Objections Sustained: Subversive Essays on Evolution, Law and Culture

by Phillip E. Johnson

Book Overview

A collection of Phillip E. Johnson's pithiest essays on the idolatry of Darwin, scientists who popularize, religious freedom, American pragmatism, Paul Feyerabend, Winston Churchill, postmodernism,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0830822887
• ISBN13: 9780830822881
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: InterVarsity Press
• Length: 188 Pages
• Weight: 0.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Social Commentary on Evolution by an Accomplished Scholar

Objections Sustained is a collection of essays by UC Berkeley law professor Phillip Johnson. In the first half of the book, Johnson presents nine short chapters about Darwinists and Darwinism. Johnson first takes aim at the myth that science and religion occupy completely separate realms. This myth, formally approved for public consumption by the National Academy of Sciences, is refuted by famous proponents of Darwinism like Thomas H. Huxley, who viewed Darwinism as the antidote to letting the "Divine foot in the door." Johnson also recounts other fascinating anecdotes from the history of the evolution debate. In 1995, the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) formally adopted a definition of evolution, which left it "unsupervised," implying that well, evolution was "unsupervised." This anti-religious definition left evolution exposed as a theory charged with implications for religion. Protestations from religious scholars went unanswered, until Eugenie Scott charged in to save the day by convincing the NABT to revise its language. The word "unsupervised" was removed from the definition, but as Johnson observes, "nothing was changed." Johnson also has his finger on the pulse of in-house debates among top Darwinists. Stephen Jay Gould and his punctuationalists are in a mud-slinging war the ultra-Darwinists who follow Richard Dawkins. They can't agree on how evolution happened, but they're sure it did. Moreover, amidst their name-calling, they agree that words must be kept light lest they fuel the fire for creationist criticism. The second half provides various essays on topics related to books, culture, and law. Johnson, who was a clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren, explains how Darwinism-based law is trying to make religion irrelevant to our culture by consigning faith to the realm of fantasy. The wit of professor Johnson is only outpaced by his experience, insight, and scholarship in this fascinating and diverse collection of short commentaries.

Darwin Was Wrong

Last year the Wall Street Journal reported that a Chinese paleontologist touring the U. S. was puzzled at the hostile reception he received in this country when he told of the lack of fossil evidence in China for Darwin's evolutionary theory. He said, "In my country, it's OK to criticize Darwin, but you can't criticize the government. In America, it's OK to criticize the government, but you're not supposed to criticize Darwin."Reading Philip Johnson opens your eyes to the fact that although Darwin's work was insightful in certain matters pertaining to natural selection, his theory of evolution has almost no fossil evidence to back it up. Darwin admitted as much when he formulated his theory, hoping that future discoveries in the world's fossil beds would prove him right. So far, that evidence has never been forthcoming.Many reviewers seem to take issue with Johnson for his lack of scientific credentials. However, we tend to forget that Henry Ford revolutionized personal transportation in this country, having had only an eighth grade education. It took a Nathan Pritikin, who lacked a formal medical degree, to get doctors in this country to admit that diet plays an important role in preventing heart disease. Even Albert Einstein flunked mathematics and never finished a legitimate Ph.D. Abraham Lincoln had only one year of formal schooling, yet was one of the most capable leaders this country has ever seen. To me, what a man has to say and the truth with which he says it carry more weight than how many degrees he has hanging on the wall. "Objections Sustained" is an easy to read introduction to the ideas behind Johnson's problems with Naturalism. If that intrigues you, then go back and read "Darwin on Trial" and "The Wedge of Truth".This issue is larger than just a battle between the status-quo scientific establishment versus Christian Fundamentalists. This is not a question of either-or. It is a matter of getting to the truth of how life really came to exist on this planet. Philip Johnson will do as much as any writer to stimulate your enlightened thinking on this subject. The real truth may turn out to be a little different than either our most brilliant scientists or the most devoted Creationists had in mind.

Excellent essays, broad reaching...

Much better than the often psuedo-science essays of similar books (such as Sagan's Billions and Billions). Johnson cuts through the illogic of naturalism and relativism with the ease of a laser scapel. People whom read his works and still think fantasy writers like Dawkins are right, have abandoned all logic and rational methods.

excellent collection of highly readable essays

This book is a collection of short essays and book reviews that Johnson has written over the past few years, mostly revolving around Darwinism and science related topics. Since the publication of his first book "Darwin on Trial" Johnson has taken a lot of heat from the scientific community and others (see the book reviews on this sight) for his anti-Darwin stance. Here he shows that not only is he not impressed by the opposition's objections, but he continues to point out the flaws, problems,and inconsistencies plaguing scientific materialism and Darwinism. He also points out how many in the scientific community resort to bad logic, and even near deception in order to present Darwinism as plausible to the public. Some of my favorites are "A Metaphysics Lesson" which deals with the public schools and controversy over the teaching of Darwinism, "Wundergadfly" which discusses the life and thought of philosopher of science Paul Feyerabend, and "The Storyteller and the Scientist" which deals with the afformentioned way in which evolutionists must resort to near deception to make evolution appear true. The fact that these are all short essays and book reviews means that most of them can be read in a short time period, although, if you're like me, you will find you have a hard time putting this down.