Here is more about C. S. Lewis' thinking on creation and evolution from my book, Mere Theology....
As
we have already seen, Lewis believed that certain parts of evolutionary theory
might be correct, and in the strictly scientific theory of evolution he saw no
conflict with the Bible. However,
Lewis strongly held that evolutionism,
the belief that life on earth is getting better and better, was a myth. And by myth, in this instance, he means
a picture of reality which results from imagination.[1] Lewis considers this myth to be a
wonderful story, but not one which is true to reality. He points out that an illegitimate
transition is often made from the Darwinian theory in biology to the modern
myth of evolutionism, developmentalism, or progress in general. Lewis documents how the myth arose
earlier than Darwin’s theory, in advance of all evidence. He notes two great works that embody an
idea of a universe where the “higher” always supersedes the “lower.” One is Keats’ poem Hyperion, and the other is Wagner’s Ring cycle. Both works of art, Lewis emphasizes,
are earlier than the Origin of Species.
The idea that the myth is a result of Darwin’s biology is unhistorical. On the contrary, Lewis contends, the
attraction of Darwin’s theory of evolution was that it gave to a pre-existing
myth of evolutionism the scientific reassurances it required.[2]
Perhaps
one reason why Lewis does not have any religious difficulty with accepting the
biological concept of evolution is because he believes that creation is taking
place at every moment, not just at one point millions of years ago. The reason Lewis views creation in this
way is because of his understanding of God being outside of time. He explains that there is no question
of God, at one point in time, adapting the material history of the universe to
free acts that human beings perform at a later point. To God, all the physical events and all the human acts
of time are present in an eternal “Now.”
The liberation of finite wills and the creation of the whole material
history of the universe is, to God, a single act. God did not create the universe long ago; rather, He creates
the universe every minute.[3]
Along
with this idea, Lewis has no problem accepting the idea that man is in the
process of evolution. Though he
would prefer to say that man is in the process of being created, since the
latter terminology implies a personal God who is involved in the whole process.[4]
Lewis
takes this idea of man being in the process of evolution and he uses it in a unique
way: to suggest that the next step
in man’s evolution has already happened, and the next step is that of men, who
are merely creatures of God, becoming sons of God.[5]
The Value of Lewis’ Approach
Whether
the biological theory of evolution is right or wrong was irrelevant to
Lewis. If it was found to be wrong
or right, either way, it would have had no effect on Lewis’ Christianity. What Lewis wanted to do as an apologist
was to show that there was no final conflict between true science and the Bible. The value of Lewis’ theistic
evolutionary stance, whether one agrees with it or not, was that it allowed
Lewis to focus on what he considered to be more important issues and to lead
his readers more immediately to consider what he thought to be more important
religious questions.
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