The Divine Game of Clue: God’s Crime Scene by J. Warner Wallace
As I kid I loved playing the game Clue. Who murdered Mr. Boddy, with what, and where? My favorite culprit was Colonel Mustard, who loved candlesticks and libraries. I’d be that villain if I could choose. In the new book God’s Crime Scene, J. Warner Wallace takes us on a fascinating journey to another crime scene, a cosmic crime scene as big as the universe, seeking a culprit responsible for reality itself.
In the book, Wallace notes four phenomena within the physical universe: cosmological features (a finite universe and the appearance of fine-tuning), biological features (life and the appearance of design), mental features (consciousness and freewill), and moral features (objective morality and the reality of evil) and asks whether these features are best explained by other evidence “in the room (that is, by Nature itself) or whether these features require some sort of transcendent explanation. If these four features cannot be explained given the reality of Nature alone, then there is an intruder, someone or something outside the physical universe that best explains the physical universe. As Dallas Willard aptly noted, the universe is “ontologically haunted.”
Wallace concludes that the intruder is none other that that God of theism:
The evidence we’ve identified in the universe is best explained by an external suspect, and given the nature of this evidence, our suspect is clearly nonspatial, atemporal, nonmaterial, and uncaused. Our suspect is powerful enough to create everything we see in the universe and purposeful enough to produce a universe fine-tuned for life. Our suspect is intelligent and communicative, creative, and resourceful. As a conscious Mind, our suspect is the personal source of moral truth and obligation and the standard of goodness. Only one Being can be described in this way; only one suspect can reasonably explain the evidence in our “crime” scene: this is God’s “crime scene.”[1]
Those familiar with Wallace’s other major book, Cold-Case Christianity, know that the God of theism that he has in mind is the God of Christian theism. (see also my post “Don’t be an accidental Christian” for my thoughts on his visit to our campus at SWBTS).
For those interested in understanding the case for theism, God’s Crime Scene serves as the perfect introduction for the beginner. In each chapter, Wallace applies his considerable investigative skills to the phenomenon in question. He clearly states the key features to be explained for each phenomenon, considers leading attempts to explain them from within the room, and expertly argues that the best explanation must come from “outside the room.” For readers wanting to go deeper, the second half of the book includes a “secondary investigation” where Wallace further unpacks the relevant research on the topic. Illustrations, charts, and expert witness sidebars help keep each chapter readable and understandable.
If you are interested in grasping the strength of the case for theism but have tarried out of fear of being out of your depth, read God’s Crime Scene. Wallace shows, in a way accessible to all, that God is the supreme culprit—responsible for the whole Game. He did it without a candlestick too.
For a video presentation of some of the material from the book, see this:
[1] J. Warner Wallace, God’s Crime Scene (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2015), 199–200.
As is now my custom, I am excited to list my favorite reads of 2024, in the categories of philosophy, apologetics/theology, spiritual formation, fiction, and non-fiction. I read 44 books in 2024. For each book read, I enter the date completed, title, author, and a one sentence summary of the book in my book log. Here are the top three books for each category.
Fueled by the conviction that stories sustain us because we were made to be nourished on the good, the true, and the beautiful, I determined to read one fiction book a month for this past year. And I read some very good stories! In addition to fiction, I have benefitted greatly this year from some solid works in philosophy, theology, biography, and spiritual formation. Without further ado, here are my favorite books read in 2023. As is custom, in my book log, I record the book title, author, and date completed, along with a one sentence description. This has been my practice since 2009. My book log now includes 635 entries. This year I read 43 books.
I love to read. Of course, being a professor helps. I get to read as part of my job. That’s good. But I also love to read for the sheer pleasure of it. When it comes to fiction, I love entering into secondary worlds and journeying along with the characters of the story. Often non-fiction reads like a good story too: life is life, story is story, and often the two kiss (a loose paraphrase of one of my favorite nonfiction stories of the year, All that is Sad is Untrue). (more…)