The Case For a Creator: A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence That Points Toward God

The fine-tuning argument constitutes one of the central pillars of Lee Strobel’s The Case for a Creator, appearing prominently in multiple chapters and serving as a bridge between cosmological and biological design arguments. The theme emerges most explicitly in his interviews with William Lane Craig, Robin Collins, and Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay Wesley Richards (Chapters 5, 6, and 7), but it also functions as an underlying premise that connects disparate strands of evidence throughout the book. Strobel presents fine-tuning as a multi-layered phenomenon that operates at cosmological, physical, and astronomical scales, arguing that the extraordinary precision required for life to exist cannot be adequately explained by chance or necessity.

The cosmological dimension of fine-tuning appears first in Stephen Meyer’s overall assessment of the arguments for design in Chapter 4 and then re-emerges in Craig’s discussion of the kalam cosmological argument in Chapter 5. While Craig’s primary focus is on demonstrating that the universe had a beginning and therefore requires a cause, his argument naturally leads to questions about why the universe possesses the specific properties that it does. Craig’s presentation establishes the foundation for subsequent chapters by asserting that the universe’s origin points toward an intelligent designer who not only created the cosmos but also calibrated its initial conditions with intentionality.