William Dembski on World Magazine Top-100 Book List
The following is part of an article taken from the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary website:
Dembski books make Top-100 list in World magazine
by Benjamin Hawkins
Two books edited by William Dembski, research professor in philosophy at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, were featured among World Magazine Editor Marvin Olasky’s 100 favorite books from the past seven years. Dembski’s two books, Signs of Intelligence
In comments interspersed within his list, Olasky wrote that the essays collected in Signs of Intelligence “illuminate the logical and evidential fallacies of Darwinism.” He added that Uncommon Dissent presents 15 essays that reveal the “academic firepower” of the Intelligent Design movement.
“Certainly I feel gratified and honored, especially because I have an enormous respect for Marvin Olasky,” Dembski said, referring to the appearance of the books in World magazine’s list. He added that he thought the scholars he gathered to produce these books fulfilled their purpose: “Signs of Intelligence provided the first user-friendly introduction to Intelligent Design, and Uncommon Dissent demonstrated convincingly that Darwinian evolution is ready for the scrapheap of history.”
“Truth is always fundamental, not supplemental, to the Church, and it doesn’t matter what that truth is about,” Dembski added. “When truth gets distorted, people believe lies and fall away from the source of all truth, namely, God. The truth about God’s work in creation, and whether blind, material forces have the power to do the creative work that typically has been ascribed to God, is vital to our culture and a stumbling block for many. I believe these two books help clear a path for a true understanding of God’s work in creation.”
In the late 1980s, proponents of Intelligent Design started attracting national attention with theories that the universe shows signs of having been designed by an intelligent being. The I.D. movement gained traction among parents, Christian educators, and in some schools and universities over the following decades. An I.D.-friendly textbook, Of Pandas and People
According to Dembski, a successor to that seminal textbook is scheduled to be published this fall. The book, titled The Design of Life: Discovering Signs of Intelligence in Biological Systems, was co-authored by Dembski and Jonathan Wells.
“I expect this book to have the largest impact of any of my books on Intelligent Design, helping to break the stranglehold that Darwinian thinking has over so much of the academy,” Dembski said. More information about The Design of Life can be accessed online at www.overwhelmingevidence.com.
Southwestern Seminary will feature Dembski as a speaker at a two-day conference titled “Intelligent Design in Business Practice,” Sept. 21-22 at the seminary’s Smith Center for Leadership Development. “This conference brings together scholars and business leaders to discuss the implications of intelligent design for business practice,” Dembski said. “In particular, this conference will explore how design principles shape the beliefs of leaders about the people they lead, the nexus of innovation, the incentives to entrepreneurship, and the methods for managing organizational change.”
The conference is open to anyone interested in how I.D. assumptions impact the business community through theories of management, leadership and organization. Other speakers scheduled to appear include Richard Martinez and Mitchell Neubert. Information about costs and registering for the conference can be located online at www.swbts.edu/intelligentdesign.
