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Duane Jeffery Speaks [Spoke]
Sunstone has made their audio recordings of symposia presentations pre-dating 2005 available for free. I did an author search for Duane Jeffery and have listened to a few of his presentations.
Duane Jeffery has been a professor of zoology and genetics at BYU for over 30 years. (He is also a director of the NCSE.) I don't know him personally (I wish I did), but from my reading I get the sense that he has been one of the point men in the relationship between BYU biological sciences and Church headquarters. When he finally leaves BYU--or dies--I wonder who will fill his shoes. Anyway, enough of the love-fest.
In the Q&A after his presentation on Noah's flood, someone asked about evolution and Church magazines. After a few comments, including mentioning the BYU packet, he said (my transcription):In February of '98 [actually 2002], I think it was, the Ensign republished the 1909 statement as though it were something authoritative. We pursued that to the top and we were assured that, as one general authority put it to me, "I don't think the Ensign's going to do anything like that again for a very long time." But we were given [a] formal letter from the First Presidency that that was NOT to indicate a change in position, and assured that the documents we have in the BYU packet, which leave that issue open, are the official position of the church.
I think what the Ensign ought to do is--oh, I don't know--publish the BYU packet with an explanation as to how it came about. I know that's crazy talk, given that the First Presidency stands by it, but I can dream.
5 comments:
"I wonder who will fill [Jeffery's] shoes." Answer: Dr. Whiting.
"...republished the 1909 statement as though it were something authoritative."
The 1909 statement is featured in the Gospel Topics section at LDS.org which claims to be "a great resource for answers to questions about Mormon beliefs,... doctrine, policies, practices, and history." Its Creation topic links to several Church magazine articles, one of which is "Gospel Classics: The Origin of Man" (Ensign, Feb. 2002, pp. 26-30). This link is summarized in these words:
"In 1909, amid controversy and questions about the Creation and the theory of evolution, the First Presidency issued this article, which expresses the Church's doctrinal position." (Emphasis added.)
Just for the sake of argument, lets assume the First Presidency has some control over what gets published at LDS.org. Short of being canonized, then I'd say the 1909 statement is about as authoritative as can be.
I disagree about publishing the BYU packet in the Ensign. More than 90 percent of the words in the BYU packet are taken directly from the 1909 statement anyway and publishing the Encyclopedia of Mormonism article in the Ensign would be a big mistake because of its major defect.
Gary,
The Ensign could easily include an explanation of the mistake in the EoM article, or employ other editorial methods.
Duane is a buddy of mine. There are already piles of folks quietly and not so quietly standing up for rationality in regard to science in the Church.
Steve,
Thanks for stopping by.
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