President Erying, His Father, and the Letter

In two different General Conference addresses, President Henry B. Eyring has briefly recounted his role in a letter that his father wrote to an Apostle about science and religion.

October 2014:

My father was once asked by a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to write a short paper on science and religion. My father was a famous scientist and a faithful priesthood holder. But I can still remember the moment he handed me the paper he had written and said, “Here, before I send this to the Twelve, I want you to read it. You will know if it is right.” He was 32 years older than me and immeasurably more wise and intelligent.

October 2016:

Once [my father] was asked by an Apostle to write a short note about the scientific evidence for the age of the earth. He wrote it carefully, knowing that some who might read it had strong feelings that the earth was much younger than the scientific evidence suggested.

I still remember my father handing me what he had written and saying to me, “Hal, you have the spiritual wisdom to know if I should send this to the apostles and prophets.” I can’t remember much of what the paper said, but I will carry with me forever the gratitude I felt for a great Melchizedek Priesthood holder who saw in me spiritual wisdom that I could not see.

BYU-Idaho has a video documentary titled, Mormon Scientist, about the life of Henry Eyring (based on the book of the same name) that includes an interview with President Eyring (at about the 5 minute mark) [1]. President Eyring recounts the story above, but with some interesting added details, including a subsequent phone call from David O. McKay. He clearly connects the story to Joseph Fielding Smith's book, Man, His Origin and Destiny.

So far as I am aware, these are the only public statements by President Eyring that exist about the disagreement between his father and Joseph Fielding Smith. The story of that letter--twice mentioned in General Conference--including the full text and response by Joseph Fielding Smith, can be found in Agreeing to Disagree: Henry Eyring and Joseph Fielding Smith.


Notes:
1. A substantially similar, if not identical, video was previously available as early as 2010 at BYUtv as episode 13 of a series called "Inspiring Lives". However, it disappeared sometime before October 2014. Fortunately, the interview segment with President Eyring lives on in the BYU-I video.

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