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The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and Evolution
355 pages, Unknown Binding
Published April 16, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 2, 2025
I am very hopeful that current BYU students won’t hear the anti-evolution nonsense that I did from the BYU Religion instructors when I was there in 2000.
This book has many great insights, one of which came from an interview the editor gave: the Church has a neutral stance on evolution but that doesn’t mean that members are equally justified in having pro- and anti-evolution stances. The church also has a neutral position on the link between smoking and lung cancer, but the science is very clear. Similarly, the scientific evidence for evolution, including human evolution, is clear.
The authors repeatedly highlight the value of a reconciliation approach to teaching evolution to religious students. This approach gives students a chance to accept evolution and learn multiple options for reconciling it with their faith in God as the Creator. Yes, evolution is incompatible with the idea that many BYU students enter the university with—that the human population once consisted of exclusively two individuals—but Adam & Eve could have been the first couple to make a covenant with God or the first couple endowed with God’s spirit or they could be mythological archetypes (ie their names mean Human & Life).
This book has many great insights, one of which came from an interview the editor gave: the Church has a neutral stance on evolution but that doesn’t mean that members are equally justified in having pro- and anti-evolution stances. The church also has a neutral position on the link between smoking and lung cancer, but the science is very clear. Similarly, the scientific evidence for evolution, including human evolution, is clear.
The authors repeatedly highlight the value of a reconciliation approach to teaching evolution to religious students. This approach gives students a chance to accept evolution and learn multiple options for reconciling it with their faith in God as the Creator. Yes, evolution is incompatible with the idea that many BYU students enter the university with—that the human population once consisted of exclusively two individuals—but Adam & Eve could have been the first couple to make a covenant with God or the first couple endowed with God’s spirit or they could be mythological archetypes (ie their names mean Human & Life).
August 20, 2025
The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and Evolution represents one of the most ambitious and carefully framed efforts to date to navigate the intersections of evolutionary science and the doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Edited by Jamie L. Jensen, Steven L. Peck, Ugo A. Perego, and T. Benjamin Spackman, the volume combines perspectives from scientists, religious educators, and historians to model how faithful Latter-day Saints might approach the complexities of science and revelation without resorting to false dichotomies.
One of the great strengths of this book is its careful attention to how scripture and the teachings of Church leaders are interpreted. Several chapters resist the temptation to collapse scripture into scientific categories. For instance, Kyle Greenwood situates biblical cosmology within the ancient Near Eastern context, helping readers recognize that Genesis reflects symbolic and theological concerns rather than modern science. Avram R. Shannon’s treatment of the Creation narrative similarly emphasizes the function of scripture as sacred story, not laboratory manual. Nicholas J. Frederick’s essay on the seven seals and the age of the earth highlights the principle of continuing revelation: what matters most in Latter-day Saint theology is not the exact chronology of creation but the divine purpose guiding it. Joshua M. Sears also provides insight into interpretative strategies for Church doctrine and the teachings of Church leaders.
T. Benjamin Spackman’s chapter, “(No) Death before the Fall?” deserves particular praise. He traces the history of how Latter-day Saints have interpreted the Fall in relation to mortality, demonstrating that popular assumptions about a deathless prelapsarian world are both late and inconsistent with scriptural texts. By recovering earlier, more nuanced voices and situating them within the broader Christian tradition, Spackman models a responsible engagement with prophetic statements: distinguishing between binding doctrine and well-intentioned but non-canonical speculation. Collectively, these essays exhibit methodological sophistication that will be of great interest to scholars of Mormon thought and to Latter-day Saints seeking clarity about what scripture and prophets teach—and what they do not. This area alone makes The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and Evolution one of the most important contributions to Latter-day Saint literature this year.
Equally valuable are the essays that explain how science functions as a way of knowing. Steven Peck argues that Latter-day Saints can trust science “in the same way scientists do,” not because it is infallible, but because its methods of testing, revision, and replication reliably produce knowledge about the natural world. Seth Bybee provides a crisp overview of the evidence for human evolution, covering genetics, comparative anatomy, and the fossil record in language that is accessible to the educated layperson. Heath Ogden and Tyler Kummer clarify what evolution is—and is not—dispelling common misconceptions that continue to circulate among church members. (As a side note, I was amused to learn that Pokémon is a source of some of those misconceptions, since the pocket monsters undergo a metamorphosis into stronger forms as they grow, which is referred to as evolution in the game. I’m a fan of Pokémon, but quickly understood that what they call evolution is different from what scientists call evolution.)
These chapters are particularly effective when read in tandem with Jensen’s introductory essay, “Accepting Evolution: Why Does It Matter?” She rejects the language of “belief” in evolution, urging readers instead to recognize acceptance as a matter of evidence rather than faith. At the same time, she underscores that learning to reconcile scientific truths with religious belief can safeguard testimonies, protect youth from unnecessary crises of faith, and prevent the adoption of pseudo-scientific alternatives. Jensen and her colleagues show particular sensitivity in helping readers, especially students, avoid “God of the gaps” thinking and binary choices between faith and science. Their “reconciliation approach,” tested in classrooms at Brigham Young University, offers a powerful way of teaching evolution without undermining belief.
At the same time, some chapters of the book are not written for every audience. Several contributions are aimed less at general readers than at educators—BYU faculty, seminary and institute instructors, and science teachers in religious contexts. James Porter and Michael Whiting explore the role of evolutionary biology at BYU, documenting the challenges and successes of teaching in a university sponsored by a faith community. Danny Ferguson and colleagues offer evidence-based strategies for helping religious students accept evolution without abandoning their faith, introducing what Jensen and her collaborators call the “reconciliation approach.” This model—rooted in cultural competence, careful boundary-setting between science and religion, and openness to uncertainty—has already demonstrated measurable success in BYU classrooms. The result is that not every chapter will speak equally to a general audience.
The editors wisely conclude the volume with Spackman’s essay on the First Presidency statements of 1909 and 1925, followed by the full texts of official statements on evolution issued by Church leaders. This section is invaluable, both as a reference for students and as a reminder that, while the Church has consistently affirmed divine purpose in creation, it has never canonized a particular mechanism. The inclusion of these historical documents situates the present conversation within more than a century of internal debate, showing both continuity and diversity of thought among prophets and apostles.
In sum, this book represents a landmark in Mormon studies of science and religion. By combining doctrinal sensitivity, scientific rigor, and pedagogical innovation, it offers a blueprint for how future generations of Latter-day Saints might pursue the ideal of learning “by study and also by faith.”
One of the great strengths of this book is its careful attention to how scripture and the teachings of Church leaders are interpreted. Several chapters resist the temptation to collapse scripture into scientific categories. For instance, Kyle Greenwood situates biblical cosmology within the ancient Near Eastern context, helping readers recognize that Genesis reflects symbolic and theological concerns rather than modern science. Avram R. Shannon’s treatment of the Creation narrative similarly emphasizes the function of scripture as sacred story, not laboratory manual. Nicholas J. Frederick’s essay on the seven seals and the age of the earth highlights the principle of continuing revelation: what matters most in Latter-day Saint theology is not the exact chronology of creation but the divine purpose guiding it. Joshua M. Sears also provides insight into interpretative strategies for Church doctrine and the teachings of Church leaders.
T. Benjamin Spackman’s chapter, “(No) Death before the Fall?” deserves particular praise. He traces the history of how Latter-day Saints have interpreted the Fall in relation to mortality, demonstrating that popular assumptions about a deathless prelapsarian world are both late and inconsistent with scriptural texts. By recovering earlier, more nuanced voices and situating them within the broader Christian tradition, Spackman models a responsible engagement with prophetic statements: distinguishing between binding doctrine and well-intentioned but non-canonical speculation. Collectively, these essays exhibit methodological sophistication that will be of great interest to scholars of Mormon thought and to Latter-day Saints seeking clarity about what scripture and prophets teach—and what they do not. This area alone makes The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and Evolution one of the most important contributions to Latter-day Saint literature this year.
Equally valuable are the essays that explain how science functions as a way of knowing. Steven Peck argues that Latter-day Saints can trust science “in the same way scientists do,” not because it is infallible, but because its methods of testing, revision, and replication reliably produce knowledge about the natural world. Seth Bybee provides a crisp overview of the evidence for human evolution, covering genetics, comparative anatomy, and the fossil record in language that is accessible to the educated layperson. Heath Ogden and Tyler Kummer clarify what evolution is—and is not—dispelling common misconceptions that continue to circulate among church members. (As a side note, I was amused to learn that Pokémon is a source of some of those misconceptions, since the pocket monsters undergo a metamorphosis into stronger forms as they grow, which is referred to as evolution in the game. I’m a fan of Pokémon, but quickly understood that what they call evolution is different from what scientists call evolution.)
These chapters are particularly effective when read in tandem with Jensen’s introductory essay, “Accepting Evolution: Why Does It Matter?” She rejects the language of “belief” in evolution, urging readers instead to recognize acceptance as a matter of evidence rather than faith. At the same time, she underscores that learning to reconcile scientific truths with religious belief can safeguard testimonies, protect youth from unnecessary crises of faith, and prevent the adoption of pseudo-scientific alternatives. Jensen and her colleagues show particular sensitivity in helping readers, especially students, avoid “God of the gaps” thinking and binary choices between faith and science. Their “reconciliation approach,” tested in classrooms at Brigham Young University, offers a powerful way of teaching evolution without undermining belief.
At the same time, some chapters of the book are not written for every audience. Several contributions are aimed less at general readers than at educators—BYU faculty, seminary and institute instructors, and science teachers in religious contexts. James Porter and Michael Whiting explore the role of evolutionary biology at BYU, documenting the challenges and successes of teaching in a university sponsored by a faith community. Danny Ferguson and colleagues offer evidence-based strategies for helping religious students accept evolution without abandoning their faith, introducing what Jensen and her collaborators call the “reconciliation approach.” This model—rooted in cultural competence, careful boundary-setting between science and religion, and openness to uncertainty—has already demonstrated measurable success in BYU classrooms. The result is that not every chapter will speak equally to a general audience.
The editors wisely conclude the volume with Spackman’s essay on the First Presidency statements of 1909 and 1925, followed by the full texts of official statements on evolution issued by Church leaders. This section is invaluable, both as a reference for students and as a reminder that, while the Church has consistently affirmed divine purpose in creation, it has never canonized a particular mechanism. The inclusion of these historical documents situates the present conversation within more than a century of internal debate, showing both continuity and diversity of thought among prophets and apostles.
In sum, this book represents a landmark in Mormon studies of science and religion. By combining doctrinal sensitivity, scientific rigor, and pedagogical innovation, it offers a blueprint for how future generations of Latter-day Saints might pursue the ideal of learning “by study and also by faith.”
July 17, 2025
Full disclosure: I was an editor of this book. Not one listed on the cover, but as an actual editor involved in source checking as well as copy and developmental edits.
I believe I was a good case study for one type of reader this book was hoping to address. I am an active Latter-day Saint. I have largely felt that organic evolution and the restored gospel are incompatible. Frankly, I still find many explanations of reconciliation between the two unsatisfying. However, this book provided me with a thoughtful and engaging way of examining some of my notions and getting up to speed on what science accepts in terms of evolution. On some issues, my mind was changed. On some issues, my mind was not changed. On all issues, I feel I have a better grasp on them. I am grateful for this book and the authors who contributed to its contents. I have worked with each of them in the course of editing the different chapters and found them all to be honest and faithful. This book will be helpful for any reader trying to learn what leading scholars of faith in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are thinking.
I believe I was a good case study for one type of reader this book was hoping to address. I am an active Latter-day Saint. I have largely felt that organic evolution and the restored gospel are incompatible. Frankly, I still find many explanations of reconciliation between the two unsatisfying. However, this book provided me with a thoughtful and engaging way of examining some of my notions and getting up to speed on what science accepts in terms of evolution. On some issues, my mind was changed. On some issues, my mind was not changed. On all issues, I feel I have a better grasp on them. I am grateful for this book and the authors who contributed to its contents. I have worked with each of them in the course of editing the different chapters and found them all to be honest and faithful. This book will be helpful for any reader trying to learn what leading scholars of faith in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are thinking.
May 28, 2025
This is a must-read for any Latter-day Saint in high school or older. The thorough treatment of the topic of evolution from both the scientific perspective and the church's statements about it over the years is way better than the "evolution packet" we used to get at BYU. And releasing the book at the same time that the Church released a Gospel Topic Essay about science was wise timing. I'm so glad to see the Church officially stating that there is no official stance on evolution, that the scientific method is a valid and important tool for increasing certain kinds of knowledge, and that faithful church members may accept the theory of evolution or not without their faith being brought into question.
The later chapters started to get a bit repetitive, using many of the same quotes and making the same arguments as the earlier ones, so perhaps it's better to read just the chapters that you're most curious about rather than reading it start to finish.
The later chapters started to get a bit repetitive, using many of the same quotes and making the same arguments as the earlier ones, so perhaps it's better to read just the chapters that you're most curious about rather than reading it start to finish.
October 28, 2025
A great collection of curated essays and articles on Evolution and the Restored Gospel. The only down side is it is not meant for the most common of person. Every article is quite academic and feels like reading academic journals. Not the authors' fault. Just the format of the book. So not an easy read as you slog through one academic's views to another's. Many good articles, many very wordy articles. The power of this is the variety of voices; you have Seminary and Institute instructors, biology professors, historians, and religious evolution researchers all coming together to present their viewpoints on approaching evolution accurately, whether in science or in doctrine, rather than evangelically or politically (because what else is it at this point but politics pushing false narratives?).
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews