19AR24-02

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AR 24:2 - Reconsidering Darwin's mechanism

In this issue:

ORIGINS - "a startling reconsideration of how Darwin's mechanism works"

PAGELS, ELAINE - from evangelical beginnings into the gnostic unknown

Apologia Report 24:2 (1,410)

January 9, 2019

ORIGINS

Darwin Devolves: The New Science About DNA That Challenges Evolution, by Michael J. Behe [1] -- HarperCollins: "The scientist who has been dubbed the 'Father of Intelligent Design' <www.bit.ly/2F8p0Ch> ... contends that recent scientific discoveries further disprove Darwinism and strengthen the case for an intelligent creator. ... Behe [has previously] challenged Darwin's theory of evolution, arguing that science itself has proven that Intelligent Design is a better explanation for the origin of life. In Darwin Devolves, Behe advances his argument, presenting new research that offers a startling reconsideration of how Darwin's mechanism works, weakening the theory's validity even more. A system of natural selection acting on random mutation, evolution can help make something look and act differently. But evolution never creates something organically. Behe contends that Darwinism actually works by a process of devolution - damaging cells in DNA in order to create something new at the lowest biological levels. This is important, he makes clear, because it shows the Darwinian process cannot explain the creation of life itself. 'A process that so easily tears down sophisticated machinery is not one which will build complex, functional systems,' he writes. In addition to disputing the methodology of Darwinism and how it conflicts with the concept of creation, Behe reveals that what makes Intelligent Design unique - and right - is that it acknowledges causation. Evolution proposes that organisms living today are descended with modification from organisms that lived in the distant past. But Intelligent Design goes a step further asking, what caused such astounding changes to take place? What is the reason or mechanism for evolution? For Behe, this is what makes Intelligent Design so important."

Booklist (Dec 1 '18): "Lehigh University biochemist Behe <www.bit.ly/2TDkE9i> argues against random DNA mutations and natural selection as plausible engines of the evolution of life. Unlike other advocates for intelligent design, Behe accepts a theory of limited evolution for species struggling to survive their immediate habitats. But he believes that basic components of life could not have arisen without deliberate engineering. Behe forgives Charles Darwin for not explaining evolutionary forces satisfactorily because the naturalist did not know about atoms or DNA, but he criticizes Darwin for suggesting life is not purpose-driven. Again unlike many intelligent design proponents, Behe does not insist that life's controlling mind is a deity, though that is his personal belief. Most of the book focuses on disproving Darwinian processes. While Behe intends his book for general readers and offers nontechnical analogies, much of the rhetoric relies on detailed genetic, molecular, and biochemical explanations."

Also see <www.bit.ly/2FlhByM>

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PAGELS, ELAINE

Why Religion?: A Personal Story, by Elaine Pagels <www.bit.ly/2Sz1OjA> [2] -- the Library Journal (May 7 '18) Prepub Alert summarizes that "Pagels looks not at why people believe but why they still believe - now, in the 21st century. Though she draws on her own research, as well as that of neurologists, anthropologists, and historians, Pagels refracts her meditation through the lens of personal tragedy...."

Kirkus (Sep 1 '18): Pagels <www.bit.ly/2TCbXfu> "is especially renowned for her work studying the ancient Gnostic brand of Christianity, [and] provides a raw and often moving autobiography. [S]he went back to Scriptures and early Christian writings, not due to faith but as a way of understanding how others dealt with tragedy in the past. Pagels is a controversial figure in Christianity, heralded by many scholars and modernists yet derided by traditionalists, and her approach to God - amorphous and skeptical - will either offend or resonate with particular readers. The story of her grief, however, will touch all. A meaningful tale of pain and hope on the edges of faith."

BookPage (Dec 1 '18): "In this memoir, [Pagels] describes an eclectic and personal religious history that exposed her to everything from evangelical Christianity to Trappist monasticism. In the face of these painful events, Pagels has an extraordinary, dawning realization that the texts to which she has devoted her professional life might also spark a personal exploration. As she notes, it 'compelled me to search for healing beyond anything I'd ever imagined.' All this is summed up in a moving and transcendent final scene, as Pagels receives an honorary doctorate from Harvard, her alma mater, and finds spiritual peace."

Publishers Weekly (Sep 10 '18): Pagels "addresses the titular question by recounting her life story. Raised in an intellectually atheist household, she 'came to Christ' at a Billy Graham Crusade in the late 1950s. While her traditional Christian beliefs tempered over time, that conversion unlocked her spiritual imagination. With haunting echoes from the Book of Job (which she unpacks with skillful clarity), Pagels tells a story of love, marriage, and family life alongside a vibrant academic career. Her 1979 bestseller, The Gnostic Gospels [3], launched her to academic fame. Nearly a decade later, her six-year-old son, Mark, died of a heart problem, and her husband of 20 years, Heinz, died in a hiking accident. In her deepest grief, Pagels' body was covered with boils, like Job's - an acute stress reaction. She writes of feeling empty but fighting to remain strong in order to care for her two young children ('When we confront the unknown, any interpretation is provisional, necessarily incomplete'). Pagels treats readers to the examined life behind her intellectual feats with extreme grace and depth. This luminous memoir strips religion to its elementary particles: love, suffering, and mystery."

Booklist (Sep 15 '18): Refers to "her landmark book, The Gnostic Gospels, the focus of her final chapter in which she explicates various texts, hoping that they will open up more than a single religious path, engaging both head and heart. The same might be said of this brilliant book, which stimulates intellectual curiosity and thought while giving equal weight to Pagel's emotional life. It is a felicitous mixture that will excite both those familiar with her work and those for whom this volume will be an intriguing introduction."

Also see <www.n.pr/2Twtl59>

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SOURCES: Monographs

1 - Darwin Devolves: The New Science About DNA That Challenges Evolution, by Michael J. Behe (HarperOne, February 2019, hardcover, 352 pages) <www.amzn.to/2C0LzVr>

2 - Why Religion?: A Personal Story, by Elaine Pagels (Ecco, 2018, hardcover, 256 pages) <www.amzn.to/2FaclyM>

3 - The Gnostic Gospels, by Elaine Pagels (Vintage, 1989, paperback, 182 pages) <www.amzn.to/2FfOTPA>

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