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Grand Introduction

Grand Introduction

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A lot of books include the term design in their titles. Some however are too technical and others are perhaps too basic for the interested adult reader. A recently published book by Jonathan Sarfati entitled By Design: Evidence for Nature’s Intelligent Designer – the God of the Bible (Creation Book Publishers. 2008) promises to provide a more user friendly introduction to the topic.  Not only does the book include more easily appreciated phenomena involving form and function among animals and people (pp. 7-124), but only after this, does it discuss amazing biochemical details of living creatures (pp. 125-190). Following these sections, Dr. Sarfati provides discussion on the significance of design (pp. 191-240) and finally, he puts it all in the Christian context (pp. 241-247).

Dr. Sarfati packages his discussion into chapters under various themes such as “colours and patterns”, “navigation and orientation” and “catapults” among others. Each chapter includes discussion on little known, but fascinating features of a variety of organisms. An ideal way to use this book might be to read one chapter each day. There are too many details to absorb by plowing straight through the book anyway. Some examples may seem obscure, but the next may be more easily grasped. The biochemistry is certainly more difficult. If necessary, one could simply skip to the third section, or alternatively read only a page or two at a time.

One of the attractive features is the way that the author describes the positive discoveries and arguments of such experts in the field as Michael Behe, Bill Dembski and other “Intelligent Design” advocates. This book builds in positive fashion on the work of such specialists and then the Christian context simply makes sense of it all.

Jonathan Sarfati. 2008. By Design: Evidence for Nature’s Intelligent Designer – the God of the Bible. Creation Book Publishers. pp. 260.


Margaret Helder
February 2011

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