I have no vested interest in defending Denton, but I think the key is to
distinguish *Darwinism* and *Darwinian* evolution from the broader concept
of macroevolution and common descent. Denton (like Shapiro?) uses the term
*Darwinism* to represent a particular version of evolutionary theory that
emphasizes random point mutations and natural selection as *the* principal
mechanisms.
The extrapolation from Denton's limited criticism of Darwinism to broadside
attacks against the whole concept of biological evolution (by whatever
means) is something that has been done TO Denton by those who have a very
different agenda. I suspect Denton was innocently unaware of how his
criticisms would be employed by the episodic creationist crowd. He made a
number of very specific disclaimers in the second book that should prevent
that exploitation of his anti-Darwinian judgments.
Howard Van Till