Fish With Feet [a review]

The first time I prayed a prayer to accept Jesus into my heart as a child was at the end of a "Creation Science" VHS tape by Kent Hovind, a man who would later go to federal prison for tax fraud. Suffice it to say, couching a gospel proclamation in this way deeply shaped the bedrock of how I conceived of what Christianity even was. Holding to a literal, seven day account of creation was an article of faith as important as anything spelled out in the creeds. Evolution wasn't so much a scientific theory as much as it was an existential threat to the true, the good, and the beautiful. This was our generation's Wittenberg: God had called us "for such a time as this" to defeat the Darwinists and show them for the evil rebels against God that they obviously were.

Over time, as I gained the courage to listen to arguments for evolution not just from its detractors but from those who accepted it, I started to realize that it had a lot more merit than I had been led to believe. We joked that you'd have to be a monkey's uncle to be stupid enough to believe that kind of thing, but as I sat through college earth science lectures, it disturbed me to find that it actually sounded far more plausible than I imagined. Still, it took me decades to finally and confidently accept evolution without fear. What would've sped up that process was a gentle, understanding, and yet pointed introduction by someone who understood the creationist camp and shared its faith commitment but who could counter its arguments. I'm pleased to say that Janet Kellogg Ray's new book, Fish With Feet: Human Evolution and the Image of God, is precisely that.

Over the course of twelve chapters, Ray engages with common creationist arguments against evolution and patiently demonstrates why they do not actually hold any water. Her goal is not to mock or belittle creationists, but to show the deceptiveness of their rhetorical tactics (like showcasing Piltdown Man over and over again) and to present a positive case for the current state of evolutionary theory. Though she mostly writes with her scientist hat on, she also engages with the theological questions that inevitably arise, such as how we could be made in the image of God if we are just "fish with feet" (as she puts it) or whether we can call God's creation "good" if death and genetic mutation and change are baked into the very fabric of how this world works.

As I read the book, I found myself thinking how much I wished I had had a book like this when I was younger, and how I will definitely be having my children read this when those questions come up for them. I can most easily envision teenagers and college students reading this book, but it's really a very accessible introduction for adults as well who were raised to be creationists but don't really know what to think. Highly recommend.

DISCLAIMER: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of a fair, unbiased review.