Phillip E. Johnson

Phillip E. Johnson (1940- ), after receiving his B.A. in English literature from Harvard University, went on to study law at the University of Chicago. He served as a law clerk for Earl Warren, the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Earl Warren. He is an emeritus professor of law at the University of California, Berkeley, having served on the active faculty from 1967-2000. Johnson became a Christian following a difficult divorce according to Barbara Forrest. Johnson is an elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Despite having no formal background in the biological sciences, Johnson has become a prominent critic of evolutionary theory. Johnson popularized the term "intelligent design" in its current sense in his 1991 book, Darwin on Trial. He remains one of the best known advocates for intelligent design, and is considered the founder of the intelligent design movement.

He is a critic of methodological naturalism, the basic principle of science that restricts it to the investigation of natural causes for observable phenomena, and espouses a philosophy he has coined theistic realism. He is the author of several books on intelligent design and related topics, as well as textbooks on criminal law.

Since 2001, Johnson has suffered a series of minor right brain strokes. His rehabilitations have limited his public activities and participation in the debate over Intelligent Design, both because of their physical effects as well as Johnson's belief that they were signs from God urging him to spend more time with his faith and family and less in "prideful debate."

The Right Questions: Truth, Meaning & Public Debate (2004)

The Wedge of Truth: Splitting the Foundations of Naturalism (2002)

The Triumph of Design: And the Demise of Darwin (VHS video, 1999)

Reason in the Balance: The Case Against Naturalism in Science, Law and Education (1998)

Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds (1997)

Darwin on Trial (1993)

NEW OR USED FROM AMAZON:

Objections Sustained: Subversive Essays on Evolution, Law, and Culture (2000)

Darwinism Defeated? The Johnson-Lamoureux Debate on Biological Origins (with Denis O. Lamoureux, 1999)

Testing Darwinism (1997) [TOP]