Re: [asa] Interesting review of "The Selfish Gene"

At 10:17 AM 8/17/2006, McCarrick, Alan D CIV NSWCCD Philadelphia, 9260 wrote:

>Janet,
>
>Thank you for the reference:
>
>@ I'll make it easy for you. ~ Janice
>
>At 06:39 PM 6/27/2006, Austerberry, Charles wrote:
>...The following quotation comes from "C. S. Lewis on Creation and
>Evolution: The Acworth Letters, 1944-1960" by Gary B. Ferngren and
>Ronald L. Numbers (Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith,
>Volume 48, Number 1, March 1996, 28-33, available at
><http://www.asa3.org/asa/PSCF/1996/PSCF3-96Ferngren.html>http://www.asa3.org/asa/PSCF/1996/PSCF3-96Ferngren.html
>)
>
>I had seen that article, but never read it. It does add to the
>discussion of Lewis' views.
>However, I am specifically interested in the comments he makes in
>Mere Christianity. The sort of off-the-cuff sounding comments in
>the midst of discussing something else that assumed an evolutionary
>history of life (and man). Of course, he usually added that this
>was God's method.
>
>Al

@ You're welcome. Christian bashers love to quote extremist zealot
fundamentalists (such as those that can be found at Biblical
Discernment Ministries) who deliberately quote Lewis (including
quoting him out of context) from Mere Christianity, etc. Here is an example:

C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) (Did The Author Of 'Narnia' Believe In
Theistic Evolution, Etc?
Biblical Discernment Ministries ^ | 5/29/01 |
FBIS http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/exposes/lewis/general.htm
Posted on 12/12/2005 12:33:13 PM EST by Laissez-faire capitalist
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1538864/posts

...(GD=The Great Divorce; LM=Letters to Malcolm, M=Miracles, MC=Mere
Christianity; PP=the Problem of Pain; RPO=Reflections on the Psalms,
SJ=Suprised by Joy, SL= The Screwtape Letters:

...Theology Proper

On Creation: Lewis believed that evolution was true to an extent in
the past, but that it will be superseded in the future (MC, p.169).

"...for we have good reason to believe that animals existed long
before men...For long centuries God pefected the animal form which
was to become the vehicle of humanity and the image of
Himself...[Eventually,] God caused a new kind of consciousness to
descend upon this organism" (PP,pp. 137,77).

"...Man, the highest of the animals" (MC, p. 139);

"...but he (man) remains still a primate and an animal" (RP, pp. 115, 129);

"If...you mean simply that man is physically descended from animals,
I have no objection" (PP, p. 72)

"He made an earth at first 'without form and void' and brought it to
its perfection" (M. p. 125)

Nature's "pregnancy has been long and painful and anxious, but it has
reached its climax" (MC, p. 172)

He held that the Genesis account came from Pagan and mythical sources
-- "I have therefore no difficulty accepting, say, the view of those
scholars who tell that the account of Creation in Genesis is derived
from earlier Semetic stories which were Pagan and mythical." (RP, p. 110).

[snip]

* [Click above link to read it)

Here's lots more:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/search?m=any;o=score;s=C.%20S.%20Lewis%20on%20Creation%20and%20Evolution%3A%20The%20Acworth%20Letters%2C%201944-1960

~ Janice

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Received on Thu Aug 17 10:42:18 2006