evolving faith

Today the Maxwell Institute is pleased to announce the publication of the latest book in our Living Faith book series, Evolving Faith: Wanderings of a Mormon Biologist. This guest post is from author Steven L. Peck. You can pick up a copy of Evolving Faith at Amazon, Deseret Book, the BYU Bookstore, and other fine LDS booksellers now. It’s available in paperback and digital formats (Kindle, Nook, and iBook).—BHodges I’ll be right up front. I’m a huge fan of evolution. I’m a professor at Brigham Young University where evolution is a big part of the curriculum. In fact, people are often surprised to learn that BYU actually has one of the best evolutionary biology programs in the nation.But I wasn’t always such a fan. When I was on my mission in Arkansas, I can remember, I was talking to a guy who said he believed in evolution and I said “Well, you can’t be baptized until you let go of that.” Because I was under the impression that evolution was definitely something forbidden. And I regret that now!After my mission when I got to BYU I was looking at textbooks in the bookstore. I came upon an evolution book and I thought “Oh, they’ll take this baby down!” And I was so shocked to find that it was just a straight-up evolutionary biology book. Soon I began to take classes in biology from some of the greatest professors I’ve ever had. They were men of faith (all of them were men at the time) who had a deep passion for evolution and who showed me that our faith and evolution were compatible. I think the most important thing I got in becoming a scientist was the sense that I didn’t need to choose between the two. This is important when you’re at a university presented with the massive amount of evidence for evolution and how beautiful it is—it’s really a beautiful theory. In fact David O. McKay said that. ((David O. McKay, “A Message for L.D.S. College Youth,” printed in BYU Speeches of the Year 1952 (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, 1952), 5–6.))Of course, there are some sticking points when we get down to particulars. But I think they’re worth wrestling with and wondering about. I don’t want watered down science and I don’t want watered down religion. I really want the fullness of both to inform my perspective. There’s a great quote from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf which I included in Evolving Faith‘s introduction that sets the stage for what I’m trying to do with this book:“Brothers and sisters, as good as our previous experience may be, if we stop asking questions, stop thinking, stop pondering, we can thwart the revelations of the Spirit. Remember, it was the questions young Joseph asked that opened the door for the restoration of all things. We can block the growth and knowledge our Heavenly Father intends for us. How often has the Holy Spirit tried to tell us something we needed to know but couldn’t get past the massive iron gate of what we thought we already knew?” ((Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Acting on the Truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” February 2012 Worldwide Leadership Training address.))

I loved working with Steve on Evolving Faith: Wanderings of a Mormon Biologist. Not only because I’ve been personally fascinated, entertained, and challenged by his work over the past few years, and not only because I consider him a mentor and a personal friend, but also because the Living Faith book series which I edit is, itself, an evolving work in progress which his book helped shape.The Living Faith series is for Latter-day Saints who hunger as much for intellectual as spiritual nourishment. Each book comes from an author who exemplifies what Saint Anselm called fides quaerens intellectum, or faith seeking understanding. Adam Miller’s Letters to a Young Mormon reflects the thinking and style of a Latter-day Saint trained in philosophy. Sam Brown’s First Principles and Ordinances bears the hallmarks of a physician, theologian, and historian rolled into one. That’s the pattern here. Each book is an outgrowth of its author’s professional (academic) and religious life.Unlike Letters and First Principles with their natural narrative arcs, Evolving Faith is an essay collection in two parts, the first containing more technical, scientific, philosophical pieces and part two containing more personal, sometimes humorous, pieces. Perhaps there’s a bit of the 2 Nephi conundrum here where readers confront dense landscape before things ease up. (There were actually a few even more technical essays that didn’t make the final cut and one piece that sneaked its way back in to part two.) Each essay stands alone, but perceptive readers will discern fascinating overlap. As a scientist and a believer, Steve discovered that this division is imprecise. Collectively, the essays model and invite deeper engagement with one’s faith and scientific ideas, as he describes in the introduction: “This book is not a systematic reconciliation of the claims and methods of science with religious faith. Instead, I offer my various writings as food for thought in order to invite other Latter-day Saints to faithfully explore the canyons of science and faith as I have done. Questioning is an important element of lifelong religious faith…Certainly some of the meditations and wanderings included here will become outdated as scientists—as they always do—update and refine current scientific findings. Soon enough they will view the world from even grander vistas than the one on which I currently stand. Yet, what I hope endures from this collection is the perspective that one can embrace both good science and the truths of the gospel without compromising either one. Both science and faith are important and valid lenses through which we come to understand the world and our place in it. While each essay in this book stands alone, together they represent my own evolving approach to dealing with questions of science and faith.” So who is this collection for? Not every reader will enjoy or benefit from each piece, but I believe many Latter-day Saints aren’t merely ready but eager to stretch their intellectual and spiritual faculties, to wonder while they wander alongside fellow Latter-day Saints like Steven Peck, Mormon biologist.Evolving Faith is for you.

This guest post is from Steven L. Peck, an associate professor of Biology at Brigham Young University. His book Evolving Faith: Wanderings of a Mormon Biologist comes out October 27, but you can pre-order your copy today.—BHodges