it is the materialists in their apparent nihilism, who want to force young minds into mental straight-jackets.

After all these months, these arguments begin to become boring and frustrating. It is tempting to suggest to all of those who insist that life and the natural world is a cosmic joke without rhyme or reason, show us some evidence or just keep your misinformation to yourself. Instead, they have the power to tell the majority that our perceptions must be kept out of the public arena as if pointless trumps purposeful because science says so.

Scientific discovery will continue to reveal that nature is ordered and organized, according to Wiker and Witt-- and this is exactly the fact of the matter.