Objections Sustained : Subversive Essays on Evolution, Law & Culture

by Phillip E. Johnson

These essays by the author of "Darwin on Trial, Reason in the Balance", and "Defeating Darwinsim by Opening Minds" cover a wide range of topics, including evolution, law, and culture.

Genres: Science, Philosophy, Evolution, Christian

188 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Johnson is an American born-again Christian lawyer and creationist.

Reviews

[Sheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of Johnson's book reviews, most of them on either evolution or the law (or both), with a couple strays. Not Johnson's best book, but entertaining.

[Rod Innis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book in intelligent design

[Mallory · Rating 3 out of 5]

These short essays run the gamut of topics, from Darwin, evolution and higher education to the law, materialism and the current state of science. Most are written as book reviews or in response to something like an article. Overall, they are accessible and easy to understand, though some were more interesting to me than others. Johnson doesn’t pull any punches and manages to make the intellectual entertaining.

Favorite quotes: “Being able to assign an irrational cause for the other person’s beliefs is a powerful weapon in a cultural conflict.”

“The concept that the universe is the product of a rational mind provides a far better metaphysical basis for scientific rationality than the competing concept that everything in the universe (including our minds) is ultimately based in the mindless movements of matter. Perhaps materialism was a liberating philosophy when the need was to escape from dogmas of religion, but today materialism itself is the dogma from which the mind needs to escape.”

“The Pledge of Allegiance that we all recite tells us that this is one nation under God. If that language rings hollow today, it is not primarily the fault of the agnostics but of the people who know God but have preferred to fight over what divides them rather than to unite over what they have in common.”

[Kevin Morse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very engaging! Read it on a Sunday afternoon and enjoyed pretty much all of it. A few of the essays get a bit repetitive, but on the whole it was insightful and engaging. Oh, and I'm pretty sure he was right too!