Conor Cunningham, Darwin’s Pious Idea: Why the Ultra-Darwinists and Creationists Both Get It Wrong, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010. xx + 543. Reviewed by Norm Klassen.
Introduction
This is an important book. It models a Christian engagement of biology that thoroughly defends evolutionary theory while challenging entrenched assumptions of what Conor Cunningham calls “ultra-Darwinians.” These assumptions now constitute core beliefs among most evolutionists, but are not actually demanded by Darwin and are contradicted by important recent discoveries in biology, as well as a significant body of theorizing on their discipline by biologists, chemists, and other scientists. On the other side, Cunningham also thoroughly critiques creationism and intelligent design as Christian attempts to “answer” evolution that neither do justice to the science nor fit with an orthodox theological understanding of the created order and God’s relationship to it. This is a book very rich in theological reflection, very demanding in terms of its philosophical rigour (by which I mean especially its careful logic), and very much engaged with the details of the science. Continue reading