God's Grandeur: The Catholic Case for Intelligent Design

In an age of rising unbelief, top Catholic thinkers show how, more than ever, both science and reason affirm the words of the great Catholic poet Gerard Manley Hopkins: "The world is charged with the grandeur of God."

This book, edited by biologist Ann Gauger, clears up common misconceptions regarding intelligent design, showing why it is an argument not from ignorance but from knowledge and how the evidence for God's design of the natural world is growing. Part 1 explores scientific evidence from experts in cosmology, paleontology, genetics, chemistry, and biology. In part 2, you will learn about the purpose of creation, transcendent beauty, and the distinctiveness of the human person. The third part lays out the theology behind creation and how it reflects God's glory and concludes with Dr. Anthony Esolen's essay on the "symphonic order" of the universe, masterfully drawing from science, mathematics, literature, and philosophy.

You will also learn:

• What the Church really teaches about evolution
• How neo-Thomists wrongly apply Aquinas's thinking to evolution
• Characteristics that distinguish humans from the rest of creation
• Why materialistic scientists resist the Big Bang Theory
• How to understand the biblical account of Creation
• How natural law and transcendental beauty point to the existence of God
• Specific scriptures from the Old and New Testaments that testify to the wonder of God's creative hand
• Why Pope Benedict XVI cautioned that vague explanations about creation are insufficient

Moreover, you will learn how the understanding of ancient philosophers and Aquinas regarding the mind-brain connection, coupled with modern neuroscience support intelligent design and the creation of man as not only a material being but a spiritual being.

Each chapter includes extensive references, enabling further exploration. The entire book will strengthen you as never before in the belief that the world is the creation of an intelligent and intentional Designer--One whose greatest longing is for you to spend all eternity with Him.

Ann Gauger is a Senior Fellow with Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture. She received her Bachelor's degree from MIT and her Ph.D. in Developmental Biology from the University of Washington. Dr. Gauger held a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University, where her work cloned the light chain of the molecular motor kinesin. Her research has examined the limits of protein evolution, the origin of humans, and the evolution of metabolism. Her work has been published in Nature, Development, the Journal of Biological Chemistry, and Bio-Complexity. She has appeared in science documentaries, contributed articles to edited volumes on science and intelligent design. She co-authored the book Science and Human Origins, andco-edited and contributed chapters to Theistic Evolution: A Scientific, Philosophical and Theological Critique.