While conservatives are presumed to be critical of Darwin’s theory, many on the right, such as George Will, James Q. Wilson, and Larry Arnhart, have mounted a vigorous defense of Darwinism. As Discovery Institute’s John West explains in his book, Darwin’s Conservatives: The Misguided Quest, their attempts to reconcile conservatism and Darwinian biology misunderstand both.

In this small but incisive book, Dr. West addresses how Darwin’s theory, contrary to its conservative champions, manifestly does not reinforce the teachings of conservatism. According to West, Darwinism promotes moral relativism rather than traditional morality. It fosters utopianism rather than limited government. It is corrosive, rather than supportive, of both free will and religious belief. Finally, and most importantly, Darwinian evolution is in tension with the scientific evidence, and conservatism cannot hope to strengthen itself by relying on Darwinism’s increasingly shaky empirical foundations.  This book issues a challenge to conservatives they cannot afford to ignore. According to According to,  Prof. J. Budziszewski of the University of Texas, Austin, hails the book for “showing clearly that Darwinism is not a source of conservative insight into human nature, but only a source of confusion.”

Dr. John West is a Senior Fellow at the Seattle-based Discovery Institute, where he is Associate Director of Discovery’s Center for Science & Culture and Vice President for Public Policy and Legal Affairs. Dr. West holds a Ph.D in Government from Claremont Graduate University and a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington.

What They Are Saying:

“Darwin’s Conservatives is concise, precise and convincing. …” — Phillip E. Johnson author of Darwin on Trial

“John West rolls through the arguments for a pro-Darwin conservatism like an Abrams tank leveling a street barricade: methodically and irresistibly. If there are any conservative Darwinists left after this rout, it’s only because they won’t stand and fight.” — George Gilder, author of Wealth & Poverty and Telecosm.

A fair and honest debate about religious responses to environmental issues should always distinguish theological principles from prudential judgments.  The Cornwall Declaraion and the accompanying essays in this volume were written to do just that.  They were not written to provide theological rationale for current environmental fashion. Rather, they seek to articulate the broad Judeo-Christian theological principles concerning the environment, and to distinguish those principles from contrary ideas popular to the environmental movement.

The Acton Institute is a non-profit, ecumenical think tank working internationally to “promote a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles.”  With offices in Grand Rapids, Michigan and Rome, Italy, as well as affiliates in four othr nations around the world, the Acton Institute is uniquely positioned to comment on e sound economic and moral foundations necessary to sustain humane environmental and societal policies.

What does it mean to say that God “used evolution” to create the world? Is Darwin’s theory of evolution compatible with belief in God? And even if Darwin’s theory could be reconciled with religious belief, do we need to do so? Is the theory well established scientifically? Is it true?

In the century and a half since Charles Darwin first proposed his theory of evolution, Christians, Jews, and other religious believers have grappled with how to make sense of it. Most have understood that Darwin’s theory has profound theological implications, but their responses have varied dramatically.

Some religious believers have rejected it outright; others, often called “theistic evolutionists,” have sought to reconcile Darwin’s theory with their religious beliefs, but often at the cost of clarity, orthodoxy, or both. Too few have carefully teased out the various scientific, philosophical, and theological claims at stake, and separated the chaff from the wheat. As a result, the whole subject of God and evolution has been an enigma wrapped in a shroud of fuzz and surrounded by blanket of fog.

The purpose of this anthology of essays is to clear away the fog, the fuzz, and the enigma. Contributing authors to the volume include Jay Richards, co-author of The Privileged Planet: How Our Place in the Cosmos Is Designed for Discovery; Stephen Meyer, author of Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design; William Dembski, author of The Design Revolution; Jonathan Witt, co-author of A Meaningful World: How the Arts and Sciences Reveal the Genius of Nature; Denyse O’Leary, author of By Design, or by Chance?; and David Klinghoffer , author of Shattered Tablets.

Dr. Jay Richards is a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute and Director of Research for the Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. His previous books include The Privileged Planet; Money, Greed, and God; The Untamed God; and Are We Spiritual Machines? Dr. Richards holds a Ph.D. (with honors) in philosophy and theology from Princeton Theological Seminary. His work has been covered in publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal; and he has appeared on many national radio and TV programs.

In this wide-ranging collection of essays on origins, mathematician Granville Sewell looks at the big bang, the fine-tuning of the laws of physics, and the evolution of life.  He concludes that while there is much in the history of life that seems to suggest natural causes, there is nothing to support Charles Darwin’s idea that natural selection of random mutations can explain major evolutionary advances (“easily the dumbest idea ever taken seriously by science,” he calls it).  Sewell explains why evolution is a fundamentally different and much more difficult problem than others solved by science, and why increasing numbers of scientists are now recognizing what has long been obvious to the layman, that there is no explanation possible without design. This book summarizes many of the traditional arguments for intelligent design, but presents some powerful new arguments as well.

Granville Sewell is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Texas El Paso.  He completed his PhD in Mathematics at Purdue University in 1972 and has worked at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Purdue University, the University of Texas Center for High Performance Computing (Austin), and Texas A&M University.  He also spent one semester teaching at Universidad Nacional de Tucuman in Argentina on a Fullbright Scholarship.  Dr. Sewell has written three books on numerical analysis, and is the author of a widely-used finite element computer program.

What They Are Saying:

“As the debate over intelligent design grows increasingly heated, with critics engaging in vicious polemics, it is refreshing to find a discussion of the topic that is calm, thoughtful, and far-ranging, with no sense of having to advance an agenda or decimate the opposition. In this regard, Granville Sewell’s In the Beginning succeeds brilliantly.” — William A. Dembski, author of The Design Inference and The End of Christianity

An appreciation for the papacy of John Paul II, this volume was produced shortly after his death on April 2, 2005. Two of his encyclicals come in for close examination, namely Evangelium vitae, the great essay on the good of human life, and Veritatis splendor, the Pope’s examination of act of moral judgment. Dr. John Haas situates the concerns of Evangelium vitae within the context of American culture, while Father Kevin Flannery, S.J., looks at from the perspective of contemporary debates in moral theology, Veritatis splendor providing two illustrative examples: the provision of nutrition and hydration to debilitated patients and the use of condoms by those infected with AIDs. The topic of food and water is examined by Richard Doerflinger, whose offers a perceptive set of reflections on John Paul II’s controversial statement on patients in a persistent vegetative state. Sarah-Vaughn Brakman takes a more comprehensive look at the writing of John Paul, offering an assessment of the key moral principles he advanced. Other topics of interest include presentations on stem cell research and cloning by Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, on surgical sterilization by Monsignor Russell Smith, and on the work of Dr. Thomas Hilgers, the father of NaProTechnology, a method of increasing the fertility of patients who are facing difficulties conceiving. Sr. Renee Mirkes, O.S.F., provides a wealth of detail about the techniques and effectiveness of this approach, one which is fully compatible with Catholic teaching on human sexuality. There are also entries on the corporate concerns of Catholic health care, including the problem of the uninsured and underinsured, by Anthony Tersigni, President and CEO of Ascension Health, how Catholic institutions can advance its vision of health care in a culture that rejects our vision of health care by Peter Cataldo, and a look at the challenges facing the Catholic provision of health care in Europe and Latin America. Additional essays discuss the very practical subjects of organ donation, vaccination refusals, and rape protocols.

Edward J. Furton, Ph.D., is an ethicist and Director of Publications at the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

COMING IN JUNE 2012

How would a historical narrative read if the author began with the first principles that truth exists and the Incarnation happened? The long-awaited, sixth and final volume to the late Warren Carroll’s highly regarded history of Christendom covers the years 1815 through 2005. This series is the only in-print, comprehensive narration of Western history written from an orthodox Catholic perspective.

Warren Carroll (1932–2011) was founder of Christendom College, serving as president from 1977–85, and as chairman of the Department of History from 1985–2002. Carroll earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in history from Columbia Uni­versity. The author of numerous books, he has won a well-deserved reputation as one of the foremost Catholic historians of our time. Anne Carroll is the widow of Warren and a well-respected author in her own right. Her books include Christ the King, Lord of History and Christ and the Americas. She is also the founder of Seton Home Study School and Seton School in Manassas, Virginia.

When it comes to some of life’s most profound questions—the origins of life, of matter, of the universe itself—does modern science already have everything all figured out? Many scientists would like us to think they are mere steps away from solving all the deep enigmas of physical existence.

Consummate skeptic David Berlinski shows that all such confidence is at best a bluff. In essays about evolution using humor and wit, Berlinski shows how lost today’s scientists really are. His new book The Deniable Darwin frees us from the superstition of preening scientism and illuminates the path to a renewal of real science.

In The Deniable Darwin & Other Essays Berlinski wields his famous skepticism excluding neither Darwinism nor intelligent design from his critical eye.  Included among the 32 essays spanning 15 years are his award winning essays “What Brings a World into Being?”, and “On the Origins of Mind” (Best American Science Writing 2002, 2005 respectively).

David Berlinski is a senior fellow in the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. He is the author of numerous books, including The Devil’s Delusion: Atheism and It Scientific Pretensions (Basic Books 2009). Berlinski received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University and was later a postdoctoral fellow in mathematics and molecular biology at Columbia University. He has authored works on systems analysis, differential topology, theoretical biology, analytic philosophy, and the philosophy of mathematics, as well as three novels. He has also taught philosophy, mathematics and English at Stanford, Rutgers, the City University of New York and the Université de Paris.

What They Are Saying:

“David Berlinski is to science writing what Tiger Woods is to golf. He can score from anywhere, against any opponent, on any course. The Deniable Darwin is a compulsive revel of his incandescent prose and jugular polemics. As irresistible as Gödel’s Proof.”—George Gilder author of The Israel Test, Wealth and Poverty, and Telecosm

“Berlinksi’s rapier wit is the antidote to the insufferable smugness of modern scientism. When, without any seeming effort, he notes that ‘like the Communist Party under Lenin, science is infallible because its judgments are collective,’ the reader is forever immunized against grandiose claims for scientific ‘consensus.’ Much more awaits the readers of this wonderful collection.”—Michael Behe professor of biochemistry, Lehigh University, and author of The Edge of Evolution and Darwin’s Black Box

“David Berlinski’s ability to weave the lessons of history with the wonders of modern science is unmatched, as is his use of subtle humor that enlivens his text. These essays will delight many and annoy others, regardless of on which side of the ideological aisle of science you may stand—for science has an ideology as Berlinski so well documents.”—Gerald Schroeder author of God According to God: A Physicist Proves We’ve Been Wrong About God All Along and The Science of God

“Berlinski is a genuine intellectual hero, one whose challenge to the certainties of evolutionary biology and Big Bang cosmology–the comfortable certainties of conventional wisdom about the origin of man and the origin of the universe–does not come from allegiance to rival certainties such as biblical creationism. Instead, Berlinski turns the methods and assumptions of science on itself to demonstrate the implausibilities underlying the arrogant claims of the grand theorists.”—Ron Rosenbaum author of Explaining Hitler and The Shakespeare Wars

The Long War Ahead and the Short War Upon Us analyzes the multiple wars against terrorist groups that ensued after September 11, 2001, and their roots.  Topics of particular focus are the rise of Islamic communities in the West, and conflicts with non-Islamic communities, the debate in the West over civil liberties versus security, the role of the executive, legislative and judicial branches in applying national security law, the status of related battlefield conflicts around the globe, especially in the Mideast and Asia, personnel and material resource challenges in defending the homeland and fighting overseas, protecting critical infrastructures, especially communications, energy and ports, neutralization of WMD threats from hostile nations and sub-national groups, and lessons learned for policymakers since September 11.

John C. Wohlstetter is a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute and author of the blog Letter From the Capitol.  His professional background includes Wall Street, corporate and communications law and national security telecommunications.

What They Are Saying:

“John Wohlstetter’s The Long War Ahead and the Short War Upon Us is a tour de force that not only outlines the problems we are obliged to confront, the misperceptions that surround the conflict, but the methods and assumptions that should be applied for the ultimate victory.”– Herb London, President, Hudson Institute

“After many years pondering policy at some of our finest think tanks, John Wohlstetter has produced a readable, cogent, and informed book on the challenges we face in this new world of rogue states, Islamofascists, and general purpose terrorists motivated merely by dispendious wrath.  It is must reading for policy makers and the general public, lest we suffer more and worse 9/11s ahead.” — R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr., Founder and Editor in Chief of The American Spectator

“Far-seeing and wise, John Wohlstetter in the tradition of true American patriots has written a brilliant guide to the principles, practices and priorities vital to victory in The Long War Ahead.” — Claudia Rosett, Journalist-in-Residence, Foundation for Defense of Democracies

“John Wohlstetter comes to the business of strategic analysis naturally.  His father, Charles, his uncle, Albert, and his aunt, Roberta, were among the most brilliant, respected and successful practitioners of this valuable craft of their generation.  With this book, John promises to become one of his.” — Frank J. Gaffney, Jr., President, Center for Security Policy

Just Released!

Collected here for the first time is a history of images of Oman, one of the most developed and stable countries in the Arab world and among the earliest adherents to Islam. A sultanate, the country sits along the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. From early days of world trade through the port of Muscat to contemporary engagement with international diplomacy and the West, Oman has always evoked beauty and mystery in equal measure. This art-house quality volume reveals an intimate picture of the country as its contours emerged over the last 80 years in the eyes of the West, as captured in images by English explorer Wilfred Thesiger in the 1940s and ‘50s, British Army major Charles Butt in the 1960s, and award-winning American documentary photographer Edward Grazda in the first decade of this new century.

Sir Wilfred Patrick Thesiger (1910-2003) was a British explorer and travel writer born in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. Thesiger is best known for two travel books: Arabian Sands (1959), which recounts his travels in the Empty Quarter of Arabia between 1945 and 1950 and describes the vanishing way of life of the Bedouins. The Marsh Arabs (1964) is an account of the Madan, the indigenous people of the marshlands of southern Iraq. Thesiger took many photographs during his travels and donated his vast collection of 23,000 negatives to the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford.

Charles Butt served as a Major in the Sultan’s Armed Forces from 1966-1978. He was initially Station Staff Officer administering 1,500 men. He then commanded the desert Advanced Base supporting operation forces on the hills and borders, before being transferred to the Gendarmerie, where he acted as Squadron Commander. He was promoted to Force Welfare Officer and subsequently became Deputy Joint Services Welfare Officer, Ministry of Defence. He was a keen amateur photographer (and member of the Royal Photographic Society) and took over 10,000 cover photographs while living and serving in the Middle East.  These photos now form part of The Charles Butt Photographic Collection at the Middle East Center at St. Anthony’s College.

Edward Grazda studied photography at the Rhode Island School of Design and has shot extensively throughout Latin America and Asia. Grazda’s work has been collected by New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art, the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., and the San Francisco Museum of Art, among others. His images have also been published in the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Double Take, Granta, and other prominent magazines. Grazda teaches photography at Harvard University and the International Center of Photography in New York. He has received grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, and he has been a fellow at MacDowell Colony and the recipient of many awards.

Raina Sacks Blankenhorn is the executive vice president of the Institute for American Values and the founder of the Institute’s Center for Global Engagement, where she serves as an editor of IjtihadReason.org, an online journal published in Arabic and English. Over the past decade she has developed and co-sponsored academic conferences and cultural projects with colleagues in both the United States and the Middle East. Blankenhorn, a published photographer, received her B.A. in American history from Harvard University. She lives with her husband and their three children in New York City.

What They Are Saying:

“Three Views of Oman is a great example of the dialogue of cultures. Rather than repeating the Orientalist approach that has weakened so many Western studies of Arabic societies, this book builds a new bridge between two civilizations with different histories but shared values.” — Radwan Ziadeh, George Washington University

“This album illustrates that photography does more than capture moments of physical reality on paper. It is a medium between the contemplator and our widely strange and unknown world. Through the camera eye a window stays open, transferring moments from the past into the future, letting us participate again and again in something that has been, in a sense, lost. Three Views of Oman is a wonderful experience.” — Michael R.N. Jansen, Aachen University

Traipsing Into Evolution: Intelligent Design and the Kitzmiller vs. Dover Decision is the first book to critique federal Judge John E. Jones’ decision in the Kitzmiller v. Dover case, the first trial to address the constitutionality of teaching intelligent design in public schools. In this concise yet comprehensive response, Discovery Institute scholars and attorneys expose how Judge Jones’ decision was based upon faulty reasoning, non-existent evidence, and a serious misrepresentation of the scientific theory of intelligent design. Despite Jones’ protestations to the contrary, his attempt to use the federal bench to declare evolution a sacred cow turns out to be a textbook case of good old American judicial activism. The authors conclude that because of Judge Jones’ ruling, “teachers seeking to ‘teach the controversy’ over Darwinian evolution in today’s climate will likely be met with false warnings that it is unconstitutional to say anything negative about Darwinian evolution.”

The book is written by David K. DeWolf, professor of law at Gonzaga University; Dr. John G. West, associate professor and chair of the political science department at Seattle Pacific University; Casey Luskin, attorney and program officer for public policy and legal affairs at Discovery Institute; and Dr. Jonathan Witt, senior fellow and writer-in- residence at Discovery Institute.

What They Are Saying:

“A disturbing feature of the debate over evolution, especially for those of us who are distantly interested but have no settled conviction on the matter, is the aggressive campaign by many in the scientific and judicial establishments to silence the opposition so that only the Darwinist story will be heard. That campaign was in full force in the recent Dover, Pennsylvania ‘intelligent design’ case, and it was rewarded with a dubious victory in Judge Jones’s mammoth, meandering opinion. Traipsing Into Evolution is a gallant attempt to present the other side of the story. If you followed the Dover controversy and especially if you managed to wade through all or part of Judge Jones’s opinion, you owe it to yourself to read this book.” – Steven D. Smith, Warren Distinguished Professor of Law, University of San Diego and author of Law’s Quandary (Harvard University Press, 2004)

“Traipsing Into Evolution is a timely criticism of judicial overreaching arising out of the Kitzmiller v. Dover intelligent design trial. It gives a thoughtful, yet succinct, analysis of the errors of the Kitzmiller court. This book is a must read for both proponents and critics of intelligent design. Unless critics of intelligent design grapple with the arguments in this book, their criticisms will be as intellectually anemic as that of the court.”–Randall L. Wenger, Esq., attorney specializing in constitutional and public policy litigation