Here is a copy of my MHA presentation text, “Early LDS Attempts to Reconcile Scripture with Science: Pre-Mormon Pre-Adamites and Intellectual (In)Dependence.” What assumptions did early 20th century LDS have, and who were they reading, while debating evolution, death before the fall, pre-adamites, etc.?As the text read at the meeting, it lacks footnotes and citations, but here is some of the bibliography.
- Adam’s Ancestors: Race, Religion, and the Politics of Human Origins, David N. Livingstone
- Livingstone has done some pioneering and interesting work in this area.
- The Scofield Bible: Its History and Impact on the Evangelical Church, Mangum and Sweetnam
- The Creationists: From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design, Ronald Numbers
- Erosion of Biblical Certainty: Battles over Authority and Interpretation in America, Lee
- A very important work showing how the adoption of enlightenment standards by the Bible’s defenders ultimately helped undermine it.
- Cotton Mather and Biblia Americana–America’s First Bible Commentary: Essays in Reappraisal, Smolinski/Stievermann
- Nature and Scripture in the Abrahamic Religions: 1700-Present, van der Meer et. al.
- Isaac La Peyrère (1596-1676): His Life, Work and Influence, Popkin
This presentation was distilled from a much longer paper still under construction. I intend to submit it for publication when finished (as of 2020, still working on this).
And of course, I’ll be speaking about models of how we encounter the world in August at BYU, truth, scripture, and Genesis at the FAIR Conference in August, and reading the Old Testament in context at the Sperry Symposium in October at BYU.
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June 6, 2017 at 12:24 pm
Have you seen this new Book
Adam and the Genome: Reading Scripture after Genetic Science Paperback
by Scot McKnight and Dennis R. Venema
https://www.amazon.com/Adam-Genome-Reading-Scripture-Genetic/dp/158743394X
June 6, 2017 at 3:13 pm
Saw a preview back in November, and my Logos copy ships in a bit. Looking forward to it.
June 7, 2017 at 6:16 pm
Interview with the Authors.
http://onscript.study/podcast/dennis-venema-and-scot-mcknight-adam-and-the-genome/
And an interesting examination of the fall.
http://biologos.org/blogs/jim-stump-faith-and-science-seeking-understanding/evolution-and-the-historical-fall-what-does-genesis-3-tell-us-about-the-origin-of-evil