Fish with Feet: Human Evolution and the Image of God (Janet Kellogg Ray) - A Review

FISH WITH FEET: Human Evolution and the Image of God. By Janet Kellogg Ray. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2026. 239 pages.

Once upon a time, I was led to believe that God created the world in seven literal days, just a few thousand years ago. I was told by pastors and representatives of the Creation Science movement that this was the biblical view of reality. Over time, I discovered that I had been misled. Not only was the Earth several billion years old, but my literalist reading of Genesis might be a bit off. The question that emerged as I embraced the scientific evidence for evolution, including human evolution, had to do with the role God played and continues to play in this process called evolution. While I still wrestle with the question of where God fits into the process, the scientific evidence for evolution is too strong to reject. Fortunately, there are many resources available to us, whether scientific or theological, that can help us sort things out.

In Fish with Feet: Human Evolution and the Image of God, Janet Kellogg Ray provides us with an accessible and thoughtful offering that addresses the question of evolution as someone who professes faith in Jesus. In fact, as a scientist who is a believer, she has a strong interest in helping Christians understand modern science, including the theory of evolution, so that, as St. Augustine reminded his audience, we don’t embarrass ourselves by embracing pseudoscience. Now the science that Augustine defended is different from modern science, but the principle remains the same. Fish with Feet is Janet Kellogg Ray's third book on the subject of faith and evolutionary science, having previously written Baby Dinosaurs on the Ark: The Bible and Modern Science and the Trouble of Making It All Fit (Eerdmans) and The God of Monkey Science: People of Faith in a Modern Scientific World (Eerdmans). I read and reviewed the latter of these two books and did so favorably. Ray holds a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction and has taught biology and science methods at the University of North Texas for over twenty years. I had the opportunity to hear her speak and talk with her at a conference held at a Christian college a few years back. I found her to be knowledgeable about her subject matter and quite able to convey that information to the non-specialist with aplomb. This is true here in her latest book, Fish with Feet: Human Evolution and Faith in God.

Perhaps the greatest problem facing Christians when it comes to evolutionary science is the proposal that humans share a common ancestor with other apes, not to mention fish and their ancestors. Many Christians ask scientists who profess faith in Christ and are also proponents of evolutionary science: Doesn't the Bible say God created humans directly, without any earlier forms? While this is one way to read Genesis, does this mean we should reject the evidence science provides, including DNA evidence, so as to affirm a traditional view of Genesis 1 and 2? This is the question that Ray seeks to answer in Fish with Feet.

Fish with Feet has twelve chapters, in which Ray walks us through traditional views of human existence, and then introduces us to the evolutionary process, starting with Charles Darwin's discoveries while on his voyage on The Beagle, and the challenges that these discoveries, as recorded in The Origin of the Species, and successive discoveries by Darwin and others, pose to Christian understandings of human life. She begins this journey in a chapter titled "What's the Problem with Monkeys?" (Chapter 1). In this opening chapter, she lays out the challenge to opponents of evolutionary science, declaring: “Whether you accept evolution or not doesn’t change the fact that it is the foundational principle of all fields of modern biology” (p. 14). In Chapter 2, which is titled "From Goo to You by Way of the Zoo" (Ray has a way with chapter titles), Ray begins the conversation about the evolutionary process, starting with the origin of the proteins that serve as the foundation of all life. You may wonder how these proteins emerged and serve as the foundation of all life. Answering that question is the focus of the chapter. She concludes that "We don't know, and may never know, the exact evolutionary pathway of the chemical beginnings of life. But that does not mean we know nothing" (p. 34). Indeed. There is enough evidence to demonstrate that a pathway from those earliest proteins exists that leads to us.

Chapter 3 is titled "The Explosion that Wasn't." This chapter focuses on the supposed "Cambrian Explosion" that many believe led to the sudden emergence of all life. Some proponents of intelligent design and creation science suggest that the lack of intermediate species poses a problem for Darwin and others who espoused evolution. If life emerged suddenly, doesn’t that fit with the Genesis account? While this alleged explosion of life has served as the foundation for Creationist responses, perhaps they missed something. That is, perhaps there are intermediate species that emerged even before the so-called Cambrian explosion. In response to the challenge to evolution by proponents of a sudden explosion of all life, Ray offers us Chapter 4, titled "A Fishy Story." In this chapter, Ray focuses on five major extinctions and the effects of those extinctions on the process of evolution. As she points out, "as an environment changes, members of a population with adaptive traits survive; those without, die out. Over time, some species become extinct, and others evolve to fill their niches" (p. 55). That is what the evidence suggests. Many children have grown up fascinated with dinosaurs, but what happened to them? How did mammals come to dominate the Earth? With questions like this in mind, Ray titles Chapter 5 "Warm Fuzzies," in which she discusses the rise of proto-mammals that emerged during the time of the dinosaurs and at the time of the extinction of the dinosaurs, and adapted to new conditions so as to continue the process of evolution.

Moving forward in time, Ray comes to the age of the mammals, including the rise of the "Planet of the Apes" (Chapter 6). It was about fifty-five to sixty million years ago that early primates began to populate the Earth, a trend that would eventually lead to us. This is where things get tricky for many who struggle with the idea that humans are apes. However, the truth is, we are a species of apes. I must say that Ray does an excellent job of describing the movement from our common ancestor to modern humans. This  conversation about our relationship not only to a common ancestor but also to other forms of human life is discussed in Chapter 7, "Meet the Fam." In this chapter, Ray discusses the movement from a common ancestor of both chimps and humans, along with how these two species branched off in different directions. As the process of human evolution proceeded, there would be numerous dead ends, producing cousins but not direct ancestors. She covers them all, reminding us that the family is a lot larger than many of us have been led to believe.

One of the keys to tracking down human evolution is DNA, which is discussed in Chapter 8, "It's in the Code." This code reveals much about us, including the presence of ancient viruses and scars, along with missing genes. There are other clues to our past, such as mammals that lay eggs, which remind us that mammals evolved from reptiles. Some mammals evolved so as to give live birth, but there are still remnants of an ancient past. Yes, the code says a lot about how we got to where we are now.  The question that many ask is: "Are We Still Evolving?" Answering that question is the focus of Chapter 9. It’s a good question, and the truth is, there is evidence that humans are still adapting to new realities. So, yes, we are still evolving. As Ray points out, “Our bodies testify to a long history of structures and processes inherited from earlier ancestors. Evolution is not goal oriented, and evolution is definitely not perfection. If a trait is ‘good enough’ for survival and results in offspring in the next generation, the trait sticks around. As we adapt to changing environmental challenges, we are evolving still” (p. 157).

Ok, there is evidence for evolution, but what about Adam and Eve? That is the question people often ask evolutionary scientists. Theologies of sin and salvation are built on the idea that there was an original pair, whose inclination to sin has been passed on from generation to generation. So, what about "Grandpa Adam and Grandma Eve" (Chapter 10)? Efforts have been made to trace human life to an original pair, but despite these efforts, it doesn't work out. There is too much genetic diversity for humans to trace life to an original pair, even if, as some have tried, going back 500,000 years. So, maybe we need to read Genesis differently. Connected to that question is the one dealing with the premise that we are created in the image of God. With this question in mind, in chapter 11, titled "Made in the Image," Ray explores ways of understanding the concept of image, noting how images were understood in the ancient world, which might help concerned Christians figure out how to keep these two things in proper tension. The conclusion that Ray offers, a conclusion that I think may work, is that "Image bearing is a task, a priestly vocation" (p. 191), rather than a physical or mental reality. I think she gets this correct. It’s why the first commandment forbids the creation of images of God, since God has already created humanity as that image.

The final chapter in Fish with Feet is titled "Fish in the Family Tree—And that's Ok" (Chapter 12). This chapter provides a fitting conclusion to a very informative and helpful book, which I hope many with questions about evolution will read. In this chapter, Ray seeks to help the reader put everything together. She reminds us once again that the evidence for evolution is too strong to reject, even though many unfortunately will try to do so. Writing as a scientist who has placed her faith in Jesus Christ, Janet Kellogg Ray is comfortable in accepting as true the scientific discipline. She writes not only in defense of science, but in defense of faith, since the second most common reason why people embrace no religion at all is the rejection of science on the part of many Christians. If we cling to the idea that we have to choose between the Bible and science, we will lose a lot of people. The good news is that we don’t have to choose.

Janet Kellogg Ray’s Fish with Feet: Human Evolution and the Image of God is a compelling and accessible defense of evolutionary science and science as a whole for the Christian world. She writes with clarity and with humor to help Christians who struggle to make sense of science bring things together. Christians have often struggled to bring science and faith together. Copernicus and Galileo faced their critics, but in the end, they were vindicated. This is true today as scientists face pushback from Christians, many of whom are well-meaning but, in my mind, wrong. The consequences of the rejection of science are deeply worrying, from the rejection of climate change to vaccines against preventable diseases. As Janet Kellogg Ray has reminded us in her books, a person can be a person of faith and still embrace science, and that this will be for the good of creation itself! 

Copies of Fish with Feet may be purchased at your retailer, including my Amazon affiliate and my Bookshop.org affiliate. The latter is available to those who would rather not buy from Amazon.