William Lee Stokes, LDS professor of Geology at the U of Utah

Public lecture: Fault Lines within Faith: Geologists and the LDS Evolution/Creationism Controversy

October 8, 2025 /

Next Thursday on BYU campus (11am, ESC C295) I’ll present a lecture titled “Fault Lines within Faith: Geologists and the LDS Evolution/Creationism Controversy.”

A “fault line” is where two separate land masses meet. That lends itself easily to the ideas I’ll be illustrating in LDS history of
    1. friction within a shared space, i.e. the shared faith within Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
    2. a dividing line into “camps,” though this does not play out as people imagine.
    3. demarcation, i.e. the border lines between science and religion, and between science and pseudoscience (the latter not being as easy as it sounds)

In context of the twentieth century LDS struggles to interpret nature and scripture, I will discuss the roles of James E. Talmage, Frederick Pack, George McCready Price (a pseudo-geologist), William Lee Stokes, and William D. Sill.

The little-known William D. Sill

(Had I more time, I might have included George Hansen too.)

Lecture will not be recorded.

Categories: Announcements

2 Comments

  1. Avid reader

    October 20, 2025 at 12:08 am

    Hi Ben,

    I always appreciate your gospel study books and resources recommendations. I am looking for high quality resources for helping to teach and study the Old Testament with my kids ages 6-12. A few resources I have found so far is the recently released “God’s Stories as told by God’s Children” published by the Bible for Normal People lead by Pete Enns. I know you are a fan of his other work.

    A less scholarly but age appropriate option is the “The Bible Storybook: The Old Testament” by Josh and Sarah Sabey. They created a similar Book of Mormon Storybook that is promoted by Faith Matters. https://forlittlesaints.com/product/preorder-the-bible-storybook-the-old-testament/

    Do you have any thoughts on either of these resources or other recommendations to help supplement my family’s come follow me study of the Old Testament next year? Thanks!

    • benspackman (Post author)

      October 30, 2025 at 8:02 am

      I think I’ve mentioned the Enns book here before. Also, John Walton’s The Bible Story Handbook: A Resource for Teaching 175 Stories from the Bible.
      I’ll have an updated post up in the next couple weeks on OT resources for this year. In the meantime, check out the four from the prior cycle. https://benspackman.com/?s=Old+Testament+resources