Rating: 
Summary: Fair and thorough
Review: Lee has told a captivating and compelling case for the existence of a supernatural Creator. He interviews a topnotch list of experts on the issue of science and faith and poses the tough questions that we all ask from time to time.Having said that i wonder why William Lane Craig was interviewed on the cosmological argument (big bang theory) and not astrophysicist Hugh Ross? Ross has been one of the pioneers for using the big bang to prove the existence of God and has written some ground breaking books on the topic such as The Creator and the Cosmos and The Fingerprint of God. The book is superbly written, covering all the objections fairly and writing in a way that keeps the reader interested. He is sure to stay clear of the young/old earth controversy which i don't think is wise since it is a major stumbling block to non-believers. The 6-10,000 yr old universe/Earth proposed by groups like Institute for Creation Research and Answers in Genesis is so scientifically implausable that it is making a laughing stock of the Christian faith. This is the reason that many atheists/skeptics won't accept Christ since they think that Christianity must be false since it is pushing an absurd doctrine. The Christian should work hard to counter the misconception that to believe in the Biblical world view is to swallow the nonsense of a 10,000 yr old Earth.
Rating:
Summary: Marshalling the evidence
Review: Lee Strobel is an investigative journalist and a former atheist. When he started digging into the truth claims of Christianity, he found the evidence compelling, and became a believer. His investigation into the reliability and truthfulness of the Christian faith became the basis of a best-selling volume, The Case for Christ.
Another volume, The Case for Faith, soon followed. Between the two volumes, most of the major areas of biblical faith, and the challenges they face, are addressed. Thus meaty chapters on the possibility of miracles, the problem of evil, the historicity of the resurrection, the reliability of the gospels, the relationship between science and faith, among others, are presented.
In this third volume, another area of potential difficulty is discussed: the whole debate between creation and evolution in particular, and the biblical worldview versus philosophical naturalism in general. As in the previous volumes, Strobel interviews a number of experts and authorities in relevant fields, and asks hard-hitting questions as to whether biblical faith can stand up to the tough issues of the day.
In this volume he explores the findings of modern science, the theories of Darwin and the neo-Darwinists, and the philosophy of science, in an attempt to see if the claims of Scripture can face up to them. A number of objections raised by science or evolution are examined in detail. The evidence, Strobel demonstrates, points us to God, not away. Indeed, taken together, there is a cumulative case for faith in God, as the various sciences are examined in depth.
Consider the evidence of physics. Physicists know that the universe seems to be finely tuned for life to exist. Just the right conditions seem to exist to make life possible and sustainable. There are so many finely tuned conditions in place that chance does not seem capable of providing a satisfactory explanation. Random accidents cannot explain the precisely set dials of the universe.
The evidence from cosmology is also impressive. How could our universe suddenly spring into existence? How is it possible to get something from nothing? For a long time science had assumed an eternal material universe. But by the twentieth century, science came to see that the universe in fact had a beginning. Einstein's Theory of Relativity did not allow for a static universe, and the rise of the Big Bang model has shown a clear case for a beginning point.
And the Big Bang model shows that our universe depends on highly specialised conditions, that makes it seem designed, not accidental. Again, there seems to be a case of fine tuning going on, something presupposing a fine tuner.
Astronomy also bears witness to a creator. Here again we find an example of fine tuning, with a series of extraordinary "coincidences" that seem to rule out the possibility of accident. The earth seems uniquely suited to support human life, and too many conditions must be met for this to be so, thus making the designer thesis seem quite credible.
A habitable planet is hard to come by. It requires a lot of special preconditions. And astronomers have yet to find another part of the universe that seems to fully display these necessary conditions. The more astronomers learn about the universe, the more unique planet earth becomes. Our sun for example displays unique features all of which make a habitable earth possible. It has just the right composition, orbit, mass, light, distance and location for life on earth to flourish.
Or consider the area of biochemistry. The more we discover in this field, the more we see intelligent design at work. Biochemists like Michael Behe have shown that at the most basic levels of life there is irreducible complexity. That is, a number of different components must be acting in concert to produce a desired effect. One part cannot slowly evolve and join with another. All must be operating simultaneously from the beginning. And life at the most simple levels demonstrates this feature time and again.
Just as in a mousetrap, all the parts must be there and operating together, so in life, we see this amazing complexity of function. Evolution cannot account for how such irreducible complexity could ever have arisen. Life, it turns out, is based on all sorts of complex molecular machines. These machines could never work if parts slowly evolved and were added to the overall mechanism. They must be present from day one to work. So incremental Darwinism just does not explain these things. Naturalism just cannot explain these complex biological systems, but intelligent design seems to.
On and on goes the evidence. I have only given brief overview. The scientists and philosophers and others interviewed here give quite complex and detailed arguments about all these points. The evidence seems to keep weighing up in favor of some kind of intelligent design, and away from a naturalistic, Darwinian explanation.
Taken together, the various strands of information make for a strong cumulative case for a creator. The alternative explanations become more far-fetched as we learn more about the amazing world that we live in. It requires as much faith to believe some of the claims put forward by naturalistic Darwinism than those put forward by the intelligent design movement. Open minds will weigh up the evidence for themselves and see where it takes them. This volume is a good place to begin in that search.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Overview
Review: Probably one of the best overviews of the thoughts from the Intellegent Design movement. If you are wondering why the famous atheist, Anthony Flew, now professes the probability of God's existence, this book will interest you. The evidence is presented in a thoughtful but non-bombastic manner by specialists in various fields of scientific study. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: I Used To Be An Atheist, But . . . .
Review: The Case For A Creator by Lee Strobel
It all boils down to this. Tell me about a person's world view and I'll tell you what side of any argument he/she favors. By "world view" I mean simply if he is a theist or an atheist. I interpret these two categories broadly and to have wide variation. There are theists who simply say, "I believe there's probably a God". There are also those who say, "I know there's a God and don't tell me anything about science that conflicts with that knowledge." Atheists, too, have great variation.
Given that, when reading books like "The Case For A Creator" by Lee Strobel, you can save lots of time and money by realizing that he's in the latter category. Writers like him use an infinity of strategies from, "Look stupid, . . . can't you see the truth?"-to "Well, I used to be an atheist, but all this evidence just plain convinced me I was wrong (and a sinner besides)." This is Sobel's tactic. But the theme is the same. "I want there to be a God, so I want all of science to be wrong." It is amazing how sneakily they can get their points of view into the mainstream. Usually they form or join groups with scholarly sounding names like "Scientists for Truth" or "American Association of Biologists". But invariably they turn out to be fundamentalist ministers with a degree in biology or sometimes fairly well-educated anthropologists or geologists who for personal reasons have become God-obsessed.
They display pretty good awareness of the material, and invariably they zero in on a few flaws in some existing theory and then deliver what they consider to be lethal blows to science, materialism, naturalism or whatever they choose to call it. Finally, they proclaim, as Strobel has done (to evolution) not only that "Darwinism has remained a philosophy still in search of convincing empirical data to back it up (pg. 65)", but then make the ludicrous leap to "The Case for Christ (pg. 293)". And there it is. The Evangelical strategy for America. Knock out science and all it adherents and convert everyone to Jesus Christ's message and we'll all live happily ever after in Heaven after the Rapture.
In case you were not aware, any scientific theory is incomplete, no matter how incontrovertible the bulk of the evidence. The current theory of the solar system and its workings leaves some gaps in our knowledge of the asteroid belt, conditions on Uranus and Pluto, and the total number of planetary moons, for example, but that does not prevent scientists from sending a rocket hundreds of millions of miles to Saturn or Jupiter with amazing accuracy and having it relay back data. Would we say that our knowledge of the solar system is wrong because of some gaps in the data? But this is what Strobel has done with evolution and Darwin, and worse than that, has replaced centuries of painstakingly acquired scientific knowledge with the superstitions of the Bible.
The Case For A Creator is a thinly disguised evangelical Christian polemic for "Intelligent Design" masquerading as scientific work. Along the way, it distorts, defames, lies and misleads while suckering in the unwary using the old line of, "I used to be an atheist until, . . ."
Rating:
Summary: An outstanding overview of the scientific evidence for God
Review: This book is an introduction into the various areas of scientific study where a true search for truth includes not arbitrarily self limiting to a naturalistic or materialistic philosophy to explain the universe and life as we know it. The book starts with Lee Strobel describing his own journey to atheism through his love for Darwinism and science, coupled with a journalistic obsession with always digging deeper. Despite the fact that this book had the potential to be dry and overly academic, it never is. From the opening personal background, to the depiction of his journalistic assignment to cover a debate on school textbooks in rural West Virginia, to the "conversational" tone to his presentation of scientific evidence from the experts, the book is always readable and engaging. This is a well written overview to the fact that science and faith are not as mutually exclusive as we have been led to believe. In fact, much scientific evidence clearly points to a Creator. Whether it is big-bang cosmology, or the complexity of the bio-chemical process, design is everywhere. However, this is only part of the story. The book starts with first punching holes in most of the famous Darwin and Evolution "icons" which prompted Lee to abandon a belief in God to begin with. That the famous "Haeckel" embryo drawings are faked and have been known as such for decades, has not kept them from being included in modern textbooks to show evidence for Darwin's theories. The amount of liberty that has been taken with weak arguments for macro-evolution points to a naturalistic philosophy, not scientific evidence, which is driving much of what passes for scientific study in the area of origins of life. See the book "Icons of Evolution" for a deeper look. The chapter on "the Evidence of Consciousness" is in itself worth buying the book. J.P. Moreland and others discuss whether a computer will someday have "spiritual" experiences, and look into the scientific origins of philosophy made famous by Rene Decartes. The debate as to whether our consciousness is a result of mere physical brain activity which reaches a certain level, or is evidence of something beyond the physical, is a fascinating discussion. I highly recommend this book. It is a wonderful introduction to scientific evidence from renowned scientists with impeccable credentials that align science with faith in a way that is both logically and rationally sound. While I agree that he could have interviewed a wider range of people, the theories and works from non-theists like Robert Gould, Richard Dawkins, and others are well presented. It is also a great place to start research on the subject, as there are dozens of works sited and noted from William Demski, Michael Behe, William Lane Craig, Stephen Hawking, and others. Start here, and then read deeper. The result will be the same as there truly is a scientific "case for a Creator".
Rating:
Summary: One of the best non-technical overviews available
Review: Why is it that the world of science has made such an about-face with the idea that the universe has an intelligent designer? At one time in the very recent past anyone supporting the idea of a Creator of the universe would have been ridiculed in the scientific community. These days they seem to be in the majority with more and more converts every year. In his book "The Case for a Creator" author Lee Strobel goes over the evidence that is causing such a shift in thinking. In a very easy to read interview writing style he discusses evolution, Darwinism, science and faith, the big bang theory of cosmology, physics, astronomy and probability, biochemistry, DNA, and consciousness. For each one of these subjects he delivers an interview with a top scientist who is a specialist in that particular field of knowledge. Here is your chance to listen in as Lee quizzes them on their reasoning and theories. Listen in as he asks the difficult questions and receives soundly reasoned answers. While these are recognized experts in their fields it should be noted that they were, of course, hand picked because they believe in a creator. As a result the book is basically an opportunity for them to espouse their views and give answers to common objections. Still, hand picked or not, the important thing is that they provide soundly reasoned, realistic answers to the questions and problems posed. If you received an education on evolution in school then you owe it to yourself to at least be fair and learn the other side of the coin. If you have come to doubt a creator for whatever reason and have been taught that science has no room for a creator then you owe it to yourself to see why top scientists are moving over to the creation camp. At least you will find that there are two sides to this debate and it is not a closed question coming down on the side of no creator. "The Case for a Creator" is a highly recommended read on one of the most enjoyable books on the subject that I have read.
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