November 2009
Digging for Gold
If you watched the 1990s TV show, "Home Improvement," you will remember the frequent conversations over the backyard fence between the hero, Tim Taylor, and his avant-garde neighbor, Wilson Wilson. Complaining in one episode that the Beach Boys (Wilson's cousins!) had rejected the song lyrics he had submitted, Wilson pouted, "I just always thought I had a flair for writing!" "You do!" Tim was quick to encourage. "I mean, you wrote a book!" "I did," Wilson acknowledged, "The Psycho-physiological Indices of Amorous Connections Among Termites in the Southwest." Still anxious to reassure Wilson, Tim exclaimed, "And it's a great book. I'm halfway through the title already!"
Most of us are just like Tim Taylor when it comes to the rarified worlds of biology, philosophy, or other academic areas. These fields are pretty much under our radar, and we don't pine away longing to start our next deep and difficult scholarly book! Thus, we may be tempted to write such books off, but if we do, we will miss the terrific good news of today: as never before, certain serious academic books are true "earth movers," with unstoppable momentum impacting and transforming our culture. And like gold, their value will endure.
The Juice Is Worth the Squeeze
Consider with me the heavy lifting accomplished by several acclaimed books on critical topics and the extraordinary developments now flowing from them. Since the decade of the "hippies," a cache of important books has changed the thinking of a significant number among the academic elite, a group whose views—for better or worse—are passed to the next generation. As is often the case with works that begin on the fringes of accepted thinking and then usher in a whole new paradigm, they are shaping the views even of people who will never read them.
You already know about The Design of Life and other watershed books by its authors, William A. Dembski (such as his 1998 Cambridge University Press book, The Design Inference: Eliminating Chance Through Small Probabilities) and Jonathan Wells (particularly his Icons of Evolution), and probably about Michael Behe's Darwin's Black Box, which has now sold over a quarter of a million copies. The newest breakthrough book joining these in the big box stores is Stephen Meyer's Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design. Already in its third printing, Signature is hailed by Charles Colson as "a profound, hugely important book for anybody interested in the scientific debate of our times—the origins of life." Their work, added to that of other leading academics who also question the dominant materialist worldview, like the rising tide, is lifting all boats.
Yes, if worldviews are important, then so are the books that establish them. Quentin Smith, atheist professor of philosophy at Western Michigan University, gives an electrifying example of how books are changing our culture in his article "The Metaphilosophy of Naturalism" in the philosophy journal Philo. Smith credits a single individual, Alvin Plantinga, John A. O'Brien Professor of Philosophy at Notre Dame, with virtually transforming the field of philosophy in the high university world. Smith asserts,
The secularization of mainstream academia began to quickly unravel upon the publication of Plantinga's influential book on realist theism, God and Other Minds, in 1967. It became apparent to the philosophical profession that this book displayed that realist theists were not outmatched by naturalists in terms of the most technical erudition, and an in-depth defense of an original world-view. This book, followed seven years later by Plantinga's even more impressive book, The Nature of Necessity,made it manifest that a realist theist was writing at the highest qualitative level of analytic philosophy, on the same playing field as Carnap, Russell, Moore, Grunbaum, and other naturalists. . . Naturalists passively watched as realist versions of theism, most influenced by Plantinga's writings, began to sweep through the philosophical community, until today perhaps one quarter or one third of philosophy professors are theists, with most being orthodox Christians.1
Make no mistake, what is happening among faculty is dynamically connected to the cultural situation, for it has engaged minds of both colleagues and students and is impacting the actions of tens of thousands. The New York Times ran an article in April, 2008, titled "In a New Generation of College Students, Many Opt for the Life Examined." In it they detailed the sharp increase of college students enrolling as philosophy majors. What beautifully coordinated timing!
Specifically, Intelligent Design
In the last 12 months, FTE has sold close to 5,000 books, bringing to 165,000 the number in circulation. As we look back over what the Lord has done through your support, we are grateful that He has given us the privilege to engage the brilliant authors and editors He has, making possible the publication of two of the seminal works that helped give birth to the intelligent design movement in the 1980s. These are The Mystery of Life's Origin, by Charles Thaxton, Walter Bradley, and Roger Olson, which to this day remains the best-selling advanced level book on the origin of life
2, and Of Pandas and People, by Dean Kenyon and Percival Davis, the book that introduced the concept and term, intelligent design, into contemporary popular discourse, and sold volume orders to public schools in nearly half the states. We are blessed that we had the privilege of initiating these two books, and of organizing the groundbreaking 1992 symposium at Southern Methodist University around Phillip E. Johnson's powerful book, Darwin on Trial (co-sponsored with Dallas Christian Leadership and the C.S. Lewis Society of Clearwater, FL).
Our plans for the coming year call for the publication of a 2nd edition of Sex and Character, a 7th printing of Never Before in History and corresponding teacher's guides. And very soon we expect to announce an exciting new book that we hope to release in 2011.
Most of us have no difficulty seeing the relevance and singular relationship between the worldviews that dominate our culture and the future of the next generation and of our nation. What we often fail to appreciate is the seminal role that key books play here (not the least being Darwin's own Origin of Species). FTE continues to be a pacesetter in supplying the seminal texts that shape our culture. But we cannot continue this crucial work without your support. Giving to FTE has fallen dramatically and we must forthrightly ask you to give as generously as you are able. As we enter this Thanksgiving season, we thank God for you and your vital partnership with us. May we ask you to continue standing with us to the fullest extent possible? With your help, we can move beyond hand-to-mouth operation to a position of strength and permanence, beginning with a more aggressive marketing of these worldview-changing books, maintenance of up-to-date editions, and publication of entirely new ones.
We at FTE remain committed to producing the highest quality materials for restoring clarity and truth to the education of our young people. Countless young people have been spared intellectual and moral devastation through our books. Our side has the better books and arguments, and in the clash of worldviews, we can win. But only you can help us achieve this victory and make it enduring. Thank you so much.
Because He Lives,
Jon Buell
President
P.S. Why not scroll to the very bottom and forward this letter to a good friend?
P.S. If you can make a donation of $100 or more, we will send you a copy of either Signature in the Cell or The Design of Life (indicate your preference by email) or, with a donation of $150 or more, both books. Either is ideal for a college or college-bound student, and would be an invaluable addition to your permanent library as the ID / Darwinism debate unfolds in the years ahead.
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