Peter Stoner

Peter Stoner (June 16 1888 – March 21, 1980) [cite book |author=Anon |others=by Peter W. Stoner, revised and HTML formatted by Don W. Stoner |title=Science Speaks |url=http://www.geocities.com/stonerdon/science_speaks.html |format= |accessdate=2007-02-09 |accessmonth= |year=2005 |month=November |chapter=Author and publisher information ] [cite journal |author=Anon |year=1980 |month=June/July |title=Peter Stoner Dies at 92 |journal=Newsletter of the American Scientific Affiliation and Canadian Scientific and Christian Affiliation |volume=22 |issue=3 |url=http://www.asa3.org/ASA/topics/NewsLetter80s/JUNJUL80.html |accessdate=2007-02-10 ] was Chairman of the Departments of Mathematics and Astronomy at Pasadena City College until 1953; Chairman of the science division, Westmont College, 1953-57; Professor Emeritus of Science, Westmont College; Professor Emeritus of Mathematics and Astronomy, Pasadena City College.

Stoner is probably best known for his work "Science Speaks" that discusses, among other things, Bible prophecies vis a vis probability estimates and calculations. [cite book |author=Peter W. Stoner |others=revised and HTML formatted by Don W. Stoner |title=Science Speaks |url=http://www.geocities.com/stonerdon/science_speaks.html |format= |accessdate=2007-02-09 |accessmonth= |year=2005 |month=November |chapter=Prophetic Accuracy |chapterurl=http://www.geocities.com/stonerdon/science_speaks.html#c8 ] The work is often cited in the field of Christian apologetics in regard to Bible prophecy. [cite web |url=http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/radio034.htm |title=Mathematical Probability that Jesus is the Christ |accessdate=2007-02-09 |work=Selected Bible Believers Radio Broadcasts ] Professor Stoner's work became widely known when it was mentioned by Josh McDowell in his works "Evidence that Demands a Verdict" (revised as "New Evidence that Demands a Verdict"). [cite book |author=Josh McDowell |authorlink=Josh McDowell |title=Evidence that Demands a Verdict |origyear=1972 |year=1979 |publisher=Here's Life Publishers |location=San Bernardino, CA |isbn=0-918956-46-3 |pages=index, p. 377, s.v. "Stoner, Peter W." ]

Among the sources cited in Professor Stoner's chapter on "Prophetic Accuracy" is George T. B. Davis, "Fulfilled Prophecies That Prove the Bible" (1931). His grandson, Don W. Stoner, writes that Peter Stoner "appears to have followed the arguments given in, and relied upon the evidence taken from" this book.

American Scientific Affiliation

Peter Stoner was a co-founder [cite journal |author= Irwin A. Moon |coauthors=F. Alton Everest and Will H. Houghton |year=1991 |month=December |title= Early Links Between the Moody Bible Institute and the American Scientific Affiliation |journal=Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith |volume=43 |pages=249–258 |url=http://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/1991/PSCF12-91Haas.html |accessdate=2007-02-09 ] of the American Scientific Affiliation, a Christian organization which describes itself as "a fellowship of men and women in science and disciplines that relate to science who share a common fidelity to the Word of God and a commitment to integrity in the practice of science." The foreword to Stoner's "Science Speaks" includes a partial endorsement from this body (covering the book's scientific content and prophecy probability calculations, but not addressing issues of Biblical exegesis or historical accuracy): they considered it "...in general, to be dependable and accurate in regard to the scientific material presented" and the probability material presented in regard to prophecy. [cite book |author=H. Harold Hartzler |others=by Peter W. Stoner, revised and HTML formatted by Don W. Stoner |title=Science Speaks |url=http://www.geocities.com/stonerdon/science_speaks.html |format= |accessdate=2007-02-09 |accessmonth= |year=2005 |month=November |chapter=Foreword |chapterurl=http://www.geocities.com/stonerdon/science_speaks.html#c2 ] While the ASA includes members with a diverse range of attitudes towards science [cite web |url=http://www.asa3.org/ASA/topics/Evolution/commission_on_creation.html#Commission%20on%20Creation |title=Commission on Creation |accessdate=2007-02-09 |author=American Scientific Affiliation Commission on Creation |year=2000 |month=August ] (theistic evolutionists, Intelligent Design advocates, Old-Earth creationists and Young-Earth creationists), Stoner himself was apparently an Old-Earth creationist. [cite book |author=Peter W. Stoner |others=revised and HTML formatted by Don W. Stoner |title=Science Speaks |url=http://www.geocities.com/stonerdon/science_speaks.html |format= |accessdate=2007-02-09 |accessmonth= |year=2005 |month=November |chapter=Scientific Problems Discussed |chapterurl=http://www.geocities.com/stonerdon/science_speaks.html#c7 ]

Critiques of Stoner's apologetics

C. P. Swanson, reviewing "Science Speaks" in "The Quarterly Review of Biology", wrote: "...the author has fallen into the commonest error of using only these facts which bolster his hypothesis, and of discarding or controverting those which do not. For example, his discussion of the theory of evolution is not only misleading; it displays an abysmal ignorance of recent evolutionary studies." [cite journal | author=C. P. Swanson | title=Science Speaks. An Evaluation of Certain Christian Evidences. By Peter W. Stoner. | journal=The Quarterly Review of Biology | year=1953 | volume=28 | issue=4 | pages=408–409 | doi=10.1086/399872]

Also, various critics have taken issue with Stoner's interpretation of prophecy. [cite web |url=http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/steven_carr/non-messianic.html |title=Critique of Josh McDowell's Non-Messianic Prophecies |accessdate=2007-02-09 |author=Steven Carr |work=The Secular Web Library ] [cite web |url=http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/jim_lippard/fabulous-prophecies.html |title=The Fabulous Prophecies of the Messiah |accessdate=2007-02-09 |author=Jim Lippard |year=2004 |work=The Secular Web Library ] Stoner's apologetic work did not receive critical attention until its inclusion in Josh McDowell's "Evidence that Demands a Verdict" Fact|date=February 2007and criticism of these claims tends to be addressed at McDowell rather than Stoner, with Stoner's name mentioned in passing. These criticisms against McDowell, Stoner and others include historical errors, claims regarding after-the-event authorship and/or tampering with Biblical prophecies, and disputed meanings of certain Biblical phrases.

Others who disagree with specific claims made by Stoner include fellow Christians and secular historians: for instance, while Stoner says of Ezekiel's prophecy of the permanent destruction of Tyre "If Ezekiel had looked at Tyre in his day and had made these seven predictions in human wisdom, these estimates mean that there would have been only one chance in 75,000,000 of their all coming true. They all came true in the minutest detail", others claim that "the problem is that very little of this actually came to pass! In fact, it badly missed how history actually unfolded" [cite web |url=http://www.cresourcei.org/ezekieltyre.html |title=Ezekiel and the Oracles against Tyre |accessdate=2007-02-09 |author=Dennis Bratcher |date=2006-07-13 |work=The Voice ] and "The location of the city of Tyre is not in doubt, for it exists to this day on the same spot and is known as Sur." [cite book |author=H. Jacob Katzenstein |title=The History of Tyre: From the Beginning of the Second Millennium B.C.E. until the Fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 538 B.C.E. |year=1973 |publisher=Schocken Institute for Jewish Research of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America |location=Jerusalem |pages=p. 9 ]

External links

* [http://www.geocities.com/stonerdon/ScienceSpeaks/science_speaks.html Peter, Stoner Science Speaks, Chicago, Moody Press, 1963 (online version available)]

Notes