193 - Latest Research: Science & Scripture w/Ben Spackman | Church History Matters I Science & Religion Series

Church History Matters

Scripture Central

Religion & Spirituality:christianity, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.9 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 24 February 2026

⏱️ 87 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this final episode of the Church History Matters Science and Religion series, hosts Casey Griffiths and Scott Woodward sit down with BYU religion professor Ben Spackman, whose groundbreaking dissertation explores the historical relationship between science, the Bible, evolution, and Latter-day Saint thought. Together they trace how interpretations of Genesis, debates over Darwinian evolution, and shifting cultural pressures shaped conversations among members and leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. From early 20th-century tensions to more nuanced modern approaches, this episode carefully unpacks how Saints have wrestled with questions at the intersection of revelation and reason. Casey, Scott, and Professor Spackman examine the divide between “fundamentalist” and “modernist” approaches to scripture—exploring how different assumptions about prophetic authority, biblical literalism, and scientific discovery have influenced Latter-day Saint perspectives. Rather than framing science and faith as enemies, the discussion highlights the importance of historical context, careful interpretation, and intellectual humility. As the capstone to the series, this episode invites listeners to approach both scripture and science with faith, patience, and a deeper understanding of how past conversations can inform present discipleship.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Science and religion have always been the same. They have always been at war with each other.
0:04.5	They always will be at war with each other and science will triumph.
0:09.0	Where do Latter-day Saints stand? Are we more modernists or are we more fundamentalists?
0:13.3	Quote by Hebrew J. Grant, where he just said, we are fundamentalists.
0:17.3	How do you make sense of received tradition when new reliable information comes along?
0:24.5	Some of those ideas like eugenics play out in the 20th century in very dangerous ways.
0:30.4	You can't fault anyone for not knowing stuff that wasn't discovered yet.
0:33.7	And by the 80s and 90s, church leaders saying, hold on, our historians who are reliable
0:39.0	are producing material that shows tradition is wrong about some of this stuff.
0:43.5	When we read scripture, we need to read it literarily rather than literally.
0:48.5	I may disagree with this side or that side.
0:51.0	This is complexity on display.
0:53.1	This is the messiest part. I think this is one of the
0:56.1	hardest parts for Latter-day Saints to be comfortable with because it gets us into church history
1:01.6	that doesn't seem inspired. Oh. Hello, Casey. Hello, Scott. Nice to see you.
1:11.6	You too, man. We are back in episode nine of our science and religion series.
1:17.8	And I got to say, this has been fun, Casey. This has been a real ride.
1:21.3	Yeah, this is history that we don't get to talk about a lot.
1:25.3	We spend so much time playing in the early restoration sandbox that we sometimes don't get to talk about a lot. We spend so much time playing in the early restoration
1:28.1	sandbox that we sometimes don't get into the 20th and the 21st centuries. And there's
1:33.7	some really, really fascinating history in those realms too. This is top for me, where we're
1:39.6	talking about sincere church leaders who have differing opinions and how they kind of go back and forth
	...

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