Gary N. Fugle

Gary Fugle grew up in southern California where he explored wild areas around his home and played hard at whatever sport happened to be in season. In college, he fell in love with biology, and went on to receive his Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. During his last years of graduate school, Gary went through an unexpected transformation; his purely mechanistic view of our existence was replaced with a biblical understanding of a sovereign Creator-God.

Over the next thirty years, Gary has lived with the assurance that both the natural world and the Bible are God's revelations to us that will not conflict.

Dr. Fugle has pursued his passion for biology as a professor in the California community college system. He has taught a diversity of courses, from detailed surveys in zoology and botany, to human anatomy and physiology. He has been honored with exceptionally high student ratings and professional awards including, "Faculty of the Year" and "Educator of the Year."

Simultaneously, Gary has been deeply involved in different evangelical Christian churches, including 25 years in his local congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America. Throughout, he has intently studied the Bible, regularly led worship as a musician and speaker, and fellowshipped with fellow believers.

Gary started writing Laying Down Arms to Heal the Creation-Evolution Divide as a tool for students who struggle to integrate reasonable scientific findings with biblically faithful, Christian beliefs. He has now participated for many years at the science and religion interface. Laying Down Arms is the culmination of thinking that brings together and celebrates the wonders of biology and the God who is responsible for it.

Gary and his wife, Brenda, have a son and two daughters. They lived in northern California for many years and now reside on the Oregon coast where they love hiking and watching sunsets over the crashing surf. In his free time, Gary is an avid birdwatcher and makes abundant time to treasure his wife of 40 years.