The Counsel of Trent

writing is thinking

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

C.S. Lewis on Creation and Evolution

"For long centuries God perfected the animal form which was to become the vehicle of humanity and the image of Himself. He gave it hands whose thumb could be applied to each of the fingers, and jaws and teeth and throat capable of articulation, and a brain sufficiently complex to execute all the material motions whereby rational thought is incarnated. The creature may have existed for ages in this state before it became man: it may even have been clever enough to make things which modern archaeologist would accept as proof o fits humanity. But it was only an animal because all its physical and psychical processes were directed to purely material and natural ends. Then, in the fullness of time, God caused to descend upon this organism, both on its psychology and physiology, a new kind of consciousness which could say β€œI” and β€œme,” which could look upon itself as an object, which knew God, which could make judgements of truth, beauty, and goodness, and which was so far above time that it could perceive time flowing past. This new consciousness ruled an illuminated the whole organism, flooding every part of it with light, and was not, like ours, limited to a selection of the movements going on in one part of the organism, namely the brain. Man was then all consciousness."

C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain. Chapter 5 "The Fall of Man."

Works for me.

2 Comments:

At Wednesday, January 03, 2007 3:53:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Also:

"There is no relation of any importance between the Fall and Evolution. The doctrine of Evolution is that organisms have changed, sometimes for what we call (biologically) the better ... quite often for what we call (biologically) the worse ... The doctrine of the Fall is that at one particular point one species, Man, tumbled down a moral cliff. There is neither opposition nor support between the two doctrines ... Evolution is not only not a doctrine of moral improvement, but of biological changes, some improvements, some deteriorations."

(from a letter by Lewis to a "Miss Breckinridge", August 1, 1949)

 
At Wednesday, January 03, 2007 4:14:00 PM, Blogger Trent_Dougherty said...

Thanks Erik!

 

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