Now that I am looking at teaching and tutoring independently in my areas of training and specialisation, I have started to look at the Science Curriculum (though most specifically Physics – more on this to follow). In the past I have also lectured and presented on Intelligent Design in a number of forums, from schools to church presentations.
I have a lot of books and materials on the subject and also developed a website to accompany my presentations.
So in looking at my resources I picked up the book ‘The Design of Life’ by William A Dembski and Jonathan Web, two of the world’s leading ID proponents. This book has been written and designed as a school textbook aimed at the Senior High School student. It could easily be used at Year 10 level and perhaps a little lower, with the more capable and well-motivated students.
It would be best studied in a group or class setting as each chapter has a set of discussion questions that should be worked through to develop understanding. While the book is over a decade old now the foundations are still very much the same, and the new findings of the last decade plus, can only add to the effectiveness of the text, if researched and studied as part of the group activities in working through the discussion questions.
I highly recommend this text. If needed, I am also available for support tutoring as students worked through the material.
I can also recommend some outstanding follow texts to this book, especially the three books on ID by Stephen Meyer. His latest ‘The Return of the God Hypothesis’ is absolutely outstanding and should, in my opinion, be required reading for all senior science students in Christian and Jewish schools.
A brief introduction:
In Meyer’s ‘Return of the God Hypothesis’ (https://returnofthegodhypothesis.com/). he argues that Theism provides a better explanation of how the first cell was created along with subsequent innovations in the history of life.
He states that “there are 3 keys facts about biological and cosmological origins:
- the material universe had a beginning
- the material universe has been finely tuned for life from the beginning, and
- large discontinuous increases in functionally specified information has entered the biosphere since the beginning.
Deism can explain the first two of these facts, but Theism can explain all three.”
Science today is increasingly finding supporting evidence for Theism and for a Creation event as described in the Bible.
“Following a sweeping overview of recent discoveries in cosmology, physics and biology, Meyer makes a compelling case for a cosmic designer, the God of theism. Meyer is following in the footsteps of Boyle, Kepler, and Newton.”- GUILLERMO GONZALEZ, PH.D. IN ASTRONOMY, THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, CO-AUTHOR, OBSERVATIONAL ASTRONOMY (CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS) AND THE PRIVILEGED PLANET
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