At the Chiasmus Jubilee celebrating the 50th anniversary of John W. Welch's discovery of chiasmus in the Book of Mormon, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland gave a wonderful talk:
Here, Holland affirmed the need for an informed, evidence-based approach to faith, scholarship, and apologetics, and not the mere fideism that is all too common within LDS circles. Note, for instance, the following:
"Peter assumed that two-fold aspect of our conviction when he said, “Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you.” (1 Peter 3:15)
Reasons for the hope that is in us. Reasons for our belief. I am not a lawyer as virtually all the Welch family men are, but I don’t have to be one to understand in a court of law the power and primacy of evidence. In making our case for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, I believe God intends us to find and use the evidence He has given—reasons, if you will—which affirm the truthfulness of His work."
" . . . not to seek for and not to acknowledge intellectual, documentable support for our belief when it is available is to needlessly limit an otherwise incomparably strong theological position and deny us a unique, persuasive vocabulary in the latter-day arena of religious investigation and sectarian debate."
Here is the video of Holland’s talk:
