Every now and then I have an epiphany. It's cool to have that moment of clarity, but afterwards I often feel stupid I didn't understand before.
As I was thinking about my LUCA question and my hope that some biologists would participate, it clicked that it is somewhat odd biologists are here at all. Biologists are obviously not going to ask scientific questions in this forum. They'll seek other biologists in a professional setting. That means in a scientific sense they are only here to give answers ... though they could be here for other reasons - understanding creationists, to get an anecdotal feel for the balance between creationism and theistic evolution, for camaraderie of some sort, etc. That fits well with the book I mentioned in the OP, Monad to Man along with another book Rhetorical Darwinism. The first deals with the personal opinions of biologists about evolutionism (which is separate from evolutionary science), and the second deals with how biologists interact with the lay public.
Beyond that, it's also a low probability theistic evolutionists are going to ask questions because they already agree with evolution.
Therefore, the vast majority of questions are going to come from Christians who believe in some form of special creation. Given this means a tension with evolution, there will always be a subtext (intended or not) of a challenge to evolution's veracity. ALWAYS. That was my epiphany.
If that's true, why would a biologist ever listen? And I mean, when would they listen in a manner where they are not motivated to refute what is said? That's not meant to be a slap against biologists. It's a perfectly understandable thing to do.
I would like to have a discussion with biologists about LUCA in light of some other findings in biology. Not a discussion about ID. There would be no need to invoke God in the discussion. Not about things I, who am not a biologist, have supposedly discovered because I haven't discovered anything. Not my philosophy of biology, but accepted philosophy of biology. Not a discussion where I eventually challenge evolution playing any role in life's current diversity, because I don't intend to do that. Just a discussion about LUCA in light of other published findings by biologists.
I didn't expect to have that discussion here. I realize it would need to take place in a different setting. But posting here does help me sort out my thoughts and make sure I've got straight what I would want to discuss.
Still, if the biologist knew my theological position, why would they ever talk to me about such a thing? The subtext will always be there. Maybe the aforementioned "Peaceful Science", but still ... well, anyway ... thanks to everyone for answering my questions and helping me out, regardless of where it goes from here.