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Religion and the Pursuit of Truth, by Lowell Bennion This is a very short, simple, straightforward, and inspired book. Bennion wrote it in response to the many university students he saw falling by the wayside, losing their faith as their minds grew and matured. He saw the problem as basic a struggle between two traditions: the faith and morality of our Hebrew/Christian heritage and the reasoning rationality of our Greek heritage. This little book is his attempt to persuade readers that they don’t have to choose between the two.
Such a beautiful little book. He says there are
fiveessential avenues to truth – science, philosophy, art, everyday life, and religion. He goes through each one and lists its nature, methods, contributions and limitations(even religion’s) in our pursuit of truth. He says that each one is important, if you leave just one out, you’re not being thorough. And he begs the reader to follow each avenue wherever it leads, unabashedly sure it would lead us all to a life of goodness, faith, acceptance, spirituality. This was one of the few books that freed me – freed me to pursue truth more openly and courageously. It gives permission to be honest with ourselves – with the clear hope that the chase just might lead us home again. And it did for me.
Cool, Thanks Jordan! This is probably the book by Bennion that I’ve been looking for. The little bits that I’ve read from Bennion I always enjoy.
I looked on Amazon and it’s out of print but seems to be readily available in the used books.
I’ll be ordering one, thanks again!
Wow!! I’ve never even heard of this book, but that’s exactly what I’ve been doing! Although, in everyday life I’m a recovering nerd… HiJolly
I really like the following, toward the end of the book. It can as easily apply to the church and disillusionment. I love reading Bennion, he was a genius, inspired, or both! A Sunday School teacher once said, “If everything in the scriptures is not true, none of it is.” What a thoughtless statement to make! Suppose a friend living in the State of Washington should send us a box of apples, and after eating a dozen or so good ones we should bite into one that was bad. Would we throw away the whole box? I think not. At that point we would begin to sort the apples. We would save the good ones, throw away the bad, and if some were found to have only a bad spot, we would trim that off and eat the rest. The scriptures are not perfect, nor do they purport to be. If one is constructive and not cynical he can find many “good apples” therein.A certain woman reminded her husband that before they were married he often told her that she was perfect; and that since their marriage he has let her know too often that she is not. Despite this disillusionment in regard to her supposed perfection, this man now finds that his love for his wife is deeper than it was [at the time] when they were married. He has discovered many fine qualities in her which he never knew in his limited acquaintance before their marriage. She is not perfect, but he loves her more in her imperfection than he once did when he thought her perfect.
My feeling for scripture is somewhat similar. There was a day in my youth when I thought every word in the bible – except for a few errors in translation – was true and of equal worth to every other word. Now that I have had the scriptures as constant companions for nearly thirty years, I see them more nearly for what they are. In them is the human touch as well as the divine seal. But in recent years I have come to know the truth and the worth of many precious things in the scriptures that I didn’t know in my youth… The scriptures are not perfect, but their virtues and values far outweigh their defects and limitations. They should be read in proper perspective just for what they are – neither with blind devotion, nor with the cynic’s eye.
We need not draw final conclusions about the scriptures when we are only twenty, forty, fifty, or seventy years old. Again and again, with more of life’s experience behind us and with increased humility, we need to return to these sacred writings and seek new and larger meaning. Often we shall find it
. love it. Especially the last paragraph you quote. What a tragedy to think that we’ve got it all figured out…. Jordon, I’m glad you put a review of this book in this forum. I recommend to people searching for answers, or those who have found some new information about church history or current church policy that they didn’t know before, and are trying to reconcile prior Stage 3 belief with new enlightenment. For me, my crisis of faith was disheartening when I did not receive spiritual answers to my crisis which left me alone in my greatest time of need. The part of the book I felt really spoke to me in my searching mode was the presentation on different ways that we find truth in my life. Bennion writes:
It was admitted [in the prior chapter] that man’s knowledge of reality was but partial, limited, and not without error; and the need to continue to search for a greater and more accurate understanding of reality was pointed out. Truth was defined as the fruit of consistent and sound thinking — a property of judgments and propositions.
What man seeks, then, is a tested and reliable body of knowledge that can be called the truth about reality. The next logical question is: How does one find such knowledge? It is not easy to find the truth and to be sure one has found it.
…
One gains knowledge in four ways: (1) by accepting it on the authority of someone else; (2) by thinking; (3) by experiencing; (4) and by feeling which may be called intuition, mysticism, inspiration, or revelation. Each of these four ways of finding the truth will be considered and evaluated here with special attention being given to how these avenues to truth can be used in religion.
[Source: Bennion, p.24]
I have not completed the rest of the “evaluation” and continue to study it but really like the straight-forward and honest approach Bennion takes, not in analyzing church historical facts, but trying to show the reader how to think and how to find answers. The point isn’t “read the scriptures and pray” or just take the word of prophets on blind obedience because they are in authority to speak for God, it is much more than that.
What I like best is the idea that there is not just ONE WAY to find truth. For some situations, prayer can reveal to the soul truth. But what about investing money in a business proposition? Will prayer always lead to the rich rewards? No. There are times prayer cannot be used as a sole source of knowledge and truth. Sometimes we must study it out in our minds, use our experience and our intellect to come to reasonable choices and through experience, learn truth.
For me, this is what I feel is the journey I am currently on. Some truth can only be learned by going through experiences, without such, the knowledge is beyond our understanding. I do not wish to leave the church because my prayers were not answered as I wanted them to. My prior faith that helped me find truth through prayer was real in past situations, but why not now? I think perhaps I need to learn to find truth in new ways that will help me grow in intellect and in faith. And be a stronger, wiser LDS truth-seeker, through love, peace, faith, and humility. For some TBM, finding truth can come in their own ways and I do not believe they are being “duped” by church leaders or just ignorant. But some people, some situations require new approaches in our lives, which also means there is more than one way to truth.
I enjoy this book as it helps me reconcile things without requiring me destroy all I used to know and accept as truth. (Special thanks to Jordon for posting here, and Orson for recommending this to me).
Yes Heber, I loved those parts as well. I thought the whole book was amazing. Bennion was amazing! I haven’t read the book, but I love what you guys have said! There’s a funny thing about “scriptures,” they were all written by “men.” I’m not aware of any (at least Judeo-Christian) text that claims to be physically written by God. So it seems quite likely and logical that there are some mistakes. I mean, for the most part, these authors were attempting to “channel” God’s will; so I’m sure their own biases, understanding of things, and ego entered into their writings. Since there are so many contradictions in the scriptures, I think a prudent way to approach them is to look for the words that resonate with one’s own soul, and be fine to discard the rest.
I often cringe when a person spends most of their talk/lesson quoting scripture to make their point. I’m completely bored by this most of the time. But I’ve always had a real issue with some “men” flaunting their superiority over others anyway — maybe that’s why I’m such an apostate
😈 😳 …I just feel like God gives to each of us equally. I’ve seen too many instances where people play the “I’m chosen and better” card to the detriment of others, and it doesn’t feel right to me.
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