Can Science Be Faith-Promoting?

Written in the 1930's, but published (finally!) in 2001, this book contains the thoughts and reasoning of Sterling Talmage. Sterling, the son of well-known LDS author and apostle James Talmage, was a geologist, and knowledgeable about both science and LDS doctine. The book was originally written as a Sunday School manual (though never published as such), and the short, compartmentalized chapters make for easy reading. Topics addressed include: the age of the earth, evolution, the origins of man, and others. One particularly valuable feature of the book is its appendix (almost 70 pages), which contains correspondence between Sterling, his father, and Joseph Fielding Smith (who held an opposing view of science within the church, often insisting on a literal interpretation of all passages of scripture, even when well-established contradictory scientific data existed). The introduction (~60 pages) contains great essays discussing the history of the church's dealings with science since Sterling's time. Overall, Talmage's main thesis is that science and religion can (and indeed, must) be reconciled, since truth, whatever its origin (the scientific method or revelation), cannot contradict truth. In his opinion, we should all be open-minded to both sources of truth. Anyway, an excellent book for anyone interested in the possibility of including science and LDS doctrine into one worldview.