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BYU Publishes Significant Book on Evolution and the Gospel
The BYU College of Life Sciences recently published a book (free online) titled The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and Evolution. I think it is arguably the most significant church-related publication on the topic since Joseph Fielding Smith's Man, His Origin and Destiny, especially when paired with the near simultaneous entry in the Gospel Library on Religion and Science.
In order to understand why I think the book is so significant, a little history is in order. During the mid-twentieth century the views of President Joseph Fielding Smith and Elder Bruce R. McConkie (his son-in-law) on this topic dominated within the Church. Both men were prolific writers and their books were widely read, widely quoted, and widely considered authoritative. LDS scientists and students really had to swim upstream in that kind of atmosphere. For example, in 1980 Elder McConkie gave a talk at BYU titled, "The Seven Deadly Heresies," where evolution was the second of the seven heresies. In the meantime, LDS historians were uncovering information from the early twentieth century showing that church leaders had not been as unified on the issue as it seemed. Publication of this information was not necessarily warmly received, with then-apostle Ezra Taft Benson, for example, viewing it as an attack on the integrity of Joseph Fielding Smith. In 1992 the BYU Board of Trustees authorized publication of a packet on the topic that consisted of First Presidency statements and the entry on evolution from the Encyclopedia of Mormonism. This packet provided LDS scientists and students some cover by emphasizing that only First Presidency statements represented the official Church position, thus implicitly providing a way to faithfully disagree with President Smith and Elder McConkie. However, the packet had limited circulation (especially prior to the Internet), and was never referenced in Church publications so it remained largely hidden from general church membership.
So the state of play in the late 1990s and early 2000s was basically this: General church membership was still influenced by the legacy of Smith and McConkie (dovetailing with conservative strains of Protestantism). Meanwhile, people "in the know" could eke out a contrary position using the BYU packet combined with a sort of mournful harkening back to the views expressed by leaders such as Elders James E. Talmage and John A. Widtsoe, as well as prominent members like Henry Eyring.
While there have been a few minor developments in the last decade, this new book is a big leap forward. Here are some of the reasons I think it is significant.
1. It is published by BYU, thus giving it a halo of Church-sanctioned acceptability.
2. It will be a standard resource distributed to all freshman biology students. As the years pass it will influence tens of thousands of BYU students.
3. It is bold and forthright in declaring that evolution has been demonstrated and can be accepted with joy (a reference to the 1910 First Presidency statement that has been the tagline of this blog since its beginning), and brags a bit about how successful BYU has been in its scientific research related to evolution.
4. It dissects some of the assumptions that have undergird certain scriptural interpretations, providing a deeper understanding that goes beyond simply pitting two interpretations against each other.
5. It uses modern scholarship to help provide some cultural context to the Genesis creation account, even going so far as to adopt the scholarly recognition that the first two chapters of Genesis contain two different creation accounts spliced together (something that would further horrify Joseph Fielding Smith).
6. It does all of this without picking a fight and emphasizes a model of seeking reconciliation while maintaining comfort with leaving unknowns open.
The book was not intended to be comprehensive on every topic. For example, while some of the science supporting evolution is briefly discussed, it is pretty high-level and is unlikely to satisfy readers who are familiar with young-earth creationist arguments. Similarly, while there is some introduction to the cultural context of Genesis and issues with English translation, there is much, much, more that could be said. In both cases, readers should consult additional resources. Similarly, the book does not attempt to grapple with every scriptural objection or solve every doctrinal problem. What the book does more than anything is model a broad-minded orientation of faithful inquiry and acceptance while expanding the boundaries of inquiry beyond fundamentalism [1].
Perhaps a day will come when we will see another era of retrenchment and a renewal of Joseph Fielding Smith's fundamentalist approach (vestiges of which can still be found in Church publications such as the Institute manual for the Old Testament). But for the time being it looks like Church leaders are willing to let the science play out and leave the resulting religious incongruities open to personal study and interpretation. This book is a great resource to help in that effort.
Notes:
1. Lots of people did similar work in the past, but they tended to be published in venues that lacked the halo of Church approval or broad distribution among the rank-and-file.
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