An Informed Cosmos: Essays on Intelligent Design Theory (Wipf and Stock, 2023)

An Informed Cosmos: Essays on Intelligent Design Theory.

After a substantial author’s Preface woven around the author’s personal journey with the question of design in nature, An Informed Cosmos presents a series of essays that jointly defend the core arguments for a scientific theory of intelligent design. Together with a foreword by noted philosopher of science Stephen C. Meyer, and extensive recommended resources, An Informed Cosmos offers an informed overview of the contemporary case for intelligent design.

This written Biocosmos_Interview, in which I answer questions about intelligent design theory posed by Norwegian theologian and lecturer Asbjørn Berland, was originally published in five parts in a Norwegian translation on the website of www.biocosmos.no in January 2024.

Listen to my January 2024 interview on the ID The Future podcast: A Philosopher’s Defence of Intelligent Design

Listen to my lecture An Introduction to An Informed Cosmos: Essays on Intelligent Design Theory, delivered at English L’Abri in September 2023.

Listen to my interview on An Informed Cosmos with the Apologetics315 Podcast.

Read Kindle Sample here. Request review copy here, exam copy here.

Available from Wipf and Stock, amazon.co.uk, amazon.com, donner.nl, ebooks.com

Contents (254 pages)

Foreword by Dr Stephen C. Meyer

An Informative Preface

Chapter One: The Design Inference from Specified Complexity Defended by Scholars outside the Intelligent Design Movement – A Critical Review

Chapter Two: Atheists Against Darwinism: Johnson’s “Wedge” Breaks Through

Chapter Three: Intelligent Designs on Science: A Surreply to Denis Alexander’s Critique of Intelligent Design Theory

Appendix I: Critiquing Richard Dawkins and Francis Collins on God and Evolution

Appendix II: Darwin’s Influence on Modern Thinking about the Design Hypothesis

Recommended Resources

Bibliography

Praise for An Informed Cosmos

“When faced with an idea they don’t like, even the smartest scientists and philosophers can resort to verbal tap dancing to avoid unwelcome conclusions. Peter S. Williams does a thorough job demonstrating the inconsistencies, circumlocutions, and question-begging of top materialist thinkers as they try to wriggle free of the overpowering evidence for the intelligent design of life.” – Michael J. Behe, Professor of Biological Sciences at Lehigh University, and author of Darwin’s Black Box.

“Peter S. Williams provides a rich ‘lode’ of insights challenging the popular dogma that the living world is entirely the product of mindless, motiveless matter. Can life’s drama in all its staggering complexity and purposefulness be accounted for by the action of unthinking natural processes? Or does it bear the imprint of a transcendent, designing Mind? Williams’ compilation of papers points the reader persuasively to the latter.” – Neil Broom, Professor Emeritus, Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Auckland, and author of How Blind is the Watchmaker?

“Currently reading Peter S. Williams’ latest An Informed Cosmos: Essays on Intelligent Design Theory. He never disappoints and this work is excellent.” – Chad Gross @TBapologetics

“In An Informed Cosmos, Williams has mounted a robust defense of the core arguments for intelligent design theory.” – Andrew McDiarmid, Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute.

“Williams’s book is as informed as it is timely . . . With clarity and erudition, Williams provides an evidential and philosophical defense of the empirical and conceptual merits of intelligent design.” – Dr Stephen C. Meyer, director of Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture in Seattle, and best-selling author of Signature in the Cell, Darwin’s Doubt and The Return of the God Hypothesis.

“Beautifully illustrated, pervasively researched, and clearly written, Peter S. Williams’s An Informed Cosmos is a delightful read chock full of rich, sophisticated ideas. I don’t know how Williams did it, but he managed to pack a lot of well-selected content into a short, readable book. This is not just another book on science, religion, and Intelligent Design. This book is unique in its unwavering commitment to staying within its specific focus and its up-to-date perspective. Of special value is Williams’s excellent critique of Methodological Naturalism, including its inability to explain a host of scientific discoveries in recent decades. Williams also included hard-hitting critiques of the most important critics of the Design Inference. Anyone who wants to stay on top of the debate should read this book.” – J.P. Moreland, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Biola University, and author of Scientism and Secularism.

“Peter S. Williams’s An Informed Cosmos is a delightful, intellectually stimulating appraisal of the pervasive design inference in the reasoning of proponents and opponents of Intelligent Design. He masterfully unmasks the ontological add-ons of naturalism and exposes fallacies which have rendered the impoverished worldview associated with ontological naturalism. I wholeheartedly recommend this work for its insightful analysis and rigorous exposé.” – Frederik van Niekerk, Professor in the Unit for Energy and Technology Systems, Faculty of Engineering, North-West University, South Africa.

“Peter S. Williams has crafted an impressive, well-informed case for intelligent design, exposing the shortcomings of contemporary naturalism and countering objections to ID with forceful counter-arguments.” – Charles Taliaferro, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, and Emeritus Oscar and Gertrude Boe Overby Distinguished Professor, St. Olaf College.

“Peter S. Williams has done tremendous work compressing the most recent and relevant research and literature on ID into one single volume. Come to the text with an open mind, and you will enjoy it. This is science promotion on a hot topic in a brilliant way, and I am happy to recommend it.” – Steinar Thorvaldsen, Professor of Information Science, The Arctic University of Norway.

Resources

YouTube Playlist, “Intelligent Design”

Contents (254 pages)

Praise for An Informed Cosmos

Resources

On-Line Essays on Intelligent Design by Peter S. Williams

Podcasts on Intelligent Design

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