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John Welch's Reading List
As described in my last post, John Welch recently gave a talk at BYU about science and religion, at which he distributed a list of suggested reading. Thank you to "mapman" for sending me a copy, which I have made available here.
Looking over the list, I see a number of interesting books and articles that I look forward to checking out. Of course no list can be comprehensive, but I was a little surprised and disappointed to see some works left off of the list, such as articles by Duane Jeffery, David Bailey, or Steven Peck. (I note that Welch, the editor of BYU Studies, included only a single article from Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. And an ad for a free trial-subscription of BYU Studies [1].) It's also curious that among the entries from the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, "Organic Evolution" and "Origin of Man" are not included.
Actually, after looking through the list some more, I can't help but wonder if Welch farmed the compilation out to an assistant, or if he's actually read all of the articles. First I noticed that the section, "Selected Physical Science and Mathematical Articles in BYU Studies," also contains biological articles. "Big deal," you say, "you're just being pedantic." OK, fine; maybe so. But beyond that, can somebody explain to me why the "Beta-Lysin" article by Donaldson was included on the list (or why it was published in BYU Studies in the first place)? I have a hard time believing that Welch read that article and decided that it made a worthy contribution to relating science and religion.
Several of the works have been highlighted in posts on this blog. They are listed below with links to my posts.
- Boyce, Duane. "Of Science, Scripture, and Surprise." FARMS Review 20:2 (2008).
- Eyring, Henry J. Mormon Scientist: The Life and Faith of Henry Eyring. Salt Lake City: Deseret, 2007
- Grandy, David. "Ideology in the Guise of Science."FARMS Review 19:2 (2007).
- Sherlock, Richard. "Mormonism and Intelligent Design." FARMS Review 18:2 (2006).
- Welch, John W. "The Power of Evidence in the Nurturing of Faith," in Echoes and Evidences of the Book of Mormon.
- Widtsoe, John A. Joseph Smith as Scientist (1920). (Also here.)
- Bushman, Jess R., "Hutton's Uniformitarianism," BYU Studies 23:1 (1983).
- Walker, Steven C., "Selling the Soul of Science for a Pot of Message: Evangelizing Atheism in The God Delusion," BYU Studies 47:1 (2008)
Notes:
1. BYU Studies articles older than two years are available for free.
10 comments:
Thanks for this.
The Eyring link doesn't seem to be working.
Tim,
Sometimes when I try to insert a link using Blogger's link button, weird things happen. I don't know if the problem is Blogger or Firefox, but in this case some text was deleted. I think I have it straightened out now.
Does anyone else find it surprising that the forthcoming book on faith and science, published by BYU's Religious Studies Center, includes an article by Steven E. Jones? That baffled me.
The 9/11 conspiracy theorist?
On the plus side, Michael Whiting has a chapter, which increases my temptation to buy the book.
Jones used to be a BYU prof. Could we assume he wrote it prior to leaving? These things often take a long time to make it through publication.
The book, "Converging Paths to Truth" is an edited collection of talks given as part of the Summerhays lectures on faith and science. Jones' chapter is interesting because it highlights some of Newton's natural theology, but is ultimately dissatisfying because it makes no effort to place Newton in the context of the science and philosophy of his time. Uncritical readers may be tempted to lift quotes to paint an inaccurately special picture of Newton, and I sometimes felt this was what was happening in Jones' own summation.
I don't know what to make of the inclusion of his essay, other than the fact that the book is already short as it is, and Jones' lecture is at least interesting and topically relevant. I think the Summerhays series continues, but quick Googling can't find a comprehensive list of speakers/topics. Anyone know more about it?
For what it's worth the book is worth skimming. It is an odd assortment though, and would have had more impact had it taken the tack of selecting a main area (evolution, climate science, epistemology, reason & faith, etc.), and having BYU scholars or other LDS figures offer their thoughts in a similar format.
Hmmm. Maybe I'll pass on the book. It sounds like a disappointment. How is Whiting's essay?
Whiting writes his essay with the stated intent to discuss why he finds evolution to be faith affirming. He points out that as we contemplate the vastness of all natural history, and the complexity of the evolutionary process, and in doing so attribute these nearly incomprehensible things to God, we experience the wonder of His works. A nice thought. Sadly, the vast majority of the short 16 page essay is dedicated to defending a belief in evolution as valid for a member of the LDS church. It's too bad that a professional evolutionary biologist like Whiting would still feel like he has to spend most of his time apologizing and defending and assuring everyone that he isn't apostate. So much time and effort goes into rehashing the "statements" or clarifying confusions and so on, that he really doesn't end up having time to really develop the theme of evolution as faith affirming science.
Other chapters touch on some interesting topics. My favorite sections are where Terry Ball talks about scientific atheism versus scientific theism, Rodney Brown talks about rationalism and empiricism in the context of faith, and Ward Moody discusses concepts of time and their impact on our understanding of scripture and the divine. Michael Rhodes gives a valiant effort at formulating a scientifically sound interpretation of the creation story from Genesis, though when he says of the remains of ancient humans that "whatever they are, they are not our ancestors" he loses a lot of scientific credibility. Since these are all essays derived from edited lectures there is much to be desired in terms of detail and scope on any of these topics. On the other hand there are enough hidden gems in there to make it worth owning, I think. Even just to have Whiting's talk; any time any BYU biologist writes an essay about believing in evolution I think it's worth having a copy.
Maybe you've just tipped me back to wanting the book. I agree with you about Whiting; it's unfortunate that he can't just get down to business. However, as I understand it, this was a joint publication between Deseret Book and BYU Studies, so I'm pleased to see his contribution included in a book intended for mainstream publication.
The Rhodes essay sounds like this one. In fact, based on what you've said, it might be identical. I agree: vailant, but unconvincing. But I still think it's progress.
The Ward-Moody chapter in "Astronomy" has lots of similarities. I'd have to look them over side by side to find if/where they differ in substance. The structure differs a lot though, and the content doesn't completely overlap since they have split up to write their own sections in "Converging." They present some of the same conclusions (e.g. concordance model of interleaved events) and also elaborate on the same five "basic principles" of study.
I agree that their work is a good step forward in the discussion, even though I might gripe about statements like the one about hominid ancestry. They at least recognize the limitations of "interpretive ability in both science and religion." There is still a heavy bias towards science being the interpretive and subjective side of the debate, and personal religious views being preferred. But, hey that's pretty typical.
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