Emergence of Life on Earth by Iris Fry is a magisterial survey of the history, facts, and philosophical underpinnings of origin-of-life studies up to 1999 (the book was published in January 2000). It is required reading for anyone willing to seriously engage in the creation vs evolution debate -- on either side -- though Fry is clearly writing from the evolutionists' camp. She notes that "Origin-of-life research is, by definition, an interdisciplinary field to which, among others, astrophysicists, planetary scientists, geologists, physical, organic, and biological chemists, evolutionary biologists, and molecular biologists all contribute" (4). Adding to this mix the philosophical and general history-of-science learning that is necessary only underscores Fry's achievement in even gathering all of this information together; she is quite learned, and the book provides copious notes and a large bibliography for further investigation. (As an aside, I came across this book as a source reference in Thomas Nagel's Mind and Cosmos and am very glad that I did). Fry begins with the ancient Greeks and presses through to the current day, citing authors including Dawkins, Behe, Sagan, and Gould, as well as a host of lesser-known scientists.

At the end of the book, Fry summarizes: "As repeatedly pointed out in this book, the basic assumption of scientific research on evolution and its extension to the origin-of-life stage is that no supernatural, purposeful intervention is involved in the natural world. Historically, the scientific study of the origin of life became possible only after the evolutionary worldview was established. The underlying philosophical theme of current origin-of-life theories is that life emerged from a lifeless world through a continuous process governed by physicochemical mechanisms. This theme and the claim of direct or indirect purposeful interference by a supernatural designer present opposite accounts of physical reality and are thus mutually exclusive." Two points are to be made here: first is the mutual exclusiveness of the competing points of view, despite the attempts of some to merge them. Second is that despite this tension, no "scientific" consensus has yet emerged in the origin-of-life debate. As Fry admits, quoting Christian de Duve, "until such time as biologists can demonstrate an entirely material origin for life, the divine will remain a contender" (212).

Fry further acknowledges: "Origin-of-life scientists will probably not consider these suggestions [from the Intelligent Design community] as serious and will continue their research, looking for 'mechanisms other than chance' that could have brought about the self-organization of primitive biological systems under prevailing prebiotic conditions. Making a commitment to either a creationist or a scientific position on the question of the emergence of life is completely legitimate as long as the implications are clear. Commitment to the evolutionary philosophical worldview means that the only way to solve the origin-of-life problem is to continue scientific research. This is the case even though...no theory suggested so far has gained the general support of researchers in the field" (215).

As an overview or as a reference, Emergence of Life on Earth is highly recommended. ( )