Evolution and Mormonism: A Quest for Understanding

 Scientists discover more every day about how life developed on Earth. Details that stream in from the new field of molecular biology rival the ongoing findings of paleontologists as they fill in the missing pieces in the fossil record. Professors Stephens and Meldrum, aided by the perspective of a non-scientist, Forrest B. Peterson, review the data for a general Latter-day Saint audience.

Their approach comes from a position of faith. They quote from the Creation account in the Pearl of Great Price: ”And the Gods said: Let us prepare the waters to bring forth abundantly the moving creatures that have life. And the Gods saw that they would be obeyed and that their plan was good.” In the authors’ view, the passage’s emphasis on process over end result is consistent with modern science.

According to the LDS church, “Whether the mortal bodies of man evolved in natural processes to present perfection” or were formed by some other means is “not fully answered in the revealed word of God.” That God may have created the mechanism by which all life was formed—rather than each organism separately—is a concept that the authors find to be a satisfying and awe-inspiring possibility.

 Trent D. Stephens (B.S., Brigham Young University; Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania) is Professor of Anatomy and Embryology at Idaho State University, where he was named Distinguished Teacher in 1992 and Outstanding Researcher in 2000. He is the co-author of ten textbooks. He currently serves as bishop of the Pocatello Century Ward.

D. Jeffrey Meldrum (B.S., BYU; Ph.D., State University of New York) is Associate Professor of Anatomy and Anthropology at Idaho State University and Affiliate Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Idaho Museum of Natural History. He is co-editor of a series of books on paleontology. He serves as a scout master in the Pocatello Fourth Ward.

Duane E. Jeffery (B.S., Utah State University; Ph.D., UC Berkeley) is Professor of Zoology at BYU. He has published in such professional journals as Genetics and the Journal of Heredity, as well as in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He is a contributor to Science and Religion and The Search for Harmony.

Forrest B. Peterson is an award-winning writer and movie producer. In 1990 his Trouble in Oz won five Crystal Reel prizes from the Florida Film Festival. His church duties have included elders quorum president and gospel doctrine teacher.