Book Sneeze Review- The Selfless Gene: Living with God and Darwin by Charles Foster

In the interest of full disclosure, this review is being written for Book Sneeze, a project of Tommy Nelson Publishing House. They send me a book for free, and in return I agree to review it. You can sign up to do the same!

For the most part, my point of view on the subject of Creationism vs. Evolution has been summed up by the St. Augustine quote on the back of Mr. Foster's book-- "Nature is what God does." I'll admit I don't much care about the hows of creation; for me, it is enough to know that God did it and that He can choose to do it any way He wants, Him being God and all. Still, I've wondered what the big deal was. The topic certainly seems to be causing enough arguments. And so I dove headfirst into this book.

The first half was pretty much cold, hard science. It was a bit tough for me to get into. Mr. Foster did a decent enough job of explaining the science, although I will admit that at times I found his attitude somewhat off-putting. He was equally snarky when speaking of the die-hard Evolutionists and the Young Earth Creationists alike. I think I was expecting something a little more neutral. Still, I can recognize what a tough topic it is to tackle. Perhaps there is no such thing as neutrality when it comes to Darwin, evolution, and creation.

The second half of the book was what really spoke to me. This is where he got into the theological and sociological aspects surrounding the issue and this is where I found myself underlining like crazy, reading entire pages out loud to my husband. It was also where I found myself liking the author a little more. In this section, I could tell his love for the subject and not just his disdain for those who have corrupted it.

Foster's theory of the coexistence of Christianity and evolution seems to hinge on two points. One, that when God was creating the Universe, he declared it all good... except for the sky and man. What if "good" is not so much a moral or ethical judgment of worth, but simply means "fit for purpose"? And his second point springs from the first. What if all of God's creation and not just man was given free will, to continue to grow and change as needed to reach the eventual goal of being perfected, being good, being "fit for purpose"? They were intriguing thoughts.

All in all, this was a great book. It made me think and, even more importantly, it drew me closer to God. I stand by my earlier position on the topic-- nature is, indeed, what God does-- but it never hurts to look closely at the miracle of creation and think about what it means to us as Christians.