ON THE MORMON/UTAH SCENE

JOSEPH SMITH A ND THE IN MY FATHER'S HOUSE, MORMONS & GENTILES, BEGlNNlNGS OF MORMONISM. An Autobiography. A History of Salt Lake City. Richard L. Bushman Dorothy Allred Solomon Thomas G. Alexander & James B. Allen $17.95 $17.95 $19.95

Published by the University of Illinois The author, a daughter of slain poly- Volume 5 in the Pruett Publishing Press, Bushman analyzes the emer- gamous leader Dr. Rulon Allred, offers Western Urban History Series takes a gence of Mormonism in the early a revealing inside view into the lifestyle candidand well-researched look at the nineteenth century and argues that of present-day polygamous families. unique city of "Mormons & Gentiles." Mormonism must be seen not only as Told with sensitivity and sometimes This first general history of Salt Lake the product of this culture, but also as painful honesty, this manuscript was City presents the community as a dis- an independent creation based on the winner of two Utah Arts Council writ- tinctive religious capital and signifi- ~evelationsof its charismatic leader. ing awards. I cant regional center.

AMERICA'S SAIN TS, The Rise of Mormon Power. APOSTASY FROM Robert Gottlieb & Peter Wiley THE DIVINE CHURCH. $16.95 James L. Barker $15.95 A behind-the-scenes look at the Mormons, their extensive economic empire, their enormous spiri- A reprint of the 1964 classic, back by tual appeal, the mechanisms of their spreading popular demand. Originally used as bureaucracy, the little-known men at the top who Melchizedek Priesthood Manuals, this exercise tremendous political influence. . . . a volume outlines the apostasy of the compelling and controversial look at America's early Church, and the contemporary fast growing and increasingly powerful Mormon restoration from a Mormon point of church. view.

SEARCH FOR SANCTUARY, Brigham Young & the White Mountain Expedition. Clifford L. Stott.

Documented journals and letters of exploring expedition sent by Young into the White Mountain ranges of Western Utah and Nevada to find a suitable sanctuary for the Mormons if the U.S. Army marched on the Utah Territory-Utah War of 1857-78. I

MORMON & UTAH COIN p61M 8 CURRENCY. Alvin E. Rust ION BOOK STORE $9600

With over 300 photos, this book details the Mormon coinage and explains each variety of money, scrip, and token. A price guide for all coins and currency in the book is included. A valuable addition to the libraries of collectors and history buffs. SUNSTONE SAINT FOR ALL SEASONS An Interview with Lowell L. Bennion THAT OLDER BROTHER AGAIN! Arthur Basseft 18 Have we missed the point of this important parable? BISHOP TED Linda Sillito 28 CHURCH TRADITION NOW A POLICY VANCE LAW LEAVES WHITE SOX FOR EXPOS EXCOMMUNICATED MAN SUES CHURCH

A FINE DRAMA Kerry Bate 58 Journals of John D. Lee, edited by Charles Kelly PURITY AND PASSION Sun~nlerFire by Douglas H. Thayer A Wonlnn of Desfiny by Orson Scott Card READERS FORUM 2 FROM THE EDITORS Peggy Fletcher 4 People of God

LAW OF THE LAND Jay S. Bybee 28 The Lawyer's Conflict

AESTHETICS AND NOETICS MirhaelHicks 29 The All-Hearing Ear

ISSUES OF INTIMACY Marybeth Raynes 30 Retroactive Guilt

WASHINGTON CORNER Michelle Marfarlane 34 Myth-Busting: Utahns in Washington VOICE FROM ABROAD Early Morning Seminary in Europe QUERIES AND COMMENTS David John Buerger 38 What Constitutes Official Doctrine? BOOKNOTES 44 RECENT TITLES Linda Thatcher 46 PUBLISHERIEDITOR Peggy Fletrher Mirhn~lStnrk written and double-spaced, and face mail. Airmail subscriptions in MANAGING EDITOR Scott C. Dunn STAFF Richnrd Hnz~bt,Susnn Piele, should not exceed six thousand the U.S. are $27 for one year plus ART DIRECTOR Mkhnel 0.Rognn Jennne Pugslq, Mnrrelyn Ritchie, Jnrkie words. For increased readability, airmail postage charges. Applica- NEWS MlTMl Crrtii~Wnrner Suonrinm, Lindn Turner SUNSTONE discourages manuscripts tion to mail at second-class pos- ASSK NEWS EDITOR Michelle Mncfnrlnne with footnoting. Manuscripts tage rates is pending at Salt Lake flCTION EDITOR Susnn Stnker SUNSTONE is published by the should conform to the Chirngo City, Utah. POSTMASTER: Send POETRY EDITOR Dnrnis Clnrk Sunstone Foundation, a non-profit Mnnunl of Style. Unsolicited manu- address changes to SUNSTONE, 59 BOOK REVIEW EDITOR John Sillito corporation with no official con- scripts should be accompanied by West 100 South, Salt Lake City, BUSINESS MANAGER Tonr Miner nection to The Church of Jesus sufficient return postage. Send all UT 84101-1507. DEElOPMENl DIRECTOR M.Mnrfnrlnne Christ of Latter-day Saints. Arti- correspondence and manuscripts AWUNTING Chnrlott~Hnnlhlin cles represent the attitudes of the to SUNSTONE, 59 West 100 South, Copyright 1985 by the Sunstone MVERTISIWG Christopher Allen writers only and not necessarily Salt Lake City, UT 84101-1507 Foundation. All rights reserved. PRODUCTION MANAGER Connie Disnq those of the editorlpublisher or United States subscriptions to SUN- Printed in the United States of TTPESET~NG K~rqWillinn1 Bnk, Brinn editorial board. STONE are $27 for one year (12 America. Burk~ Manuscripts for publication should issues). Outside the U.S. subscrip- CIRCUUTHlN/PROMOTION ]ospph H. Hnrris, be submitted in duplicate, type- tions are $35 for one year by sur- ON THE COVER: Photo Inj Mirhoel Stnck I AGONY IN THE ECSTASY the body enabled the atonement his own donation envelope to the The November-December 1983 for sin, and the mortality of the bishop, the proposal seems to con- issue of SUNSTONEcontained two body enabled the second stage of stitute classical tax evasion, shift- fine articles on the Atonement the Atonement which broke the ing a deduction from one person which in different ways focused bonds of death. However, the pro- to another who doesn't himself on the agony Christ endured. Each pitiation for sin so strained the qualify for it. asks penetrating questions, but I limits of mortality that Christ As to the progressive/regressive must suggest alternative answers. sweat blood from every pore. distinction of paragraph 15, Joyce M. Woodbury expresses We must not assume that the Bohn's characterization of the concern that Mormon emphasis requirements of the Atonement universal ten percent tithe as on the role of Gethsemane does included intense physical pain. The "proportional" would be more cor- injustice to the scriptural impor- agony endured was only a by- rect were it not for the income tax tance of the actual crucifixion. The product of the ecstasy achieved. deduction granted for charitable price of sin was paid in the Garden Brant Gardner contributions. Quite apart from and the wages of death were rec- Schenectady, New York the marginal utility arguments onciled at Christ's death. Each act Bohn acknowledges, the charitable is an indispensable part of the pas- deduction means that a person in a sion, but the ultimate sacrifice of ANESTHETIZED SACRIFICE higher tax bracket actually pays a Christ's life is such a powerful smaller effective percentage of his human image that it symbolically First of all, although I favor income as tithing than does his encompasses both facets of the your desire to represent a broader less affluent brother. spectrum of Mormon thought, the Atonement. It is therefore under- For example, a person with a Hiltons' "Lihyanite" article (SUN- standable for LDS authors to high- taxable income of $100,000 may STONE 9:1)would have been more light the role of Gethsemane, pay $10,000in tithing, but at which has been historically at home in the Church News. I cer- tainly agree that it looks like "the refund time hell receive a check underemphasized. from the U.S. treasury returning Mormons made it up themselves." While the scriptures clearly roughly $5,000 of his tithing to express the importance of the Robert Bohn's article on tithable him. In effect, the government Crucifixion, we must not infer income raises, perhaps intention- (i.e., other taxpayers) covers half that the pain on the cross accom- ally, far more questions than it his tithing liability-his actual plished any part of the Atone- resolves. A couple of comments: tithing rate is only 5%. On the ment. While I can understand the Bohn suggests in his paragraph other hand, the worker with suffering in Gethsemane as a 7 that a family might be paying $10,000 income who pays his result of the Atonement, I cannot too much tithing if children pay $1,000 share to the Church will imagine Christ under the Rbman tithing on money received from receive none of it back. He pays a whip or nailed to the Roman cross tithe-paying parents. He suggests full, unrefunded 10%. That's as an integral part of the expia- as a remedy that the parents lower regressive. In order to make the tion. The Garden reconciled spiri- their own donation to compensate system proportional (not to men- tual death; the cross merely sup- for the amount paid by their chil- tion progressive) those able to plied the means of Christ's death dren. Apart from the questionable deduct any part of a charitable as a necessary prelude to the assumption that the "family" is deduction for tithing would have Resurrection. It was a cruel world the tithepayer, rather than the to contribute their tax-saving which forced Christ to make his individual, this suggestion attributable to their gift. final sacrifice in so much pain. assumes that money once tithed is How to respond to that dis- Brother Batty is concerned with then somehow "clean," kosher, parity and how to evaluate how a loving Father could allow immune from further tithing. The methods of manipulating tithing the agony which was part of the theory that money, once tithed, gifts to maximize tax benefits Atonement. On this the scriptures can retain its tithed quality even turns on what ultimately we con- are silent. I can offer only a per- after being transferred to another sider the purpose of tithing. Is it sonal observation. If the body tithepayer, if taken to its logical merely an ecclesiastical tax enables in us capacities beyond extreme, would mean that an assessed annually to enrich the those of the spirit (D&C 9333- employee whose employer pays Church coffers by a specified dol- 34,then the expiation most logi- wages out of tithed funds would lar amount? Or is it intended to cally would have taken place in the also be immune from tithing. make a meaningful sacrifice in flesh. In that state, while Christ's More alarming is Bohn's sugges- favor of the Church? If it is the righteousness satisfied the law, his tion in the same section that chil- former, then it causes no alarm to physical element acted together dren in low tax brackets might pay have a portion of one's tithing paid with his spirit (although only sepa- their tithing to their high-bracket by the government, or to manipu- rably connected) in the same parents, who would then forward late family members' donations to manner as the inseparably con- the donation on to the bishop in maximize the charitable deduction, nected spirit and body of the their own name, thus enabling the or to pay all one's tithing by do- Father. Only in that state could parents to deduct-the amount of nating appreciated property that the Atonement be accomplished. their children's donation from actually represents a very small For Christ, his mortality and the their own taxable income. Aside cash outlay. However, given the Atonement are uniquely bound from depriving the child of the purported purpose of tithing as a together. The celestial aspects of formative experience of handing temporary schoolmaster to help

2 SUNSTONF the Saints overcome their greed Jesus rarely attempts to break new Jesus in his thirtieth year as he and point them to the higher law ground or place Jesus against his rode into Jerusalem on Palm of consecration, approaches and contemporary Jewish background. Sunday, 10 April A.D. 35, and plans calculated to anesthetize the The very attempt to assign a spe- would follow the pattern set by 2 giver from the sacrifice seem cific date to the birth of Jesus Samuel 54: "David was thirty inappropriately self-centered. according to our JulianlGregorian years old when he began to reign." Mark Umis solar calendar and western cul- TnbwPank, Marylund tural outlook underscores the Although the above biographical parochial methodology which is sketch for the life of Jesus may be normally used to solve the prob- too brief to be accepted at face SEEK HIHOAV, HOT HARMONY lem. First, we must realize that a value, it can be further supported The subiect "Dating the Birth of lunar calendar regulated Jewish by identifying the sabbatical year Jesus ~hrist,"as outlked by daily life, and second, that record- as the "acceptable year of the Joseph T. Hepwwth ESUPW~E ing individual birthdates was not a Lord," and the Jubilaic Passover as 9:1), deserves another look. The traditional Jewish custom when cause for the customary prisoner tentative silggestion, "It is not for Jeuswas born. Whenever an "release." In addition, it is likely man to know the time9 or sea- infant was born, he immediately that 6 April was also the coin- mrW(Acts 1:7),is simply ill became a "one year old," and then cidental date for the ceremonial advisd fitten applied to the area again when the first new moon of "blessing of the sun," which of historical investbation. the religious new year (Nisan 1) prompted Simeon in the proximity arrived, the infant became a "two of the temple on Mount Zion to The basic problem with the bio- year old." graphical dates for the life of Jesus acknowledge Jesus as a "light to stems not so rnkh from insuffi- As strange as it may seem, an lighten the Gentiles, and the glory cient data as it does from the prob- infant could be counted as a "two of thy people Israel." This same lematic attempt to recmcile con- year old" even if he were less than creation day anniversary was also tradictory pieces of information. two days old. This strange situa- observed again after a drrminical The traditional Christmas nativity tion was true on any new year's cycle of twenty-eight years when meserves w a &m~pIe.The day provided the infant was born Jesus and the heavenly forms of placemenr of the three wise men on the day before. Thus, when we Elijah and Moses appeared on the dehy side with the shepherds reference Luke 3:23, "And Jesus Mount of Transfiguration. Jwrtsh &.the holy fdlyis pure fan- himself began to be about thirty tradition honors this epochal tasy, but this sirme harmonizing years of age," we must realize that "rebirth of the sun as a special efhY Is epidemic am- most Jesus was still several years day of prayerful hope for messi- Chdstian histcarid commentators. anic salvation. The Christian Even thm& Mormons are aware younger than we might otherwise expect. The only other age-related world, in contrast. chose the of the eerious shortcomings in the annudl winter solitice Juiian biblical text, there are many who statement, John 8:57,"Thou art bllaw this same harmonizing not yet fifty years old, and hast calendar date of 25 December. attempt without question. thou seen Abraham?" does not which occurred during the Saturnalian festival of Misrule, The nativity, as reported by the contradict the idea of a more recard of Matthew, contradicts youthful Jesus. This particular cita- to commemorate the savior'^ the same story as told by Luke. tion was a legalistic ploy which birth. Matthew establishes a birthdate was used to disqualify anachronis- Many biblical commefitators for Jesus shortly befare the death tic testimony in Jewish courts. In tend to surround the historical of Herod the Great, who died in our modern idiom the statement Jesus with a mystical shmud by the early spring of 4 B.c., whereas might be translated as follows: wrapping the four Gospels within Lhuses the background of the 'You have not yet passed a single a cloud of canonical harmony. The Roman census, which overlapped half century (i.e., a jubilaic fiftieth Mormon viewpoint supports the the years A.D. 6-7. One would like year), how can you therefore tes- more rigorous concept that all ta discover a Roman census during tify as a firsthand witness con- truth must exist in a state of uni- the years of Herod the Great in a cerning Abraham (who lived in a versal harmony. We must there- client state such as Palestine, but much earlier age)?" fore try to scrutinize the available there is no evidence to support By choosing to follow Luke's material as thoroughly as pwible. this possibility. There is an However, if we continue in a abvious disparity of nearly ten apparently more consistent chro- nolugy rather than the nativity clase-minded manner wr cffrute ZHLBS bww&m P&~ltewCnat Luke, will certainly be futile. If, on tlte which &ips WIM the entire reign bund in Matthew, wican safely other hand, we have the amrage of HadArchelaus (4 B.C. to A.D. identify the first day an which 6). If we want to officially adopt Jesus advanced a year in age by to test our human reaon by the 1 R.C. birthdate, then we will referring to the volume, New and searching for the historical Jesus, eithet have to abandon the nativ- Full Moons (1973) as presented by we just might in the very process it stories told by both Luke and Herman H. Goldstine. The proper determine whether the heavens datuhm or establish an arbitrary entry shows a new moon on April have been ssald shut on this tad of historicd guidelines. sixth in the year concurrent with subject. he usual inYBmtton in+ottre the Roman canllms, A.B. 7. Thig Ray Sailer biographMal date for the life of same train of thought would place Huntsoille, Alabama earliest times: teach the gospel as best we can, take care of our own, and trust in the Lord. PEOPLE OF And so it continued through the years. Three incidents in my recent past stand out. Several Peggy Fletcher Christmases ago a well- intentioned, wealthy ward on the hen I was a teenager a place where most of our neigh- east side of Salt Lake City decided the soulful, hungry bors knew nothing about our faith to host a gala party for the child- faces, bloated stomachs, ("Is that like the Amish?" or "How ren in a fairly depressed neighbor- and skeletal bodies many wives does your father hood of the city. They labored My ward beckoning me from the have?") was to have a shared long and unselfishly to gather pages of Lifp magazine secret, a life, a language, and code gifts, fill stockings with all variety reacted to the belonged to the starving peoples known only to ourselves. of treats and trinkets, and pre- pared food to satiate any child's world's pain as of Biafra, not Ethiopia. It was a The ward was my world. distant African nation whose fantasy. They decorated a hall in Saints always had: name I learned to pronounce only And, from my vantage as a the most festive manner and out- teach the gospel as by its repeated mention on the child, we nlwnys willingly, lovingly fitted a Santa to the last detail. All nightly news. Before the crisis, it helped each other. No child was was ready. Then they asked the best we can take might as well have been Narnia to ever born, no young girl married, Primary president to compile a list care of our own, me. no person ever fell ill or was of all the "active" children in the At that time I was part of (in the struck by accident or death with- ward for the invitations-they and bust in truest sense) a ward in an affluent out the omnipresent calming hand wished their rewards only on the Lord. area of northern New Jersey, of the Relief Society. It seemed to those children who could earn mostly recognized as a commuter me meals instantaneously them with attendance. appeared with so little effort, suburb of New York City. For me Perhnps thou shnlt sny: The mnn hns it was an ideal congregation, the nearly in advance of the tragedy itself, that I came to wonder if brought upon himself his nlisery: therefore people some of the finest I have 1 will stny my hnnd, and will not give ever known. Educated, hard work- there weren't a stash of frozen chicken and broccoli casseroles and unto him of nly {ord, nor inlpnrt unto him ing, and responsible, they seemed of nly substnnce thnt he nlny not suffer, to embrace each task with genuine strawberry Jell-0 complete with bananas secreted atstheward- for his punishnrents nre just-But I say pleasure rather than as a religious unto you, 0 Mnn, whosoever doeth this obligation. I never knew anyone house somewhere. If there were any hungry souls in our midst, I the snnle hnth great cause to repent: nnd who refused a calling nor would except he repenteth of thnt which he hnth consider doing so. Holidays we didn't know them; if there were any needs unmet, anyone not done, he perisheth forever, nnd hnfh no celebrated together gladly: march- interest in the kingdom of God. For ing around the parking lot on July visited monthly by two kindly gentlemen (later a man and boy), behold, are we not nffbeggnrs? Do we not 24 dressed as pioneers and Indians nll depend upon the snme Being, even to commemorate entering the Salt anyone not cared for thoroughly, I couldn't imagine it. God, for nll the substnnre whiiih we hnve, Lake Valley (even converts who for both food nnd rniment, nnd for gold, had never been there), sweltering Into this idyllic setting burst the nnd for silver, nnd for nll the riches which in the New Jersey humidity, or civil rights movement, the Viet we hnve of every kind? (Mosiah doing the polka and being kissed Nam War, the 1967 race riots, 4:18-20.) by old men in silly hats on New literally tearing apart areas of Year's Eve. Road shows were New Jersey (notably Newark) very Second, in 1983 I had the oppor- modest extravaganzas" in which close to our homes. Concerned tunity to attend the World Council even the least talented among us citizens all. the ward members 'of Churches meetings in participated. There were sports spoke much about events swirling Vancouver, British Columbia, as a teams and speech contests and around us in the larger society. member of the press. They meet bazaars and dance festivals and And, although I heard some men- for three weeks every seven years girls camp and ward choir and tion of possible solutions and in such geographically diverse early morning seminary and gold- expressions of sorrow and com- places as Nairobi and Uppsala, and-green balls. passion, I mostly sensed grave Sweden. Vancouver seemed my Because our boundaries included fears, outrage, and baffled dis- only chance to observe firsthand many small cities (my own, belief as developments of the the assembled representatives of Summit, had only a half dozen or 1960s unfolded. Conversations most Christian churches the world so LDS families) and because as turned easily to speculations of over, to hear their concerns, to Mormons we were in a small the Second Coming, the nearness sense their faith. I confess much minority, the ward members drew of end-times, especially as the of it was very foreign to my pecu- abnormally close to one another, Church policy of priesthood denial liarly Mormon sensibilites, but deriving unexpected strengths to blacks unleashed hostility most of it was exhilarating, and from the bond. Differences among towards us we had never known. some of it even profoundly us seemed less important than our The good Saints of my ward moving. commonality; the fellow feeling reacted to the world's collective Each day at noon there was a was intensified. To be Mormon in pain as good Saints had from the press conference with various key

4 SUNSTONE figures from the council; given my whether the LDS church might her remaining muscles would relative ignorance of ecumeni'cal ever produce a Mother Teresa, the allow. I watched as she relin- personalities, each day was an Catholic saint of Calcutta. auished more cans to our box than adventure. It was a game to see if I Edmunds herself had served tire- she carried out with her. could determine what was going lessly with Elder Marion Hanks in "We have to help each other," on by the time the press confer- the refugee camps of Hong Kong, she clucked philosophically. teaching English and healing ence ended. (Many of these people There may have been many wounds; her answer, thus, the spoke in foreign languages which individual Mormon Christians significantly complicated things more surprising: "That will never for me. It wasn't until my final day happen," said she, "because, of who helped to relieve the suffer- there that I discovered the avail- course, all LDS women are ing Biafrans of my youth-I trust ability of simultaneous expected to marry in order to that there were. Mostly we translations.) achieve exaltation and could not mourned their plight in flashes of devote a total life to service as common humanity, but we spent Perhaps One afternoon a small, wiry our tears and energies on our black man wearing the lavender Mother Teresa has." we are realiz- clerical collar of an Anglican I hope that she is wrong. I want own. ing what ather entered the room to address us. to believe that God accepts all What has changed? On January He was greeted first by hushed genuine gifts of self: the selfless 27, 1985, though I was not there, I Christians have silence and then spontaneous lifelong nurturing of husband and am certain the members of my known much longer: applause-all from an otherwise children rind the selfless care of the childhood ward joined the entire cynical press corps. As he spoke he homeless, sick, or lost. Exaltation Church in a fast for the gospel truths can exuded a pure Christian manner, belongs to those who are poor in Ethiopians. A day of fasting for not take hold unlike any 1 had known. His easy spirit, the meek, the merciful, the starving people we don't know, good-humor and straightforward pure in heart, the peacemakers. who have probably near heard the in dying wisdom combined to create an Certainly some among us embody word Mormon and may never be bodies. effect I can only describe as these qualities. Why not a "golden contacts" (although one prophetic. This man was Bishop Mormon Mother Teresa? never knows. . .). Desmond Tutu of South Africa, The week before Christmas Perhaps we are feeling a little recent winner of the Nobel Peace 1984 Lowell Bennion (the man of more secure as a church. Perhaps Prize. God interviewed elsewhere in this we are beginning to recognize the When I returned to Salt Lake I issue) organized a food drive for goodness of other people and was filled to brimming with the the hungry of Utah. The staff of groups and are willing to join experience. Desiring to share, I SUNSTONEalong with many others them in acts of global charity. hurriedly met with a Church throughout the city had the privi- Perhaps our own international leader to discuss it. As my descrip- lege of helping him with this growth has made us aware of the tions toppled over each other, I effort. We were assigned in three- enormous differences in living said, "I could sense Bishop Tutu hour segments to stand at the standards between American was a man of God." door of a grocery store passing out Saints and all others. Perhaps we With a meaningful pause the handbills to incoming- customers, have come to sense our responsi- man leaned forward in his chair as suggesting they purchase an extra bilities to other peoples as well as if to underscore his query .and can or two for those in need and other Mormons. Perhaps we are asked, "Oh yeah? What about deposit the cans in our box on the realizing what other Christians President Kimball?" way out. The store in which we have known much longer: gospel In stunned response I heard served was located in a poorer truths cannot take hold in dying myself mutter some standard area, quite close to downtown; the bodies. affirmation of support For patrons themselves didn't seem Or perhaps our ward bounda- President Kimball, wondering all too well off. (I failed to see a single the while why he required one. ries are expanding to include the yuppie the whole afternoon.) world-the world is our ward. He leaned back, shook his head A woman approached the box. soberly, saying, "Oh, Sister One last speculation. In The skin of her face was pulled response to all the recent media Fletcher. Where is this odyssey downward as if by magnets, fall- leading you?" attention given the Ethiopian ing in piles off her chin (though situation, the Church Office Build- To this man the light of inspira- her body was gaunt). The mouth ing was flooded with letters From tion and vision only rests upon small and tight, a scarf wrapped anxious members encouraging the those leading the LDS church. closely around her neck as if to Church to action. Possibly, then, it There can be no other "men of hold her head in place. When she God." is the combined voices of the spoke it was nearly inaudible, Saints themselves that could be My third memory is of one raspy and choking. the difference. When we compel quarterly lecture of the 0.H. "I have cancer of the tongue," actions in the aggregate by uniting Roberts Society. The topic con- she apologized. "I have had many cerned our individual responsi- in a fast, we express our fullest bility as Christians to a troubled operations on my tongue and Face. potential for "suffering with" the world. One of the participants, I won't be around much longer." rest of humankind. In so doing, we Rita Edmunds, was asked during "I am Mormon," she continued become a prophetic people not just the question-and-answer period with pride. A twisted smjle was all people with a prophet.

SUNSTONE 6 are adly, the term saint has been robbed of its richness by generic overuse in the LDS church. In the past it described a person of such exceptional holiness, virtue, or benevolence as having guaranteed an exalted station in heaven and entitled to veneration on earth. In Robert Bolt's magnificent play, A Man for A11 Seasons, new dimensions were added to saint: "Sir S Thomas More was a scholar and by popular repute, a saint. His scholarship is supported by his writings; saintliness is a quality less easy to establish. But from his willful indifference to realities which were obvious to quite ordinary contemporaries, it seems all too probable he had it." According to both these definitions, Lowell Bennion "has it" as well. Son ofa prominent Utah educator, Milton Bennion, Brother Bennion has dcvoted thegreater part of his life to education. He received his B.A. from the University of Utah in 1928 and his doctoratefrom the University of Strasburg in 1933. He also studied at the University of Washington and University of Arizona. Dr. Bennion, in turn, shared his learning with students as director of thesalt Lake LDS lnstitute from 1934 to 1962, as associate dean of students and professor of sociology at the University of Utah from 1962-72, and in numerous books, manuals, and articles for the LDS church, including The Religion of the Latter-day Saints, Teachings of the New Testament, Religion and the Pursuit of Truth and The Things That Matter Most. But he hasgiven much more than food for the mind-he has spent a lifetime relieving the physical, emotional, and social hungers ofthose in need. For twenty-five years he has owned and operated a Boys Ranch in the Teton country of Idaho. He has served on many boards and committees including the Salt Lake Association of Retarded Citizens, Salt Lake Commission on Youth, Shriners Hospital Volunteer Board, and the Human Resources Council. He is currently serving as the director ofthe Community Services Council. He also had time to be an LDS bishop for three years as well as a husband and father. He is married to Merle Colton and they are the parents of four sons and one daughter. With his rigorous personal integrity, his courageous attachment to truth, his intuitive compassion for all ~eople,and his gentle manner, Lowell Bennion has been a lifelong example of the best that Mormonism can produce. This interview was conducted by Peggy Fletcher in Salt Lake City on October 22, 1984.

SUMSTONE: What sort of Mormon childhood training did you have? BENNION: My mother was a very good woman, anxious about religious practice and faith. My father, on the other hand, was more of a thinker and philosopher, with a strong ethical emphasis. He taught me (and all my four brothers and three sisters) to value learning. When~iwas four or five, he would give me his magazine with uncut pages and a knife to cut them while he read. Then later when he was dean of the summer school at University of Utah, he invited many important thinkers, scholars, and visiting professors to dinner. Although I was only a kid, I was allowed to listen in. So I grew up with freedom of thought and some breadth of ideas, especially from my father. SUNSTONE: So you were somewhat prepared for the wide-ranging nature of your European studies. BEWNION: Yes. I studied not only sociology but also philosophy, religion, and economics. You see in

SUNSTONE 7 i L i Europe one had more freedom; one wasn't as specialized. I didn't do the kind of sociological study being done in America. For example, I took a course in jurisprudence, which is the philosophy of law. We tried i to trace the origin of the idea of the good all through the philosophical systems down to the present. That was the sort of study ~ermitteda sociology student in Europe. SUNSTONE: Since you were in Germany from 1929 to 1934,did you have any sense of the rise of Hitler and the whole Nazi movement? BENNION: Not really. I guess no one really did at the time. I could kick myself for not being more realistic about Hitler and the eventual consequences of his movement. I have one vivid memory of his early fanaticism. I went one evening to a rally of the Nazi party in a great big basement hall. I stood in the middle of a group of ardent Nazis as they chanted "Heil Hitler." Then the speaker, a Lt. Wagner from Munich, said, "We have too many Americans over here, picking up our knowledge, taking advantage of our schools. When we get in power, what will we do with them? We'll expel them from the country." And there I stood. Still, I didn't foresee the war in 1933 any more than Chamberlain did in

Actually, there were two things I liked about Hitler's program. One was that he provided work for everybody. There had been great unemployment. I knew people who had been unemployed for eleven years in Vienna. Imagine-men unemployed for eleven years. Second, there was one price for the opera and one drew lots to see where one sat. I thought that was democratic. SUNSTONE: Do you like the opera? BENNION: Oh, I love opera. In Vienna, my wife and I went every Saturday night. I bought her a ticket for twenty-five cents. I'd stand behind her for fifteen cents. It was a great opera company and a great opera house; it was exciting. SUNSTONE: What were your plans upon returning? My mother BENNION: Well, I came back expecting either to run for the Senate eventually or to be a professor. But it was January of 1934,and there were no jobs at universities. So instead1 was the first one hired as an Was a vevgmd educational advisor for theCCC-Civilian Conservation Corps-in Utah. It was quite a free-wheeling Wornan, anxious educational process, you know. You had to drum up your own faculty and staff from the community. I aboutreligion and did that from March until November. faith. MY father, Then, Dr. John A. Widtsoe [Church Commissioner of Education 1, whom I had met in Europe a time or two, asked me if I would be interested in opening an LDS institute of religion near the University of on the other Utah. At first I declined, feeling I wasn't quite ready for that, but later I accepted. Thought I'd do it for hand, was about five years. Inore of a SUNSTONE: Was this the first such institute? philosopherm BENNION: No, it was the fourth. There were institutes already in Moscow and Pocatello, Idaho, and in Logan, probably in that order. (Perhaps Logan came ahead of Pocatello.) There were four of us who I 'I met with Dr. Widtsoe in his office once a year for a faculty meeting. I I SUNSTONE: How many students did you have? I 1 BENNION: The first quarter I had about eighty-four, as I remember. 1 I SUNSTONE: And you taught all the classes? BENNION: Oh yes. In fact, the exciting thing about it was that I could create my own curriculum. "Dr. Widtsoe," said 1,"What should I teach?" And he said, "What do you think? What are you able to teach?" I taught one course on my dissertation, "Religion and the Rise of Modern Capitalism." SUNSTONE: Ah, wonderful. BENNION: And Mormonism, of course. We gradually developed courses that we thought were of interest to students. But there was no set program. We had a lot of freedom and creativity. SUNSTONE: But what was the goal of the institute at that time? What was the plan? What did they expect of you? BENNION: I was expected to work that out by myself. SUNSTONE: When Dr. Widtsoe talked to you, what did he say was the aim, the purpose of the institute? BENNION: The basic purpose of the institute was to help college students keep the faith, to give them a picture of religion that was compatible with what they were learning on campus.

8 SUNSTONE SUNSTONE: Who were some of your peers? BENNION: There was Thomas Romney in Logan, George Tanner in Moscow, and Wiley Sessions in Pocatello. I was sent down to Arizona to start an institute at the University of Arizona, with the promise I could come back. Dr. West promised. And I was there for two years. SUNSTONE: What years were they? BENNION: That was 1937 to 1939.Then T. Edgar Lyon finished his service as president of the Holland mission. He had his master's degree in church history with an emphasis on Christian history. He was a fine historian. He took over the institute when I went to Arizona. And when I came back, Ed and I were colleagues for twenty-three years. We never had an ill feeling or bitter word pass between us. We were brothers, I'll tell you-real brothers in the gospel, and then in life. Dear friends. I miss him to this day. I'm SUNSTONE: That's a long time. fearful that BENNION: Yes. Let me give you an example of his spirit. You see, I was the first director. When they we emphasize the brought me back, they made me director. He was six years older, but my associate director. Yet, it didn't phase him a bit to serve under a younger, less knowledgeable man. And he was very well unique things of informed in all aspects of history. He taught the history of Christianity, Mormon history, also the New Mormonism. We Testament and Doctrine and Covenants with that historical background. He taught all the history and should practice all the factual stuff and I taught world religions and Mormon doctrine, and courses on personal philosophy like courtship and marriage, marriage and family life, and Church leadership. We were a Christianity, good blend, complemented each other. If students didn't like Ed, they came to me. If they didn't like me, not just they went to him, so we were a good balance. "Churchianity." I have to tell you a humorous thing: I had a woman student who became interested in religion in her senior year. Actually, I think she was more interested in finding a boyfriend. She came into my office one day and said, "Brother Bennion, I have togive a two-and-a-half minute talk in Sunday School, and1 needhelp." I said, "What's your subject?" She said, "The three degrees of immorality." I said, "Brother Lyon's the authority on that." So she went to see him. SUNSTONE: While you were at the institute, did you have close relationships with Apostles and leaders? BENNION: Yes. Dr. Widtsoe was most gracious that first year. We had a fireside once a month in his home with students. He was very cordial, informal, and personable. When I was called to this job, President McKay told my father he would like to talk to me. So I went to see him. He was a counselor in the First Presidency at the time, and he very wisely sounded me out: Instead of lecturing to me, he wanted to know how I felt. I said to myself, "I'll tell him." After we conversed for a while, he finally said to me, "Remember two things: Be true to yourself and loyal to the cause. And I don't care what else you do or what you draw upon, but be true to yourself and loyal to the cause."It was very helpful guidance for a young teacher wet behind the ears. Through the years, I had to interpret what it meant to beUloyalto the cause"in my own personal way. But I always tried to keep my integrity. Over the years, I had several very fine, meaningful conversations with President McKay about evolution, birth control, and the black issue. Each time I came away feeling very good, that I was in harmony with his thinking, that he was open minded on those subjects. SUNSTONE: Did you have other friends in the leadership? BENNION: Well, I certainly felt that I had friends-Stephen L Richards, Anthony W. Ivins, and Hugh B. Brown. I had very many fine discussions with Hugh B. Brown. He was my stake president when I went on a mission. I remember him as quite a dynamic speaker then. He talked about things that had meaning for life; he applied the gospel to life. He was a great stake president. Some of the General Authorities, I think, appreciated me, and some thought I was too liberal. Some didn't trust me and some did. SUNSTONE: Was there ever any hand-slapping from some of those who may have been concerned? BENNION: No. I think Dr. West fielded the blows for us. I was never confronted directly, never called on the carpet. Even when I was relieved of my duties as the director of the institute, I didn't sit down with anybody who told me why they wanted to change the leadership there. I don't know that they were obligated to do that. You make administrative changes when they ought to be made. Still, I'd like to have chatted with those that were responsible. SURSTONE: So there was never a session where, in effect, they said, "Here is the problem from our point of view." BENNION: No. Ed Barrett hated to tell me that they were making a change. He didn't tell me either why or who was behind it. I had a talk with Ernest Wilkinson at the time, and he said,"Why don't you come and teach at the Y?" And I said, "I can't teach religion except in an atmosphere of complete freedom, and 1 don't think I'd have it there."

SUNSTONE @ SUNSTONE: While you were institute director, did you picket against capital punishment at the state capitol? I BENNION: Picket? No, I belonged to a group that was trying to abolish capital punishment, but I didn't l picket. I just met with people and talked about it. I SUNSTONE: Did your students know vou were opposed to capital punishment? BENNION: Well, 1/11 tell you: I've never been a band- stand arguer for the blacks or against capital punishment but when I was called upon to express my views on the subject, when it was natural and appropriate, I expressed myself freely and hon- estly. I didn't feel like carrying on a campaign to embarrass anybody or the Church. I thought that would just eliminate any chance to be influential. SUNSTONE: What were your students like? BENNION: I had wonderful students all through the years. For example, David Bennett. One day David said to me, "I've got some personal problems I'd like to talk over with you. Could we meet once in a while and chat?" So we met on the stage of uni- versity ward, behind the curtain, once a week and talked about his problems. We were that intimate and personal. He was trying to decide whether to go on a mission or not. That was one of his prob- lems. He decided to go and he got his mission call to France. But Dave was in my class so we created a course on Mormonism and the arts-a seminar. Dave took a leading role because of his interest in the arts. I'd bring in an architect to talk to us about architecture, and a musician, a painter, and a wri- ter. It was interesting. We were that free to meet student interests in those days. Those were wonderful days. I tell you, it was more like a family. When I left we had about eleven hundred students. It wasn't an institution. There were only two of us there for years, and then three of us for another ten years: George Boyd and Albert Payne, for about five years each. Then the final year, they brought in two or three teachers who turned it into a different setting, different feeling, different atmosphere. After that, there was no longer the simple, unified feeling that we'd had before. NSTONE: Didone of those later faculty members see it as his duty to report to certain of the General It was Authorities some things said and done at the institute? glorious before BENNION: Yes, a young "upstart," without saying a word to us, went down to the Church historian's Correlation. l department and said that Ed Lyon and I were teaching false doctrine. That word got to Joseph Fielding Smith, and I don't know to whom else. We heard about it from a friend of Ed's in the Church history was completely department. So we called our colleague-critic on it in a nice way, and we had Ed Barrett come up to free to write. I settle the matter. We asked our accuser to say what he thought was false doctrine. Then we explained didn't even show our idea of revelation, and of God, and we were cleared by Ed Barrett. We felt good about our point of the committee my view, but we didn't have a chance to talk with whomever of the General Authorities were concerned. work until it SUNSTONE: Could that have been part of what led to their suggesting releasing you? was done. BENNION: It might have been, but there were other things that might have led to it as well. For

,1 example, I used to teach medics once a week, on a Friday at lunch. I SUNSTONE: What year was this? BENNION: Probably beginning in 1952. One Friday we discussed artificial insemination. I saw no moral

10 SUNSTONE issue, lust, or infidelity involved. It was purely a way of letting a woman become a mother. Well one of I the boys in the class went down and reported the discussion to [Apostle] Mark Petersen, who then wrote an editorial on the back page of the Deseret News'LDS church section against artificial insemina- tion. Sol wrote a letter to the Deseret News and asked why. I got a letter back saying-well I won't go into the details, but it was a dogmatic answer. Then through Ed Barrett I was asked if I would permit an LDS doctor who was against artificial insemination to come in and talk to our students. I said,"Surely; let him come." You see, that's the kind of freedom and creativity we had'. SUNSTONE: But that might also have caused your ultimate downfall. BENNION: I think another thing or two might have caused it: They knew how I felt about the black 1 felt there issue. was no religious SUNSTONE: How did you feel? or ethical reason BENNION: I felt that there was no scientific or religious or ethical reason to deny them the priesthood. That if you read the scriptures as a whole, the works of the Apostle Paul and 2 Nephi 26 that say-what to deny blacks is it?-"black and white, bond and free, male and female; . . . all are alike unto God, both Jew and the priesthood. Gentileu-there was no support for the policy. I just saw no reason for our position toward the blacks. I Hugh B. Brown had felt that since 1943. I wrote President McKay a letter in '43 and told him I couldn't defend the practice, and that I needed help. Would he help me to understand it? He wrote back a gracious letter assured me a saying that he was very tolerant of everybody, very sympathetic, but he said it might well be due to the change was preexistence. I felt he would have changed the doctrine had he kept his health and vigor in his later coming. years. Hugh B. Brown assured me a change was coming. SUNSTONE: How did you feel when you actually heard about it? BE##LOk Elated. I could hardly believe it. A friend called me on the phone during the day. I got mail from California to New York expressing joy from people who knew I would feel so good about it. Another possible factor in my release was an incident involving Ernest Wilkinson. President Wilkinson sent me a letter and asked me to take it over to President Olpin asking for university credit for nonsectarian institute work. We had been through this repeatedly, and I knew it wouldn't take. They weren't about to do that; they thought it unwise. So I wrote back and said, "May I change your letter here and there?"He must have reluctantly said yes, so I made a few changes and then took it over topresident Olpin. I told him whence it came and personally I didn't expect any change. That may have been a factor. Still, President Wilkinson once said to a group of Church leaders that I was a great teacher and writer, but not a very vigorous administrator. That's probably true. SUNSTONE: How did you first meet Sterling McMurrin? BENNION: He drifted into a class of mine. I've always had great relations with him. I even sold him an oid Oldsmobile car for fifty dollars. Took his wife into our home for a few days after her appendec- tomy. So we've had great times together. I have great respect for Sterling's integrity-moral and intellectual-and his humanity, good humor, and brilliant mind. He's been an esteemed friend through the years. SUNSTONE: What was the first book you ever wrote? BENNION: It was Max Weber's Methodology. That was my dissertation. The first Church manual I wrote was called What about Religion? Dr. Widtsoe had suggested my name to the MIA General Board. So that got me started writing manuals. SUNSTONE: What was the process then? BEWNION: It was a glorious day before Correlation. The general board committee would come to me and say, for instance, "We want a manual on doctrine for investigators. You write it, will you?" So I wrote a manual, Introduction to the Gospel. It's not a bad manual. And I was completely free to write it. Didn't even show it to the committee until it was done. SUNSTONE: So they just chose individuals whom they respected and trusted and gave them complete freedom? BENNION: Committees of the board-the general boards-decided what they needed in the way of subject matter and who could write it. Then they selected people to do it. There was more autonomy in those days among the auxilliaries, before the days of Correlation. Of course, we still had a reading committee in the Church. Thomas Romney, who retired from the Logan institute, was the chief reader, and he had a number of suggestions to make, some of which I liked, and some of which I couldn't take. They were terrible! SUNSTONE: But could you overrule them? BENNION: Well, wait a minute. Adam S. Bennion read it for approval, and I told him my concerns, and I talked to George R. Hill, who was superintendent of the Sunday School. I pointed out several comments by Brother Romney and said I couldn't accept them. He said, "Neither can I, and I'll stand by

SUNSTONE 1' you." Adam S. said, "Take what you want and leave what you want." SUNSTONE: Do you have any idea how many manuals you've written? BENNION: I haven't kept track. I may have written more manuals than anyone in the Church. I SUNSTONE: A dozen? Two dozen? 1 BENNION: I wrote a number of them for the MIA maids, M-Men and Gleaners, and the Sunday School. I also wrote a set of lessons for Relief Society and for the Aaronic Priesthood. I even wrote a set for the Primary (which I shouldn't have done). SUNSTONE: Which of your books makes you the most proud-including manuals and recent books? BENNION: Well, I'm not terribly proud of any of them. However, I like my little book on Things That Matter Most. I read it once a year to pep me up. SUNSTONE: What are the things that matter most to you? BENNION: The essential idea of the book is that we live in two worlds-the world of reality, the world of "Mother Nature," fellow human beings and deity. In that world, I feel my contingency and my limitations. I don't feel very important in the total world of reality. Because I don't have much power or influence, I must adapt to her. But we also live in a second world-a world of values that we have chosen and that's where I "recover" my sense of creativity and individuality and control. I outline those values very briefly in the book-health, eco- nomics, security, humanities, intellectual stimula- tion, integrity, creativity, love-just brief state- ments about the basic values I live by. I also like my Religion and the Pursuit of Truth.I think it needs revising, but it is still a fairly interesting approach to the intellectual life and religion. SUNSTONE: In that regard, what do you think is the place of "liberals"--SuNs~~~~and Dialogue types- in the Church? Is there a place for them? BENNION: Oh I think so. In an article I once wrote on what it means to be a religious Mormon liberal, I stress the three important things which character- ize a religious liberal. A liberal has usually an ethical emphasis, which is highly justified in the Church and in the Tudeo-Christian tradition. A liberal is concerned with people and adapting the theology and the Church structure to serve human values. And a liberal is open minded, free to think even in l served matters religious. Idefine a religious liberal in those three basic terms. If you accept my definition, I'm in the Swlss- proud to be liberal. brm miasion. SUNSTONE: What do you think, then, about some of the recent dilemmas over the writing of Church I was marrled history? thirty days BENNION: Well, I'll tell you what I think. It sounds like the middle of the road, and I don't like that before I went, stance, but I don't like to see our history presented just in faith-promoting terms. I think we should be broader and more honest and admit limitations and mistakes, weaknesses as well as our strengths. On kitwing my wife the other hand, I hate to see people like the Tanners pull things out of context or emphasize only the for thirty* mistakes we've made OF the limitations or the problems or the questions. months. One thing that bothers me a little about SUNSTONEand Dialogue is that when you deal with problems primarily (or exclusively in some issues), it doesn't give a whole view of the faith, or of the movement,

12 SUNSTONE or of the Church or history. I'd like to see a mix of articles, some facing up to problems while others point out the greatness, truthfulness, the values, and the exciting things about our history and our faith. I don't mean we should glamorize but we should create a balance of criticism, if you will, on occasion, with very positive, affirmative things. Why, for example, are we still in the Church? I don't like either extreme. I think it's unfair and dishonest, in a way, not to give it balance. Let me give you another example. I've just read Linda Newell's and Valeen Avery's book on Emma Hale Smith. They do a beauti- ful job, I think, on Emma. She comes through as an intelligent, compassionate, hardworking, practical, realistic kind of woman. You really feel great about her. I did, as I read the book. But Joseph Smith and Brigham Young are mentioned largely in terms of the problems they created for Emma, to show her character. So they don't come out very well in that book. Now, I'm not saying that the authors should have given a balanced view of Joseph Smith; that wasn't their purpose. But I think it unfoitu- nate that the reflections on the presidents are quite problemati- cal, difficult, and negative. SUNSTONE: Your own life seems to personify that balance. BENNION: I remember John Fitzgerald took me to task for not fighting for the black issue in public like he did. I went to his trial and defended him. I told the High Council that I felt the same way he did, but that I didn't believe that was the way to bring about change, that I respected Church leadership, and the Church's reputation. So he called me a "compromiser." You know, integ- rity is the first law of life, but I guess sometimes you compromise it a little bit in the interest of other values. I believe in living the whole gospel, not one principle at a time. We must try to put it all together, try to see it in perspective. SUISTONE: What do you think about the Book of Mormon? BENHION: I've just written a series of essays called "The Reli- gious Merit of the Book of Mormon." My thesis is that the Book of Mormon is a religious book. It's not a text in theology or history or geography or anthropology, or archaeology. If there's any value in it, it's in its religious teaching. I've tried to pull out about twentv-einht. - ideas that I find in the book that are worth listening to, worth understanding and living by. Some are origi- nal, and some are stated in original ways, known to us through other sources like the Bible, but appearing to grow out of a natural situation. I like the Book of Mormon. 1 used to teach it. I met my wife, I realize there are problems there that I can't resolve. There are aspects of it that I don't Merle Colton, in understand, don't accept wholeheartedly, but there's a lot of good feeling and good spirit, and LDS High School. somevery inspired ideas in that book that I cherish very much, that I'm glad to teach and try to live She joined me by. It has some great things in it, really. Simple, but great. after my mission, SUNSTONE: What happened after you left the institute? and I studied in BENNION: Well, I was invited, as I told you, to go down to BYU and write for the Church, write for Germany as Hitler the institutes. I decided that if they didn't want me to teach that I probably wouldn't be happy was coming to writing. I had been invited to the University of Utah a number of times by the philosophy power. department, as well as the sociology department. I turned them down. I didn't know enough, and I was enjoying the institute too much at the time. But finally when there was an opening over there 6 I in sociology, in a juvenile delinquency study, I took it. Then I became a half-time researcher and half-time assistant dean of students. After a year or two1 was asked to teach a graduate seminar on Max Weber, and then the university made me a full professor of sociology. Tom O'Dea left and I took over in his sociology of religion course. I was associate dean of students and part-time teacher for ten years. SUNSTONE: When did you start getting so involved in compassionate service? When did you start the Boys' Ranch, for example?

SUNSTONE 13 BENNION: Well, when I was a boy of fourteen and sixteen, I worked on a ranch. I did a man's work for my uncle, and it did me a world of good. I always wanted a ranch of my own, and I thought I'd share it with boys. So I finally got yp courage and found this one in Idaho, in the Teton country, and started it about twenty-five years ago when land was cheap. I paid eighteen thousand for 160 acres, half of them in quaking aspen and lodgepole pine and half in rolling fields surrounded by quaking aspen. SUNSTONE: What was your original vision? And how has it changed? BENNION: I just wanted to teach boys how to work and enjoy it. My aim in recent years has been to raise their self-esteem. I figure if a boy thinks well of himself, he's got it made. If he doesn't, then he's in trouble. So everything I've done up there in recent years has been geared to building up the boys' self-esteem and sense of worth. SUNSTONE: Did people begin sending problem boys up to you? BENNION: A few every year. But basically, our boys are just a cross-section of city kids. We get a few with problems, but we don't take them on if they're seriously delinquent or psychiatric cases. But we've turned some boys around who were lacking in competence, shy, or even off on the wrong track. We've had over seventeen hundred boys up there. SUNSTONE: How many do you have every year? BENNION: Lately we've had forty for four weeks each-two periods-or eighty altogether. SUNSTONE: What do they do? BENNION: In the mornings we work them good and hard-eight to twelve. Not too hard, but reasonably hard-cutting down trees in the forest, building fences, building barns and whatever, gardening, painting houses for widows in the val- ley. In the afternoon they ride horses or fish or play sports. It's a fun time. Evenings we sit around and talk-about values-get them on their feet and make them think and debate. SUNSTONE: What do you think about the Church's attempts to serve? BENNION: In the community, or in the public, or in the Church? SUNSTONE: Any of those. In Vienna, BEMNION: Frankly, I have a couple of concerns about the Church program. We have a very elaborate my wife and I program, so the faithful Latter-day Saint is pretty well preoccupied with church life, church activity, and tends to identify the religious life with church life. But that doesn't leave much time or motivation went ta the opera to go beyond the boundaries of the Church program into the larger community. That concerns me. every week. I I'm also fearful that we emphasize the unique things of Mormonism, rather than the basic core bought her ticket which is discipleship of Christ. We ought to go to church to be motivated and moved to go out and love for Wnty-five our neighbor and do things in a practical way, both within the Church and outside it in the larger community. We should practice Christianity, not just "Churchianity." Some do, of course, but I think cents I'd stand there's a tendency to concentrate on unique doctrines like the Word of Wisdom, instead of those behind her for teachings which move us really to carry out the eighteenth chapter of Mosiah: "Bear one another's fibn cents. burdens, comfort those who stand in need of comfort," and establish a real Christian community. Our young people growing up in affluence are recreation-minded more than service-minded. I know

14 SUNSTONE I've tried to move them without a lot of success. So I have my concerns that'institutional goals might displace or overshadow the basic purposes of the Church and Christian life. Part of that is loving your neighbor, loving God. SUNSTONE: Do you sense that problem to be more pronounced of late? A Church-program mentality

1 had been invited to the Uni- versity of Utah by both the philo- sophy and soci- ology depart- ments. I finally took an opening in sociology.

BENIYIOI: It's awfully hard to measure change like that. I think in the earlier days of the Church that circumstances compelled us to be more concerned with each other. As we move into an urban society and live in an impersonal world, there's Iess motivation or drive to be concerned with people. You know, Jesus went about doing good to his fellow human beings and was people-oriented. 1 think sometimes that werre more ppggmmoriented, or institution-oriented than we are individual and person-oriented, SUWmWE: You just made a comment about what is unique in Mormon theology. What is, in your estimation, the unique contribution of Mormon theology? BENNION: I'm very fund of Joseph Smith's radical concept of God and man. I like the idea of God not being absolute, not being totally responsible for life. If he were, I'd have a hard time believing in him because of the untoid amount of suffering and inequality that I see in the world. Connected to that is the idea of man's intelligence being eternal, and free agency being part of that eternal intelligence, instead of God-given. I don't see how man could be really free if his agency were given to him, for the quality of it and the envhmtent in which it operates would be God's responsibility. So1 like the idea of man's eternal intelligence, eternal freedom and the eternal nature of the elements and law. I like the Mormon doctrine of man, not only in terms of what I've said, but the very positive, t affirmative concept of man-no original sin, but instead free agency, brotherhood of man, eternal I progression: "Men should anxiously be engaged in a good cause . . . for the power is in them, wherein 4 they are agents unto themselves" (D&C 58:27-28). I think we have a faith in life that many people don't have, despite all the realities, evil, suffering, and c,, limitations of life. I once knew a wonderful Jewish boy studying medicine. He used to come to my Sunday School class at the university ward, and I got close to him. He lived with some Mormon returned missionaries and commented, "The thing I notice about them is that they have faith in life, and I don't." He went on, "Sometimes I don't want eternal life. 1/11 be gIad when it's over." He was a hpesJe&= wonderful man-sweet, sensitive, and keen. I loved everything about him. But he picked that up-that evmBut1 Mormons have a basic positive view. (Of course, we may be too naive in our optimism.) I think man has need faith. I be a great capacity for good and evil, and I think Mormonism has given me a very positive outlook on life-a very hopeful outlook. lieveGodlivesbn I like the idea of a lay Church, too, a lay priesthood. I think our Church set-up is very meaningful if Idon"titab we don't make it an end in itself, if we remember that it's instrumental to human values. I like the Mormon people. I've had a lot of students that have warmed my heart, and I've seen salMy. I wouldn't life-seen the good in their lives as they walked with humility and with faith and with concern for their trade my faith for fellowmen. I've had a lot of wonderful students. some people's SUNSTONE: You just finished a tour of duty as bishop. What was there about that experience that particularly relates to your concern with the balance between the institution and personal service? blew BENNION: Well, I had to guard against falling into routine, like the sacrament and the sacrament ? meetings. There's a program that you have to follow, and I followed it gladly, but I was always conscious of trying to make it meaningful, and not letting it be routine. One verse I love in the book of 1 ? Moroni says they decided whether to pray or to worship or to sing or to donas the Spirit moved them." I liked that. One thing that bothered me a little bit was the combination of stake and ward meetings and functions. The program became quite tiring, exhausting time and energy. I would have preferred doing more of the personal things, like interviews and being with the people and planning sacrament meetings and trying to make them meaningful. I got the young men and women to serve the elderly and handicapped outside the ward once a month, rather regularly, and that was meaningful. I think you have to be on guard that the institution doesn't become the end. I've said this ten times here in our interview, but it's real to me. SUWSTONE: How do you feel about excommunication? BENNION: I don't like it. I believe in it only under two circumstances: If somebody were really haranguing or harassing the Church, trying to lead people away from it with persistent apostate, negative things. Or if a person were unrepentant, just a bounder and a rascal, and going against every principle of honesty or chastity or fidelity, I think it would be justified. But I think we've overdone excommunication. I avoided getting involved in that as a bishop. I think if a man or a woman who makes a mistake, even a moral transgression, and is truly penitent, I see no reason to take them through an excommunication. We don't do that as much now as it was done earlier. I think maybe it's tapering off a little. SUNSTONE: Could anything dissuade you from staying loyal to the Church? BENNION: It would take something pretty drastic to cause me to be wholly inactive in the Church. I enjoy people in the Church. I think the gospel is a wonderful medium of communication and relation- ships. The Church gives them an opportunity to serve and be of some little influence for good. I wouldn't know where to go if I left the Church. I'd be tempted to become Jewish because of my love for the Old Testament prophets. But then I wouldn't have Christ, you see. I believe, too, that within the Church and within the gospel, everyone can create his own life, chart his own course. I refuse to be a rubber stamp of anyone else in the Church. I've often said the Church belongs to me as much as it does to Joseph Fielding Smith or Heber J. Grant or anyone else. With a measure of tolerance any Latter-day Saint can be a good disciple of Christ within the Church. Over the years, when I have been tempted to be discouraged with Church membership, I've observed many friends, university people among them, who got a lot of their values from Mormonism, ethical values, life values, and life affirmations. Then they became disillusioned with the Church, because the Church wouldn't listen to them, partly, and dropped out of activity. Now their families grow up without the positive values that they acquired when they were active members of the Church. I've thought of that a lot. The Church can be a wonderful help in rearing your family, getting some good, solid moral and life values into them. That's been one thing that's kept me active. It's in the interest of my own family. It doesn't sound too genuine a reason. I don't like the secondhand kind of reasoning, but that's part of my life. And so, I've hung in there.

16 SUNSTONE SUNSTONE: So you think maintaining faith is an ongoing struggle? BENNION: Absolutely. 1/11 tell you, some people know everything. They know that God lives, they know that Christ is the Son of God, they know that life is eternal. They say, "I know" a lot but to be honest I have tovary that alittle bit. I know that the principles that Jesus taught are true, are good, and represent life at its best. I don't question any more the Beatitudes, or the principle of love or repentance. I know the value and the goodness and the truthfulness of these basic principles that we live by, but I have to exercise faith in God. I don't know absolutely that God exists. I like our description of him. I know the attributes we ascribe to him are true, are good, are something to emulate, to aspire to. I have faith in Christ as our Redeemer from death, from sin, from ignorance. I believe that life is eternal, but I don't know it absolutely. I have to acknowledge that to myself and others to be honest. I walk by faith. I wouldn't trade my faith for some people's knowledge. If people knew as they say they know, I believe some of them would live differently. I don't think it's very meaningful knowledge. Of course they say, "I know by the Spirit." Well anyone can say that-and know everything. I've had some spiritual experiences over the years that have confirmed my faith in these things, but there's still an element of faith, which means an element of belief, elements of doubt, in my life. I have to admit it. SUMSTONE: What are your favorite scriptures or body of scripture? BENNION: I love the Hebrew prophets Amos, Hosea, Micah, Isaiah, Jeremiah. I love their ethical monotheism, their emphasis on justice and mercy. And of course I love the Sermon on theMount, and everything Jesus said, practically. There are one or two things he said that I don't understand-his use of parables, for example, so some would not understand them. SUNSTONE: That's the teacher in you. BENNION: Yes. I also like 1 Corinthians 13, of course, and Mosiah 18and Alma 32. I like the bookof Job. I like Ecclesiastes, and some of the Psalms. I don't read the scriptures like a legal textbook-every statute, every verse having the same value. I think one has to be very discriminating and recognize that ! some reach the heights, and some shouldn't be in there. p, SUNSTONE: How then do you see man's role and the process of revelation? 1 EENNION: Well, that reminds me of another favorite scripture that you know very well,"Behold, I am E God and have spoken it; these commandments are of me."Thatls the divine part. "And were given unto F my servants in their weakness, after the manner of their language, that they might come to an is understanding." (DCC 1:24-28.) I have to look upon revelation as a two-way communication, you i might say, between deity and man, between human beings and the divine. I think it's hard for God to get through to us. I think it takes a lot of humility and faith, knowledge, questions, and preparation to f receive revelation. 1 I believe in checking my thinking by trying to get inspiration or revelation on it. Conversely, I also t believe in checking so-called revelation by my best thinking and experience-my total experience. I don't believe in just trusting thinking, without humility, and without faith, and without searching for some kind of confirmation. I even believe in testing both thinking and inspiration by other people who have comparable interests and experience. SUNSTONE: What do you think about the temple? BENNION: I like the temple experience in two ways: One is that it puts one back into the context of eternity, and one gets a sense of the divine purpose of life. And it's a peaceful, quiet beautiful place to go; serene and meditative. I like to commit myself to some of the principles there. I think it's good for me. There's a certain logic to doing work for the dead-if baptism is important for us, it may well be for all men. But it seems a laborious way to have it done. The temple narrative is a vehicle to facilitate the vows and commitments we make. I think that part was not revealed word for word. It seems to reflect some of the feelings and the thinking and the circumstances of the Missouri-Nauvoo periods. There have been some changes. I would like to see some more changes in the temple ceremony. I would like to see it more Christ-centered, with a greater commitment to some of his ideals, a commitment to service, more centered in our responsibility to fellow human beings. I think it's a little bit too egocentric in its emphasis. You see, I have less interest in exaltation now than I used to have. I don't want to be exalted. I'd like to be in the presence of Christ, be a co-worker, but I believe that he who would save his life shall lose it, and he that would lose his life shall find it. I'd like to see a greater emphasis in that direction in the temple ceremony. Now there is a basic unselfish purpose in doing work for others, work for the dead. And it's a great opportunity for all people to serve others. Some people can go every day, but I couldn't do that; it's too much the same. Frankly, I like the marriage ceremony. I think it's beautiful. Basically, the whole idea of eternal marriage is very acceptable to me. Still, I get more enjoyment out of working for the living than for the dead, hoping to pick that up in my duties in the Millennium.

SUNSTONE 17 18 SUNSTONE The Parable of the Prodigal Son and the Principle of Repentance

By Arthur Basseft t has been suggested that all literary criti- those interpretations: cism is a form of autobiography-that one 1. There is a common tendency on the part of often reveals more about his or her own many, if not most, to emphasize the importance attitudes by the way one reads a text than of works more than attitudes, i.e., many seem to Ione reveals about the meaning of the text believe that we will ultimately be judged more itself. While I would want to place certain on the basis of what we have done, rather than on qualifications upon that assertion before I could the basis of what we have become. totally embrace it, I must admit that I find some- 2. Many consider sins of commission far more thing attractive about it. Further, I believe that grievous than sins of omission. this is, to a degree, also true of sacred as well as 3. There seems to be a common belief among secular texts-that certain preconceived biases Latter-day Saints that those who transgress can are often revealed in the way that people inter- never fully regain the blessings they might have pret scripture. By revealing our biases, our had, were it not for transgression. Once a mis- interpretations of scripture thus act as a type of take has been made, its consequences are with autobiography. that individual eternally. This principle is illustrated by the way Latter- day Saints commonly interpret the parable of the Prodigal Son. These interpretations reveal TRADITIONAL INTERPRETATIONS much concerning our prejudices regarding the The parable of the Prodigal Son has been doctrines of repentance and of judgment, atti- called for ages "the gospel within the gospel." tudes that are often unacknowledged or even Arndt has also called it "the greatest short story recognized. Three biases seem to be inherent in ever written." In it, an apparently repentant

SUNSTONE lg younger brother, who has squandered his inheri- reveal something of their own character. In his tance, has come home expecting to ask his father famous Lectures on Romans he noted: for a position among the servants of the house- hold. Much to his surprise, the father has met The proud, however, who trust in their own merits and him "while he was yet a great way off" and wisdom, become angry and grumble when others, who do welcomed him back into the household by cloth- not deserve it, are given freely what they themselves have ing him in a robe of honor and by placing a ring been seeking with so much zeal. In the Gospel, Christ upon his finger and shoes upon his feet. The speaks of this in parables with respect to the elder brother, father has also ordered a celebration and the who turned away from his prodigal brother and did not slaughter of a fatted calf. want to let him come in. . . . An older brother, returning from work in the These are the ones who are "foolish."Instead of rejoicing field, hears the music of the celebration and, in the salvation of others, they advance presumptuous discovering what has happened, refuses to go claims in their own behalf. Thereby they show that they into the house because of his displeasure at the were not seeking God for God's sake but for their own sake, brprlslngly, seeming injustice of his father's actions. Luke namely, from self-love and from a desire for personal many Church continues his narrative: advantage (i.e., impurely). And then they even go so far as to be proud of this impurity and loathsomeness oftheirs and members are And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many are therefore twice as loathsomearthoseon account ofwhom in complete years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy they are offended. If they were really seeking God, they sympathy with the commandment; and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I would not be offended at the salvation of others. might make merry with my friends:

actions of -But as soon as this thv son was come, which hath It is interesting to note that of these three the older devoured thy living with hirlob, thou hast killed for him interpretations, Joseph Smith seemed to favor the fatted calf. the second and perhaps to accept even the third. brother' And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and The Prophet's reference to the parable is not all that I have is thine. totally clear. It was given initially in response to It was meet that weshould make merry, and beg1ad:for a question asked after a sermon he delivered in this thy brother was dead, and is aliveagain; and was lost, the Nauvoo Temple in January of 1843. His and is found. (Luke IS:.?9-32.1 statement, recorded in the History of the Church, is a valuable one since it also demonstrates his There seems to have been three traditional approach to scriptural exegesis in general. ways of interpreting the parable: First, some have viewed it in an allegorical sense, with the In reference to the prodigal son, I said it was a subject I older brother representing the Jews and the had never dwelt upon; that it was understood by many to be younger brother representing the Gentiles. One one of the intricate subjects of the scriptures; and even the of the best examples of this interpretation that I Elders of this Church have preached upon it, without have found was that of St. Caesarius of Arles. It having any rule of interpretation. What is the rule of is, apparently, a time-honored interpretation, interpretation?Just no interpretation at all. Understand it one that is used even today. precisely as it reads. I have a key by which I understand the A second approach is a little more straight- scriptures. I enquire, what was thequestion which drew out forward. This interpretation suggests that the the answer, or caused Jesus to utter the parable? It is not Lord intended the parable specifically for those national; it does not refer to Abraham, Isaac, or the who were involved in the initial controversy Gentiles in a national capacity, as some suppose. To ascer- that generated the parable. In this interpreta- tain its meaning, we must dig up the root and ascertain tion the older brother becomes a representation what it was that drew the saying out of Iesus. . . . of the scribes and Pharisees, and the younger a It was given to answer the murmuring and questions of personification of the publicans. Joseph Smith the Sadducees and Pharisees, who were querying, fund1 seems to have favored this interpretation. finding fault, . . . He could have found something to illus- A third interpretation is to consider the para- trate His subject, ifHe had designed it for a nation . . . but ble as a guide to church discipline for the re- He did not. It was for men in an individual capacity; and pentant sinner. This was a stance which some, all straining on the point is a bauble. such as Tertullian, strongly opposed. Instead, Tertullian viewed the story as an excuse for the Then to make his point more clearly, Joseph absence of church discipline. In his essay, "On referred to the parable of the lost sheep, one of Modesty" he wrote, "For who will fear to the two companion parables that accompany squander what he has the power of afterwards that of the prodigal son in Luke: "The hundred recovering? Who will be careful to preserve to sheep represent one hundred Sadducees and perpetuity what he will be able to lose not to Pharisees, as though Jesus had said, 'If you perpetuity? Security in sin is likewise an appe- Sadducees and Pharisees are in the sheepfold, I tite for it." (It might be well to note in passing have no mission for you; I am sent to look up that Tertullian's point is not one lightly sheep that are lost; . . .'This represents hunting dismissed.) after a few individuals, or one poor publican, I However, Luther suggests that those who which the Pharisees and Sadducees despised." interpret the parable in this manner thereby (HC, 5:261-62.) I

20 SUNSTONE COMMON LOS INTERPRETATIONS possible that many of us may become as Elder But how do Latter-day Saints interpret this Talmage has described the elder brother in the parable-in priesthood meetings, in Relief Soci- parable, faithful and plodding-setting safe and ety, in Sunday School classes, in seminaries and easily obtainable goals and achieving them-and institutes? Surprisingly, many Church members at the same time "illiberal and narrow," lacking, are in complete sympathy with the actions of the to varying degrees, the quality of Christian older brother. After all, they argue, he had charity. In other words, our attention remains remained true and faithful to the father from focused on what we are to do rather than what beginning to end, and the father himself had we are to become. stated, "All that I have is thine." As Elder James In this regard, Paul's statement on charity is E. Talmage has suggested: appropriate to consider. Though we might have developed eloquence of speech equal to that of the angels (a gift desired by Alma), though we might have developed fully the gift of prophecy to the point that we understand all of the mys- Which is more teries of God, though we have acquired all important to God- knowledge that the world has to offer, and deve- our score card of loped faith sufficient to remove mountains (and certainly these goals are highly valued by many, good and bad if not most, Latter-day Saints), if we have not actions, or the charity we have nothing, according to Paul (I Cor. 13:l-3). character and In light of the writings of Paul-as well as insights we those of Mormon (Moro. 7, 10)-it is amazing acquire? that anyone can speak of the lack of charity in any degree as a minor defect. Yet those who choose to interpret the parable in the manner described certainly seem to do so. After all, they continue to argue, does not the father promise the older son that all that he has is his? And is not that the same promise made by the Lord in the Doctrine and Covenants to all who magnify their priesthood? (84:38). Is not that the same Weare nof jusfified in extolling the virtue of repentance promise made to those who will inherit the on the part of the prodigal above the faithful, plodding highest order of the celestial kingdom? service of his brother, who had remained at home, true to But this response is inadequate. Though the theduties requiredof him. Thedevotedson was the heir: the phrasing is similar in both cases, it is apparent father did not disparage his worth, nor deny his desserts. His displeasure over the rejoicing incident to the return of that the older brother in the parable has little to his wayward brother was an act of illiberality and narrow- do with the magnifying of the priesthood men- ness, but ofthe two brothers the elder was the morefaithful, tioned in the Doctrine and Covenants. To me, it whatever his minor defects may have been. (Jesus the seems more likely that the father in the parable is referring to the fact that the older brother has Christ, p. 460; emphasis added.) full access to the estate and to all of his father's I find this statement very strange in light of the possessions. That would certainly seem an appro- implication of the Prophet Joseph that the older priate response to the elder brother's complaint brother's stance represents that of the Pharisees. that he had never received a feast-not even one Why does Elder Talmage feel the necessity to with a kid. Perhaps this was the father's way of come to the defense of the older brother? saying, "You can have a feast with your friends Further, what is implied in his use of the terms any time you want one. All you have to do is faithful and plodding? Neither appears in the origi- ask." nal text. Is he telling us that faithful, plodding Part of the trouble with all of us older broth- members are better candidates for the celestial ers may well be that through our faithful and kingdom than are repentant prodigals? And unimaginative plodding we lack the initiative to why is he apparently so willing to overlook reach out and lay claim to the fullness of the "illiberality" and"narrowness" on the part of the blessings that might be within our reach all of older brother? the time-if we were more willing to put forth This approach raises an important question: some real effort; that with our safe trudging and What, exactly, is the purpose of membership in easy goals we might be guilty of avoiding involve- the kingdom of God? Is it to teach us obedience ment in the more difficult tasks Jesus set out for andofaithful, plodding service," or is its purpose those who would be his true disciples and the to prepare us to become more Christlike? Obvi- heirs of his kingdom. As his heirs we have seem- ously the two are not mutually exclusive. Yet ingly unlimited access to all sorts of spiritual while the two may be closely related, it is highly feasts if we would but put forth the effort and

SUNSTONE 2' lay hold of them. But we never seem to be very would you be more inclined to accord"power" or concerned about this part of our earthly per- "honorN or "dominion"? formance. Sins of commission seem to consume CONCLUSION our attention and to be of far greater concern to us than are sins of omission, especially when- The questions raised by these issues are not ever we discuss the final judgment. easy ones. Problems concerning judgment of a Similarly, although the younger brother ap- human soul seldom are. I susvect that that is one pears to be truly repentant, many Latter-day of the reasons why the ~a;ior told us not to Saints still argue that his position in the eterni- judge. Moreover. these issues are not sim~lvinter- ties will be far below that of the older brother. ., - For example, in his New Testament commen- esting things to think about in an abstract sense. tary, Elder Bruce R. McConkie has written: "We On the contrary, they have some immediate and need not suppose that the two sons were there- very important implications for all of us to con- after equal in power, honor, or dominion. The sider. If we harbor the feeling that we can just Too many inheritance of one was already wasted" (1:512). I "hang in there" and gain eternal rewards by of us are hope this passage is not suggesting that no simply avoiding grievous transgressions, we will concerned about repentant prodigals will be found in the celestial be a very different person than we will if we take kingdom-because if that is true then aH man- seriously the difficult challenges laid out by "what's in it for kind is in trouble. Nevertheless, Elder McConkie's Christ. The teachings of Jesus are full of an us," rather than in opinion strikes a responsive chord in many entire catalogue of Christian obligations that we among us. It assumes that something perman- conveniently choose to ignore or to shelve for rejoicing over ent has been lost by the sinner-something we now: turning the other cheek, praying for our the successes of all associate with lost opportunities. enemies, loving those who despise us, seeking others. A common metaphor describes life as a jour- out the reiected in our immediate societv. visit- ney down a path leading from point A (our birth) ing the outcasts and inviting them insteidof the to point B (our destination-whatever that may "beautiful people" into our homes-just to men- be). The sinner somewhere leaves the straight tion a very few. It seems that every time we raise and narrow and begins to wander in forbidden the issue of reventance in our discussions of the paths. Then, comini to himself as a repentant good news, th'at we invariably launch a discus- soul, he returns to the path, entering again at sion of sins of commission, rather than those of the precise point of departure (or perhaps fur- omission, dwelling on our own self-righteousness ther back-the cherished assumvtion that one and thanking God that we are not as other men. cannot stand still, but must eithir be progress- Second, it 7s important to think about what we ing or retrogressing).He is once more headed in are becoming by what we are doing. Far too many the direction he should be traveling, but all of of us are spending our entire life doing things of the time spent in sinful pursuits has retarded his varying significance (or insignificance) in the ultimate journey. Had he remained faithful, the Church, plodding along in the smug satisfaction analogy proceeds, he would be much farther of the achievement of simplistic goals, and com- down the path, therefore closer to his goal. ing away from the experience as unloving, This analogy troubles me for manyreasons. unadventurous versonalities. And I also susvect To begin with, it fails to define the goal. Are we that many of thi repentant among us who Gave talking of things done, or of insights gained and transgressed and done their best to repent feel character developed? Too, the analogy does not constantly beaten down as they hear us tell takeinto consideration the eternal truths learned them they have lost their blessings forever. by the sinner concerning life-ofttimes, as Rather than placing ourselves in the hands of an Hawthorne suggests, even through his mis- omniscient, all-loving God whose judgment will takes. Nor does it consider the fact that those be not only just but merciful as well, we lose the who stay on the straight and narrow, plodding power for good we might have generated because along and setting easy goals, might be doing so of too much self-condemnation. without gaining any new insights into life. What Like the elder brother in the parable, far too is our purpose in coming here to experience this many of us are overly concerned about "what's life? Which is ultimately more important in in it for us," rather than in rejoicing with the God's mind when we return to him-the score Father over the successes of our brothers and card we bring back to him of good and bad sisters-especially if those successes seem some- actions, or the character and insights with which times to come at the expense of our efforts. we return? I know as a varent which one would Perhaps all of us can profit from a little soul- ultimately concern me most. searching in this regard. And perhaps a good place to begin is by looking at the way that each I cannot help but wonder if we are justified in of us individually views the parable of the prodi- maintaining that the truly repentant sinner is gal son. always inferior in God's eyes to one who has never transgressed. I cannot help but wonder how Alma's judgment will compare with that of ARTHUR BASSETT is an associate professor of humanities at Nephi. If you were God, to which of those two Brighnm Young University.

22 SUNSTONE ECONO PLACE 1

ARCH 4 I just came from Ellen's house, wor- ried sick. It seems so ironic that both MIW I of us could lose our men within two I years of each other. Like we have the same destiny even while living very

EDITOR'S NOTE Linda Sillitoe, second-placewinner in the D. K. Brown fiction contest, was incorrectly listed as the third place winner in SUNSTONEvolume 9 nrnzber 2. Dale Bjork won third place /or his story, "Conversion." I

SUNSTONE 23 different lives. with Anthony are all I have now. Those and the I remember in high school, we'd sit with a baby." Seventeen magazine between us and take tests on "Sure. So?" what type we were. Both of us thought we were "Well, I'm supposed to tell him all about that- "classical" and should wear tailored clothes and confess it, like something nasty. I can't do it. It sophisticated perfume. But I'd try to convince may be over, but it's still the most beautiful part Ellen she was the pixy type, with her little of my life." freckled face and petite body. How could she be "Well, but-you're not sleeping with anyone classical? else. You're true to Anthony and he's gone. Isn't "But I despise that cutesy stuff," she'd say, that changing? Isn't that repenting?" wrinkling her elfin nose. "But you, Carol, are for "I guess not. He says a full confession and sure an 'earthmother."' remorse. And I don't regret anything we did, And when I'd get mad, she'd shrug and say, especially not now that I've lost him. I'm glad we "Well, look at you. You're all curves, your made love. I'm glad I'll have his baby. That freaks mouth, your eyes, your ears, all drawn with Ted out." circles. You'll get married and be terrific with "The bishop," I reminded her. kids." I went outside to tell Karie to quit beating on Then I'd hit her with a pillow and we'd tussle. Matthew. That's the thing with kids, you never Still, I knew what she said was true, circles on know what will happen. I'd planned to have circles even where she never saw. But I still three kids all right. A tall, blond, grave son; a claimed to be classical. dark, petite, graceful girl; and then a red-haired And here we are, everything out of kilter, bubbly type, either a boy or a girl. I don't know nothing like we planned. Larry gone for two who I thought I'd marry to get such a variety, years after that stupid immersion heater blew but it wasn't Larry, whose sandy hair was just up in his face while he was "serving his country" three shades blonder than mine, and whose gray on weekends in the Reserve. Making enough eyes were just two shades less blue. Even then money to pay for Matthew is what he was doing. we agreed our children would have his fine So one day he's with us, tinkering with the car. round chin and my little ears. Instead all fhree of Offering to bathe the kids if I'm ready to cut them have his sticky-out ears and my receding them up and flush them down the toilet, and the chin. And I never knew until Jason was born that next morning, BLAM, a freak accident, and that's Larry had been a rambunctious kid. Then my it. mother-in-law clued me in too late. And Ellen. We end up in the same ward at last, "We're leaving in five minutes," I yelled over even though I'm in a subdivision full of young the clamor, hoping Ellen's fellow condo-dwellers families and she's ten miles away in a condo- wouldn't evict her for knowing such uncouth minium. She's finally in love for real after people. On the way over I'd been tempted to becoming disenchanted with dating and with drop off the kids at the little park that lies the singles activities at church. Completely between our house and Ellen's but I didn't dare. bonkers over Anthony. Even though he's not a Transients and high school kids hang out there, Mormon, she plans to marry and live happily and I thought of LSD stamps and sex perverts ever after. Then a car accident and he's dead. And and just kept driving. she, I find out with a shock, is not only grief I closed the front door and looked Ellen in her stricken, but in terrible trouble. sad, yet shining face. She's always had this glow That kind of trouble used to happen in high to her as if she ate sunlight for breakfast. I school too, though not to us. But it still happens, decided she needed some straight talk. I find out, and to grown women. "Look, Ellen. The last thing you need is trou- "So you talked to Ted," I said to her today ble with the Church. I mean, it's tough being a while the kids roared around outside in the early single parent and all that, but the Church helps spring sunshine. We had to talk fast since the out in a million ways, believe me. You'll probably kids wear people- - down, even old friends like never have to use food stamps like I do, but Ellen. when I run short before the end of the month, "Yes. The bishop." She emphasized it because it's sure nice to get an order of groceries to tide we keep forgettin; to call ~edbishop. He's only US over." been bishop a few months, and we've both "I know, Carol." known him as just Sally's husband. "Well, you've got to get this settled. Not just "And?" for the groceries, either. For your whole future, "He says I'm not repentant." and the baby's." "What's that supposed to mean?" Already I'm She shook her head and suddenly tears dropped getting mad. And scared. onto her twisting hands. "Ted's set a court for* "Well, it's true." She picked up a pillow and Friday night. I don't think 1'11 even go." held it against her as if anticipating what her I sat down suddenly, as if a trap door had belly will be like in a few months. "Carol, tell me opened under my feet. "What? He did? You've you can understand that my memories of being got to go."

24 SUNSTONE "I can't say any more than I've said. It would be gone. She can't remember if she's had it. a-violation." At least her job nursing in the long-term facil- "Look, Ellen. It's like school. It's like college. ity is secure. Old people and crazy people don't It's like getting a job. Sometimes you have to tell care if she's pregnant, she says. I care. I have a people what they need to hear." feeling she'll have the petite, dark-haired girl But her face just lit up under the tears. "I loved that was supposed to be mine. Karie is built like Anthony, and I still love him, and I'm glad I loved the boys-all three as stout as ponies. him in every way I could. I can't lie to myself or to the Lord." APRIL 1 "How about just to Ted?" I asked. But the I didn't dare go to church because Jason is still question dropped like a soggy wash cloth to the scabby and the other two could come down with floor, soon squished to nothing as the kids it any time. If any child in the area has avoided trooped through, all looking alike in their parkas getting exposed, I'd hate to be the one to ruin it. and pinkish hair. I'd never imagined their dirty A surprise happened tonight. The bishop faces any more than I'd imagined the food came over. Knowing I'm Ellen's best friend, I stamps or Larry in the ground by the time he think he was afraid I'm apostatizing to protest was thirty. We went home. what he did to her. Actually, it's a temptation, but the chicken pox are keeping me housebound MARCH 18 anyway. I couldn't even write in here last week. I was so Amazingly, all three kids were in bed when he upset. This journal on Sunday nights has kept came, rather late, come to think of it, and by me sane, but lately things have been more awful himself. So we sat and talked. He has the most than any time since right after Larry got killed. intriguing eyes. I can't remember that much of Even more awful than when Ellen heard about what he said, but the way he looked in between Anthony. our sentences really got to me. Probably I've I can't believe they did it. Ellen's out. I feel like been shut up here too long, and I'm parched for she's been murdered, stomped into the ground. I human company. That must be it. think she does too. It's such a slam of the door in I still hate him, well, resent him, for what he her face. Every time I think of it I cry, and she did to Ellen, but I admit he really believes it was told me before we hung up last night that the the right thing, the only thing he could do. And I skin under her eyes is chapped. think it hurt him. Today I sat in church and watched the bishop After he left I tried to remember the last con- all during the meeting, how he beamed so kindly versation I've had alone with a man, any man, down on all of us. With his bedroom eyes. I've since Larry died. I don't think it's happened. The always thought he had bedroom eyes, although pediatrician comes closest, and then the kids are after he became bishop they seemed to glow always climbing on me. Of course I talked with more and swivel less. Ellen wasn't there. She Bishop Sorensen, before Ted became bishop, but was supposed to be, just sitting through the that's different. That's over a desk, not eye to meeting, letting the sacrament tray pass her by, eye in a room growing soft with the lateness of humiliating herself week after week until they the hour. feel like she can come back in. Getting more pregnant week after week. She won't do it, and I APRIL 8 can't blame her. But I miss her. Her not being at An awful day. Karie and Matthew are both so church means I don't see her very often. sick I told the Lord I'll forgive their ears and All my kids are going to get chicken pox. I can chins if he'll just make them well. And I won't see it coming. Half of Jason's school class is shout at them or spank them any more, even absent now. I've worked it out on the calendar, when they paint the refrigerator with water and I figure Jason will get it sometime this week, colors. At least I'll try. then Karie and Matthew about twelve days This morning I found out I've gained another later. Goodbye spring. five pounds. I can't leave the house, and there's nothing here that makes me feel good except MARCH 25 food. At least I can see through the windows I'm exhausted. Jason has a fever of 102, and that spring is really beginning outside. Eventu- Karie and Matthew have been wild all day. ally maybe I can take the kids and go for long Friday I took Matthew and we ran to the store walks without exposing people. Someday this for orange juice and flour. Today I couldn't leave will end. Maybe 1/11 take them to that park and Jason to go to church with the other kids. push them high on the swings. Anyway, I can I've talked with Ellen on the phone, and she exercise all this blubber off. Right now it's just sounds grim. She said the excommunication is hopeless. like mourning another death. I offered to call up Ellen wasn't home today. I tried to call a couple the bishop and tell him he can kick me out, too, of times. I thought about her and the bishop. but she just laughed (sadly) and said no. I know I Then I just thought about the bishop. won't see her for weeks until all the pox are I wonder what Sally thinks of him. She seems

SUNSTONE 25 like the model mother-and-wife they say doesn't other in some secret way forever. exist. Perfect. Perfect for him. Not getting I thought about him all day, and the day went chubby like me. Still, if her kids get chicken pox, faster. The kids seemed cuter and more fun. she'll probably be alone with them a lot, too, They cuddled beside me while we read Sleeping since he's busy being bishop. But not all the time. Beauty. I fixed hot chocolate for supper. It gives And her pleasure must be more than peanut them their milk, it's not that expensive, but they butter and chocolate cookies. (My newest recipe, feel like it's a treat. Thank goodness the assis- and all of us like it.) tance check came yesterday. I always feel so desperate the week before. APRIL 15 At last I got out. I went to Ellen's first, with APRIL 29 the kids' Bin Wheels in the back seat. Thank During the week I've been fighting the blues goodness tKeir grandparents sent them those by reading a couple of novels based on the early for Christmas. Once the kids are all in school history of the Church. I feel I've discovered a and I can work full-time, such luxuries won't be gold mine. Then people were so much more spiri- auite so rare. I hove. tual, so much more ready for adventure, for the I don't know. ~ilenseemed so distant. It was unusual. Now we're all in these narrow little only when I went to church that I figured it out. ruts with no way, it seems, of climbing out. Of The bishop has her shine. Bishop Ted, I call him being different than everyone else. in middle- to myself, wanting both characteristics in my class America. mind-the caring, gentle man and the authority For example, there are people who knew who he draws straight from the Spirit. I watched him they should marry by actual visions. One hand- during the meeting when he wasn't looking my some young apostle saw each of his wives' faces, way, and his glow has definitely increased since sometimes even before they'd met. So when he he made that decision to excommunicate Ellen. did meet them, he immediately knew he'd marry And hers has gone. I think it's a confirmation for them. me, and despite my sadness for Ellen, I feel a Not that I really believe in polygamy, although hundred times better. you almost have to believe it was right back then. I watched Sally, too, and their five children. I do like their spiritual approach to marriage. She manages them beautifully, but she and And love. Bishop Ted seem a little distant. I know I heard Whenever I can get the kids busy for a while, I an edge on her voice during Relief Society when read a few pages in those novels or sometimes in she described all the meetings he has to attend. my old mysteries because I've forgotten who- And she called him "the bishop." She said dunnit. I even cheated the budget to buy a they've taught their kids to call him "the bishop" Harlequin at the grocery store, and I never could too, when they're at church. Even the littlest, stand them before. I feel like an addict. who can barelv talk. But there's just nothing else to do except He does have this glow, this aura of knowing housework and child care. It will be a year or what's best. I mean, before he was bishop he was more before I can get Matthew into some kind of just one of the husbands, like Larry and the rest. preschool or Head Start andgo to work. I proba- Now he's different, like the "smooth and pol- bly won't earn much more than the state pays ished shaft" you hear about in the scriptures. me now. But at least I'll meet people. Right now I'm just waiting it out, for something or some- APRIL 22

~ one to come along and rescue me. But I have my - -~ - - - I know this sounds weird, but I swear it hav- doubts about rescue. I've gained another two pened. When I went into church this morniig, pounds. Bishop Ted was standing by the door talking to someone. I heard mv name and looked back. and MAY 6 saw him framed b; light like an aura. It'was I saw Ellen today. She really looks pregnant, more than the sunshine outside, I know it. and she's so short that it seems ridiculous. I Oh, I admit I've been eating and sleeping too made the mistake of trying to explain to her why much, like I'm hooked on both, but I'd fixed the bishop had to excommunicate her, that it myself up, and my navy suit still fits fine. I really was an act of love although it seems so looked nice. I just waved then, but when I got a harsh. drink and went over to the chapel, I held out my She got so angry I had to gather up the kids hand and met his eyes. When he took my hand, it and go. I feel badly about it, but I know it's right. literally burned. I don't know what my eyes said, If only she'd come to church and see how loving looking back at him, but I felt heat rush down my and spiritual Bishop Ted really is. He'd welcome body. I'm certain he held my hand a little longer her back with open arms, I know. than necessary. I'd swear it. When I listen to her side of it, I feel I'm being "How ARE VOU?" he asked. torn in two. I understand how she feels. But how He reads &e like an open page. I don't really can she bear to be so alone, not just now but know him that well, yet I feel we've known each indefinitely? Like floating in the Bering Sea on a

28 SUNSTONE tiny ice chunk. I have to believe in an eternal know I was sleeping too much. Now I hardly future with Larry, even a future here with need sleep at all. I wake up full of energy, think- someone else. And that means the Church. How ing how beautiful life is. I remember Larry, but can she look at life without the kingdom to live without hurting. I see that our life was just-oh, in? I just can't, no matter how it hurts us. an introduction." When I took the kids to church later, I knew "I think," she said carefully, "that either you're again I was right. In fact, I wept all through the in love or you're a little bit tipsy or a little bit sacrament. It was just so lovely to be with peo- unbalanced." ple, and hear the organ music, and know that For a second I was shocked at how the Spirit love was all around me, and that soon it will take really does desert people who aren't part of the me in again. Church anymore. Then I smiled at her and felt The kids scuffled in the back seat on the way light pouring from my face. "Didn't you ever home, but somehow I could bear it. I didn't even notice how Bishop Ted used to smile at us during get near Bishop Ted. I didn't shake his hand to the sacrament?" I asked. "The whole congrega- see if mine would burn. It would have. I could tion. As if he just had his arms around us all? It's feel his eyes on me, even when my vision was not 'in love.' It's a Christlike love. And it makes wet. I know he understood, that in a way he was the most impossible things possible. It springs holding me. the traps." MAY 11 I have to admit that picking up the kids at the park (I'd made them promise not to get hurt or The world is beautiful inside and out. Every- talk to strangers), I felt the trap closing a little thing has changed. I can see it all now. For the again. It takes a lot of faith to keep the jaws open. last three days, I've hardly needed sleep or food. I A lot of energy. I know I must keep them open or float on a cushion of happiness. I see that the we will be crushed. children are beautiful in their health and their MAY 12 high spirits. Even their scabs are only pink now, -- and I know that someday they'll be gone. Then Only this morning it happened. I woke with they'll be completely beautiful again. his face before me, and I knew. Calmly I fed the I haven't written about it, but I've been wres- children, dressed them, washed their innocent tling for so long with this caring-oh, call it faces, and took them to the park. I handed each a love-for Bishop Ted. It seemed to have no paper sack with the last of our bread and peanut future. Then suddenly I saw that it will work butter in it. How nice it will be to be off food out. I don't know how it will work out, but that it stamps. will work out, like looking back at the present On the way to the park, they blew their home- from a distant point. He will work it out. In fact, made bubble stuff in the car. Being children, he is working it out, with his family, with Sally, they couldn't wait. Then they slopped some on with the Lord. And before long, he'll understand the seat. I thought of Sally's perfect brood and it all, extend his hand, and call me. And I, already realized these rascals will have to be introduced knowing it's right, will come. one by one. Gradually. As the plan permits. It's so beautifully simple. I don't know the It didn't worry me. I know he'll have all of this answers, but I know there are answers. Before I worked out. saw only problems. I told them to stay on the playground and to be I went over to Ellen's and tried to share this good. with her, how the whole world can come togeth- Then I drove here. And now I'm sitting in the er if there's just enough love. How love is the car, finishing this entry in front of his house. energy that fuels everything. But she looked at They haven't noticed me, but I can see them me as if 1 were really strange. looking like a film of a happy Mormon family "How much weight have you gained?" she cleaning the garage on Saturday morning. Even asked. from here I can see that Bishop Ted's face is red "I just lost one pound. I don't really need food and sweaty. I can't see his eyes glowing, but I anymore." know they do. They will. "But before that." As soon as I finish this, I will take my suitcase "Oh, maybe thirteen pounds. But it's coming from the back seat, shove this journal into the off now. I want to be out in the world walking, glove compartment, and walk up the driveway. maybe even jogging. I want to take my kids There's a line between the shadow of the garage to the park. Don't you see? Everything is and the strong, spring sunlight. I will set my different." suitcase on that line and sit on it, facing him. I could feel myself glowing like she once did. When he turns, he'll see me, outlined with Like Bishop Ted. His authority glowing in his light, his vision of what is and what will be. In dark eyes like the gleam of ripe fruit. His lashes the bones of my face I can feel how 1/11 smile are long and thick. when he reaches forth his hand. "Have you been sleeping all right?" LINDA SILLJTOE is a journalist and writer living in Salt Lake I laughed at her. "Oh, come on, Ellen. You City.

SUNSTONE 27 ment are inconsistent with the fair and reasoned administration of justice. For the independent lawyer, winning cannot be THE LAWYER'S the only thing; indeed there are times when it cannot be the first thing. In a similar vein Judge Marvin Frankel has pointed out that truth CONFLICT and victory at trial are incompati- ble for half of the litigants, and Jay S. Bybee that while the ostensible purpose ometime back I overheard a As members of the bar, autho- of a trial is to search for truth, couple of lawyers talking rized to practice before various that search fails all too often. This, about a large corporation departments or tribunals, lawyers he says, is frequently due to the which had been acquitted are "officers of the court" and "convenient overlooking" of cer- in an environmental suit in have an obligation to promote tain facts which are critical to the S the face of strong evidence truth and the administration of disposition of the dispute. of its misconduct. The reason for justice. At the same time, lawyers That we lawyers engage in such acquittal was, according to one have a sworn and solemn duty to forensic gymnastics should not be attorney, "The corporation had represent their client zealously, a surprising. We have been trained one very good lawyer." As I duty which because of the value to question everything, to suspend reflected on this conversation I placed on the sanctity of the indi- our own beliefs, and to ask repeat- found I had mixed feelings. On the vidual by our Constitution, some- edly, "What is truth?" Yet too one hand I protested, "But wasn't times requires subordinating truth often I am afraid that we shrug the corporation guilty? Why didn't to other goals. our shoulders and ask rhetorically, truth prevail?" On the other hand "What is the truth and who can I made a mental note: "Hey, keep We have long presumed that in theory these duties are not in con- know it?" precisely because we do that guy's name on file in case I know it and realize that if all the get in trouble." flict because (as though in fulfill- ment of some Hegelian dialectic), facts were brought to light they My own, rather typical, reaction truth will emerge-from an adver- would not be in the best interests to this conversation reflects the sary contest in which each side of the liberties of our client. Again, as Judge Frankel states, "as contradictory position which presents its best case. This pre- exists for lawyers. The lawyer's sumption can trace its roots to people, we know or powerfully 'duty to the administration of jus- medieval England and trial by bat- suspect a good deal more than we tice and his duty to his client are tle. Each side in the dispute are prepared as lawyers to admit not always compatible. Even in my brought forth its champion to do or explore further." own nascent career I have felt this battle against the other, the par- Various proposals have been tension: How far and how effec- ties understanding that the victor made to encourage greater advo- tively should I pursue a position had God and truth on his side. cacy of truth. Chief Justice before I am guilty of claiming, as Such a philosophy made the Burger, for example, has fre- Swift said, "that white is black and champion's duty clear: He must quently pointed to the British sys- black is white, according as they use his training in defense of his tem of only allowing a limited are paid." Don't I also have some principle and whatever the out- number of specially trained law- obligation- to the law, the system- come, truth had prevailed. yers (barristers) into the court- if not to my own conscience-to room. This, he believes, would advocate the truth? Today, however, we are not so foster greater professionalism and faithful or optimistic as to believe less "inter-barrister wrangling." This problem goes beyond the that God so loves the truth that Others have proposed moving in question of undertaking the he will unfailingly support one the direction of the continental representation of a guilty man. 1 side over the other. Nonetheless, I systems where judges are specially personally resolved that one a long have the impression that we law- trained and are given a far more time ago. What has disturbed me yers, like the ancient champions active role in the conduct of the about the lawyers' craft are the simply sally forth in hopes that trial and the questioning of wit- rhetorical games played, the victory will prove the truth of our nesses. Still others, including Har- numerous procedural motions claims, when instead we should be vard President Derek Bok, believe filed, and the endless efforts to going forward in hopes that the that the law schools must train make the proceedings so truth will prove our claims victor- lawyers in the art of mediation burdensome-physically, emotion- ious. and reconciliation, in addition to ally, and financially-that the preparing students in legal combat other side either gives up the war I am not alone in my frustra- tions over the conflict I feel in my where winning is the only thing of attrition or fumbles its oppor- that matters. tunity once it finally reaches trial. duties. Former Solicitor General And when accused of dilatory or Archibald Cox has written: These suggestions have their obfuscatory tactics, the lawyers The lawyer must be loyal to the client but merit and might help us resolve respond in a fashion reminiscent he or she must also maintain the temple of our disputes more efficiently. But of Jimmy Durante's famous line in justice. . . . surely it is plain that some in the long run they will fail to be the Broadway show Jumbo: "What tactics conducive to winning a particular more than cosmetic solutions until elephant? I don't see no elephant." lawsuit or obtaining a favorable settle- the lawyers-and just as impor-

28 SUNSTONE tantly, their clients-place greater ests must be embraced by both long-range goals are bound up premium on the truth and the attorney and client. Seeing an with standards of decency and larger interests of society, even if important role for lawyers in this with the welfare not only of the this requires voluntarily relin- process, Archibald Cox suggests other parties to the immediate quishing rights now preserved that "the independent lawyer controversy but of wider seg- under the law. Frankel says that looks not only to what the client ments of society." "if we must choose between truth thinks it wants but to the interests While this may sound idealistic, and liberty, the decision is not in of others whom the client's action we need to have hope: We may yet doubt." will affect, including the larger discover that there is no real con- The decision for Frankel may undifferentiated interests of the flict in our duties and that, in the not be in doubt, but the difficult general public." If such a view is long run, our own self-interest is decision to choose truth when it presented to the client, then "the best promoted by our advocacy of conflicts with our personal inter- client may perceive that its true truth.

duration (the length of time that It is contains the waves) and assume that these are finite, then we as though, THE ALL-HEARING EAR could easily suppose that God has like a guide to Michael Hicks already conceived of all possible permutations of these elements the blind, music oward the close of his 1849 we cannot do without it even if we and every possible combination of walked the mind essay, The Absurdities of wish to do so." pitches and durations he could Immaterialism, as a partial We learn from our earliest expe- ever hear. If so, then the music he from one sensa- answer to the question riences that sound primarily com- hears can never be fresh to him, at tion of time "why does God have sense municates knowledge. So we cer- least in its structure, and the T tainly can conceive that it might and motion to organs?" Orson Pratt delight he experiences is either in wrote: do so in spiritual realms, which the reviewing of pleasing precon- another. Because God knows the nature of music are, after all, strictly material, ceptions or in the experiencing of there is no reason why he may not rejoice according to philosophers like the embodiment of the propor- in hearing music. One use, then, of the Orson Pratt. Consider the possibili- tions he has already imagined in ears of his spiritual body is, no doubt, to ties. Celestial sound might indi- silence. One can think of him hear and rejoice in delightful music, not cate environmental commotion, composing in his head, then speak- that it increases his knowledge, but it is slippages in the vast order of sub- ing, or singing, "Let there be joyful to his ear. The ear of man serves a stance. Sound waves passing sound." Music would then emerge, double purpose; it is not only a medium of through the spiritual essence that in Durutte's words, as "the corpo- information, but a medium of sounds that fills the universe (fluid Pratt called realization of the intelligence are delightful to the mind. The ear of the it) might even put a god on notice which is in sounds." Lord may be delighted with sounds, that a meteor approached, or that But if even one of the materials though he receive no additional knowledge a devil stumbled by. Sound may of music is infinite, the possibili- by those sounds. emanate directly from the flesh of ties for permutation are also. Both I don't think anyone would living beings. Consider, for exam- pitch and duration are infinite, at argue that anything defined as ple, the sounds of the glorified least in theory-and so, I presume, music has the power to create a tongue arranged into speech, to the God of theory. The only specific delight, sometimes called a which communicates not only limit to the frequency of sonic sense of the beautiful. Even Elder physical presence and motion, but waves is the capacity to perceive Pratt's doctrinal combatant, mental as well: Jehovah saying to it. Man's sense of pitch is rela- Brigham Young, spoke of the life- Michael (in Brigham Young's tively narrow and weak. But if imbibing pleasures of music recounting), "Go ye and make an God's senses have infinite powers among the gods, humans, and earth." There, at least, sound of response-which Pratt himself even animals-though not devils. seems to inform, to transmit seems to say-his sense of pitch Hell, he said, would be emptied of knowledge of another's intention. should be able to deal with un- music (also, I presume, of silence). But Pratt argues that God's fore- limited grpdations of pitch, unfath- Even the grisly fiddler, Death, knowledge nullifies these omable lows to peakless highs, would be whisked out of the pit: knowledge-imparting aspects of with an infinity of microtones in "every decent fiddler will go to a sound. There is nothing that between. Just so, he should be decent kingdom," Brigham said. sounds can tell God he doesn't capable of experiencing infinite Music somehow satiates the minds already know. Even our vocal gradations of duration, an of all spiritual beings in their prayers are superfluous: he has unbounded spectrum of time yearning for motion and propor- already conceived of them in his lengths, scaled in any direction he tion. And to be without it is con- quiet reveries. But for the plea- chooses-a thousand yearslone demnation indeed. The absence of sures of music the heavens might day for example-the whole being music is part of the second death; just as well be silent. marked off perhaps by big bangs. the presence is part of eternal life. If we narrowly define music's If the possible combinations of For, as Boethius wrote, "music is most basic materials as pitch (the pitch are inexhaustible there is no so much a part of our nature that number of waves in time) and end to the discovery of them and

SUNSTONE 29 of their musical possibilities. And deep forms of ritual: Each motion motions of music have a meaning each possibility arriving at the ear of a certain order evokes its like- in the sense that they refer to all conveys a new awareness, the nesses. Then, joined to sound, to other known gestures in the mind heretofore unconceived, the newly key words or names, the motion of the hearer and to the contexts known. communicates a kind of comple- of those gestures. The musical One knowledge that music con- mentary knowledge to both con- gesture points to something, and veys is of formal possibilities and scious and subconscious minds. so conveys in the subconscious elemental connections that may The word, signifying according to realm a meaning too definite for produce new sensations, fresh aes- lexical laws, gives one kind of words. Music reveals the relation- thetic qualities. More specifically,' knowledge, while the bodily ges- ships between gestures or music consists of what we unthink- ture of ritual signifies another. motions, the definers of life. ingly call progressions, seemingly Just what the knowledge is cannot God's thoughts are not man's. inevitable motions from one set of be said, of course, for precisely the Yet man's mind is God's image. If relationships to another. It is as reason that, though wedded to the so, God too must have his own though, like a guide to the blind, word, the ritual motion is beyond levels of thinking, including a music walked the mind from one its dominion. This is not to say mute, deeply definite, but uncon- sensation of time and motion to that it is simply too vague to be scious level. It is there that music . another. For, although it consists named. On the contrary, if I may delights him and, yes, speaks to of fixed numerical relationships, adapt Mendelssohn's lovely phrase him of the interrelationships of all music's domain is not fixity but about music, the feelings we get motion. It is the image of progres- motion itself. from unspoken gestures are not sion, the inevitable shifting of one Experience teaches us that every too indefinite for words, but too set of relationships into another. motion can evoke, represent, or definite. For this is music's vast triune refer to some other. Because we My appeal to music here is cor- theme: endless elements, endless define the sense of life by rect, for it distills gestures, mov- permutations, endless progres- motion-literally, animati~n-and ing proportions, into pure sound- sions. That for which God keeps because our minds work as they an endless variety of combinations his ears displays the visage of do, we tend to collect and store of highs and lows, louds and softs, eternal progression, of infinite types of motion as representing quicks and slows, ad infinitum. It possibility, and of the evolution of states of existence. Each motion plays on the gestural store as forms. So he in his heaven, pre- we perceive links up with others though by language-for it is cisely when he is not foreknowing, of its kind and begins to connote sound, it speaks-but evades turns to music for refreshment. those other motions and call to semantics by committing itself And the composer on earth, with mind their contexts. This is one purely to shape, giving the image each note drawn onto the page, reason why motion in the form of of real gesture without naming it. inscribes a tiny sermon on the simple bodily gesture so energizes As with ritual bodily gesture, the pleasures of expanding knowledge.

Finally they came to therapy-to fix her. Unfortunately, my client's guilt Marybeth Raynes feelings for acts which had not previously made her feel guilty do ast year I worked for sev- difficult choice of abortion. not represent an isolated occur- eral months with a delight- When she joined the Church, rence. This phenomenon, which I ful woman who functioned she felt that she had finally found call retroactive guilt, involves a well in many areas of her the truth and was excited about questioning of and renewed pers- life but suffered from becoming part of a new people and pective regarding one's deeds and Lchronic low self-esteem, culture. She emerged joyfully values of the past. Mothers and depression, and guilt which from baptism, having been taught fathers who once felt they were caused a number of problems in that her past sins were forgiven, parenting their children the best her marriage. Upon exploration, particularly because she did not they could begin feeling guilty, one significant root of her ill feel- know at the time they were examining every clue for how they ings was discovered. She felt a wrong. failed, if one of their children severe sense of guilt about being Things went well for her until becomes inactive or adopts an sexually active and having an after she was married and her unorthodox lifestyle. Partners in abortion as a teenager. Curiously, husband began airing an increas- broken love relationships often her strong sense of guilt had only ingly active antiabortion senti- carry a burden of failure, wonder- started in the past two years even ment. Her anxiety grew until she ing whether a certain event, atti- though the events occurred over could not endure the dissonance tude, or flawed personality trait ten years ago. At the time she had between his feelings and her expe- might have brought a traumatic not been a member of the Church rience. When she revealed her end to a once satisfying interac- and for the most part had enjoyed past, his reaction matched her tion (Did I speak up too much? her sexual involvement. She had worst fears. They struggled for Did I criticize too often? Did I not become pregnant through forced months with her growing guilt speak my mind when needed? Did intercourse, but with the help of a and his growing sense of being I reveal too much? Too little?). friend was able to deal with the cheated in not knowing her past. With that questioning often comes

90 SUNSTONE guilt. Such guilt may persist follow their usual spiritual prac- through flashbacks, dreams, or old because.there are no easy tices, particularly prayer. We voices reheard can be frightening answers-or no answers at all. should also assume the Lord loves because they arouse the lingering Retroactive guilt, if severe or us even if it does not feel like it. In suspicion, "What else have I for- immobilizing, can have at least my opinion, he does not place our gotten?" In this case I think the two unfortunate side effects. First, whole worth on one set of actions best solution is to consult a thera- it can trigger long periods of anx- even if we may do so. pist or a wise, caring friend who iety andlor depression. Other dif- I do not want to imply that retro- will make no judgment about you ficulties may also occur, including active guilt is wrong or unhelpful concerning what really happened. loss of sleep, difficulty in eating in most cases. Most of us expe- Trying to figure out your own (not enough or too much), persist- rience a mind-awakening episode memories alone may be difficult, if ent agitation, obsessive thoughts, in which we see how our previous not impossible. increased loss of intimacy with blindness or ignorance of a gospel even long-term loved ones, confu- principle, or less-than-loving atti- sion and disorientation about one's tude, hurt others and ourselves. life, and a severely weakened For a good example, read the sense of self-esteem. Mormons enlightening essay on one man's This phenomenon, which involves a may be particularly susceptible to guilt over "emotional immorality," questioning of and renewed perspective these effects since, as researcher in the Exponent Il's July 1983 issue Harold T. Christensen has on men ("A Different Kind of regarding one's deeds and values of the observed, they experience a Immorality"), or consider the past, can have unfortunate side efffects. greater amount of guilt for a conversion of Paul. In most cases smaller deviation from their the new insight can work well to values than do other groups with correct the persistent error and However, guilt feelings do not less tightly defined norms of right provide a guidleline to a new way necessarily mean that we are actu- and wrong. Intuitively realizing of acting. ally guilty of a deed or event, the truth of this idea, one Mor- especially if time and effort were mon redefined the relationship of But when the guilt is profound, spent repenting or effecting a sig- strict obedience and guilt for him- long-lasting, and causes the per- nificant change or resolution. In self by saying, "I find it impossible son to question his or her core particular, those who have had ! to stay on the straight and narrow worth, a deeper look at these feel- traumatic experiences-theft, all of the time, so I just try to ings is warranted. What causes rape, violence-may need to learn cross it as often as possible!" such guilt? Two explanations in to leave memories to the side, I particular seem to make sense. even though they may come back Second, many people experi- First, a reinterpretation of the past at times in different forms. encing retroactive guilt feel that may have occurred. When we What do you do when you expe- the Lord does not love them, or acquire a new or more mature sys- must not want to communicate rience some sudden or gradual tem of values, as my client did, we thrust of feeling that you know is with them. I have long heard Gen- often reinterpret many past eral Authorities say that when triggered from the past? First, events in light of the new codes or determine whether you need to do people do something wrong, the concepts. (Writers of Russian his- Spirit withdraws, leaving them to something about it. If these feel- tory are not the only participants ings seem connected to present struggle alone until they repent. in this practice.) Whether done However, my observation is that events, it may be better to deal consciously or unconsciously, it is first with the current situation. If quite the opposite may occur. That a double-edged sword: On the pos- is, when people start feeling after so doing you continue to feel itive side, it can help us under- guilt, confusion, and disorienta- guilty, they may feel unworthy stand ourselves and illuminate and withdraw from the Spirit, tion, that is a good clue that the past motives that may still be past is still alive. thus creating a self-fulfilling pro- active today. This new informa- phecy. Whether it is the Spirit or tion can then help us make In these circumstances it the individual who withdraws, the changes in our intimate relation- becomes important to develop a result is the same: The spiritual ships. The negative side is that we wider view of yourself by seeking forces are interrupted and the may feel more guilty than war- the input of others. This wider struggle with guilt occurs alone. ranted as we mentally and emo- view might be more charitable: These same feelings can occur as tionally put "new wine in old Remember that we often do not the result of biological depression bottles." hold others responsible for behav- or from the aftershock of a trau- ior that comes out of limited matic event: feelings of peace, Second, retroactive guilt may awareness. An important tenet of being loved, and living with a sense occur when guilt feelings about the gospel teaches that each per- of where one fits into the world past deeds are repressed or forgot- son will be judged according to are gone. In my opinion, this ten in an effort to escape the pain how well he or she fulfilled the makes the eventual outcomes of the circumstances. Many feel a law known at the time. We often more arduous and long, because vague, persistent feeling of guilt exemplify this when we say of no fresh ideas are being infused to but cannot recall the event or link nonmembers, "They do not help find ways to change thought it to a time in their lives. Others understand; they do not have the and action. Nevertheless, my will experience a revivification of a higher law." By telling ourselves, experience and testimony from past deed when a new, similar "I did not understand," or "I was friends and clients convinces me event occurs. Unknown or unre- doing what I thought to be right that spiritual promptings will membered events which come at the time," we will be doing our- often continue if individuals will suddenly into consciousness selves a similar kindness.

SUNSTONE 31 of the University Second Ward remember Anne D. Harriman who served as a counselor in the Church Tradition Sunday School presidency in 1970 . In 1971 she was called to be the president. According to Tony Kimball who was serving in the bishopric Now a Policy at the time, the bishop asked a member of the General Sunday It had long been a tradition in were short lived, because on 24 School Board whether or not such the LDS church that only men were September 1979, one month after an appointment was appropriate. to serve in Sunday School presid- she was called, Kenney was The board member did not know. encies. On 19 August 1979, how- released from the presidency. She Soon after this the Church sent out ever, Ann Kenney was set apart as was given two explanations for the a directive stating that if no priest- the University of Utah Second action. The official statement was hood holders were available, Stake Sunday School president. that in areas where there were members who did not hold the Kenney remembers laughing worthy priesthood holders availa- priesthood could serve in ward when Gilbert Scharffs, then a coun- ble, they should serve in the Sunday School presidencies. Thus, selor in the stake presidency, pro- Sunday School. Scharffs told her Harr~mancontinued as the presl- posed the assignment. Because she the unofficial word was, "In the dent for some time. was unaware of any female past there has been no policy set. More recently, there was a case Sunday School administrators, The quorum was divided on the involving a man in the Primary Kenney thought he was joking. issue, and left the decision to the presidency. Early in the fall of 1984, President Scharffs assured her he president." The President was Ezra Bishop William Cottam called was quite serious and that he had Taft Benson. Doxey Hatch to serve as a counse- been strongly impressed to ask her According to Kenney, both she lor in the Manhattan First Ward to the position. He informed Kenney and Scharffs were very confused Primary. Bishop Cottam believed that a General Authority had about this. Neither one of them that since some of the thirty chil- approved the calling. completely understood the reason dren in the Primary came from Upon accepting the position, why she was released. fatherless homes, it would be nice Kenney's first task was to choose Her dismissal evoked, once for the children to see a man in a counselors; she chose two women. again, mixed reactions. Most of the leadership role, being affectionate Next she was to meet with all of people who had said nothing when and loving. the ward Sunday School presidents she was set apart were now more Additionally, Cottam believed in her stake. The idea of this made vocal. They claimed they had that Hatch, an unmarried graduate Kenney somewhat uncomfortable. believed in the first place that it student, would benefit from work- She feared that some of the men was not right for a woman to hold ing with children. The other over whom she presided might res- such a position. members of the presidency were ent her because she was a woman. Others in her ward were quite single as well. To her relief, her fears were upset. The action prompted one According to Linda Stevenson, a unfounded. Except for one man, man to send a letter inquiring member of the Manhattan First who said he had expected her to be about the decision to President Ward, no one in the ward was very more matronly in appearance, all Kimball. surprised by the calling. Many of nine of the presidents in her stake Kenney's experience was by no the Primary teachers were male both accepted and welcomed her. means an isolated incident. Several and the members could see the News of her calling received a other women were serving concur- need for the children to have some more mixed reaction from the rently with Kenney in their ward good father figures. members in her ward. Many of her Sunday School presidencies in her However, Hatch's calling did not close friends did not comment at stake. They were released at the last long. The day he was sus- all. "Those who considered them- same time as Kenney. Additionally, tained, a woman serving on the selves 'liberal' were, of course, there are some accounts of women General Primary Board in Salt Lake thrilled. Other than this I just got a serving in presidencies at Brigham City was in the audience. After the lot of non-reaction which I inter- Young University in the late 1970s. meeting she informed the stake preted to be negative," said Ken- Many of these women were also president that such a calling was ney. "Overcoming this reaction was released prematurely. contrary to Church policy and that one of the hardest parts of the job." Earlier a similar incident it was not a good idea for men and Kenney's concerns about the job occurred in Boston. Many members women to serve together. On 16

32 SUNSTONE December 1984, Hatch was women are not to be called as released. members of the Sunday School While it is difficult to locate any presidencies." No explanation written policy on the matter, in accompanied the directive. August of 1980 a "reminder" of the No previous announcement by a Church position did appear in the Church leader has been found con- Priesthood bulletin. "We remind cerning this subject. Thus a bishops that men are not to be reminder in the Priesthood Bulletin, called as members of Primary pre- apparently without historical sidencies," reads the first page of antecedent, has become the the bulletin. And on the second governing policy of the Church. page, "We remind bishops that g Vance Law Leaves White Sox for Expos

White Sox and was a key player when that team won the American League West divisional title in 1983. Despite criticism that he was a "good-field no hit third baseman," Law had his best year offensively in 1984. Law batted .252 while hit- ting 17 home runs and driving in 59 RBIs. "At first I was disappointed by the trade," Law told SUNSTONE, "because I felt attached to the White Sox organization and to sev- eral players on the team. But I finally realized it was a good career move for me because I would have the opportunity to play every day." Law also indicated he was look- ing forward to playing again in the Vance Law National League. "It's a different type of game in Chicago White Sox infielder that league because there isn't the Vance Law, whose baseball career designated hitter, and the pitchers began at Brigham Young rely more on finesse than over- University, was traded to the whelming power. But I've played in Montreal Expos in December for the league before and I think I can pitcher Bob James. The twentv- hit National League pitching." eight-year-old Law, son of Pitis- Recently, ~aw,who liveswith his burgh Pirates pitching ace Vernon wife and children in Provo, Law, spent two years in the minor received BYU's Alumni Community leagues before joining Pittsburgh in Service award. The recognition 1980. After two seasons with the came as the result of efforts bv Pirates, Law was traded to the BYU alumni from the ~hica~ogrea.1

SUNSTONE 33 Excommunicated Myth- Bustin(I Man Sues Church Utahns in Wi by Michelle Macfarlane Claiming his excommuni- spread about him following the Reporting on Utah Mormons in catioll from the Church damaged trial based on what occurred there. Washington, D.C., is certainly his reputation, a Mesa, Arizona, "The term 'excommunicated' nothing new. As recently as March man in December filed an $18 mil- itself is damaging to my reputation of 1981 The Washingtonian, a lion defamation suit against the among both Mormons and non- widely read monthly in the nation's Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- Mormons," Hancock told SUNSTONE, capital, reported on the apparent day Saints and his stake president because it presumes someone disproportionate influence wielded According to articles in Mesa's is bad or has done something by Mormons. In the November 1984 Arizona Republic and Salt Lake wrong. I just wanted out of the issue of Utah Holiday magazine, City's Deseret News, Norman L. Church and wanted to be left The Washingtonian's analogue in Hancock first asked to have his alone." Zion, readers are once again name removed from Church Hancock says he considered treated to a Who's Who of Utahns records for "personal reasons." appealing the decision to higher in Washington. But unlike previous Because it is official procedure to Church officials but finally decided listings, the authors have examined conduct a cou'rt following such a "it would be a waste of time." not only the influence of these request, Hancock was summoned Then he heard about a similar Utahns but also some of the myths before a sixteen-member jury com- case in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in which and stereotypes engendered by posed of the hierarchy of the Mesa Marian Guinn was awarded their presence. Arizona North Stake. $390,000 in damages after she sued Authors Mary Lythgoe Bradford According to Hancock, Stake the Collinsville Church of Christ. of Dialogue fame, herself a Utah Prsident Duane Beezer conducted Apparently a letter was read the transplant, and Alice Allred the closed-door trial, held on 4 congregation which she claimed Pottmyer, reigning president of March 1984, in a manner which publicly denounced her for alleged "humiliated" Hancock. Hancock "fornication." believes Beezer "slandered" him Hancock says he decided to sue with accusations of "illicit, the Church and Beezer out of improper and immoral conduct in neither bitterness nor desire for violation of the law of the Church." financial gain. He says he is seek- Such statements placed him "in a ing $6 million in actual damages false light in the public eye" and and $12 million in punitive dam- "permanently injured his reputa- ages because he believes the tion, business, and standing in the Church should be forced to reeval- community." uate their court procedures. Hancock also complains that no "It will be a better church," says witnesses were called to testify Hancock, "when they let God be the against him and he was allowed to judge of a man's conduct." call none in his defense. This, Hancock is acting as his own Hancock believes, was illegal. lawyer. His suit has been assigned Church policy requires that the to Superior Court judge David proceedings of the court as well as Roberts. Roberts, a Mormon, the reasons given for the excom- serves as Beezer's first counselor munication be kept private. Even in the Mesa Arizona North Stake. Hancock, for "personal reasons" Roberts has said, however, he will has declined to reveal the charges. "undoubtedly" disqualify himself However, he claims lies were from the lawsuit. Rex Lee

SUNSTONE Mormons for ERA, have compiled a 59 West 100 South lengthy list culled primarily from Salt Lake City, Utah 84101 surveying other Utahns in D.C. Please send me a subscription to SUN~TONEmagazine, the unique Their article entitled "Power People Mormon monthly. on the Potomac" identifies the most 6 months (6 issues) 1 year (12 Issues) 2 years (24 issues) influential Utahns according to a $1 5.00 $27.00 $50.00 panel of "about fifteen men and $12.00 student rate women, Republicans and Demo- Name crats, spread across a spectrum of Address age, knowledge and experience." The panel nominated prominent Utahns in four leadership catego- ries: government and politics ("All

34 SUNSTONE 1. All Mormons, especially Utah Mormons, are right wing conservatives. False. Ideologies don't make it in Washington. 2. The FBI and CIA are com- shington pletely infiltrated by squeaky- clean Mormons who are being

-- recruited in droves. the President's Men"), business and False. Dale Van Atta's report that trade associations, professions 10% of CIA operatives and (Media Mavens, Lawyers, and Lob- employees are Mormon is probably byists"), and women leaders off by 9%. ("Women Who Matter"). 3. Mormons present a unified In the government and politics block because they are alike category Utah's two Republican and they all know each other senators, Orrin Hatch ("credited (i,e. Mormon Mafia). with killing the 1984 Civil Rights Somewhat true. Act because it could have threa- 4. Mormons are trying to take tened the LDS church's tax exempt over the government. status") and Jake Garn, chairman False. The percentage of influential of the powerful Senate Banking Orrin Hatch Utahns is "not overwhelming." Committee, were most freauentlv mentioned by the panelists. category. Also on the list were his Also on every panelist's list was parents, J. Willard, Sr., and his Richard WMhlin, President Alice, who arrived in Washington in Reagan's pollster-strategist. the late 1920s on their honeymoon Although he recently resigned, and stayed on to set up a root beer Education Secretary T. H. Bell was stand. listed by some, while other pane- lists argued that his influenc,e was Jack W. Carlson, executive vice- marginal at best. president and lobbyist for the Other persons in this category nation's largest trade association, included Rex Lee, the U.S. Solicitor the National Association of Real- General ("the beleaguered enemy of tors, as well as three other busi- the New Right"), Mark Cannon, the nessmen/lobbyists, Kent Colton, Chief Justice's administrative Gary Terry, and Ralph Meacham assistant, and Roger Porter, a were identified in the article. White House aide. The professions category Not surprisingly, J. Willard included individuals ranging from Marriott, the Marriott Corporation's such nationally known figures as chief executive officer and the syndicated columnist Jack Washington stake president, Anderson to perhaps the most headed up the business leader effective lobbyist in Washington, Tom Korologos ("dubtied by his col- leagues 'the 10lst senator' "). Sonia Johnson According to the Utah Holiday article, no Utah woman is more influential in the nation's capitol 5. Mormons stop short of the than Esther Peterson, the labor- top because they are not willing consumer activist who has served to sacrifice families and church in every Democratic administration work. since Franklin D. Roosevelt. Also Partially true. "Other long-time under "Women Who Matter" were Washingtonians aver that most Sonia Johnson, excommunicated Mormonssimply haven't developed Mormon feminist and Citizen's the intellectual strength and reser- Party presidential candidate; and voir of knowledge that would two other founding mothers of propel them into positions of last- Mormons for ERA, Maida Withers, ing power. . . . An anti-intellectual director of Dance Construction strain, combined with a strong Company; and Hazel Rigby, past need to make money, may cause president of the Alexandria Educa- Mormons to sell themselves short." tional Association. Authors Bradford and Pottmyer The article is a useful source of explain and assess several preval- information for those particularly ent mvths surroundina Mormons in interested in the Saints in ~ashlngton.The mytfis-with the Washington, D.C., and in the per- authors' conclusions of validity- ceptions others have of Mormon Jake Garn are as follows: influence there.

SUNSTOME 35 ANNOUNCING THE WASHINGTON O.C. Early Morning SUNSTONE THEOLOGICAL Seminary in Europe SYMPOSIUM by F. Lamberl

MAY 17-18,1985 The headline in the paper read: I am proud that my children will "Mormon cult uses exhaustion to probably succeed in high school brainwash children at 5 A.M. in the and will be able to go to a univer- morning.". An exaggeration, to be sity (which my wife and I were not The Sunstone Foundation an- sure, but at least partially true. able to do). I can also see that the nounces its first Sunstone Theo- My son is 16 years old, my Church in our country could use logical Symposium to be held in daughter 14. Our family joined the some faithful members who at the Washington D.C., on May 17-18, Church almost ten years ago. It same time have had a strong secu- 1985. The purpose of the sympo- brought us much joy, much cer- lar schooling. Right now in Europe sium is to better understand our tainty, much growth. Everything we have approximately one Mormon heritage and to provide which was weak in our life has member with an academic degree ,a forum for the discussion of been strengthened, everything for every 1,000 members. Mormon theology. We are seek- which was good we were able to But these past few weeks a new, keep. One of these values we have strongly formulated rule is being ing thoughtful papers on a vari- always cherished is the thorough given all over Europe: the Seminary ety of topics related to Mormon and rich schooltraining European program must become a daily, doctrine, culture, arts and litera- culture provides for our children. early morning seminary, five times ture, and history. We are so happy that the Church a week. The official instruction encourages the children to study reads: "That is what the Lord well and to obtain the best diplo- wants you to do. You now have to The symposium will include mas they can reach. make the decision-or the Lord will such lively topics as: My wife and I have always not bless you." worked very hard to be able to My wife and I have given it deep 1. History of Religion send our children to strong and prayerful consideration. If we schools, the only ones that will conduct early morning seminary in 2. Philosophy of Religion allow them to go to a university. 3. Doctrinal Development & Analysis our home, the children must get up Like all children in such schools, at 5:30 A.M., after approximately 4. Scripture our son and daughter must fight to six hours of sleep. But if we com- 5. Comparative Studies keep up the extremely demanding bine it with the other young LDS programs, but they are blessed and people in the city-and this'is what 6. Religion & the Social Sciences have always succeeded up to now. thev tell us we must do-they must 7. Ethics Such a strong European high get up at 4 A.M. for a rush in still 8. Contemporary Religious Issues school is somewhat different from dark streets to get the earliest bus an American one. Our children have to another end of the city. 9. Culture no optional courses, they have 36 lesson hours per week (all aca- Yes, we do have faith; yes, we demic subjects), where the law of trust the Lord, but we humbly ask the jungle prevails: you are on your if this is what the Lord really In addition, we are accepting own to survive. Like many Euro- wants. One of my priesthood lead- proposals by individuals and peans, we must use the public ers gave me the answer, recently groups for panel discussions, transportation system. Our children written by a high authority: "Early leave home at 7:20 A.M. to take the morning seminary is what the Lord round-table discussions, special wants to be done. You do not need sections, and debates. Proposals bus to school, approximately a 40 minutes drive. They come home to pray again for that-except for a should include a suggested topic, around 330 P.M. Seldom can they witness and how to make it a description of the format, and go to bed before 11 P.M., because possible." biographical information about each night they have about 4 to 5 We want our children to grow the participants. ' hours homework-review lessons, strong in the gospel. Every day, at work out exercises, write essays, each meal, we talk about the gos- prepare for tests, read assigned pel. At school our children do mis- For more information contact: books. On Saturdays they also sionary work wherever possible. have to do such homework most of They both are saving to go on mis- Elbert Peck the day, but then they can go to sions. Almost every fast Sunday Symposium Chair Church on Sunday morning and they give their testimonies of the 8513 Electric Avenue enjoy it without worrying about ospel. And they do seminary! Vienna, VA 22180 unfinished school assignments. On t'J p to now it has been given to (703) 560-6790 Sunday afternoon we have time for them in Sunday School and they family home evening and for plea- enjoy it. On Sunday afternoon we sant activities together. often talk about the lesson material

38 SUNSTONE and they do the assignments. And if I may be a little naughty: at pres- children will blame it on the Church during the summer holidays they ent there is not one European if they fail at school), or pass for spend daily time to make sure they officer of the Church Educational being rebellious (and also their finish the whole course. System who has been to a strong children will be ill-considered by But now the decision has been high school, let alone pursued some of the zealous inquisitors of made that under no condition can higher education. Otherwise they the seminary program). seminary material be used during would know that early morning Our family could of course try to Sunday School. It may only be seminary is strangling our best and emigrate to Utah, where the child- used for daily early morning semi- most promising youth. ren enjoy a moderate and playful nary. During Sunday School only In the meantime the LDS parents school life, where they have little the Sunday School manual for that with promising children in Europe homework, where mommy brings age group may be used-an insipid (and elsewhere with similar situa- them by car in five minutes to and childish repetition of primary tions) are compelled to a choice: seminary, probably next to the material. either place the future of their school, and where one can afford I probably do not have enough children in the balance (also their the luxury to argue about school faith, but good sense and testi- Church future, because later on the credit for seminary. mony keep telling me that it is not justified to demand from my child- ren, who must already fight so hard to earn the blessings of their regular schooling, a schedule which will exhaust them com- pletely and wreck their school studies. 1 INTRODUCING My leaders told me to test it. Last year I saw it tested among a few families in another stake. After a few weeks they stopped-the one family on urgent doctor's advice, when their daughter had a break- down because of over-fatigue; the other family when the school grades of their boy were quickly dropping; a third family for both reasons. A local newspaper got hold of the story: "The Mormon cult is abusing its teenagers during early morning hours." I do sustain the seminary pro- gram 100%. It is an excellent pro- gram for our youth. But it can be conducted during a responsible time. Given the local situation of our young people, the Sunday School is the ideal time to discuss the material and receive assign- ments which can be done during the weekend or even during some other free time at home. In this way the goals can be reached, better and more thoroughly than during impossible times and under impos- lNDlVIDUALS*GROUPS*GRADUATES sible circumstances. BRIDES & GROOMS* ANNIVERSARIES Let us be candid in this matter: PETS* ANCESTORS* the unbelievable pressure in favor of early morning seminary comes Av in the first place from the officers of the Church Educational System, who are being paid to have their FINEORIGINAL SILHOUETTEPORTRAITS DRAWN & PAINTED BY program succeed and who appar- NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED ARTIST, DESIGNER, MICHAEL 0. ROGAN ently can only prove their success II II with figures of early morning semi- Cmlnlissron your original profrait today at special infroducfoy nary. Moreover, it is clear they can only justify their salary if what rates . . . For free brochure and informntion please call (801) 973-8569 they do happens outside the regu- or write Silhouptte Memories, 256 1 So. ChestwfiPld Sf. lar Sunday School. They prod the Salt Lake City, Utah 841I 9 higher and lower priesthood lead- ers to sanction their demands. And

SUNSTONE 37 I 1

I' I1 theology. In 1843, for example, Joseph concluded that "the most prominent difference in sentiment What Constitutes between the Latter-day Saints and sectarians was, that the latter were all circumscribed by some peculiar Official Doctrine? creed, which deprived its members the privilege of believing anything by hvld John Buerger not contained therein, whereas the One of Mormonism's most power of God unto salvation" (D&C Latter-daybut are ready Saints to believe have noall creed,true attractive features lies in the 68:2-4). The license granted by apparent doctrinal certainty of its these revelations allowed Joseph principlesthat exist, as they are theological system. At first glance great freedom in shaping the early made manifest from time there seems to be wide, uniform development of Mormonism. De- (HC, 5215). This resistance to agreement as to what constitutes spite his statement that "a prophet creeds 'Ontinued even after he authentic doctrine. An examination was a prophet only when he was penned his famous Wentworth of the process of doctrinal accep- acting as such" (History of the letter. tance, however, highlights a strik- Church, 5:265), Joseph placed Consequently, members had two ing lack of unanimity-even among paramount importance on the reli- options for determining what con- Church General Authorities. Many ability and authority of his revela- stituted authentic doctrine: the first Latter-day Saints believe that the tions: "I never told you I was per- simply consisted of inspired state- inspired nature of a Church leader's fect; but there is no error in the ments from the prophet (or his statements is all that is required to revelations which I have taught" authorized representatives); the make a doctrine official while 0th- (HC, 6:366). Joseph's revelations second held that canonization was ers feel that a formal canonization therefore constituted one source of a prerequisite for a doctrine to be process is necessary prior to rec- doctrine for early Church members. binding in a theological sense. ognizing a doctrine as binding. The authoritarian power implied Various General Authorities have To best understand these differ- by these passages seems to have emphasized one or the other of ences we must first look at their been tempered, however, by the these options on different occa- native roots. Early on, Joseph instructions of another revelation: sions. Brigham Young, for instance, Smith clearly established his posi- "For all things must be done in believed that "the words of an tion as president to be the only order, and by common consent in Apostle who magnifies his calling office authorized to pronounce the church, by the prayer of faith" are the words of the Almighty to definitively the will of the Lord (see (D&C 28:13; see also 104:21). the people all the time. He never D&C 1114, 37-39; 21 :4-6; 28:2-3, 6; Joseph himself took the require- need be called in question whether 43:2-7; 102:23). A revelation ment of a consenting vote he revealed the mind of the Lord or received in November 1831 insured seriously, for on August 17,1835 he not." (Journal of Discourses, that whatever "Those who were submitted his revelations to a gen- 6:319-20.) On another occasion he ordained to this priesthood.. . . era1 assembly of members for offi- claimed, "Ihave never yet shall speak when moved upon by cia1 canonization (see HC, 2:243- preached a sermon and sent it out the Holy Ghost shall be scripture, 51). Moreover, he seemed to resist to the children of men, that they shall be the will of the Lord, shall codifying these revelations into a may not call Scripture" (JD, 13:95). be the mind of the Lord, and the distinct, formal creed of Mormon In contrast, he also stipulated, "In

I

Early Mormon Backgrozlnd and Parallels Frequent catalogues and lists issued in Mor~nonismto 1850 and General rare books & manuscripts, early medieval to twentieth century

38 SUNSTONE trying all matters of doctrine. to sized that only the president has make a decision valid, it is necei- the right to introduce new doctrine. 1f sary to obtain a unanimous voice, he never mentioned the topic of faith, and decision. . . . Let the canonization (see Church News, Elders get together, being faithful July 31, 1954, pp. 9-10). and true; and when they agree upon any point, you may know that Perhaps the direct recent it is true." (JD, 9:91-92.) comment on this topic is from Frequently Church leaders have hlce McConkie's encyclopedia taught that the "living oracles" are Ahrmon more important than canonized Doctrine. "Revelations given of scripture (e.g., Wilford Woodruff's his prophets . . . are famous sermon in Conference not subject to an approving or sus- Report, October 1897, pp. 22-23). taining vote of the people in order Apostle Abraham 0. Woodruff to establish their validity," forcefully stated that when the McConkie wrote. "Members of the prophet "has anything to say to us Church may vote to publish a Par- as the mind and will of the Lord, it tic~larrevelation along with the is just as binding upon us as if God other scriptures, or the people may spake personally to (CR, April bind dherfl~el~e~by Covenant to f0l- 1899, pp. 6-8). On the other hand, IOWthe instr~ctionsfound in the Church president Joseph F. Smith revealed word. But there is no pro- expressed his conviction that vision in the Lord's plan for the revelation given through the head members Of the Church pass of the church ever becomes binding upon the validity of fWelations and authoritative upon members of themselvesby a vote Of the the church until it has been pre- Church; there is nothing permitting sented to the church and accepted the Church which the revelations will be binding upon it, 1:96).by them" In addition, (Reed Smoot 0. H. Roberts Case' either by a vote of the people or by voiced his concern about ascribing other means." (MDg 2d. ed.9 rev., p. official sanction to any statement 141.) Elder McConkie's view was by a Church authority and even supported by events following the proposed a Mormon doctrine of June 9,1978, announcement of "excathedra." For Roberts, canon President Spencer W. Kimball's scripture and general conference revelation allowing all men to be ratification constituted -the only ordained to the priesthood. Only sources of absolute appeal for our days after, Freeman- doctrine. . . . This, then, represents Jr.* became the first black tO be ordained in the modern era. the position of the Church . , . upon the authoritative sources of their Yet the revelation announcing this doctrine" (Millennia1 Star, new change in Church policy (doc- 83:516-19). trine?) was not accepted as "the More recent Church authority word and will of the Lord" in gen- statements on this matter have era1 conference until four months downplayed the importance of later (CR, September-October 1978, canonization. Elder Marion G. p. 22). Romney, for example, claimed in What, then, do Mormons now 1945: "What the [First] Presidency consider to be authentic doctrine? say as a presidency is what the Ironically, there is no clear "offi- Lord would say if he were here, cial" answer. While recent events ake Frost Books your reading and it is scripture. It should be stu- lend credence to the idea that "doc- died, understood, and followed, trine" is what the Church president headquarters! even as the revelations in the tells us, the notion of canonization Doctrine and Covenants and other has not been totally discounted. Shop from our wide selection of books, scriptures." (CR, April 1945, p. 90.) Indeed, one can claim historical Apostle Henry D. Moyle followed precedent from Joseph Smith for or take advantage of our special order, suit: "That which the Presidency of both approaches. Until the question mailing and gift wrap services. this Church have said, and say is raised in some official capacity, now, is as much the law and the and continuing Joseph Smith's gospel as anything that has ever noncreedal tradition, "authentic Mention this ad and get a 20% discount- been said or written before for our doctrine" will probably remain in on your next purchase. Offer good until guidance" (CR, April 1947, p. 158). the eye of its beholder. And while President J. Reuben April 15, 1985 Clark, Jr.'s landmark speech "When David John Buerger is director Frost Bookstores are located at Foothill Village and o~ympusHills, insalt LakeC~tyand Are the Writings and Sermons of of the personal computer cen- at Green Valley in Saint George Church Leaders Entitled to the ter, University of Santa Clara, Claim of Being Scripture?" empha- Santa Clara, California.

SUNSTONE 39 of the house was taken and decided in favor of shucking off A Fine Drama some of their traditions by dancing. I replied that I could not participate with them in the evening's recrea- JOURNALS OF JOHN D. LEE 1846-47 81 1859 tion from the fact that I did not EDITED BY CHARLES KELLY, INTRODUCTION BY CHARLES S. consider it a time to dance but a PETERSON. SALT LAKE CITY: UNIVERSITY OF UTAH PRESS, 1984. day with me of deep solemnity and 244 PP. $17.95 prayer for the recovery of the health of my file leader and father by Kerry Bate [Brigham Young] who this day has been near yielding up the ghost. The once remarked casually to an and that we would reverence what Having made those remarks Ileft acquaintance that John D. Lee he stood for and believed in. the room and entered the place I story of I was an uncle of mine by mar- The earliest and most concise where the afflicted lay." 1 Lee is true riage. It was a cheap piece of brag- criticism I have read of Lee was One can easily appreciate the 1 gadocio, because any nineteenth- written by Thomas D. Brown, a effect this situation would have on Greek tragedy, century Mormon who had nineteen man whom Lee correctly prophes- others. The crowd listens to Mormon wives is likely the uncle of three- ied would apostatize from the lengthy sermons. Tired of business 1 quarters of the population of Utah, Mormon church. Brown was with a and planning for the pioneer trek, t style if not the ancestor to over half of group of Indian missionaries called someone suggests that they hold a the state through, in Lee's case, his to southern Utah. He wrote in 1855 dance, about the only recreation sixty children. that Lee was officious; "he has available to the pioneers. A vote is But the story of John D. Lee is abu[n]dance of dreams, visions taken, and that vote is passed with more than the story of someone and revelations, from which he enthusiasm. Then Lee gets up sanc- who was explosively successful in instructs, reproves & governs." He timoniously and self-righteously obeying the commandment to mul- accused Lee of being an eaves- throws a wet blanket over the tiply and replenish the earth. The dropper, of spying and then using whole evening, not so subtly sug- story of Lee is a true Greek what he learned-representing it as gesting they are shallow and have tragedy, adapted to nineteenth- revelation. He says Lee writes let- no loyalty. He walks out. This inci- century Mormonism. ters accusing others of bad faith. dent demonstrates Lee's personal- He had risen almost like the Lee also accuses some of "hypoc- ity in two ways: first it shows his phoenix, from ashes. His early risy, blackness of heart & evil arrogance and insensitivity to childhood was one of abuse and speaking, and said he himself others. Second it reminds us of the misery. His mother died when he would not hesitate to steal from the fanatical bond he had with Brigham was very young; his father was an gentiles who had so often robbed Young. There is something almost alcoholic who sent him to live with the saints." Brown suggests Lee pitiful about an adult calling a man a sadistic aunt while that father was a coward and objects to Lee's his own age "Father." Perhaps no eventually drifted away to parts handling of his position as judge, other.Mormon took the kind of unknown. Lee struggled against overruling the bishop and over- sealing Lee had to Brigham Young this pitiful environment and man- charging for materials he sold. quite so seriously. aged through hard work, persever- "Weekly there has been some dif- Wherever Lee went there were ance, and total dedication to ficulty between him and some of always hard feelings. In fact, he become one of the few Mormon the settlers," Brown concludes, "his seems to have quarreled with giants, leaving an enormous pos- excessive greed, Selfishness, and almost everyone: William Clayton terity, a mass of biographical jealousy, being the cause, many over prices in a store, "Bro. material, and a name that will live have left and will do." Maginnis" who insulted Lee, Sister on so long as there is interest in This is a remarkable statement Allen whom Lee reproves, his Mormonism and Utah. to find in the official missionary second wife, Nancy Bean (my And yet he has lived on in record. It was this kind of impres- lamented aunt) who writes Lee an infamy-an ironic ending for a man sion that Lee made on so many of "insolent" letter, Brother Arnold, whose tragic flaw was unquestion- those whom Lee had to live with over that man's "selfishness, [and] ing obedience. By being literally that resulted in his sad ending, for for his hard spirit." Even old Mr. what so many of his compatriots as years went by, Lee, a partici- Neff, who "but a few days [ago] and coreligionists only attempted pant in the Mountain Meadows stated that his money should not to be, Lee became the most Massacre, became associated in go to support the whores of the 12." pathetic of victims and the most the mind of an increasingly hostile An especially trying time was stereotyped of villains. At the end community as not only a partici- had in Winter Quarters because the he lost his belief and was con- pant, but as the man deserving the pioneers fought all summer over demned and executed. full community venom for that the division of land, with almost all Probably no single person in crime. And we see many of the of them united in their feeling that nineteenth-century Mormonism characteristics which led to Lee's Lee was greedy and taking advan- emerges so clearly as a real man alienation from his neighbors in tage of them. Lee even has hard from his letters and journals as the earlier journal published by words with his first wife, Aggatha does John D. Lee. And his whole Kelly. Ann. Lee records in detail anything life was lived and recorded in order For instance, under the date of said favorable to himself (as, for that we would see him as he saw February 17;1847, after a lengthy instance, the defense by Samuel himself, that we would understand, entry, Lee writes: "About 11 a vote Gully of Lee's conduct), and is

40 SUNSTONE vituperative against his "enemies." for the Mountain Meadows Massa- attention to the early Saints' pro- Where possible these quarrels cre. By the time of the second jour- clivities for alcohol and other pos- are mediated by Brigham Young. nal Lee is seeing traitors every- sible sins, overall his volume is Even when Lee runs an errand to where, and he dreams of rivers of well edited and the marginal notes the Mormon Battalion and makes blood. The last part of the book is are helpful guides. himself so obnoxious by "threaten- made up of letters and fragments We are grateful that this book, ing to cut their infernal throats" of letters from Lee, who to the end issued originally in an edition of that the Mormon leadership of that kept a sharp eye on his financial only 250 copies, is now available to battalion "thretened to put me affairs. the general public really for the under guard," he reports the details There are a good many important first time. Still, we regret that the to Young and wins Young's appro- insights in this book about John D. published and unpublished letters val (that prophetic figure laments Lee, Brigham Young, and many and diaries of Lee and his wives the fact he does not have an arm other contemporary Mormons. could not be all gathered together long enough to reach the battalion Even Lee's anger and hostility help and a new edition given us which Brigham and suggests Lee should have us better understand the conflicts, would put all of this in coherent must have taken the heads off from his the times, and the personalities. and chronological order. opposition). A lengthy introduction to this Until that point, we have a good tired of his Yet one can't help but feel that book by Charles S. Peterson gives deal of the story in print, both in constant baby- Young tired of this constant baby- a sketch of the editor, Charles these journals and in the more sitting of Lee, and perhaps that Kelly. Kelly was much like Lee, an extensive journals edited by sitting of was one of the reasons Lee was angry bigot raised in a cruel envi- Brooks and Cleland in 1955. Lee's Lee not allowed to go to the Salt Lake ronment. And like Lee he accom- final hope may yet be realized: he valley with the first group of pio- plished much. Kelly's editorial work will be remembered and under- neers. Perhaps, too, this explains on this volume is praiseworthy. stood by those who care to know why Lee was sent so far away from When he published these two jour- about a man whose life was fine, if Salt Lake City as a colonizer. So nals, for the years 1846-47 and tragic, drama. many of Young's other friends 1859, he thought he was bringing stayed in the valley or returned out the only surviving John D. Lee there after repeated mission calls. journals, and the edition was so The 1859 journal is most disap- limited, it is doubtful he made any KERRY BATE is the Utah state pointing because pages have been money on it. While Kelly makes an housing specialist for the div- torn out, and it begins in the middle especial attempt through marginal ision of community of a sentence, with Lee on the run notations and footnotes to draw development.

has an unbendable will, however, and stands up to Staver until the Purity and Passion very end. He also slowly, oh so slowly, learns lessons about what it means to be human. SUMMER FIRE A WOMAN OF DESTINY Thayer is good at setting the BY DOUGLAS H. THAYER BYORSONSCOTTCARD scene-descriptions of cutting hay, ORION BOOKS, 1983 BERKLEY BOOKS, 1984 irrigating, butchering beef, and the 258 PP. $3.95,713 PP. rest of life on a ranch seem to come from experience. He also by Scott Abbott creates memorable characters (my favorite is Mrs. Cummings, the cook and laundrywoman at the ouglas Thayer's Summer their cabin, Owen conscientiously ranch, once a Mormon, and after a Fire and Scott Card's A , says his prayers and tries to be an lifetime of experience broad, warm, D Woman of Destiny are as example. and human). different as two Mormon novels From the beginning Owen finds could be, and in their difference an adversary in Staver, the ranch But good characters and vivid they tell an illuminating story. First foreman. Staver has an enormous setting aside, the novel bothers the the novels themselves and then the scar on his chest, received as a hell out of me. story they tell together. soldier in the Korean War, and a I read it in Louisville during a In Summer Fire, Thayer's first scarred psyche as well. He kills conference on Twentieth-Century novel after twenty years of short thoughtlessly (the ranch fences are Literature: the first half in the early stories, a sixteen-year-old boy hung with animals he has killed; morning hours after seeing Danny named Owen recounts his expe- pools in the river stand lifeless and the Deep Blue Sea, one of riences on a Nevada ranch where after his dynamiting). He drives the winners in the Louisville he and his cousin Randy work for himself day and night, as if pos- Actor's Theatre's Humana the summer. Both boys come from sessed by a death wish. And he Festival-a brutal, violent, hope- Provo, both are LDS, both work harasses Owen mercilessly, aided less, obscene, and, in the middle hard at their new job; but while by the boy's straightforward self- act, ethereal confrontation between Randy learns to play poker and righteousness, naivete, and pro- a man and a woman in the Bronx; pins up Playboy centerfolds in pensity to costly mistakes. Owen the second half the night after hear-

SUNSTONE 41 ing Robert Coover read a wild, poli- came above the fence. I turned. Summer Fire bothers the hell tical, orgiastic, and hilarious scene "Stay around, Owen. " out of the reader, as it is meant to. from his novel The Public "No thanks. " It strikes close to home in its por- Burning. In my hotel room, recov- "Come on. You might have a ranch trayal of sheltered self- ering from the violence and the bril- some day and want to breed righteousness but at the same time liance of contemporary theater and horses. " finds strength in the weakness it prose fiction, I read and read, I kept walking away. has just disclosed. exhausted, increasingly put off by "Hey, Owen." A Woman of Destiny, "the epic what I read, but unable to put down I kept walking. saga of a woman who dared to the story of Owen, a sheltered "They're animals, " I said. search the world for love. For sixteen-year-old boy from Provo, "What did you say, Owen?" Pride, For Passion, For Her Family. for whom a rather normal summer "They're animals!" I shouted it. From the inferno of industrial working on a Nevada ranch proves "Okay, Boy Scout. You go back England to the shining promise of a an extraordinary experience. and get things all cleaned up." new America, Dinah Kirkham rose t From the beginning the style irri- "Hey, V-i-r-g-i-n-i-a." to free herself and her children I The tated me, at least I thought it was I kept walking, listening to Frank from poverty's grim reign, and maddening the style. Imagine over two and Staver laughing; the rancher reach for the freedom that is every style is a hundred pages of short sentences wasn't laughing. I walked into the woman's dream. . . . A woman of like the following: tool room and turned the hose on courage. . . to heal a divided consummate for- full force to wash out the dirt. family. A woman of compassion 1 Above them I saw the North Star. Reproduction wasn't obscene; it ( mal expression of I'd read a book called The North . . . to forgive the father who had was wonderful. I'd studied insect abandoned her, and the brother Owen's Star. It was my favorite star. The and animal reproduction in my Chinese, Greek, Phonecian, Viking, who tried to rule in his stead. A I personality biology classes. I'd seen films I'd woman of beauty. . . to marry a I Roman, Elizabethan and Spanish read An Introduction to Conception sailors had all used it to guide man whose words would move t and Birth and Life's Chain. Adam and millions, whose love could never be them. Columbus used it to find Eve had to reproduce, which was America. The valley breeze blew hers alone. A Woman of Destiny what sex was for mainly. Brother . . . a passionate journey that will against me. I liked the ranch. I Anderson had pictures of his eight wasn't homesick. I listened for sweep you into an unforgettable children in his office. Everybody in woman's life!" coyotes, but I didn't hear any. I the whole world had to be con- turned and climbed down, and With this uncompromisingly bad ceived. Reproduction was a com- rhetoric ("epic saga"!) and with a walked back to the cabin. mandment. It wasn't a joke. After I put on my paiamas and flashy green, white, and red cover brushed my teeth, I said my pray- Owen is so damned sure of him- featuring the said "woman of ers. I prayed for my mother and destiny," Scott Card's new novel self! He has read a hundred intro- tries to sell itself. Fortunately, the grandmother, and Helen and Mrs. ductory books (including Woman Johnson and Mrs. Cummings, and cover sells the book short (as have without Hope-about prostitu- many others advertised down to for Dale. I prayed for Randy, Stan, tion, Those Who Got Caught- Frank, and Staver. I prayed Randy about criminals and prisons, the supermarket crowds-D.M. and I could be good examples. (pp. Thomas, for example, left the U.S. Venereal Disease: A Doctor in shock after seeing what 57-58.) Talks to Young Men, Boy's Life, etc.). He's had the perfect seminary American book packagers had Of course short sentences should done to his White Hotel). have been no surprise. Thayer's teacher in Brother Anderson. He Untortunately, this review will stories are written in the same realizes that other people aren't also sell the book short. I find it style (and there was a writer perfect, but he's willing to help impossible to recreate anything named Hemingway). But so many them be more like himself. His cou- resembling the color and sweep of of them at once! However, in the sin Randy, a year older and a real Card's 700 pages. The heroine, midst of my frustration I realized man of the world compared to Dinah Kirkham, grows up in early that style alone was not respon- Owen, winces again and again as nineteenth-century, industrial sible for my anguish. Passages like Owen makes solemn announce- Manchester, England; and the first the following, as clipped as the ments of belief to the scoffing third of the story could be straight rest, revealed a more serious ranch hands. from Dickens. John Kirkham, the source of irritation: Once I realized how much Owen father, a failed businessman and got under my skin, I could turn The mare stood still watching the sometime painter, deserts his barn. The bottom half of the door back to the maddening style and family in the novel's first chapter. swung open, and Frank came out. see in it a consummate formal In the years that follow, Dinah, her Staver led Black Prince out on a expression of Owen's personality: mother Anna, and two brothers halter rope. Frank closed the door. uncomplicated, convinced, inces- suffer unimaginable poverty and Black Prince kept jerking his head. sant, direct, intolerable-and degradation. Eventually the oldest Staver unclipped the halter rope. strong. Despite the nonhuman side son, Robert, becomes an engineer "Okay, boy. " of his personality, Owen works and then a wealthy builder of Frank and Staver walked over to hard, is more than kind to Mrs. locomotives. Charles, the youngest the fence and climbed up. The Cummings, and gamely puts up child, gets an education at the rancher stood by me. Frank lit a with intolerable ridicule and hands of a crazy old man and rises cigarette and held the match for harassment. And, over the course to a fine position as an accountant. Staver. Black Prince neighed, the of the long summer, he begins to Dinah also gets on in the world, her sound high and fierce like a emerge as an almost normal fortune assured by an attempted scream. He reared up; his head sixteen-year-old. rape and a hasty marriage to a

42 SUNSTONE man she knows to be no match for and moon and stars all within her imaginations but also as represen- herself. body, the leaves of the trees so tative of two cultures (arising, sur- Providentially, Heber Kimball large that she could stand between prisingly enough, in a church which breaks with apostolic vigor into them and watch them grow to infin- prides itself on "one Lord, one this idyll to claim Anna, Charlie, ity so that she could touch the stars faith, one baptism"). Let's start and Dinah for the Lord. A few lines that dwelt within them, too. "I am, " with swearing, drinking, and sex: describing Charlie's baptism exem- said the voice. So slowly. And Owen doesn't; Dinah and the Lord's plify much of what is good about Dinah answered, silently, "I know." annointed do. Thayer deftly gets the novel: Visions are not cheap, however, around the ranch hands' inevitable Five minutes later they were and the new destiny Dinah embra- profanity by reporting through standing in the cold water of the ces leads her through tragedy to Owen that someone has "taken the Rochdale Canal hoping that no Nauvoo, Illinois. There she begins, Lord's name in vain." Card's apos- barge would come along till they in a very odd combination of fiction tles sprinkle priesthood ordinances were through. Brother Heber said and history, to live the life of Eliza with heart-felt oaths. Where a few the words and dunked him under R. Snow, eventually one of Joseph beers cause near tragedy in Thay- There the water. Charlie came up sputter- Smith's wives. The story's narrator, er's book, wine still has a place at ing and Heber laughed and said, 0. Kirkham, claims his account orthodox tables in Nauvoo. Owen's Dinah, in an "By damn, Charlie Kirkham, 1'11 bet reconstructs the life of his great protected adolescent perspective odd combination you're the first man ever to come aunt Dinah, whose diary he ran on sex has him obsessively cover- out of this water cleaner than he across while researching the life of ing himself with clean underwear of fiction and his- went in!" Then Heber wrapped him her brother Charles Kirkham, the and athletic supporters; and his tory, begins to in a great bear hug. "Brother author of "Let us all press on" and refusal to watch Black Prince ser- Charlie, " Heber said, "Welcome to other "mediocre hymns." The "bru- vice a mare proves that, contrary live the life of the fellowship of the Saints. " Then tally frank journal. . . is now kept to his words ("Reproduction wasn't Eliza R. Snow they climbed out of the water under lock and key in the church obscene; it was wonderful") sex is together and went home to warm archives, where no historian may obscene for him. In contrast, Dinah up and dry off. "And I hope we can read it." In the acknowledgments at discovers a warm sensuality in her talk your mother into a few inches the end of the book the author (not marriage bed, desires Joseph of medicinal wine, " Heber said. the narrator) thanks "helpful Smith physically as much as spir- "Water's so cold it damn near cut employees at the LDS Church itually, and finally, as an old me in two up the middle." Archives" and "the Charles Banks woman, sleeps with an aged Card's depiction of Dinah's conver- and Kirkham Family Organization." -* Brigham Young in a delightfully sion is likewise so intensely human How are we to read this? Did Card, tender scene. that it achieves transcendence doing research on Charles Kirk- The divergent attitudes concern- (echoing Parfey Pratt's wedding of ham, come across Eliza Snow's ing swearing, drinking, and sex, sexuality and the Holy Ghost in journal and surreptitiously copy it? meaningless enough when taken by "Intelligence and Affection"). After Does Dinah Kirkham's story, from themselves, gain importance when hearing Heber Kimball speak about the time she reaches Nauvoo until seen as the product of opposing Joseph Smi\h and the restored the new century dawns, represent a world views. Owen's adolescent gospel of Jesus Christ, Dinah finds truer, more intimate history of sureness, his short declarative herself able for the first time to Snow than we have had until now? beliefs, his valiant efforts to keep respond sexually to her husband. or is the whole thing a fiction, one his distance from the flames of sin, In the aftermath she burns with step further from the unknowable all represent a negative righteous- spiritual fire as well: facts than is Samuel Taylor's ness. On the back cover, in fact, The feeling grew and grew until equally well-written retelling of the stands the telling question: "How she could not bear it. The light also same events in Nightfall at Nau- close can you come to the fire grew within her, until at last she voo? Although the tensions without being burned?" Card could see it, a whiteness spreading between fiction and history in the inverts the image, for the firey from her to fill the room. She heard novel bother me (and maybe they tongues which burn in Dinah are her words become audible, and she are meant to), a more important manifestations of the Holy Ghost. finally realized that the angel would historical point remains. The question here is: "How far can not come and stand outside her in The times and characters Card you get from the fire and still be a the air, that the angel would be skillfully creates and recreates productive, loving human being?" within her, and her own lips would here-nineteenth-century Manches- Where Owen and his church com- speak the message she was meant ter and Nauvoo, Heber Kirnball, mang a begrudging respect, Dinah to hear. "I love you, I hear you." Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, the and her church inspire love. Owen And then the whiteness grew too Kirkhams, and all the rest- may indeed keep himself clean. bright and she closed her eyes and represent a world we have left Dinah helps change the world with almost immediately felt herself drift behind. A reader could scarcely her wisdom and passion and toward sleep, felt the whiteness imagine a starker contrast than poetry. drowse over her like endless sheets that between the nineteenth- All this is not to say that Card's and blankets to warm her, and she century Mormons of Card's novel book is better than Thayer's. The heard her own voice fall silent and and the almost contemporary two authors merely hold their mir- the other voice at last speak in Mormons of Thayer's. rors up to different centuries. answer, speak from those perfect Placing the two works side by lips only one thing: "I am," said the side we find differences which take SCOTT ABBOTT is assistant voice so slowly, and Dinah lay in on an interesting cast when seen professor of German at Van- wonder 811 night, sleeping but feel- not only as inevitable in the pro- derbilt University in Nashville, ing herself awake forever, the sun ducts of two separage creative Tennessee.

SUNSTONE 43 :I1 I MORALITIES OF EVERYDAY LIFE regular fear of the small, straiaht- theme in the literature he survevs forward English word): Chaptei but fails to recognize when it BY JOHN SABIN1 AND MAURY One, "through a (dark) glass finally calls itself into question. The SILVER clearly": Magic Spectacles and the third essay, however, the longest OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS. 1982. Motif of the Mimetic Mantic in of the book, is much stronger. It's 238 PP., $6.95. Postwar German Literature; Chap- basic premise is simple-war toys ter Two, The Symbolical Limp and and violent games teach children to -T. E. Shoemaker the Secular Postwar Seer; Chapter wage war. Besides quoting from an Three, The Terrible Toys: A View impressive group of German nov- This book makes two arguments, from Postwar German Literature at els, Keele uses a broad array of both of which should be of interest the Process of Play-Time Psycho- material (from the history of to Latter-day Saints. One is an logical Pre-Conditioning for Dicta- games, from sociological studies of attack on the use of behavioral torship, War, and Holocaust; Chap- games and war, from sports books, science as a philosophical method. ter Four, Reptiles and Robots: from magazine accounts) in his Mathematical "Skinnerisms" shed Minacious Machinery and its argument. He is aware that he can- little light on the complex world of Automaton-Slaves; Chapter Five, not prove a connection between toy contemporary people and their Ethics in Embryo: Abortion and the guns and war, but he goes a long struggle with the moralities of Problem of Morality in Postwar way toward convincing us of the everyday life. Mathematical codes German Literature. Chapters Two possibility. Keele's final essay only tell us what, not why. The and Four are the shortest, and to deals with West German views on result is confusion and moral my mind least interesting of the abortion. He makes the surprising uncertainty. book, so I shall limit my remarks to discovery that authors like Paul The other argument is the need the essays on magic spectacles, Schalluck, Walser, Boll, and Grass to return to the use of ordinary terrible toys, and abortion.The first (all of whom have actively sup- language, including the word sin in essay begins by pointing out that ported attempts to repeal anti- our discussions, analyses, and Wolfgang Borchert, Martin Walser, abortion statutes like Paragraph redefinitions of human moral frail- and Heinrich Boll all create charac- 218 of the German legal code) seem ties. Coupling ordinary words as ters whose metaphorical glasses to oppose abortion in their fiction generally understood with logic allow them to see more clearly and poetry. (A writer he does not and grammar restores to philoso- than their non-spectacled com- include, Karin Struck, has written phical discussions universal mean- rades. With their "visionary optics" an entire novel-Lieben-about ings and powerful generalizations. they dig up memories, responsibili- the consequences of abortion, and The authors not only tell us this but ties, guilt, and pain their fellows would be an important addition to provide ample examples of how would just as soon repress, and the analysis, both as a woman and this is done. They postulate a var- thus effect a reassessment and a recent contributor to the debate.) iety of ways (as a sin, as a motive, overcoming of the past. The essay In dealing with these authors who and as an emotion) that envy, for continues with an exposition of oppose anti-abortion laws but who example, may manifest itself in Gunter Grass's Dog Years (an write against abortion, Keele sug- human behavior. Because the book excellent novel), in which one of gests that the question is one of avoids sectarian moralizing, no the narrators and main characters individual vs, legislated morality. Mormon need fear that the book's markets maaic alasses which allow message might sow seeds of apos- children to iewtheir parents' most tasy. To the contrary, on the compromising acts during the Nazi "highway to perfection," Mormons, years. Keele does a good job with GOD AMONG US: THE GOSPEL of all Christians, are least likely to details, especially with reference to PROCLAIMED recognize the danger signs of the how Grass subtly relates his own "seven deadly sins." The message fiction to these glasses. But when it BY EDWARD SCHILLEBEECKX just might make the journey less comes to the auestion of whv the CROSSROAD PUBLISHING CO.. 1983. perilous. glasses are magical, he misses the $12.95,258 pp. point. The solution lies rather in -Keith E. Norman Grass's abiding skepticism (he once said he was skeptical even of There are few contemporary THE APOCALYPTIC VISION: his skepticism). To identify one's theologians or churchmen who can A THEMATIC EXPLORATION OF own fiction as magic glasses match the credentials of this book's POSTWAR GERMAN LITERATURE through which postwar Germany author. Of Catholic theologians, his can clearly see its past is to ignore public reputation is surpassed per- BY ALAN FRANK KEELE one's own subjective, skewed, haps only by the more controver- STUDIA HUMANITATIS, 1983, prejudiced, incomplete view of the sial Hans Kung. But as a scholar in $19.00, 129 pp. world. Grass comments on the his field, Christology, Edward -Scott Abbott questionableness of postwar fiction Schillebeeckx is without peer. (including his own highly rational Readers who want the main course Alan Keele, a BYU professor, work) by identifying it with the should go straight to his magnum divides his short book into five irrationality of the magic glasses opus, Jesus: An Experiment in essays, the titles of which reveal and the numerology and astrology Christology. the author as a sufferer of of the narrators. He asks then in GodAmong Us is the Maxwell's alliterative disease (the the end: What are the irrational appetizer-a collection of mostly essays themselves further betray underpinnings of our rationality? sermons or lectures on New Tes- chronic "big-word syndromew-a Keele alerts us to a prevailing tament or creedal themes. The dis-

44 SUNSTONE courses are solidly grounded in scriptural and historical exegesis, but the focus, as we would expect CLASSIFIED ADS in a sermon, is upon application to the contemporary Christian. I A sermon often tells as much PROVO COTTAGE-retirement retreat or mechanic's MORMON MISCELLANEOUS REPRINTS now avail- dream. Near downtown, slashed to$39,500firm; this able. 1. "Spaulding Manuscript Theory Then and about the preacher as about the price offered only to SUNSTONE readers. 1000 sq. 11. Now" by Lester Bush; 2. "The Writing of Joseph subject or text of the discourse, on main floor; 112 bsmt.. full storage attic. 2 112 Smith's History" by Dean Jessee; 3. "The Early bdrms.. incl. 1 in bsmt. 2400 sq. ft. irrigated garden Accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision" by Dean and Schillebeeckx is here revealed wlminiature orchard. Garage wired 120.240 volts, Jessee. To order. send 81.50each plus 50apostage to as a man of deep piety, conviction, air-plumbed & heated for heavy-duty hobby or repair Mormon Miscellaneous. B865South 1300 East. Sandy. shop, w Isemi-heated attic storage. Many recent im- UT 84092. and compassion, as well as wide- prvmts.4.g.. storm windows, good insulation. Kit- ranging scholarship. His concern chen has new cbnts.. new elctjc, stove, new coal- for the oppressed of the world wood space stove, new counter top, new sink, new MISCELUNEOUSan expanding rug, ~~th~~,mostly wlnew sink, faucets, collection of notes, comments, and references to permeates the book. indeed his rug. Alarm system, exhaust fans, Hunterceiling fans 'Over the entire Of MOrmOndOm%standard reiteration of the sins and obliga- wlwallswitches, ~11 unsafe wiring rplcd, Works. noncanonical writings, gleanings from early upgraded, phone outlets, Shed wlwiring, switch- Christian writers and recent biblical scholars. Series tions of affluent western Christian ing, gas plumbing for emrgncy, New paint awn- will include contributions from the files of many society in this regard almost places ings.genrtr. Many other imprvmts, 451 West 200 Mormon scholars and researchers on topics of his- south, N~~~downtown, near fire and police stations tory. doctrine, polemics. statistics, current events. him in the camp of "liberation and grade school. ,tor appointment, callmy coop. Mormon3 non-Mormon. mi-Mormon-in short, all theology," to which he alludes erative tenants Jeff and Lauri Robinson at373-2651. subjects from any source (both published and Un- favorably more than once. Most of owner, 0ick ~~~~l~~~,Box 8, colchester, VT 05446 Published) in any way related to Mormonism. Note- (80~)658-1237 any day after noon MT, cards will be published in sets of 100 4x6 cards at us are only too well insulated from $6.00 per set. 800-1200 notecards will be published per year beginning March 1. To order. send $6.00 to the deprivations and miseries of FINE COLLECTION OF PAINTINGSAN0 SCULPTURE avail- Mormon Miscellaneous, 1433East 9175South. Sandy. humanity, and it is good to be able owing to liquidation of two Utah Estates. Pieces UT 84092. include contemporary and early Utah and European reminded to whom Jesus directed works. Also, through Feb. 15 Peggy Anderson and his gospel. To "confess Jesus" Steven Songer watercolor show, Su\\ivan Galleries. P6:~s~~~~~~~~~,",~i~~;p"~d~~i,"p'~~f~~ 55 West 100 South' 84101' 364-3900' means, for Schillebeeckx, to feed independently. Retired craftsmen-painters, plumbers. the hungry, clothe the naked, and carpenters, etc.-or anyoneelse who is interested. A BLOOMINGSALES-147 East 800 South. 532-5663. A modest wage is negotiable. Call Lowell Bennion or visit the sick and imprisoned. new flower market. When conslder~ngflowers for Ted Keefer at 486-2136. 212 West 1300 So.. SLC. UT your office or home. consider Bloomingsales. We 84115. In addition to his profound hum- can answer your needs for distinctive and personal- anism, Schillebeeckx is committed ized gifts and flower designs. Open daily 10 A.M. to 6 P.M. SALT LAKE RAPE CRISIS CENTER needs volunteers to to a biblical scholarship likely to attend the next training session beginning May 1. seem overly liberal to Mormons. WHIRUWA~ S~STEMSOFAMERICA.Franchised ~~~l~~,1985. All YOU need is a good attitude. common sense, His modern assumptions about the A new concept in carpet cleaning. No wetness. Dries and a 'Imecommitment Of 20 Or per in NO odor, NO residue, call 485-6295, month. For further information, contact the Rape mythical nature of the revealed Crisis Center at 532-RAPE. text, however, in no way water CATHY FINK. 1981-82 West Virginia banjo champion down his intense religiosity. His and concert performer of folk, country, topical, and ?LPHAGRAPHICSPRINTSHOPSOFTHEFUTuRE.SPecial- mountain songs, yodeling, swing, and old-time fid. 1st~in Copying, printing, binding, forms and station- quest is to make the faith of the dle tunes. She will perform in concert Weds., Feb. 13 ery. Give all of Your work that extra professional fathers meaningful to us in our at 8:00 P.M. at the University of Utah Art and Archi. appearance with our newly expanded typesetting time, to communicate the gospel in tecture Auditorium. Fink will also oresent afree musi- Services. Main- SLC; 364-6454. cal lecture entitled "Songs of working Women" on a scientific era. This concern for Wed.. Feb. 13, from 3:30-5:00 P.M. in the U. of U. Union THE BOOK VAULT. Crossroads Plaza. 50 South Main. relevance is, after all, the raison Theater. She will show slides from the NATIONAL SLC. UT 84144. ([801] 364-8051.) A unique general d'etre for theologians of any age, ARCHIVESOF WOMEN AT WORK in the last 75 years and bookstore, we offer discounted best sellers and a present a series of British and American songs and wide range of good books-including Women's and and Schillebeeckx amply demon- poems dealing with working women's feelings. Western Americana. Wewelcomespecial orders and struggles. and experiences. Concert tickets are$3.50 boast of our quarterly newsletter. strates his proficiency in his and are available at Cosmic Aeroplane. Smoney's profession. Records. Acoustlc MUSIC. and the U of U. Women's FINANCING AVAILABLE-we arrange financing for all Resource Center and the Union Desk. Tickets will kinds of commercial properties, apts., office build- also be available at the door. Sponsored by U. of U. ings. raw land. hotels, etc. We also arrange J.V.s, Women's Resource Center, the Phoenix Instlute. business ventures. No maximum loan amount. 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SUNSTONE 45 D+ r COMPILED BY LINDA THATCHER Lake City: Olympus Publishing Gibbs. Linda Jones. Masterworks.

Co., 1984. xv, 429 pp., $12.95. Salt Lake City: The Church of I, APRIL-NOVEMBER, 1984 Davis, Gaye Lynn. All That's Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Golden Doesn't Glitter. Salt 1984. Ahmanson, John. Secret History: Lake City: Bookcraft, 1984. Exhibition catalog from the Museum of A Translation of Vor Tids 152 pp., $6.95. Church History and Art. Muhamed. Trans. Gleason L. Explores the career of wife and mother. Gottlieb, Robert and Peter Wiley. Archer. Chicago: Moody Press, Decker, ~d and Dave Hunt. The America's Saints: The Rise of i 1984. 197 pp., $19.95. God Makers. Eugene, Oreg.: Mormon Power. New York: G.. ! originally written in 1876 as an effort to ~~~~~~tH~~~~ Publishers, 1984. P. Putnam's Sons. 1984. 278 pp.. ! warn Danish people about Mormonism. 237 pp., $8.95 $16.95. Allred, Gordon T. Shannon. Salt Fiction. Griffiths, Thomas M. San Juan Lake City: Bookcraft, 1984. Dew, Lindsey Phillip. The Trial. Country. Boulder, Colorado: 1 179 pp., $7.95 Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Pruett Publishing Co., 1984. xv, 1 Fiction. i Company, 1984.237 pp. $8.95. 246 pp., $34.95. I Baadsgaard, Janene Wolsey. A Fiction. Harken, 0 Ye People: Dis- Sense of Wonder: Helping Dunbar, Robert G. Forging New courses on the Doctrine and Children Discover Their Own Rights in Western Waters. Covenants. Sandy, Utah: Ran- Self-Worth. Salt Lake City: Lincoln: University of Nebraska dall Book Co., 1984.297 pp. Deseret Book, 1984. 158 pp., Press, 1983. $19.95. $9.95. $7.95. Durrant, George P. Mother: Our Contains essays by Bruce R. McConkie, Braby, Carol. Goodbye, Hello. Heavenly Connection. Salt James E. Faust, Ronald K. Esplin, /* Sandy, Utah: Randall Books, Lake City: Bookcraft, 1984. ix, 99 hnethw. Godfrey, and others. i 1984. 123 pp. $6.95. pp., $5.95. Haslam, Gerald M. Clash of Cul- i Fiction. Edwards, Paul M. Preface to tures: The Norwegian Expe- Buntin, Kathleen Rawlings. The Faith: A Philosophical Inquiry rience with Mormonism, Living Half. Salt Lake City: into RLDS Beliefs. Midvale, 1842-1920. New York: P. Lang, Deseret Book Co., 1984. 68 pp., Utah: Signature Books, 1984. 1984. I $5.95. xvii, 197 pp. Hicken, Helen Hooper. Yesterday, I Journal of a woman whose husband Today and Forever. Sandy, dies. Excellence. Salt Lake City: I Deseret Book Co., 1984. 138 pp., Utah: Albany Books, 1984. 83 pp., I Burgess, Allan K. Helping Your $7.95. $5.95. f Child Stay Morally Clean. Salt Contains essays by T. H. Bell, Paula Fiction. Lake City: Deseret Book Co., Hawkins, Henry B. Eyring, and others. I 1984.74 pp. Hill, Donald G., Jr., ed, Perspec- 1 Featherstone, Vaughn J. The Dis- fives in Mormon Ethics: Per- i Buscaglia, Leo. Loving Each ciple of Christ. Salt Lake City: sonal, Social, Legal, and Med- Other: The Challenge of Deseret Book Co., 1984. vii, 95 ical. Salt Lake City: Publishers Human Relationships. pp., $6.95. Press, 1983. x, 326 pp., $1 1.95. ThOrofare'pp., $13.95. N'J': SLACK' 1984' 208 Firmage, William Kenneth. Season Holley. Vernal. Book of Mormon of Fire, Season of Faith. Port Authorship: A Closer Look. Canfield, Johanna and Anita Washington, New York: Ashley N.p.: Zenos Publications, 1983. Canfield. Visiting Teaching: A Books, 1983. 336 pp., $15.95. $3.50. Call to Serve. Sandy Utah: Fiction. Discusses similarities between the Book Randall Book Co'9 71 pp.9 of Mormon and writings of Solomon $3.95 Flack, Dora D. and K~~~~C. Erickson. Gifts Only You Can Spau'ding. Carlson, Renee Pyott. The Best Give. Salt Lake City: Deseret James, Paul. Cougar Tales. Man Doesn't Always Win: A Book Co., 1984. ix, 133 pp., $7.95. Sandy, Utah: Randall Book Co., Political Family Album. 1984. 180 pp., $8.95. Midvale, Utah: Signature Books. FrenchlJames R. The Outcasts. 1984. 133 pp. Sandy, Utah: Randall Book CO., Jennings, Melinda. The Single 1984. 232 pp., $9.95. Heart. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft. Clark, Marden J. Morgan Fiction. 1984. 135 pp., $6.95. Triumphs. Salt Lake City: Orion Fiction. Books, 1984.123 pp. Fuller, John G. The We Fiction. Bombed Utah: America's Jensen, Richard L. and Richard G. Most Lethal Secret. New York: Oman. C. C. A. Christensen, Crinzi, Debbi. Principles of Dis- New American Library, 1984,268 1831-1972: Mormon Immi- cipleship. Independence, Mo.: pp., $16.50. grant Artist. Salt Lake City: The Herald Publishing House, 1984. Concerns nuclear tests in Utah in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- Cramer, Steven A. Great Shall Be earlv 1950s. dav Saints. 1984 Your JOY: The Power Of Our Gibbons, Francis M. Joseph F. ~xhibitionc$alog from the Museum of Savior's Love. Sandy, Utah: Smith: Patriarch and Church History and Art. Randall Books, 1984. $8.95. Preacher, Prophet of God. Jolley, Clifton H. Children's Voi- Davies, J. Kenneth. Mormon Salt Lake City: Deseret Book CO., ces. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, Gold: The Story of Califor- 1984, vii, 344 pp., $9.95. 1984. x, 102 pp., $5.95. nia's Mormon Argonauts. Salt Biography. Essays about his children.

46 SUNSTONE Jones, Cleo. Sister Wives. New Petersen, Mark E. The Teachings Wilcox, S. Michael. To See His York: St. Martin's Press, 1984. of Paul. Salt Lake City: Deseret Face. Salt Lake City: Deseret 474 pp., $14.95. Book Co., 1984. 93 pp., $6.95. Book Co., 1984. vi, 218 pp., $7.95 Fiction. Rock, Brad and Lee Warnick. Fiction. Kelley, Charles, ed. Introduction by Greatest Moments in B YU Williams, Clyde J., cornp. The Charles S. Peterson. Journals of Sports. Salt Lake City: Book- Teachings of Lorenzo Snow. John D. Lee, 1846-47 and craft, 1984. vii, 184 pp., $7.95 Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1984. 1859. Salt Lake Citv: Universitv 196 pp., $7.95. of utah Press, 1984:xxviii, Skousen, W. Cleon. Isaiah Speaks 244- to Modern Times. Salt Lake Yates, Alma J. The Miracle of Miss pp., $17.95. City: The Ensign Publishing Co., Willie. Salt Lake City: Deseret Kelley, Thomas E. A Father's 1984. xi, 788 pp., $15.95. Book Co., 1984. 196 pp., $7.95. Gifts. Salt Lake City: Deseret Fiction. Book Co., 1984. ix, 50 pp. $5.95. Smith, Barbara B. The Love That Never Faileth. Salt Lake City: Yorgason, Blaine M. and Brenton G. Kendrick. L. Lionel. Scriptures to Bookcraft, 1984. x, 213 pp., $8.95. Yorgason. Ride the Laughing Success. Sandy, Utah: Randall Wind. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, Book Co., 1983. 99 pp., $3.95. Soloman, Dorothy Allred. In My 1984. xiv, 335 pp., $10.95. Mabey, Rendell N., and Gordon T. Father's House. New York: Fiction. Allred. Brother to Brother: The Franklin Watts, 1984. 312 pp., Story of the Latter-day Saint $17.95. Missionaries Who Took the Autobiography of Dr. Rulon Allred's Gospel to Black Africa. Salt daughter. Lake City: Bookcraft, 1984, viii, Stott, Clifford L. Search for I61 pp., $7.95. Sanctuary: Brigham Young McCloud, Susan Evans. Not in and the White Mountain Vain. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, Expedition. Salt Lake City: Uni- 1984. xi, 209 pp., $8.95. versity of Utah Press, 1984, xiii, Madsen, Truman G., ed. The 297 pp., $19.95. Temple in Antiquity: Ancient Taylor, Sally T. A Little Light at Records and Modern Pers- the Edge of Day. Orem, Utah: pectives. Provo, Utah: Brigham Press Publishing, 1984. 64 pp. Young University Religious Stu- Poetry. dies Center, 1984. x, 204 pp., $9.95. Tippetts, Larry W. The Choice: A Volume nine in the Religious Studies Practical Guide on the Moral Center monograph series. Issue. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1984. ix, 128 pp., $6.95. Maw, Herbert B. The Apostles- Who Were They? [Salt Lake Vincent, Daniel L. The Old Town: City]: Published by author, 1983. A Photographic Memory [Mt. $10.00. Pleasant, Utah: Mt. Pleasant Histo- Maxwell, Neal A. We Talk of rical Society, 19821. 16 pp., $2.00 Christ1 We Rejoice in Christ. Wadsworth, Nelson (text) and Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., Floyd Holdman (photography). 1984. xi, 180 pp., $7.95. Utah. Toronto: Skyline Press, Newell, Linda King and Valeen 1984. 88 pp., $15.00. Tippetts Avery. Mormon Photographs of Utah. Enigma: Emma Hale Smith: Warner, Paul D. The Caring Prophet's Wife, "Elect Lady, " Parent: Answers to Questions Polygamy's Foe, 1804- 1879. about Children. Salt Lake Citv: Garden City, New York: Double- Bookcraft, 1984. viii, 150 pp., day and Co., 1984. xiii, 394 pp., $6.95. $19.95. Washburn, J. N. The Miracle of Pearson, Carol Lynn. A Lasting the Book of Mormon. Orem, Peace. Salt Lake City: Randall Utah: Book Production Services, Books, 1983. 110 pp., $5.95. 1984. x, 178 pp., $5.95. Fiction. Weeks, Marvin E. Consolidated Pearson, Carol Lynn. ICan't Stop Concordance-Book of Mormon, Smiling. Salt Lake City: Doctrine and Covenants, Parliament Publishers, 1984. vi, Inspired Version. Independ- 73 pp. $5.95. ence, Mo.: School of Saints, 1984. Poetry. 122 pp. Petersen, Mark E. The Jaredites. Whitaker, Grace. The Official Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., BYU Coed Jokebook. Orem, 1984. $6.95. Utah: . A.G. Publications, 1984. 50 Concerns the Book of Mormon. pp., $4.25.

SUNSTONE 47 CONTRIBUTIONS

The Sunstone Foundation is an independent, nonsubsidized and non-profit organization which publishes SUNSTONEand sponsors the annual Sunstone Theological Symposium. These activities depend on subscriptions and financial contributions from our supporters.

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SUNSTONE FOUNDATION Executive Committee Ross Anderson, John Ashton, Dolores Chase, Peggy Fletcher, Jerry Kindred, Jon Lear, Ellen Richardson, Annette Rogers, Sterling Van Wagenen

National Advisory Board Alan Ackroyd, Molly Bennion, Doug Braithwaite, Robert L. Brinton, Bellamy Brown, Tony and Ann Cannon, Richard Circuit, D. James Croft, David Gillette, Sam Holmes, M. Reed Hunter, Jim Kimball, Farrell Lines, Gary Lobb, Patrick McKenzie, Ron Molen, Grant Osborn, Joel and Diana Peterson, Stuart Poelman, Jeanne Pugsley, Hardy Redd, J. Bonner Ritchie, Leonard and Kathryn Romney, Jon and Marilyn Rosenlof, George Smith, Nick Sorensen, Richard Southwick, Roy Spear, Samuel Stewart, Jan Stout, Don Stringham, Reed Stringham, David Ushio, Nola W. Wallace, Dennis Youkstetter, Jack and Holly Zenger

48 SUNSTONE