the theory (theistic evokition) that GodrnHimself intervened in the evohitionaryrnprocess to steer it and to speed it up—isrnhis contenhon that, if God did so intervene,rnit would oblige Him to intervene inrnand to direct everything that occurs in thernuniverse, and thus put an end to freedom,rnwhich Miller considers fundamental.rnHere is another case of the excludedrnmean: Wliy is it not possible for an intelligentrnDesigner to design some thingsrnwhile allowing others to develop byrnchance?rnMiller is obviously a benevolent man,rnone who does not wish to disillusion hisrnstudents and readers or to destroy theirrnfaith. Unfortunately, the faith that hernprotects from LOarwin seems a very palernsubstitute for orthodox religion. Afterrnquoting Darwin’s last sentence in thernOrigin of Species, Miller concludes withrnthese words: “What kind of a God do I believernin? The answer is in those words. Irnbelieve irr Darwin’s God.”rnHarold O./. Brown is religion editor forrnChronicles, a professor of theology andrnphilosophy at Reformed TheologicalrnSeminary in Charlotte, North Carolina,rnand the editor of the Religion & SocietyrnReport.rnHave Armchair,rnWill Travelrnby Bill CrokernA Passage to Juneau:rnA Sea and Its Meaningsrnhv ]onathan RabanrnNew York: Pantheon; 435 pp., $26.50rnTravel writers are a diverse lot. Therngreat ones —Evelyn Waugh, SomersetrnMaugham, Graham Greene —rnsought out the seedy outposts of colonialism,rnfrequenting hotel bars peopled byrnjaded, witty expatriates. Others, such asrnBruce Chatwin, who tramped throughrnPatagonia and Afghanistan with only arnrucksack, preferred roughing it. hi A Passagernto ]uneau: A Sea and Its Meanings,rnJonathan Raban (author of the 1996 NationalrnBook Critics Circle Award-winningrnBad Land) has added a new twist tornthe genre: the armchair traveler whorntakes his armchair with him.rnThat armchair is aboard the Penelope,rna 30-foot ketch of which Raban is a competentrnhelmsman. She is stocked withrngood food, wine, and books (natural history,rnethnography, nautical subjects) byrnthe yard. The author’s journey takes himrnup the wild hiside Passage from Seattle tornJmieau, Alaska, a region replete withrnlandmarks named Deception Pass, DesolationrnSound, Cape Caution, and BlindrnChannel —places subject to quicklyrnchanging weather and dangerous tidesrnand inhabited by rough merchant seamen,rncrusty fishermen, the indigenousrnhidians, and the often-despised summerrntourists on large cruise ships. In fairrnweather, the area is one of placid waters,rnspectacular mountain scener)’, and abundantrnwildlife. In foul, it is a cold, Dantesquernmaritime hell.rnJonathan Raban’s tour guide is GeorgernVancouver —Captain Van as he wasrnknown to his near-mutinous crew. Onernof the great mariners of his time and thernnamesake for the large Canadian city,rnVancouver was the Passage’s first indcpthrnexplorer and cartographer, and hisrnfour-volume eponymous Voyage: 1791-rn1795 is Mr. Raban’s Bible. Vancouverrnserves at the same time as the writer’s alterrnego and his opposite, as Raban’s romanticrnview of his surroundings (he liberallyrnquotes the likes of Wordsworth,rnShelley, and John Muir throughout hisrntext) contrasts with Captain Van’s: Thernlatter’s books are full of references torn”sterile” mountains, whereas Raban delightsrnin “hoary crags and crystal cascades.”rnCaptain Van was a proto-Ahab whornruled his two ships —Dzscovery andrnChatham —with an iron fist. The Melvilleanrnanalogy can be extended to hisrncrew’s malcontents, a group of young Englishrnaristocrats seeking adventure whilernexpecting a wilderness version of “ThernGrand Tour.” Vancouver would toleraternno loafing and literally applied the lash tornhis crew in times of storm and stress.rn(The surnames of some of these troublemakersrn—Puget, Baker, Rainier, et al.—rnnow grace well-known landmarks in thernPacific Northwest.) This severity, coupledrnwith his lineage —he was of Dutchrnextraction, though English-born —promotedrnbad feeling that was exacerbatedrnby Vancouver’s strict prohibition of libidinousrntraffic with the local Indians.rnUsing his writings and maps, Rabanrnmeticulously traces the captain’s routernnorthward along the sublime coast ofrnBritish Columbia.rnAlaska is much on Raban’s mind. Seeingrnthe “Last Frontier” is the raison d’etrernof his maritime odyssey. Alaska’s historyrnis one of constantly trying to beat thernodds. Booms, busts, hard work, andrnweather take their toll on the uirwary andrnstarry-eyed pilgrim. While fitting out hisrnboat in Seattle, Raban employs JohnrnMunroe, much admired and respectedrnas a true Alaska-hand, who describes lifernin the remote hamlet of Togiak duringrna boom in the highly competitive commercialrnherring industry: “It was wild.rnThe s – -1 was really flying. Incrediblernmass destruction. Rammings. Sinkings.rnShootings. A midair collision, rightrnover town. . . . Dead guys. A lot of deadrnguys. People you knew—friends — they’drndrown, or get shot, or disappear. But itrnwasn’t dull, like California.” Raban adds:rn”In the dog days of peacetime, Alaskarnheld out the promise [for yoimg men] ofrnall the noise and excitement of a majorrnforeign war.”rnWhen Mr. Raban arrives in Ketchikan,rnhe finds a hodgepodge of “pawnshopsrnand tattoo parlors” and the Sundayrnmorning streets littered with the detritusrnof a hard-drinking boreal Dodge City. Inrnsummer, thousands of seasonal canneryrnworkers, commercial fishermen, loggers,rnand those camera-clicking tourists crowdrnthe place. Ketchikan is hemmed in byrnthe mountains and the sea, breathtakingrnbeauty leavened by environmental “spoliation”rnin the form of clearcuts in thernnearby Tongass National Forest, wherernthe moimtains appear “tonsured likernmonks.” Since everything comes intornKetchikan from Seattle via plaire or ship,rnRaban finds himself dropping $231 in arnsingle trip to the local supermarket:rn”That was another measure of Alaska’srncondition as a client state of the Lowerrn48: a box of Cornflakes, or a stick of butter,rnwas a luxury import. Almost the onlyrnlocally manufactured goods I could findrnwere six packs of beer at the neighboringrnliquor store.”rnSailing into Juneau’s gorge-like bay,rnRaban scans the scene for the governor’srnmansion, which he finds prosaic comparedrnto the ever-present manifestationsrnof Alaska’s love ’em, hate ’em tourist industry:rn”The ships grandly belittled therntown. None of Jimeau’s buildings couldrnhold a candle to the many-storied, snowwhiternmagnificence of the floatiirg republicsrnof Holland-America, Princess,rnRoyal Caribbean.” And so his thousandmilernvoyage ends.rn30/CHRONICLESrnrnrn