Reviews 217 literalism is Boyd K. Packer's 1988 talk justification for an antagonistic stance at University entitled toward modern science. In Paul's book, "The Law and the Light." In this speech, this influential talk was given only fleet- Elder Packer stakes out a position ing mention in a note. sharply opposed to certain fields of In spite of this, Science, Religion, and modern science, such as evolution. Al- Mormon Cosmology is a much needed though the published version of this and very well executed piece of modern speech is prefaced by a clearly worded Mormon scholarhip. I heartily recom- disclaimer, it is being cited by some as mend it for thinking Latter-day Saints.

A Question of Perspective

Marjorie Newton. Hero or Traitor: A work, and by 1853 Biographical Study of Charles Wesley Wan-Wandell led the first group of Australian dell Independence, MO: Independence Saints to Utah. He lapsed again into in- Press, 1992. activity upon his return to California but later filled positions of responsibility in Reviewed by Lance D. Chase, pro- the LDS church. He subsequently lived fessor of history, Brigham Young Uni- in Beaver, Utah, and Pioche, Nevada, by versity—Hawaii. which time he was again inactive in the MARJORIE NEWTON'S 60-PAGE BIOG- church. He then moved to California raphy of Charles Wesley Wandell, Hero where by March 1873 he had begun his or Traitor, inaugurates the John Whitmer association with the RLDS movement. Historical Association's scholarly The following November he and mis- monograph series. Those who have read sionary companion Glaud Rodger her prize-winning Southern Cross Saints: sailed for Australia, stopping in Tahiti The Mormons in Austrailia will be espe- where they converted apparently aban- cially interested in Wandell who could doned LDS members to the RLDS be considered a founder of both the LDS church before continuing their work in and RLDS churches in Australia and the Australia in 1874. By March 1895 Wan- RLDS church in Tahiti. dell was dead and his body was buried Born in 1819, Wandell joined the in Sydney. LDS church in New York in 1837. He While Newton was hampered by a served as a Mormon missionary and in lack of primary documents on Wan- the church historian's office in Nauvoo, dell—his journals were lost in a fire— Illinois. When the majority of Saints her careful work is in evidence. She went west after 's death, uncovers discrepancies pertaining to Wandell remained behind, becoming in- Wandell in the work of Juanita Brooks active in the church. By 1849 he was in and Robert Cleland and discusses Wan- California where he renewed his Mor- dell's own inconsistencies in his at- mon church activity. Two years later he tempts to explain his disaffection from and John Murdock opened Australia to the RLDS church. "Minor character" 218 Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought though Wandell may have been, the formed by the First Presidency or their 3,933 RLDS in Tahiti today and the 3,755 consent" (33). Since Newton does not in Australia attest to his ongoing influ- correct Rawling we can only infer her ence. position on the matter. But B. Carmon RLDS historian Roger Launius ex- Hardy in Solemn Covenant argues that on plains in his foreword that whether one three separate occasions LDS church sees Wandell as hero or traitor depends president John Taylor said authority to on one's religious perspective. Newton, perform plural marriages had been a member of the LDS church, rightly delegated to hundreds of men and that describes her subject as an enigma, such ceremonies could be performed al- which is how she also leaves him. Both most anywhere. "Plural marriages," she and her readers are left to ponder the said Hardy, "both with and without the influence Wandell's mining interests sealing ordinance continued to be per- had on his religious life, the role the formed almost anywhere" (53-54). The temple played in his disaffection from strict conditions and consent described the LDS church, how plural marriage by Rawling and allowed to stand by and his own two civil marriages im- Newton are idealized versions of actual pacted his faith, and what part the de- plural marriages as practiced by LDS. mocracy-versus-theocracy issue had on Finally, Newton's conclusion ap- his final decision to become part of the pears somewhat naive when she writes, RLDS movement. Finally, can an in- after trying to resolve what may have creasing neurosis explain Wandell's dis- been a difference between Wandell's satisfaction with his first church and his private and public persona on plural difficulty getting along with the Califor- marriage: "if we accept that Wandell nia members of his new one? While it knew polygamy was practiced by would be gratifying to have more an- church leaders in post-assassination swers than we are given in her book, Nauvoo and in Utah and yet steadfastly Newton has acquainted us with the sig- denied that it was an official doctrine of nificance of these issues in the life of the church, we must assume that he held Charles Wesley Wandell. the church and its post-assassination There are some minor flaws in Hero leaders to be in apostasy" (34). Mormon or Traitor. For instance, Newton tells us delusiveness relative to its private prac- Wandell was born in Courtland in tice and public position on plural mar- northeastern New York. But there is no riage is well documented from Joseph town by that name there now, and the Smith to Joseph F. Smith. Nor is "lying one which used to exist near present- for the kingdom" a phenomenon of the day Peekskill was spelled Cortlandt. religious only in modern times. Con- Also Newton tells us Wandell lived in sider Abraham and Pharaoh when the Pioche, Nevada, for four and a half years latter asked the identity of the prophet's but has him moving there in 1866 and wife in Genesis 12. leaving in 1873, seven years later. But this is perhaps quibbling. New- Furthermore, Newton quotes J. N. ton is a thoroughgoing professional. Rawling as saying, "[T]he Utah Church Her writing that there "is overwhelming before 1890 did not regard the parties to evidence that Joseph did indeed reveal a plural marriage as committing sexual 'the principle'" contradicts the public sin . . . provided such a marraige com- position of the RLDS church and dem- plied with strict conditions and was per- onstrates the courage of the historian to