This is a real gem. This CS Lewis Broadcast is the only surviving recording from the BBC series of talks that Lewis made during the War. Lewis tells us that the next step in evolution has already happened. We have a choice to participate in this “new man” or we can choose to pass and fall back into the last stage.
The Institute for Cultural Engagement, an official program of Multnomah University and Biblical Seminary
Fascinating to hear CS Lewis actual voice. He sounds so different than I always imagined!
Unfortunately Lewis doesn’t really deal with the question posited about evolutionary future, he just hypothesizes about some kind of spiritual evolution in humankind that he foresees. Actually, evolution is not purposeful and there is no reason to think that the human species will survive any longer than any other large mammal species (several million years max.). 1, 3 or 20 million years from now the life forms that exist will be those that have most effectively adapted to whatever, now unknowable and unpredictable, environmental constraints have allowed them to flourish instead of their competitors. This has been replayed time and time again since the Cambrian explosion of multicellular life; through mass extinctions and climate change those life-forms with (often serendipitous) advantages in a particular environment, are the ones that survive. There is no reason except hubris, to think that humanity is anything but an evolutionary dead-end. Time will tell. None of us will be around to find out, however!
Hi Barneywolfe,
Thanks for stopping by our site – the site has been inactive for several months but we’re about to fire it up again. As for Lewis’ address. I think your frustration is due to Lewis’ use of the term “evolution.” When Lewis speaks of “evolution” he is using the term in a purely analogous sense in order to make a theological point. The term “evolution” then becomes a trope for speaking about “the future of the human race.” You have eloquently described one possible theory regarding “our future.”
As you heard, Lewis’ view on the “future of the race” is bound up in his view of the incarnation (the Creator joining the human race in the person of Jesus of Nazareth). For Lewis this one event has radically altered the trajectory of the cosmos and with that, “the story” of the human race. Lewis literally sees Christ as a new kind of life-form – One that is capable of transforming the entire human race into his likeness.
That’s what I like about Lewis. Whatever you make of his viewpoint, you at least know where he stands. And on this issue, the future of the race, he seems to be putting all his intellectual and affectual “eggs” into this basket of The One.
Hope to hear from you again – Peace,
Chris