As progress in science continues to reveal unimagined complexities, three scientists revisit the difficult and compelling question of the origin of our universe. As mathematician, biochemist, and philosopher of science, they explore the possibility of developing a reliable method for detecting an intelligent cause and evidence for design at the origin of life. In the process, they present a strong case for opening and pursuing a fruitful exchange between science and theology.
Mathematician William Dembski, author of The Design Inference, first argues that new developments in the information sciences make intelligent design objectively and scientifically detectable—he identifies the signs of design. Next, philosopher of science, Stephen Meyer, and biochemist Michael Behe, author of Darwin's Black Box, argue that these signs are now clearly evident in both the architecture of the universe and the features of living systems. Other essays by the authors defend the scientific status of the theory of intelligent design and show how that theory supports traditional religious belief without necessarily "proving" the existence of God. In a concluding essay, Michael Behe responds to critics of his best selling book, Darwin's Black Box, thus bringing readers up-to-date on the status of the contemporary design argument in biology.
Michael Behe is a professor of biological sciences at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania and a fellow of the Discovery Institute. He received his PhD in biochemistry from the University of Pennsylvania and is the author of Darwin’s Black Box.
William Dembski is the director of the Michael Polanyi Center at Baylor University and is a fellow of Discovery Institute. He holds a PhD in mathematics from the University of Illinois in Chicago and an MDiv from Princeton Theological Seminary. He is the author of The Design Inference and Intelligent Design.
Stephen Meyer is an associate professor of philosophy at Whitworth College and the director of Discovery Institute’s Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture. He received his PhD in history and philosophy of science from the University of Cambridge for a dissertation on origin-of-life biology and the methodology of the historical sciences.
