The Selfless Gene: Living with God and Darwin

by Charles Foster

Published by Hodder, 2009
US edition: Thomas Nelson, 2010

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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.

‘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 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, Professor of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge

‘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 an 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.’  
– Sam Berry, Emeritus Professor of Genetics, University College, London

Buy The Selfless Gene in the UK
Buy The Selfless Gene in the US