The Selfless Gene
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'Sparkling and enjoyable'
(New Statesman )'If you are a creationist it is most unlikely you'll be one by the time you finish reading this thought-provoking book. But anyone who is, like myself, a Darwinian is equally at risk. Re-affirming the foundational Genesis narrative as our central and vital myth, Charles Foster explores why we find ourselves in a disastrously fractured world but also propels us to a new and lyrical vision of a world crafted by evolution but one permeated by meaning and beauty, and ultimately to be made perfect. This is a book the atheist Darwinists will loathe, but I'll bet anything they won't have an answer.' (Simon Conway Morris, author of LIFE'S SOLUTION )
'Charles Darwin wrote to his Harvard friend Asa Gray that he could see no reason why a man or other animal may not have been aboriginally produced by laws expressly designed by a omniscient Creator. Charles Foster shows himself a true disciple of Darwin by choosing the difficult option of defending reason against the fundamentalism of both religion and atheism. He succeeds marvellously. His book is fun to read and an important antidote to the shrill hysteria about evolution from both extremes. Such unreason ought to be rejected out of hand but still captivates many people. Read THE SELFLESS GENE and inwardly digest it.' (Professor Sam Berry, Professor of Genetics, University College, London )
'Science and religion are frequently thought to be at odds. However, in this book Charles Foster assesses the arguments of creationists, intelligent design, Charles Darwin and Richard Dawkins, and shows that there is no conflict between science and the Bible if both are properly understood. The book is written in a clear and lively style, and contains many fascinating facts: I found it difficult to put down.' (Professor Colin Humphreys, Professor of Materials Science and Director of Research, University of Cambridge )
'Charles Foster is a thinker who is prepared to engage with real full-blooded science and with real full-blooded Christianity. The result is a book that moves beyond the usual stereotypes and battle-lines into an exciting world of awe, wonder, Darwin and God.' (Revd Dr David Wilkinson, Principal St John's College, Durham University )
‘This is an outstanding book, which has great importance for scientists and others, who are Christians and who are disturbed my the media's obsession with that great self-publicist and "new atheist", Richard Dawkins. It comes to a deeply meaningful conclusion about the significance of the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden and its connection to the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.’ (Michael Balls, Emeritus Professor of Medical Cell Biology at the University of Nottingham )
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In THE SELFLESS GENE, Charles Foster assesses the claims of Neo-Darwinists and Young Earth Creationists, demonstrating that orthodox Christianity is not incompatible with what evolutionary biology says about our world. The real issue, he argues, centres around the ethical implications of natural selection, and what such a system – based on selfishness, waste and death – might say about the loving creator God of the Christian faith.
Intelligent, provocative and accessible, THE SELFLESS GENE offers the prospect of a reasoned dialogue between faith and scientific study, and a reconciliation of what are popularly seen as two opposing worldviews. (20091126)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A masterpiece.,
By
This review is from: The Selfless Gene (Paperback)
As an interested, but largely naive and uninformed, observer of the immensely profound issues which Charles Foster addresses in The Selfless Gene,I found this book immediately accessible, brilliantly argued and, most importantly, completely understandable. The subject matter lends itself very easily to impenetrable arguments and zealotry but Foster avoids both of these pitfalls. Anybody, and I mean anybody, who is interested in the creationist vs Darwinist argument should read this book. In fact, in my opinion, this book should also be on the required reading list of every Theology course in the country.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A heady forensic roller-coaster through Darwin territory,
By Samston (London) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Selfless Gene (Paperback)
A new book from the pungently poetic pen of the peripatetic polymath, Charles Foster, always warrants the cracking open of a new case of bubbly, and this latest book is no exception. As with his earlier books, The Jesus Inquest: Myth or History? and Tracking the Ark of the Covenant: By Camel, Foot and Ancient Ford in Search of Antiquity's Greatest Treasure, the reader of The Selfless Gene hitches a ride on a heady forensic roller-coaster, this time on a timely field trip through Darwin territory to wrestle with the seemingly intractable challenges to theology and theodicy posed by evolutionary theory and the gigantic global graveyard on which all life depends. Exasperated by the reductionism of Dawkins et al, and even more so by the stubbornly wooden literalism of the creationists who read Genesis as they would a Haynes workshop manual, Foster charts a course through stormy waters, ducking none of the difficult questions: animal pain, sub-optimal design, the deployment in the natural world of the British Leyland approach to new model design (the irrepressible raiding of the spare parts bin to produce something that, after a faltering start, just about works, after a fashion....), the existence of disease and predation long before man came on the scene, etc. etc. It's an immensely stimulating read for expert and layman alike - the reader's brain goes into overdrive without ever getting stuck in a quagmire of detail (there is no lack of detail, but it never seens superfluous or gratuitous). The delightful equation and juxtaposition of Kentucky and North Oxford (A Tale of Two Cities and two Bigotries), the lacerating but never quite uncharitable humour, and the sense of wonder and awe make this book as pleasurable as it is engaging. The reading of the explosion of the Upper Palaeolithic in the light of Genesis 1-3 (and vice-versa) is compelling and possibly ground-breaking. I guess one of the reasons why Foster's writing is so refreshing is that it's clear from his bio and website that his interests are both deep and wide-ranging. As a vet, lawyer, explorer, archaeologist, travel-writer, hunter and beer-drinker, gazelle immobiliser, mammal slayer and mammal mender, he is thankfully free of the myopeia of excessive specialisation that so blights our age and is the enemy of both wisdom and fun. Highly recommended.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great overview - but narrow view of God,
By Tom Hedge (London) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Selfless Gene (Paperback)
Overall a first class book which I strongly recommend and which I will certainly put on a list of books to give to friends. The author's objective was to address
"(a) Did God create? (b) If yes, what does the creation and the mechanism of its generation tell us about God's nature?" In chapters 1-5 he does a brilliant job on point (a) of describing and dismantling the arguments of Dawkins and the Creationists. He demonstrates how they are bound by a belief in the inconsistency of the God and evolution which is grounded neither in the Bible nor in science. Therefore a belief in God and a belief in Darwinian evolution are easily reconcilable. In chapter 6 he gives a detailed account of how even a detailed and textual interpretation of Genesis is perfectly compatible with evolution. It is only an extreme form of stunted literalism which causes problems. This is an excellent chapter for readers who are troubled by some apparent inconsistencies because they have a form of religion which is based upon a close study and interpretation of the Bible. The author gives the impression his form of religious faith is of that type. The discussion of the "selfless gene" ie the potential role of altruism in evolution is very interesting but a thought-provoking hypothesis rather than a tight scientific argument. The importance is so that we can reconcile evolution with morality. The chapters I found disappointing were chapters 7-9 in which he narrows the discussion down to a very particular form of Christian God which is basically Anglican. For example he says "Christians do not believe that when they die they go to heaven" which means he is defining "Christian" to exclude most people that think they are Christians. He debates at length the theological problem of how to resolve the belief in a Christian God which is "Good" with a world which contains pain and suffering. But this subject while interesting has very little to do with evolution as the problem significantly pre-dates Darwin and even Creationists accept limited natural selection. His frame of reference for this is entirely Biblical which I am sure fits his personal religious beliefs but is of much less interest to the general reader if their religion is not exactly the same as his. I would have found a broader discussion based upon comparative religions and how they may have conflicts with evolution to be of much greater interest. So a glorious 5 stars for part (a) and only 3 for part (b). But well worth the time and the money for the first 5 chapters.
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