Historian of Religion, Science, and Biblical Interpretation
William D. Sill (no apparent relation to Sterling W. Sill) had a very interesting life, but is very little known to the general public. I draw the summary below from his donated papers, journal, and obituary, some of which I discovered with a research grant from the Church. (Notably, as is often the case in history, there are little inconsistencies in dating, titles, etc.)
I recently saw someone comment, “Well, I’m off to explain to a bunch of twelve-year olds why Abraham proposed sleeping with another woman as a cure for infertility.” Presumably a bit tongue in cheek, but it illustrated the problems of an approach to scripture which doesn’t emphasize seeking understanding through context.
As we move into Exodus, time passes suddenly. We move away from the individual novella of Joseph to several hundred years later, just as we often do in the Book of Mormon. Just how long, we don’t actually know. Continue reading
For several years, I have been one of several co-editors nursing a book on Latter-day Saints, faith, and evolution through the production stage. I’m pleased to announce it’s now available. Free. Continue reading
At the opening of BYU’s 2019 Reconciling Evolution workshop—which focuses on biology pedagogy with religious students— Associate Academic Vice-President John Rosenberg represented the University in welcoming the dozens of participants to BYU. He spoke on the pursuit of knowledge, using medieval depictions of Mary, Gabriel, and the Annunciation. I have adapted my notes from his presentation for this post, by permission.
On Dec 18, the Church announced a new section, “Guiding Principles to Help Answer Gospel Questions.” This goes along with the updated “Topics and Questions” which include both the longer and older “Gospel Topics Essays” and the much shorter “Gospel Topics.” This is quite interesting.
Let me open by saying that this is a wide-ranging and complex subject. I may well prove to be wrong on this or that point. I may be missing important nuances here or there, and it’s a bit scattered and repetitive. Let’s get those disclaimers out of the way and talk about this important subject. Continue reading
On April 19th at 7pm, I’ll deliver a lecture, “Henry Eyring Sr. vs. Melvin Cook: Chemistry, Creationism, and Competition for the Authority of Science at the University of Utah.”
I’ve linked below to the video of my recent talk at the University of Utah, and further reading for those interested.
A new Church History Topic essay on Organic Evolution appeared recently. These are not full-blown essays, like the Gospel Topics. Rather, they are meant as concise historical/conceptual summaries provided as background for the Saints volumes, not as a stand-alone lengthy exploration of a subject. You can find them linked, in footnotes, in Saints online. I’d like to provide some notes and comments on this short background essay.
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