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Another notable example is the way in which Pennock psychologizes his opponents (a frequent tactic in argument these days). Turns out that at bottom what's motivating the creationists is fear. They are afraid that an evolving universe is a universe leached of meaning, a prospect so terrifying that it has addled their wits. The remedy Pennock proposes is a sort of philosophical therapy.
It's tempting to go on with more examples. How delicious, for instance, to see Pennock giving Alvin Plantinga a scolding for "attempts to turn back the clock"; that settled Plantinga's hash! But the point is made. Pennock needs to do what we all need to do: step outside himself for a minute and examine his own rhetoric. (I should add that when I met Rob Pennock recently at a science-and-religion conference at MIT, we had several good conversations, and I have profited a good deal from reading his book, as I hope to make clear in our next issue, in considering his treatment of the analogy between biological evolution and linguistic evolution.) And then back to the fray.
Copyright © 1999 by the author or Christianity Today International/Books & Culture Magazine. Click here for reprint information on Books & Culture.
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