Evolving Faith
Wanderings of a Mormon Biologist
Believers and scientists have long wrestled over the relationship between science and faith. Steven L. Peck, an acclaimed Latter-day Saint author and scientist, demonstrates in this new book that both science and faith are indispensable tools we can use to navigate God’s strange and beautiful creation. Evolving Faith is a collection of technical, personal, sometimes whimsical essays about Mormon theology, evolution, human consciousness, the environment, sacred spaces, and more.
With the mind of a scientist, the soul of a believer, and the heart of a wanderer, Peck provides welcome companionship for women and men engaged in the unceasing quest for further light and knowledge.
About the Author
Steven L. Peck
Steven L. Peck is an associate professor of Biology at Brigham Young University where he teaches courses including “The History and Philosophy of Biology” and “Bioethics.” His research in theoretical mathematical ecology and insect populations has been recognized by the National Academy of Sciences and the United Nations for helping to fight insect-borne illness. His published works include over forty scientific articles in prominent publications like American Naturalist, Newsweek, and Zygon, fictional works like The Scholar of Moab and A Short Stay in Hell, and a number of poems and short stories. His book Evolving Faith: Wanderings of a Mormon Biologist is part of the Maxwell Institute's "Living Faith" series.
Table of Contents
Foreword
Introduction
Part I
1. Embracing Science, Resisting Literalism, and Shifting Paradigms
2. Randomness, Contingency, and Faith: Is There a Science of Subjectivity?
3. Crawling Out of the Primordial Soup: A Step Toward the Emergence of an LDS Theology Compatible with Organic Evolution
4. The Current Philosophy of Consciousness Landscape: Where Does LDS Thought Fit?
5. Life as Emergent Agential Systems: Tendencies without Teleology in an Open Universe
6. Death and the Ecological Crisis
Part II
7. An Ecologist's View of LDS Culture and the Current Environmental Crisis
8. Reverencing Creation
9. Grace vis-a-vis Violence
10. My Madness
11. Noah’s Lament
12. Crossing Boundaries and Sacred Spaces
Appendix: Selected Bibliography of Published Works
Publication Information
Subject: Mormon Studies
Publication Month: October
Publication Year: 2015
Language: English
ISBN 13: 978-0-8425-2944-0
Page Count: 205
Price: $ 19.95
Imprint: Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship