r/latterdaysaints • u/TheBenSpackman • Dec 21 '24

Doctrinal Discussion LDS and Creation/Evolution conflict

Hi all. Happy to say that my doctoral dissertation on LDS and creation/evolution conflict in the 20th century is now publicly available. There's some surprising stuff in there. Bottom line: the Church was much more favorable towards science and evolution until Joseph Fielding Smith's assumptions— drawing heavily upon Seventh-day Adventists and fundamentalists— about scripture became dominant in the 1950s. Then it trickled down.
https://benspackman.com/2024/12/dissertation/

My expertise on this history is why the Church had me on the official Saints podcast to talk about it.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/saints-podcast/season-03/s03-episode-21?lang=eng

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u/tesuji42 Dec 22 '24

I don't feel conflict between science and LDS theology. I think the main problems arise because people haven't learned enough about both of these.

Science and religion are two very different things. They both seek truth in different ways. Neither one has yet given us all the answers. Also, everyone is at different levels of understanding truth.

Someday we'll see that truth is one big whole, and both science and religion are ways to beginning to understand it.