Burgy
Phillip E. Johnson September 23, 1995
A week in Indiana, Sept. 17-22
This report summarizes the first week of the Grand Tour:
Sept. 16-17, Sat-Sunday. After arrival Saturday, I spoke at a
reception in Indianapolis for local supporters of Christian
Leadership Ministries (CLM), and then was driven by Purdue host Jim
Dunn to Lafayette and put up for the duration of my Purdue stay at
the home of Ag. Eng. Prof. Buddy Miles and his wife Judy, who were
very pleasant and considerate hosts. I preached at two Sunday
morning services of the Evangelical Covenant Church in Lafayette,
with a combined audience of about 500. Between services there was
an hour Q&A with the combined adult Sunday School groups. Senior
Pastor Dr. John Martz had been recommending RITB to his
congregation, so he was eager to have me as guest preacher. I
spoke again at an afternoon reception for about 20 supporters of
CLM staffer Jim Dunn at Covenant Presbyterian church before heading
with Jim to Notre Dame and dinner with my grad student (physics)
host Pieder Beeli, his wife Emily, and son Andrew (who when asked
his age could answer clearly "one").
Sept. 18 Monday. The Notre Dame arrangements were the
responsibility of the very dedicated Pieder Beeli, who found most
university authorities very reluctant to grant any official
recognition to the visit. Much of the Notre Dame faculty is eager
to secularize the institution as rapidly as possible, and is not
friendly to anything that seems to challenge naturalism. In spite
of this the visit was a great success. The noon colloquium was
received very well, and a group of very interested faculty then
took me out for lunch and continued the discussion. The law school
has appointed John Finnis of Oxford to a half/year position; Finnis
is the English-speaking world's leading natural law philosopher and
a friend of mine from long ago. Peter van Inwagen has moved from
Syracuse to take up an endowed chair in the philosophy department
at Notre Dame; he is also a long-time friend who is very interested
in my work. All in all, the level of faculty participation at both
the law school talk and the evening public lecture was very good,
and some of he persons who came were among Notre Dame's stars. The
question period at the lecture was distinguished by the rather
oafish performance of a history of science professor named Manier,
who took the microphone and tried to cross-examine me on some fine
points of molecular biology to make the point that I am an amateur
and not entitled to have an opinion. It didn't work.
Sept. 19, Tuesday. Jim Dunn drove me in the early morning to
Lafayette in time to do a 9:00 AM live talk show for an hour on the
campus AM radio station. A caller argued that the very fact that
organisms are complicated proves there is no creator, since a
creator could have made everything work without the need for
complicated parts. I awarded that the prize for the most original
argument I have yet heard, and wish I had urged him to send it to
Steve Gould. Then I conducted a noon hour meeting with about 20
Purdue Christian faculty and staff. A very friendly group, largely
from engineering and agriculture. Next was a book-signing hour at
the local Logos Bookstore. I was picked up for dinner by Dr. Paul
and Shirley Sims; he is Purdue's leading nuclear physicist and
heads a lab where they do radiometric dating; he is available as a
consultant on any dating issues I may encounter and is eager to
contribute his expertise to the cause of theistic realism. Then I
gave my first lecture: "Did Mankind Create God?" to about 500-600
at the Loeb Playhouse. Questions from a variety of points of view;
very positive overall response.
Sept. 20, Wednesday. After a morning of writing I met Political
Science professor Patricia Boling who hosted a noon colloquium for
the department faculty and grad students. I told them I was a
postmodernist and deconstructionist just like them, but aiming at
a slightly different target. Pat took me out for lunch with a
young Political Science professor named Jay McCann for a long talk.
Later in the afternoon I held a Q&A for about 15 IVCF grad
students, then relaxed at the Miles home before my evening lecture
at the Loeb Playhouse on "The Death of God and the Culture Wars."
It was again a generally supportive audience, with questions coming
from various perspectives. One Jeff Kramer asked challenging
questions each night; he represents a group on Compuserve that
wants to draw me into a debate there. I told him fine some time,
but I'm a bit preoccupied right now.
Sept. 21-22, Thursday and Friday. Jim Dunn drove me to
Indianapolis, where we met the CLM staffer for Indiana University,
Jim Tomasik, who took me on to Bloomington. Indiana U does not
have any substantial active Christian faculty group, and Tomasik
himself lives in Indianapolis and spends only part time in
Bloomington. Because the support base is not there, faculty
participation was largely absent and campus interest in my visit
not as great as at other universities. For example, I spoke at the
law school under the auspices of the student Christian Legal
Society rather than with the offical sponsorship I have come to
take for granted. For all that, the visit did not go badly. The
talks were pretty successful, and in fact the discussion after the
Thursday evening (9:00 PM) lecture was top-flight. I had a good
lunch with campus Christian organizations Friday, making friends
with a lady named Joni Hannigan, who is the local rep for the
Southern Baptists and very well connected in that denomination.
She is eager to bring our vision into the education program of the
SB's, and sounds like she might know how to help bring it about.
I also did an afternoon open forum Friday afternoon, with a good
grad student turnout and even some faculty. Excellent discussion,
that seemed to leave people convinced. An Asst Prof of Linguistics
introduced himself afterward; he may come to the Ohio State
Conference in a couple of weeks and sounds eager to get involved in
our work. The theistic realism program could use somebody from
that discipline.
On Saturday I flew from Indianapolis thru O'hare to Lansing. Stay
tuned for a report on my upcoming week in Central Michigan.