May 1988 Volume 12:3 Issue 65

2 Our Readers ...... READERS FORUM FEATURES 8 Chauncey C. Riddle ...... WHAT A PRIVILEGE TO BELIEVE! A philosopher explores the pillars of his faith 12 JulieJ. Nichols ...... PENNYROYAL COHOSH, RUE 1987 D.K. Brown Fiction Contest Winner 17 Richard D. Poll ...... DEALING WITH DISSONANCE." MYTHS, DOCUME.NTS, AND FAITH The dynamic of keeping our faith-promoting stories honest 22 Eugene England ...... ON SAVING THE CONSTITUTION, OR WHY SUNSTONE (ISSN 0363-1370) is published by the SOME UTAH SHOULD BECOME Sunstone Foundation, a non-profit corporation DEMOCRATS with no official connection to The Church of Jesus Maintaining our political balance Christ of Latter-day Saints. Articles represent the attitudes of the writers only and not necessarily COLUMNS those of the editors or the LDS church. 5 Elbert Eugene Peck ...... FROM THE EDITOR Engaging Studene~ in the Church’s Foyer Manuscripts should be submitted on floppy dis- 6 Ronald G. Kershaw ...... TURNING THE TIME OVER TO .... kettes, IBM PC compatible and written with Word AIDS, Leprosy, and Disease: The Christian Perfect format. Manuscripts may also be double- Response spaced typewritten and should be submitted in duplicate. Submissions should not exceed six 31 Donce Williams Elliott ...... BETWEEN THE LINES thousand words. Unsolicited manuscripts will not Cultural iDogmas vs. Universal Truths be returned; authors will be notified concerning 33 James M. Hill ...... LIGHTER MINDS acceptance within sixty days. SUNSTONE is Richard L. Popp Toward A Mormon Cuisine: A Light-hearted interested in feature and column length articles Inquiry into the Cultural Significance of Food relevant to from a variety of perspec- tives; news stories about Mormons and the LDS REVIEWS church are also desired. Send all correspondence 36 Arthur R. Bassett ...... AN ABUNDANCE OF OPINIONS to and manuscripts to: The Abundance of the Heart by Arthur Henry King SUNSTONE 38 Thomas G. Alexander ...... A COMPANION FOR THE TELEVISION "331 South Rio Grande Street SERIES Suite 30 Utah: A People’s History by Dean L. May Salt Lake City, UT 84101-1136 39 Blake T. Ostler ...... BIBLICAL SCHOLARSHIP AND CHURCH United States Subscriptions to SUNSTONE are $32 EDUCATION TEACHERS for twelve issues. International subscriptions are The Gospels: Studies in Scdptur< Volume 5 $45 for Canada and Mexico and for surface mail edited by Kent P Jackson and Robert L. Ivlillett to all other countries. Airmail subscriptions NEWS are $62 for Europe and South America and 43 Sunstone Correspondents ...... BYU PROFESSOR TERMINATED FOR BOOK $70 ~br Asia, Africa, Australia and the Pacific. OF MORMON BELIEFS Bona fide student subscriptions are $10 less than the above rates. SCHOLARS REVISIT GREAT BASIN KINGDOM AFTER THIRTY YEARS MORMON HISTORY EXPLORED IN LOGAN, This magazine is printed on acid-free paper UTAH Copyright © 1988 by the Sunstone Foundation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Cover: Mark England SUNSTONE READERS FORUM Founaed in 1975 SCCffT KENNEY 1975-1978 THOMAS S. FERGUSON worry about military adequacy when we have ALLEN D. ROBERTS 1978-1980 millions living, in poverty? PEGGY FLETCHER 1978-1986 LETTERS If the suggests an eco- Publisher and Foundation President nomic system that equalizes all people (con- DANIEL H. RECTOR I AM WRITING a biography of Thomas secration), why does capitalism seem to be

Editor Stuart Ferguson, who was a Book of Mormon almost a doctrine of the Church? Capitalism ELBERT EUGENE PECK archaeologist and founder of the New World doesn’t do a great job of taking care of the poor Associate Editor Production Manager Archaeological Foundation. Additional letters and needy and certainly creates a class system. RON B1TTON HINCKLEY JONES from Tom Ferguson are needed to document Even socialism seems more in keeping with Graphic Designer Administrative Assistant his views on the Book of Mormon, the Book the message of the Book of Mormon. ROBYN SMITH-W1NCHESIER MELISSA SILLITOE of Abraham, the Mormon religion, etc. If any I have no answers to the above. Despite my Advisory Editorial Board reader has a Ferguson letter written to him or concerns about those less fortunate than I, I’m DENNIS CLARK, poetry PATRICK BAGLEY JAY S BYBEE her during the period 1968-83, I would very not sure selling my home or televisions will CATHY COOK, CONNIE DISNEY much appreciate receiving a copy of it. make much of a contribution. Retreating to the PEGGW FLETCHER STACK wilderness (by thinking the problem is far Symposium Chairs 5tan Larson greater than what I can solve) or retreating to KEDRIC BASSET’I’, Book of Mormon Lectures the Church (I pay my fast offerings and volun- MOLLY BENNION, Seattle 9109 Elmhurst Drive TED 1ZATT, New York West Jordan, UT ,94088-8823 teer for cannery assignments, what better way DAN MARYON, Lectares can I contrit)ute?) doesfft eliminate the SARA SCHIMMER. Washington, D.C. problem. Rather than retreating, one answer LORIE WINDER STROMBERG & KIM McCALL, San Erancisco LYNNE KANAVEL WHITESIDES, Salt Lake City GETTING AND SPENDING may be to become more involved politically. The poor and needy in our society are too Volunteers AFTER READING Hugh Nibley’s "Last KEDRIC and ERIN BASSETT, MICHEkLE DAVIES numerous for one person, even one church, REBECCA ENGLAND, SHAREE HUGHES, SIDNI JONES Call" (SUNSTONE, 12:1), I’m not sure how, or to eliminate. Is it out of line to demand from JORDAN KIMBAkk, TUESDAY MIklUS, SCOTT THORPE if, the Book of Mormon theme of retreating to our political candidates that they address the US. Correspondents the wilderness should be applied today. Cer- problem of the poor and needy? Since most IRENE BATES, BONNIE M. BOBET, BELL.AMY BP, OWN EUZABETH BURDETT, JOHN COX, EARL P CP&NDALL tainly we do not have the ability ~o physically of the poor are women-often single women GEORGE GIVENS, ~ANNE M. GR1FFITHS retreat. Our world is too interconnected for any with children-it may be important for us to MIKE and NANCW HARWARD, JANNA D HAYNIE, VAL HOLLEY person or group to find an island of isolation. reexamine out position on such issues as THOMAS McAFEE, CARRIE MII_ES, ALICE POTTMEYER KENT ROBERTS, "[ EUGENE SHOEMAKER, SHE_RMAN SMOOT However, members of the Church do a pretty health benefits, family/parental leave, low LORIE ’WINDER STROMBERG, LE RUTH WARD TYAU good job of retreating to the womb of the income housing the Equal Rights Amendment, International Correspondents Church. The Church is a fairly comfortable civil rights, the minimum wage, food stamps, TIM BEHREND, PAUL CARPENTER, Australia child care, educational assistance, and pay ’WILFRED DECOO, Belgmm place for most members. We take care of our ROGER MORR1SON, RAY NIEI_SON, Canada hungry and homeless. It is an easy place to equity. JAMES E REA, ED H. ZWANVELD, Canada make friends tbr life. The sick and aged are Given the fact that most women are one JAMES FIELD, WERNER H HOCK, Germany BRETT SCHARPFS, Great Britain attended. We can fill up any time outside of man away from poverty and welfare, it might WILLIAM P COLLINS, Israel home and work with church work or church- be wise to maim sure our daughters are edu- IAN BARBER, New Zealand related activities. But does this suffice for ful- cated and end up with a skill that will serve DAVID B TIMMINS, Mexico them well under a circumstances. We might SCOTT FAULRING, Turkey filling the admonition of the Book of Mormon W and to take care of the needy look at the ideas we have about poverty and Board of Trustees welfare. Do we cling to myths about poverty, MARTHA S. BRADLEY, chair and poor and to abolish inequality? Nibley’s KENT ?ROGLEY, ED~,\ARD L KIMBALL, BRIAN C. McGA’~qN such as "weliare is an-attractive alternative to article and the Book of Mormon present many working" or "people could get ou t of poverty GLEN LAMBERT, MARYBETH RAYNES, J. BONNER RITCHIE questions. DANIEL H RECTOR, ELBERT EUGENE PECK if they worked harder"? [t might be worthwhile What should our responsibility be to the National Advisory Bored to rethink our attitude on taxation. Is it asking ALAN ACKROYD, C ROSS ANDERSON, MOLLY BENNION poor? Should we sell all that we have and give too much for people who are gifted in making DOUG BRAtTHWAITE, ROBERT 1_. BPdNTON, BELLAMY BROWN it to the poor? If not all, how about selling part? TONY and ANN CANNON, RICHARD K. CIRCUIT over $150,000 a year to contribute more taxes DOI_JGI~S CONDIE, D. ]AMES CROFT, JEFEREY R I-LARDYMAN At what point do we exceed the standard of when nearly half of all children in young fami- HOLMES, REED HUNTER, JERRY KINDP, ED equality? Is a comfortable home, or a second lies are now poor, and when the median FARREI± LINES, ANN and GARY LOBB, PATRICK McKENZIE home, inappropnate when others have no RONALD L. MOLEN, GRANT OSBORN, JOEL and DIANA PETERSON income for a woman in poverty who was SFUART POELMAN, HARDY REDD, ELLEN RICHARDSON home at all? Couldn’t many of us live on less maintaining a family alone and working full ANNETTE ROGERS, JON and MARILYN ROSENLOF income and share the rest with the needy? time, year round, was $7,056 in 19867 GEORGE D. SMITH, JR, NICK SORENSEN, RICHARD SOUTHWlCK ’ROY W SPEAR, SAM STEWART, R JAN STOUt Should any Church leader or member have a I don’t think there are any sure answers. DAVID USHtO, NOLA W WALIACE, DENNIS YOUKSFETTER Mercedes, a BMW, or a large, fancy home? Isn’t Poverty and inequality have been around for this the equivalent of "fancy apparel" as thousands of years. These conditions certainly described in the Book of Mormon? Should we didn’t end, or get any better, with Christ’s

PAGE 2 MAY 1988 message. In fact, people have used the to stances. I doubt that all leaders are equally bership and the bishop’s conscious policy, call- justify poverty, slavery, suffering and inequal- inspired, but even if they all were I doubt that ings lasted about a year; and I had the chance ity. Something in me, though, says that I want all local programs would end up being the to serve in a good variety of positions. More, to see a different world, which l’m sure is the same. I am concerned about the lack of coo> I have been blessed by a large number of dear case with most of us. I hope all of us will be dination between neighboring stakes. You make friends, both single and married, who have constantly sensitive to these issues and act a good point in showing that if there isn’t a enriched my life It would not have been as full appropriately. good cooperation in areas of concentrated LDS an experience if it had been a singles-only units, we get confusion and the loss of mem- ward. Carlan Youkstetter bers who neither benefit from nor contribute This past February the old Champaign 2nd San Manno, CA to the full extent of Church programs. Ward was merged with the First Ward, which From August 1981 to February 1988 I was was then split geographically. Two weeks later a member of the Champaign, Illinois Second the former bishop (who had been released in THE SPECIAL INTERESTS Ward. It was a student ward consisting of sin- August) passed away. I feel like a golden age OF SINGLES gles, childless couples, and couples with chil- in my life has come to an end. Nevertheless, dren aged eight or under; the biggest portion I was and an~t able to sustain that change. I agree I APPRECIATED THE article about the sin- of them were like myself, graduate students at with the general trend away from special- gle adult wards in the Church (SUNSTONE the U of Illinois (with their families), though purpose wards. If the singles (or students or 12:1). For one thing, it is good to hear about there were also undergraduates, community whoever are in a ward by themselves, then their general Church-wide trends as well as college students, and student-age working sin- needs can be focussed on, but then they do individual stories; for another as a single adult gles. Since my first Sunday there-when after not get the benefit of working and interacting myself I was interested in the topic and want a week of the disorientation and insecurity of with people outside their circumstances. At to share my own experience. new surroundings, I was uplifted by the youth, least as important, the rest of the membership First of all, I am not disturbed by different intelligence, commitment and liveliness of the will not learn how to work with the:m-how wards and stakes having different policies ward-I have loved my membership in it. It was to be: aware of their needs, how to feel com- towards singles’ wards. I believe that the local a full-fledged ward in our stake except for a fortable with and understand them, how to leaders are supposed to receive inspiration lower budget assessment. Much stake leader- integrate them into the full Church program about how to implement general Church poli- ship was filled by our ward members. Both and give them meaningful callings. cies and principles in their particular circum- because of the transitory nature of the mem- The ultimate solution to meeting the needs

MAY I988 PAGE 3 of single adults, I believe, is not to isolate them Examining the Four Gospels is a simple but to teach all the membership, leaders and matter, despite Thorp’s argument to the con- REMEMBERING HUGH followers, to be aware of the diverse needs that trary. The problem with understanding the BROWN we all have, and to rejoice in and use our differ- gospel story does not stem from a lack of infor- ences as well as our similarities, to make a mation, but that we have too much informa- MY SINCERE THANKS to Edwin Brown stronger harmony in the Church. This is harder tion. Ever since the apostasy all the king’s Firmage for his heartwarming "final chapter" on than. having special-purpose wards, admittedly horses and all the king’s men have failed to fit the life of Hugh B. Brown. Tears came to my On a related note, I greatly appreciated the the many pieces into a harmonious whole. No eyes as I read again about the life and mission approach President Benson took in his recent astronomer has identified Matthew’s Star of of this beautiful apostle of the Lord. General Conference sermon to single adult Bethlehem; no historian has verified a Roman As a teenager growing up in Southern men. Hie did not state or imply that one’s love census in Judaea prior to the year 7 A.D.; and California we received the Sunday morning ses- and service to the Lord was meani@ess if one no gospel commentator can prove that Jesus sions of General Conference via local television. wasn’t married; instead he began with a lengthy ever reached a full thirty years of age An impar- I remember one conference when it seemed section describing the general scope o[ religious tial investigator dealing with so maW question- that an apostle got up and condemned both commitment that applies to everyone, and only able pieces of information might even try to the American labor union movement and the after that foundation was laid did he address throw something out. United Nations as promoters of worldwide the issue of marriage He did not come: out with One approach might discard Matthew’s communism, only to be followed two or three a condemnation of those who are still single, Nativity and suggest that Jesus was born at a speakers later by Apostle Brown who stood up but insmad he expressed his love and asked time when Judaea was ruled as a Roman and publicly praised labor unions in the us to remember the importance of this province, as stated by Luke. This would allow Americas for helping the working man and covenant and to reconsider the priority it has for a heavenly proclamation of good news woman, and lauded the United Nations as a in our lives. I hope all our leaders can follow when Jupiter and Venus were in conjunction vital instrument in achieving world peace. His this humble example. in Aries, Saturn in Virgo and in opposition to words and courageous example have sustained the sun, and an "infant" Mars at a point of rest me through difficult times and have strength- W. Bryan Stout in the constellation of the mange~: Furthermor¢ ened my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Champaign, IL by counting years of age in the same manner Christ. as the Gospel authors, one might realize that None of Hugh B. Brown’s periods of serv- OUT OF THE BEST Jesus could still be several years younger than ice could be considered "negative service~’ He commonly assumed. One might even attempt spoke honestly from his heart and took seri- BOOKS to correlate the first and second deansings of ously his calling to be an apostle of Jesus Christ the with the fourth and seventh years MALCOMB R. THORP’S discussion ot to all of God’s children. For this I am eternally of a seven-year cycle when it was entirely law- grateful. ’James E. Talmage and the Tradition of Vic- ful according to Jewish oral tradition to declare torian t.ives of Jesus" (SUNSTONE 12:1) pro- the Law of Removal on the day before Passove~ R. Tom Tucker vides one more discussion on how a person One might go further and interpret the ’Accept- Fort Washington, PA should ,examine the Bible, or more specifically, able Year of the Lord" according to the Jewish the Four Gospels. liturgical custom which associates this annual The Victorian outlook and the official Mor- period with a sabbatical year when non- mon position tell us that our knowledge is agricultural trade was carried out in some based upon a world that was both crafted and unusual manner such as "finding" a coin in the set into a clocklike motion by a masterful cre- mouth of a fish. ator. This essentially Newtonian worldview We do not really need a linguist or another fueled the Industnal Revolution. An alternative school of scholars to tell us what is contained and less predictable viewpoint emerged from within the Four Gospels, but it might be use- nineteenth-century German philosophy and ful to examine the source material for led to Einstein’s theory of relativity and Heisen- ourselves. The prejudice of previous genera- berg’s uncertainty principle. The nature of tions never impedes our progress as effectively modem knowledge has consequently, been as the prejudice ingrained into our current redefined and now stresses relative awareness generation, which promotes overspecialization, and perpetual uncertainty. contemporary chauvinism, and an attitude of Thorp apparently endorses this modernis- perpetual uncertainty. The Bible, historical tic viewpoint because he tells us that (1) material, recorded Jewish tradition, and astro- Talmage was trained as a geologist and educa- nomical tables can be examined first hand by tor; but "lacked the formal skills" of a biblical referring directly to those sources that have scholm; and (2) even with formal training we been available for many centuries. As Joseph can never know the "exact intention of any Smith discovered, there still is no substitute for SUNSTONE WELCOMES CORRESPON- document? Still, there is no need to either trap going straight to the source, whether one lives DENCE. LETTERS FOR PUBLICATION our khought processes within "procrustean beds in a Victorian world or in a modernistic world. SHOULD BE ADDRESSED TO "READERS of past generations" or resign ourselves to per- Ray 5oller FORUM." WF_ EDIT FOR SPACE, petual uncertainty. Duluth, Georgia CLARITY,AND TONE.

PAGE 4 MAY 1988 FROM THE EDITOR Christian living. Similarly, in the mission field, the work and the pondering bound hearts of the elders and sisters. After my mission, a fellow writer at the MTC ENGAGING STUDENTS invited me to join a study group. We met every other Sunday night and rotated assignments on hosting and arranging the program, which IN THE CHURCH’S FOYER usually involved either a guest speaker or a presentation by a group member and always included honest and intense wide-ranging dis- By Elbert Eugene Peck cussions which stretched our minds and built strong friendships. I was surprised that faculty members were willing to give up a Sunday evening to speak LAST MAY AT the Mormon History this year by members of the Sunstone Foun- to us. I remember calling Eugene England and, Association annual meeting the hallway groups dation board of trustees and other friends of in a stammering unconfident voice, inviting him buzzed about "the graying of MHA" -prompted the magazine. We hope to make this contest to speak about the Atonement. Although we by the very visible fact that there were almost an annual event and invite interested made the initial effort, their openness made us no people in attendance who were in their individuals to donate to our (tax deductible) feel that our amateur ponderings were legiti- twenties and few in their thirties. "Aren’t today’s Student Projects , the interest from mate and helped us feel an alliance with the students interested in the thoughtful discussion which will perpetually fund similar contests professional LDS scholars. of their history and faith?" and other student With friends in this group, I attended the people asked. "Are we los- projects. my first meetings of the Association of Mor- ing the younger generation I hope these actions mon Letters, Mormon History Association, and to Church Correlation?" a result in more thoughtful, the Sunstone Symposium. At those gatherings sociologist pondered. faithful, young Latter-day I recognized the same desire to know that I felt Others blamed the Saints joining the Great earlier as a teenager at Education Week, only materialistic, intellectually Conversations of Mor- the discussions were more academically apathetic, career-minded monism. Not only should rigorous, meeting my adult needs. Now, I have eighties college student, students join whose friends whom I met and still meet only at these which Garry Trudeau fre- scholarship will increase conferences, but whose annual chats I prize quently lampoons. our understandingz but and savor. The concern is not also the questing educated Frequently I meet people who have just dis- limited to historians. Low amateurs who help sus- covered the world of independent LDS scholar- college-age participation tain Mormonism’s com- ship and who say something lik< ~I never knew has been noticed at other conferences and is munal dynamic. Your help in the form of other people thought about these things!° Being being addressed by other organizations. Leaders donations to the endowment, student gift sub- part of a community of thoughtful, questing of LDS women’s organizations and retreats have scriptions, encouragement to young essayists, Saints is a spiritual need. noted similar trends. The board of editors of and other suggestions, will enrich the lives of For me, the independent LDS intellectual Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought recently college intellectuals as well as the greater LDS organizations fill the role in the Church that discussed the importance of recruiting thought- community. the free-wheeling foyer conversations do in ful young kDS authors. local wards. They are an essential part of the Since its founding, SUNSTONE has been a My involvement in social and spiritual fabric; binding hearts, forum for college students to explore "Mormon has been a natural evolution from an interest stretching visions, venting doubts, exploring experience, scholarship, issues, and art7 While in the gospd in my youth. Fortunately, my jour- outrageous possibilities. Yet, as important as the scope of the magazine has expanded as its ney has been inseparably intertwined with they are, many of the foyer speculations should contributors have aged, it has also continued friends who have similar interests. It began with remain outside the chapd; they would be inap- to be a forum for the young LDS scholar. early moming seminary conversations con- propriate over the pulpit, receiving institutional Recently, we have enhanced our efforts to con- tinued at the high school cafeteria breakfast sanction. Similarly, the ponderings of intellec- tinue addressing the student intellectual. First, taN< and later expanded to cutting school as tuals best serve the Kingdom by their we have initiated a student subscription rate a group and going to BYU Education Week to independence-but they are an essential, con- of $22 (ten dollars less than the regular rate) hear Truman Madsen and others on the faculty structive aspect of the believing community. and are contemplating discount student rates circuit. At college, there were late night library SUNSTONE will continue to be a vehicle for future symposiums, as well as prizes for the and Helaman Hall dorm conversations about which invites each succeeding generation of best student paper presented. Cleon Skousen’s conservative Book of Mormon gospel students to join the Great Conversations Several issues ago we announced plans for class, BYU President Dallin Oaks’s address on in the Church’s foyer. a new "From the Campus" column for guest honesty, or a BYU Home Evening discussion. student authors. To encourage quality submis- Those communities of students interested in sions, elsewhere in this issue (p. 41) we are talking of truths at night cultivated a desire for announcing a student essay contest, funded better thinking, increased understanding, and

MAY 1988 PAGE 5 as an opportunity for us to show our individual TURNING THE TIME OVER TO.. commitment to Christ’s teachings-to heal and cleanse-our response to disease might be very different. True charity, or the love of Christ, is expressed in service to others. Perhaps charity is so prized of the Lord, as the Apostle Paul Ronald G. Kershaw taught, because it is human nature to shun suffering and disease. It was this tendency that caused lepers to be ostracized and placed in leper colonies. Judaic law had a complex set of rules and rituals to separate the unclean, and to AIDS, LEPROSY, AND DISEASE assure their ,cure before readmitting them to the communlity. It is probably safe to assume THE CHRISTIAN RESPONSE that the fear of contamination divided families, forced some sufferers underground, and caused lepers to take their own lives. Loss of life was common among the early LJNTIL RECENTLY, DEATH, to my genera- against Moses, Uzziah was smitten for burnic~g Mormons. This historical perspective on dis- tion, has been quick, unannounced and acci- incense in the temple, and the Lord smote ease and suffering should help guide our dental. We have been unaccustomed to painful, Jeroboam, King of Israel because the people response. The diseases of the early Saints were lingering deaths. We have been spared the sacrificed and burnt incense on the high places. numerous. Surely no one would suggest that epidemics of previous generations. Some may explain the scriptural blaming of some wickedness caused the early settlers of AIDS changed all that. Now , God for the disease simply as interpretation by Nauvoo, including the Prophet’s family, to be women, and children fight for life against a the chronicler of the Bible accounts; in any stricken with malaria or caused the deaths of so cureless plague. Death from AIDS iis slow and event, the majority of Old Testament references many Saints while crossing the plains to Utah. painful. Lives are stretched thin, savings con- give instructions for dealing with the disease. My great-grandparents were among those sumed, and taking another breath or living one The New Testament references are all exam- early settlers. Their eight children died in a more day is a major achievement. ples of to the afflicted. There are diphtheria epidemic. I remember going as a The pain and suffering of persons with AIDS three synoptic accounts of a single event where young child to their cemetery on Memorial have caused a lot of theological discussion. Jesus healed the leper, and the well-known Day. There, :in the Kershaw plot outside St. Some claim that God sent this new plague to account of the healing of the ten lepers. In Anthony, Idaho, I would see those small head- punish sinful homosexuals. Persons; with AIDS Matthew, Jesus responded to the messengers stones all in a row, each bearing the family have been referred to as "today’s lepers." A look sent by the imprisoned John the Baptist by name and birth and death dates. The dates told at the scriptures about leprosy and l.epers helps enumerating his own miracles, including a terrible tale. Grandpa Joseph Hyrum Watkins us understand whether God sent ~:his and/or cleansing leper,s. When sending out the Twelve, Kershaw and Grandma Julia Ann Clift lost all other diseases to punish sinners and how Jesus told them to heal the sick and cleanse tl~e eight children within twelve days. Christians ought to respond. lepers, raise the dead and cast out devils, say- We would picture Grandpa repeatedly driv- Throughout the Old Testament, there are ing, "freely ye have received, freely give" (Mat- ing out to the cemetery, all alone, in the dead eleven references to lepers and leprosy; the New thew 10:8). of winter 1897 to bury each child, ranging in Testament has eight and the Book of Mormon Two other references are allusions to Old age from seventeen to two. Within twelve days, only one. In the Old Testament, five instances Testament healings. Finally, there is the account a house full of the love and noise of eight involve the Lord or a prophet punishing some- of Jesus eating at the home of S~.mon the leper children was ,emptied. Grandma was so broken one with leprosy or using it as a sign (e.g., (who James Talmage assumes was healed) on hearted that Grandpa took her to Salt Lake to making Moses’ hand leprous and then healing His last Sabbath on earth. Thus, every sing]Le be with her family. When they returned in the it) Five of the references are either: guidelines New Testament reference concerning lepers and spring they found their home had been burned for priests in identifying leprosy, prescribed leprosy deals with healing and cleansing, not to the ground by the neighbors, to keep the rites and sacrifices for cleansing those who had punishing. disease from spreading. No one would suggest been defiled, or directions about separating the In the Book of Mormon, the only mention of their wickedness merited this great loss. defiled from Israel. Perhaps the best known Old .lepers is during Christ’s visit when he asks to The irrational fear that motivated the neigh- Testament reference to leprosy is the cure of the see the lame, blind, halt, maimed and leprous bors to burn my great grandparents’ home is honored Naaman by Elisha who sent him to so that he might heal them. similar to the fear many feel about AIDS. It has wash in the Jordan River seven times. Building on these scriptures to devdop a been called a plague-God’s punishment on Yet, three specific Old Testament references Christian approach to individuals with AIDS, homosexuals. People laugh and joke about the describe leprosy as punishment from God: Mir- perhaps the most important question we could disease and see justice and divine retribution iatn was smitten with leprosy for speaking ask would be the one the disciples asked about when gay people with AIDS die such horrible the man born blind, "Who did sin?" ’~Jesus deaths. Is this a Christian response? RONALD G. KERSHAW, a returned missionary answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor When we consider the way that Christians and BYU graduate, is a volunteer lor several his parents: but that the works of God should should respond to AIDS, we must consider ALDS relie[projects. He visits hospitalized Mor- be made manifest in him" 0ohn 9:1-3). If we whether that response should be affected by mons who have AIDS. were to look at all disease and human suffering how the disease is transmitted. For many, the

PAGE 6 MAY 1988 overriding negative issue with AIDS is that it is To believe that God sent AIDS, but not judgments. I agree that "wickedness never was a sexually transmitted disease, unlike leprosy cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, or sickle happiness" (Alma 41:10) but I do not agree or diphtheria. This makes it difficult for many cell anemia is to identify only a few groups of with the oft believed reverse implication that persons to become concerned and involved. people in our society and say that God wants righteousness is always happiness. Alma was Because of society’s negative view of homosex- to destroy them. (This belief also ignores the not talking about this life, but about the res- uality, few want to become publicly involved fact that lesbians are not among the groups at urrection. I have had enough experience to with issues affecting homosexuals. risk.) know that God gives no guarantees for this life. As a Mormon, I have been proud of the I am greatly alarmed at the response of some He does not always reward the righteous and Church’s response to tragedy. We are taught to members of the Church. Just as personal big- punish the sinful during this life. Many times be prepared for almost any calamity. These otry against blacks was found within the the most sinful appear to be getting the best out teachings aren’t based on the assumption that Church, and justified by Church dogma before of life, and the righteous suffer. Our success in God is waiting to punish us but, rather, that blacks received the , so we find this life depends on many factors besides our inevitably there will be a time of need. When individuals justifying their bigotry towards own effort, and what one would consider a illness, accident, or death strikes a member of homosexuals and persons with AIDS because "blessing" is a cursing to .another. the Church, no time is spent pondering or of the Church’s policy on homosexuality. Sometimes we assume that all church mem- imagining the sins committed to bring down Some readers may remember the embar- bership means is to attend meetings and the God’s wrath, as was done by Job’s so called rassing publicity over the excommunication of temple, hold and do the friends. We simply accept all as part and parcel Clair Harwood, an LDS member who was other things Mormons do. What it should of this time on earth and respond as though it dying of AIDS. Clair wanted to reconcile him- mean is being part of the family of God. When were a test of our preparedness and love. King self with the Church before he died, and his Alma baptized at the waters of Mormon, his test Benjamin prohibits saying "the man has bishop excommunicated him. His excommun- of membership was to be "willing to bear one brought upon himself his misery" as an excuse ication did not surprise me; I think anyone who another’s burdens, that they may be to avoid helping (Mosiah 4:17). has done something the Church sees as wrong light;._willing to mourn with those that It saddens me to see the response of my and who wants reconciliation would also prob- mourn....and comfort those that stand in need church to this epidemic. We have not been in ably expect excommunication. What made me of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at the forefront. The institutional stance on homo- weep was the bishop’s instruction that Clair all times in all things, and in all places that ye sexual behavior seems to have gotten in the must leave his loving companion and all his may be in, even until death" (Mosiah 18:8-10). way of Christian service. A different example is other unacceptable friends if he wanted forgive- Today, many Saints could use a little more the Catholic church. Although the pope has ness. The bishop also counseled him not to emphasis on comforting those in need of com- publicly denounced homosexuality, Catholic attend church, out of fear of infecting others. fort and sharing of one another’s burdens. A parishes and dioceses respond to AIDS victims The man did not say, "Give up your former wise friend of mine offered a critique on many without hesitation. associates and come be with us. We’ll support of the churches of today and I am afraid it The Reverend Paul Desrosiers, head of the you." He told Clair to give up all of the support applies also to our church. She said, "The New Orleans Council of Priests, explains: ’I he had, to cut off all who loved him, and die problem with churches is that they were sup- don’t believe we asked people who were dying alone-while members of his ward were pro- posed to be hospitals for sinners and we have in the streets what their religion or sexual tected from dealing with him. I think the Lord made them museums of saints instead." orientation was during the yellow fever and expects better of all of us. Jesus more strongly condemned those who cholera epidemic. Our tradition is to help peo- Unfortunately, this kind of response is not were attacking the sexual sinner than the sin ple, and that’s what we’re doing today." In New uncommon. In 1986 an LDS member in Reno, itself. We easily forget Christ’s challenge to bind Orleans, all AIDS funds are administered Nevada, organized a number of fellow Mor- up the wounds, heal the suffering, comfort through the Associated Catholic Charities. The mons to picket a Gay Pride Celebration spon- those who mourn, and practice the compassion AIDS hospice is managed by the archdiocese sored by the local chapter of Parents and of the Good Samaritan. If AIDS is truly the and home health care workers are dispatched Friends of Lesbians and Gays. These members leprosy of our day, then our response to it from Hotel Dieu, the local Catholic hospital. jeered those attending the celebration and held should reflect Jesus’ charge to his disciples, Archbishop Hannon donated church property signs which read: "Go back into the closet;" "freely ye have received, freely give." for an AIDS hospice and is searching for a site ’AIDS is God’s punishment;" and "Goodbye for a second facility. He said, ’I don’t see any Social Security-Hello AIDS." I was puzzled by contradictions. I believe the church should be the hatred and fear these persons felt for indi- involved in the most difficult issues of society, viduals they did not know. It reminded me of and AIDS certainly is the most difficult issue the mobs in Kirtland, Jackson County, and facing us today. If there are people who are sick Nauvoo when the early Latter-day Saints were or hungry, the church wants to help." the lepers of Christian society. Mormons were In San Francisco, Holy Redeemer Parish once labeled perverts and sinners for our sexual donated their unused convent for an AIDS beliefs and practices. Polygamists were viewed hospice. Then, with the community, they by the rest of the country as "dirty old men" MUST SELL raised money to renovate it. They continue to marrying young girls half their age. Fear and WILFORD WOODRUFF JOURNAL assist with the operating costs. Home visits, hate prevent charity, often in the name of God COMPLETE SET hospital visits, fund raising, hugging and loving and justice. MINT CONDITION are all approved activities for Catholics trying to Sometimes we assume that the scriptures say help others deal with AIDS. something they do not and then make false TIM 612 / 926-8763

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Pillars of My Faith

WHAT A PRIVILF_GE TO BELIEVE

By Chauncey C. Riddle

I AM GRATEFUL TO BE A MEMBER OF AND SUPPORTER OF THE Not everything in the universe is God. The principal non-God Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. things m the universe are nature and worlds. Nature is God’s han- One of the reasons why I am so grateful for the opportunity diwork and is holy and sacred; holy, because it wholly obeys God, to support this church is because it has no creed. It challenges and sacred because it is God’s gift. Worlds are chunks of space- me to construct for myself out of the scriptures and my own per-time where children of God have been given their agency, which sonal an understanding of the universe which will helpagency those children use to become like or unlike their divine me to attain important goals in this life I enjoy this challenge toparents to some degree Nature is the physical setting for worlds, search for the truth using all of the ,~widence and intelligence whichof which there are two kinds. In worlds of the first kind, the child- I can muster. I recognize that my understanding is neither com-ren of God contemplate good and evil and choose between them; plete nor as yet fully self-consistent. But I rejoice in the processthese are called "probationary worlds" or temporal "time worlds? of learning and growing line by ].in< precept upon precept. Worlds of the second kind are "etemal worlds’,’ where those child- In this paper I intend to explain something of what I believe,ren haw. made their choice of some degree of good and/or evil the picture of the universe I have fabricated to date, and then explainand are enjoying the consequences of their choice why I bdieve these conclusions. Men and women are the children of God, and are potentially gods themselves. Like their parents, each one is a dual being, a body and a spirit. The body and spirit are inseparable for the To me, the most important thing in the universe is God. Thatparents but separable for the children to facilitate their probation is simply a matter of definition for me I call "God" that whichand the maximization of the happiness of each human being. The is most important in aW person’s life If anything is importantspirit of a person is composed of heart and mind. The heart is to a person, then there will be a most important thing, and thatthe most important part, the true self, the most private aspect. thing is; that person’s god. I see some people who are their own The heart is the chooser the decision maker. The mind is the gods, for instance Every human being of normal intelligence hasswitching center the understanding which presents choices to the a god by this definition but most people certainly do not agreeheart, and the conn:oller which implements decisions by giving as to what God is like To know what a person’s God is, is the instructions to the physical tabernacle_ The body of a person also most important thing to know about any person, onds self included.has two aspects, strength and might. The strength is the actual lVly God has two aspects. I believe first that there are beings physical tabernacle, the house of the spirit,, the link between the in the universe who are fully good; they are perfect, holy, andperson and nature and other people Might is the sphere of righteous. These I denominate "god<’ with a lowercase "g?’ But allinfluence of the person and is measured by the effect which he of these gods are associated in a great family priesthood struc- or she has upon the world in which he or she resides. Both the ture which I call "God" with a capital "GI’ Each individual godbody and spirit are: matter material. has a specific place in that family priesthood order and fills that When people are given agency in a probationary or temporal place perfectly, being omniscient, omnipotent, and morally per-world, their essential business is to choose and embody some fect in his or her own right. There is but one God (capital "G")kind of ,order. There are four basic kinds of order in the universe in the universe Celestial. order is the order of righteousness, which arises out of a love for God and for all other beings. Terrestrial order is the order of correctness, which arises out of respect for truth and CHAUNCEY C RIDDLE is a professor of philosophy at Brigham for others. Telestial order is the order of selfishness, putting the Young University This paper was presented at the Sunstone Sym- desires ,of self above the needs and desires of others. Perdition posium IX in Salt Lake City on 28 August 1987. order is the order of destruction, seeking to destroy all higher order

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This probationary world in which we human beings find our-course, the Lord will allow" a man to do a work with his priest- selves is thus a heaven and a hell at the same time, where thehood which he has not mastered by temporal means, such as celestial, terrestrial, tdestial, and perdition systems of order con-in a healing, but I understand that to be the exception and not front each other. It is this confrontation which gives each humanthe rule being choice The gift of God is agency, which is the power to The key that runs through all these ideas is the centrality of enact that which one chooses. Thus each human being is busyrighteousness. God is a God of righteousness. The restored gospel implementing some kind of order on this piece of the universeof Jesus Christ is the message as to how to obtain the righteous- in accordance with his or her own desires. Since there are per- ness of God. The restored Church is the organization of those sons who severally desire each of the altematives, we see a worldwho have dedicated themselves to fulfilling the Lord’s righteous- which is chaotic and spotty, having no universal order, but onlyness. The Holy Priesthood is God’s power of righteousness which interlocking and conflicting chunks of the celestial, terrestrial, teles-he shares with people as they begin to come to his righteous- tial, and perdition options as each person fulfills his or her agency.ness. Righteousness in this system has precedence over truth, as To me, the celestial order is the most interesting though theimportant as truth is. A righteous being will receive and profit others are important and must be understood. The celestial is from having all truth, but all truth in the hands of an unrighteous the ideal, that order which one can fully achieve in this worldbeing would create a monster. Thus, one should seek first the king- only within his or her heart. Pure hearts yeam also for celestialdom of God to establish his righteousness, then all other things, mind, strength, and might, which they are promised by God forincluding all truth, will be added to him or her. the etemal world where they will dwell hereafter. A pure heart But what is righteousness? As I understand it, righteousness is so wonderful that a person who desires it would give up every-is what beings must do, given the total universe in which they thing else to obtain it, for it is the most precious and most powerfulexist, so to use their agency so that their actions redound to the possession in all etemity. maximum eternal benefit for every being whom their actions do There are other factors which I believe are consonant with a actually affect. It should be obvious that to be righteous requires pure, celestial heart. The most important human skill is to abideboth omniscience and omnipotence, to know what should be done one’s own conscience, which is to seek and maintain purity ofand to have the power to do it. Thus righteousness is of God, heart under the light of Christ. The most valuable human activity never of man. The person who would set his or her stewardship is prayer, by which one seeks and maintains place in the lightinto any beginning of celestial order must thus renounce his or of Christ. The most valuable human opportunity is work, whichher own will and do only the will of God through the new and is the option to enact within one’s stewardship that celestial ordereverlasting covenant, as our Savior did. to which one is guided by the light of Christ. The most valuable These beliefs are the frame in which I understand the restored human experience is pain, for pain is the surest index that onegospel, the restored Church, and the Holy Priesthood. I now turn is not fully abiding the light of Christ, spiritual pain being evento the basis on which I have come to believe these things. more diagnostic than physical pain. The most important human work is perfecting a godly bond of love with onds spouse, becoming one with him or her and with Christ. The most important meansI divide my support for my beliefs into two categories, lesser to perfecting that celestial bond with one’s spouse is to have andevidence and better evidence Lesser evidence is that which comes nurture children in the light of Christ. The greatest happiness thisthrough the flesh. Better evidence comes through the spirit. world affords comes from creating celestial and terrestrial order The first lesser evidence is the testimoW of other human beings. in some piece of this world. The greatest joy comes in perfecting The wimesses of my parents, relatives, and friends were the begin- the family associations which the New and Everlasting Covenant nings of my beliefs. It was they who pointed me to belief and offers in this existence The most important power in the world gave me my initial framework of ideas. As I grew older, the tes- is the power of the Holy Priesthood, which is the power and timony, exampl¢ and teachings of ward members, quorum advisors, authority of God. and some very special bishops and stake presidents were impress- The key to power in that priesthood is to first seek the lightive These were people whom I knew in daily life I saw them and knowledge of God to perfect one’s soul. Then one can use in many situations and could see for myself that they were intelli- one’s human power with maximal efficiency to set in order hisgent, honest, capable people I remember as if yesterday sitting or her stewardship. Once this human power is mastered and dis- dose to the stand and hearing my stake president bear witness ciplined, one can shift over to the power of the Holy Priesthood of the love and mission of Jesus Christ. That meant something to govern and control the elements. For example, a @teous man to me, for I had watched him and had been the recipient of his knows that he must subdue the earth to fulfill God’s command-personal concem already in my youth. These wimesses sank deep ments. So he works to master the skills and understanding whichinto my soul. As yet I did not know; I only believed, and that will enable him to produce crops in abundance from the earth.in a tentative, experimental sort of way. Having become a master husbandman, producing ample crops Then I began to get into the scriptures themselves and began for his family and others, he then is in a position to learn howto piece together LDS theology for myself. I first read the Book to draw the earth into ample production by speaking to it theof Mormon completely through at age sixteen, but did not under- words of love in the authority of the priesthood. Sometimes, ofstand much of the doctrine College years brought many discuss-

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ions with peers, and I began to propound and defend my con- yet conform to all that I know. But now I do know; I do not just struction of the restored gospel. This process led me to see the believe strength of the gospel. It did have answers. It did hang together. This; river of is the better evidence which I men- There was a fine correlation between the works of ancient and tioned. The testimony of others, rational correlations, pragmatic modem scripture Thus my mind began to be satisfied that thejustifications are all lesser evidence But personal revelation, that gospel was something worthy of and fruitful in rational investiga-enduring dependable river of personal experience with my God tion. As apparent contradictions melted before better understanding in prayer and obedience that is better evidence even a rock, even and as. the range and beauty of the concepts came into my view, sure knowledge But there is one piece of lesser evidence worthy I was impressed. My belief was strengthened. of special mention. That is the Book of Mormon. There was a strong pragmatic element to my beliefs. It didn’t The Book of Mormon has a unique place in my life and thought. take: much intelliegence to see that those who kept Church stand-I first read at it at age eight; I then felt its spiritual powm; though ards were better off. Those who were active and sincere were I did not understand nor much appreciate the divinity and import- special people accomplishers, doers, succeeders. I especially noticed ance of that witness. Over the years I have read the book through the young people who were a year or two ahead of me Some some forty to fifty times, and I consult it constantly. That familiarity were casual about the gospel, and although they were talented, has brought me a special appreciation of the book. The constant their labors seemed only to aggrandize themselves. Others whodivine witness that accompanies experience with it is better evi- were gospel oriented were such a benefit to everyone that it was dence Howevm; the lesser evidence of the book is massive The always a delight to be in their compaW and to see their goodstrength and lucidness of the doctrine the clarity of its instruc- wocks. As yet, I had only belief; but that belief was getting stronger.tion for living the gospel, the internal consistency of the story line Then I went away to graduate school, where I was challenged all add to a monumental, overwhelming mass of lesser evidence. severely. One professor warned his students that aW who hadI belive the day will .come when the lesser evidence has so accumu- religious beliefs and wanted to keep them had better get out oflated that anyone in the world will be able to see that the Book his class, because he intended to shred their beliefs; he proceeded of Mormon is a true document, all that said it was. to do so with great skill. Another wamed me that people who I also believe that it will be too late then to repent. But even today believed such works as the Bible and the Book of Mormon were the evidence is massive impressive. The faith of Latter-day Saints not fit to be in graduate school. The result of all this was thatdoes not stand on documents or on flesh and blood. It stands I was sent scurrying to find support for my beliefs. A frantic inven-on the rock of revelation, on that river of living daily experience tory revealed that my store contained only circumstantial evidence;with God as one serves him. Yet the lesser evidence is helpful I didn’t really know. I realized that I needed a rock to stand on, and satisfying. It leads one to perfom~ the experiments of sacrifice and that rock could only be personal revelation. which do bring the better evidence the sure knowledge The Book I felt I had received some revelation before Howevec I saw that of Mormon is especially helpful as a catalyst to help seekers receive random revelation was not sufficient. To be a rock, a bastion ofbetter evidence the sure knowledg’~ surety, revelation must be something on which one can count and receive in every occasion of real need. I began to seek for it actively. I prayed, I fasted, I lived the gospel as best I knew. I Athough huma~ authority, reasor,~, pragmatic justification, and was faithful in my church duties. I tried to live up to every scru-empirical evidence are lessee while personal experience with God ple which my conscience enjoined upon me And dependableis the greater; the better evidence I am grateful to be the possessor revelation did come Intermittentl}; haltingly at first, then steadily,of both and to know that the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is over some years it finally came to be a mighty stream of experiencetree that this is his restored Church, and that there is godly power I came to know that aW time of day or night, in aW circum- in the priesthood authority of this ki@om One thing further stance for any real need, I could get help. That help came in theremains: To point out the place and :relationship of the lesser evi- form of feelings of encouragement when things seemed hopeless.dence as related to the bettm; the sure rock. It came in ideas to unravel puzzles that blocked my accomplish- kesser evidence ,cannot give one sure knowledge of the truth- ment. It came in priesthood blessings which were fully realized.fulness of the restored gospel. Lesser evidence is sand. Sand is It came in whisperings of prophecy which were fulfilled. It camenot useless, for often it is our only basis for approaching and Nining in support and even anticipation of what the General Authoritiesthe rock. But what if there is a problem with the rock itself?. How of the .Church would say and do in general conference It cameare we to be sure that we have the true rock? There is a counter- in the gifts of the Spirit, as the wonders of eternity were openedfeit rock, for Satan also gives revelation, that very satisfying reve- to the ~yes of my understanding Tl:uat stream of spiritual experiencelation that pleases the camal mind. How can we be sure that we is today for me a river of living water that nourishes my soul inhave the rock, the true rock, and not its counterfeit? every situation. It is the most important factor of my life If it were The answer is that we must use the lesser evidence: human taken away, all that I have and am would be dust and ashes. It authority, reason, empirical evidence; and pragmatic justification is the basis of my love life understanding, hope and progress.to certify the rock itself. If a person has not leamed to be wise My only regret is that though this river is so wonderful, I havein judging human authority, in rationally analyzing evidence for not been able to take full advantage of it as yet. My life does notcompleteness and consistency, in carefully observing empirical

PAGE 10 MAY 1988 S U N S T 0 N E data, in judging the worth of circumstantial and pragmatic eviden-version of the heart proceeds apace with conversion of the mind, cetall related to the physical things of this worldlthen one is notas heart and mind lead and complement one another. Conver- in an admirable position to judge between God and Satan. Thesion is also of strength; the body will follow the heart and mind, developing and proving ground for those powers that bring onecreating a visibly new person, a tower of good deeds and exam- to strength in lesser evidence is the work of this earth, subduingpies. This means that the person’s mighutheir stewardships~will the earth. If you find a person well skilled in subduing this earth,also be converted and begin to show forth the love of God, to in providing food, clothing and shdter from nature, then you findbecome a witness to his grace and goodness. a person who has learned to leam from others, who can reason, All of this shows you why I gratefully assert that the restored who can evaluate empirical evidenc< who can capitalize on prag-gospd, Church and priesthood are true, for I know that they matic correlations. Such a one, developed in judging the thingsrepresent the true and living God. This leads me to see that the of this earth, is also well developed to judge the things of Go&formost important and most powerful sentence in existence is the the earth is the handiwork of God. It is made by him, for us,following instruction from the true and living God: "Thou shalt and all things temporal are in the pattern of things spiritual. Menlove the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy might, mind, and women who are wise about earthly things have a head startand strength; and in the name of Jesus Christ shalt thou serve in being wise about heavenly things if they will take the samehim" (D&C 59:5). care to gather and evaluate the evidence that they have used in the physical sphere_ You may have noted that I restricted my praise for develop- ment of skill in lesser evidence to the sphere of subduing the earth (or nature); I deliberately did not include success in the world as a base for judging the things of God. This world is a fallen place where Satan controls much of what goes on. It is pos- sible for a person to have success in this world and not to have learned judgment in the evaluation of lesser evidence. Success in this world is as much a social as a physical thing. It is sometimes possible to attain worldly success using the tools of Satan, such as lying, priestcraft, monopoly, bribery, deceit, and raw power. Nature resists the tools of Satan and yields only to the intelligent use of man’s strength. Those who are successful in this world may have gained those skills which enable them to evaluate evidence, but then again they may not have. It is thus often the humble laborer who senses the divine gift of God ahead of the wealthy and successful man or woman of the world.

In conclusion, I emphasize that I have been sharing my beliefs Announcement and Call for Papers and my basis for knowing the truth of the restored gospel. If your beliefs and basis for testimoW differ from mine, that is only to be expected. I believe that no one can build on another’s founda- SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA SYMPOSIUM tion, that we all must be true to our own experience and evi- dence This means that initially we will not see eye to eye. But if we eventually reach the same conclusion from our several EARLY MARCH bases, and each know from different life histories that the restored gospel is true, that gospel will then tend to bring us into a unity and commonality of experience, both temporal and spiritual. That Send Proposals to: unity and commonality of experience will then bring us to see eye to eye, each building from the rock up rather than attempting to mold and force each other’s thoughts after the manner of this Lorie Winder Stromberg world. When we do see eye to eye, it will be, I believe, because we 9028 Hargis Street are all thoroughly converted to the restored gospel, to the restored Los Angeles, CA 90034 Church, to the Savior of all mankind. That conversion is not simply an objective, detached, mental assent to overwhelming evidence. Conversion is of heart, first and foremost, and hearts are easiest to convert when they hunger and thirst after righteousness. Con-

MAY 1988 PAGE l l S U N S T O N E

¯

PAGE12 ILLUSTRATION BY OLINDA REYNOLDS MaY 1988 ¯ N S T O N E ¯ .~,:, :o S U

Honorablet:: .:./.: Mention in the 1987 D.K. Brown Fiction. Conmst /.- .:/...,.::!:::-

COHOSH, RUE

By Julie J. Nichols

ABOUT THE TIME I FIRST REALIZED I WAS A FEMINIST I WENT Mary Lou asked us to share I couldn’t speak. to a women’s retreat at a little mountain spa an hour’s drive from Grandma Jean had been a beautiful tall woman, slim-waisted, the ulna-Mormon town where I was living at the time The retreat,full-breasted, white-haired in her last years like a queen. My other one of those such as are advertised in New Age Journal and the Grandmother had bowed to osteoporosis (I took megadoses of spirituality issues of Ms., attracted about a hundred women whocalcium to prevent the same fate in my own bones) and had died were willing to dance their self-portraits, choose new names inbrittle and bent, but Jean stood straight and met your eye fully, a rebirthing ceremony, and sit in mooncircles and meditate Mar-even when she was eighty-eight and hadn’t long to live. She was tin, my husband, was wary of this feminist spirituality; he saida gifted storyteller much in demand at socials; she held adults it was nothing but big business, there was too much lesbianism,and children alike in thrall repeating "The Cask of Amontilladd’ too much separateness. There was evidence in Church historyfrom memory, or "The Night Before Christma<’ or the story of for discussion of a Mother in Heaven, he said, who probably Joseph and the coat of many colors, somehow making connec- headed the or some similar celestial female organi-tions between that Joseph and our Joseph in the grove at Palmyra. zation, but the private or group circles, the rituals and healing#We who were her grandchildren were also treated to other stor- by laying-on of female hands- those were definitely anti-Church,ies, personal rather than community ones, about the misadven- anti-family, and anti-Chnst. But I loved them all, because theytures of our parents and uncles and aunts. To me they were were so much inward work in contrast to the hectic externalitiesentertainment of the highest order though they made me feel that of my life as a working Mormon mother I could never live up to Grandma Jean’s standards, either of respect- During one of the mooncircles at the retreat, the leaders, whose ability or of fun. My generation was hopeless; all the good times names were Roberta and Mary Lou, instructed us to visualize two and all the need for serious, responsible behavior, because of the women we trusted coming to us, dressing us in robes, and lead- burden of life had already been used up by her children and ing us to a temple where we were to meet the Goddess: our selves. their friends, or by her own friends, whose stories she told more This was deeply moving for me chiefly because of the two womenrarely. It was one of these howeve~ that made the deepest impress- who came to me One was my mother who always loves me even ion on me. though I speak against maW Church policies and have a career Grandma Jean had been the child of a polygamist. Her youth that takes me away from home every day; the other was her mothe]~ was full of children and "aunts’,’ :’buti’ she told me "we were rich; my late Grandma Jean, the most orthodox of her orthodox gener- we weren’t like some of these Fundamentalists you see around ation, the reputable and honored wife of the patriarch of the May- today, dozens of children and no income just rags and hungry nard clan. Her coming full of unmistakable warmth and approval,eyes. Land, no. Eighteen of us lived in the same house but it had to dress me in pagan robes and lead me to a decidedly non- ten bedrooms and two parlors, up there in Morgan~ and our Mormon temple indicated to me more surely than aW sermonmothers got along wonderfully well. We were luckier than mosd’ that this meditation was not a product of my ever-fertile imagi- Luckier especially than the Caldwells. Grandma’s best friend nation. In my wildest dreams I would never have conjured upin those days was Beleatha Caldwell, third child of the: first wife something like this. During the meditation she stayed with me,of Heber. They were both ten years old when Brother Caldwell closer and brighter than my mother, and when it was time tomarried two young sisters on the same day, just a month after return to normal consciousness it was her embrace that sent meBeleatha’s mother died, leaving seven children. Both of his new back. I could only sit with my head bowed against my knees,wives were fertile as rabbits, Grandma Jean said, conjuring up there on the floor of the mountain spa lodge when Roberta and in my mind images of fluffy children hopping around a grassy side yard chewing lettuce and carrots; in five years there were JULIE NICOL5 is a freelance writer living in Provo, Utah. seven more Caldwells. Beleatha and Jean used to sit on the fence

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bordering Brother Caldwell’s pasture and giggle about the diaperspicking the blackberries that bore like crazy along the pasture draped everywhere to dry. When the older of the two "new" wives fences. caught smallpox in the epidemic of 1908 and died, the other; Dud- "I thought I heard a wailingi’ Grandma said; "all afternoon I’d ence, with Caldwell Number Fifteen "in the oveni’ as Grandmaseen the Caldwell kids coming in and out of the house, some put it, took on primary responsibility for them all, and then forwith what I thought were bundles of wash, one or two with boxes, the farm as well when Brother Caldwell was called on a missionand then I heard a high baby sound. Beleatha and I could see to England. Jean saw Beleatha less; and less as she was needed Prudence come to the door with the baby hanging over one arm more: and more to watch the little ones and help with meals andand one of her sister’s children hangnng over the other. Remem- housework, though she still got away from time to time and giggledbet; Prudence coul.dn’t have been more than twenty-lout; and that as much as ever when she did. baby-the youngest of fifteen, ten of whom were under nine- Until the time Jean went over just in time to see Beleatha try-was about three months old. He’d been colicky, too, poor thing; ing to ihold Prudence back while Prudence slashed at someeven the midwife’s peppermint tinctures didn’t help his screaming. chickens in the yard, chopping right and left with the old axe, "Prudence came to the door like that and Beleatha said, ’Oh- feathers and blood everywhere and horrible squawking, not just oh, she’s going to want me now,’ and started picking up her buckets from the chickens but from Prudence, too. This was no ordinaryand getting ready. Bm it was the oddest thing: Prudence just stood butchet:ing, Grandma said; there was something terribly disord-there in the door. She looked left and right, away from us, and erly about it, frightening and wasteful, and she never could quitethen she turned around without calling a word, and kind of stag- bring herself to mention it to Beleatha, but ran home quickly beforegered back inside and shut the door. Beleatha and I remarked she was seen. This was just before Michael Adam, the baby, was how quiet it suddenly seemed. No children, no animals. I remem- born; after that, Grandma said, Beleatha never came out to giggle ber Beleatha suddenly whispered, ’Oh, dear Lord!’ and at the same by the fence and the Caldwell children began to look increas-moment we heard two sharp shots from inside the house ingly ragged and strange. One day Peggy May, the nine-year-old, "Beleatha didn’t even pick up her buckets. She was out of that came to school in one of Prudence’s temple garments, rolled upberry patch in two leaps, and I tore after het; through the weed- and pinned together. The teacher hustled her over to Sister Car- patch garden and across the doorstep in less time than it takes penter’s in a twinkling and they p~at something else on he~ butto tell. The door was locked, so we pounded on the west win- nobody had missed the long-sleeved underwear dragged in Peggy’s dow till it fell open and I pushed Beleatha up through it. I can wake Another day Sam, who was two, was seen toddling across still see her patched underwear like i~: was yesterday. And when the canal bridge, trailing his diapers and crying for all he was worth.I’d scrambled up after her and inside, I wished I hadn’t, because Sister Rosas brought him home to her house and kept him forthere in a puddle of blood lay the baby Michael Adam, and the a week. other baby- I think i~s name was Jennifer- sat staring in a comer The ,oldest Caldwell boy, Matt, ihad had a hard time keeping with its mouth open and no sound. up with the farm and eventually broke down crying at the bishop’s "They were dead :as doornails. And Prudence held the gun to house Naturally most of the men tried to come lend a hand, andher chest like a cross. the next brothet; William, did the best he could to help, but dur- "Beleatha screamed. I thought she’d never quit. But then Wil- ing the summer harvest Prudence got on the buckboard and ~ogged liam came, and several of the men, and they took Prudence and one of the horses to death. Then she left it lying in the middlethose two pathetic bodies, and after that both women started to of the: field and went in the house to bed. it was difficult for any-come in to the house, one every day, leaving their own families body to know what to do after that; nobody wanted his own as if they didn’t have enough to do, and the children got fed and horses overworked, and the family seemed less and less inclinedtaken care of and eventually Beleatha more or less became the to accept help anyway. mothet; although she never had to do it all alone The Relief Soci- "Pathetic was a soft word for iff Grandma Jean said. ~The bishop ety saw to that. Brother Caldwell came home but it wasn’t till refused to send for Brother Caldwell off his mission; of course,months latet; and I don’t think anyone: in Morgan forgave him for it would, have taken months to get the word to him and get himnot coming home the minute he heard?’ home, anyway, but he should have been told what was happen- "Why did Prudence do it, Grandma Jean?" I asked. ing to his wife and household. Beleatha looked grimmer and grim- If Grandma had been a lesser woman, she might have shrugged, met; and the other fourteen kids did too-grim and ragged. It was might have put me off to ponder it for :myself. But she was regal- a obvious to everyone that Prudence was losing her mindi’ Maynard-and she gave it to me straight. "Well, child, some said The (:lay Prudence shot the babies, it was summer’s end. Mostit was the heat. Land, it was a hot summer. And some blamed ladies; were home canning tomatoes and pickles, checkirf melonsthe bishop, too, for sending off Heber Caldwell in the first place for ripeness, sending the children ,off to play at the canal underBut I know another thing or two. the watchful eye of Missy Praetot; whdd been to the coast and "Beleatha told me Prudence aspired to be a midwife-a noble knew how to swim well enough to save lives if need be. Williamprofession in those days, more trusted than men doctors aW time Caldwell had brought in a load of late hay the day before andof the day or night. She told Beleatha that if she could know what figured he deserved a break, so he was down at the canal mak- midwives knew, she could handle any situation that came up- ing eyes at Missy. Beleatha had come away too; she and Jean were and the way Beleatha said ’situation’, I knew Prudence meant things

PAGE 14 MAY 1988 S U N S T O N E

I was supposedly too young to know. What I think was, Prudence "it would have been if it had been born’,’ said my mother. just got trapped. She saw herself backed into a comer too tight "Did she want that?" I asked. "I wouldn’t’.’ and too deep ever to come whole out of, .all of her life drifting "You’d reject your own grandchild?" my husband said. Some- times he exasperates me so I can hardly speak. away in diapers and dust. That’s what those bundles were that "Well, I wouldn’t want to raise iti’ I said. "I’ve had enough rais- the little Caldwells were taking out of the house before theing my own children. I don’t need to raise another generationi’ shooting-Prudence had sent them down to the canal with bun- dles of clean diapers. She’d told them to throw them in. That was He made a negative noise, but my mother agreed. "Would you how William knew something was wrong and came back whenraise it?" she asked Martin. he didi’ "Well, I wouldn’t have to’,’ he said, and then he realized what "She did it because she was crazy," said my mother’s sister, Nila, he’d said and grabbed another potato and scrubbed relentlessly. who was ten years older than me and was listening in. My mother and I met each other’s eyes. There were tears in hers. "Well, child, it’s a toss-up who was crazier, Prudence or the ’Are you mad at me?" I asked, surprised. bishop, for sending off Heber, or old Heber himself, to leave, even "Oh, no’,’ she said. But she had to pause, her mouth working, on ’the Lord’s workl and set a young pregnant woman to brood before she said, "I was just thinking about my own mother and over a farm and fifteen little ones. Seems like a strange definitiondad:’ Grandma Jean had been dead five years then, and though of the Lord’s work, to leave such a burden on anyone knowingly.she and my mother had been very close, I had thought my mother’s I hold them all to blame I get mighty sick of seeing men let womenpain was healed long ago. try to handle aW yoke the men lay on their shoulders. I thought- "Is it just because Grandpa’s gone this year too?" I was anxious still think-it was Caldwell should have been shot, and Prudencenot to be the cause of her tears. brought back to normal life with the gentlest of card’ She shook her head, recovering. "Well, of course there’s that. "What happened to Beleatha?" But you know he was ready to go, and then Lon and his wife "Oh, she became a midwifd’ my grandmother said, but herwere relieved of a great burden when the end finally came No- attention was wavering. Grandma Jean involved herself totally whenit’s something else Herd’ handing me a bowl full of potatoes, "slash she was in the midst of a story, but once it was ove~ it was over.these for the oven, will you? It’s a feeling I have about you and She was a Relief Society president, after all, and her duties wereGrandma, I guess. I found some papers last month-imagine, after many. It was only later and quite by accident that I ever heardfive years! You might be interested in them. I’ll give them to you any more about Beleatha Caldwell. after everyone leaves. I-" seeing her older brother Lon approach, the patriarch now of his siblings’s families as well as of his own, since their Father’s death-"I car/t say aW more now?’ On a Saturday a few months after the retreat, my husband It was my husband who reminded me not to leave my parents’s and my mother and I were preparing potatoes to bake for a May- house till she’d given me those papers. We live further from them nard family gathering. Martin and I attended these parties loyally.than anyone else, nearly four hours, so we left earliest, and in Since coming out of the closet about women holding the priest-order to avoid Lon’s prying eyes my mother handed me a packet hood, abortion rights, and other anti-patriarchal convictions, I had quickly, under cover of her apron. ~Lon’d take them if he saw them7 to come to terms with my own need for certain traditions andshe said, "he figures everything of Mother’s should go to him, but rituals, and though I know that it’s possible to rationalize anyI don’t want him to know. I cortsider you to be the one to have behavior, I felt no need to apologize for attendance at family reun-them. See if you can decipher why. Tell me if it’s what I think?’ ions, no matter how ingrained the Mormon patterns of interac- The children fell asleep in the back of the station wagon on tion practiced there might be. My parents, as I have said, alwaysthe way home, so I pulled out the envelope as Martin drove There loved me, and my sister liked to listen to me talk even thoughwere several small plastic bags with what looked like a layer of she didn’t feel as strongly as I did and said she preferred to retaindirt in them, and several ruled pages, tom as if from a ledger, her temple recommend. My brother I think, never took me sen- covered with Grandma’s even, upright handwriting. She had taught ously anyway and talked to me mainly about the quality of mymy mother, who had then tried to teach me that lovely hand- three-bean salad, which has always been excellent. The rest of writing is one mark of a lady; my mother’s was also even and the Maynards were a little like my brothers that way, keeping toupright, but mine had gone scrawly and loopy in the interest of safe topics, but they gave my children water balloons along withsaving time when I was still in junior high, much to my mother’s everyone else’s and we all spit watermelon seeds together in thedismay. traditional yearly contest, so there were never hard feelings and There was little of interest to Lon or anyone rise in these pages, indeed I enjoyed the reunions very much. I thought at first. They were dated during several weeks in a spring As we washed the potatoes this time, then, the topic of con- of the Depression, years before I was bom and just after Nila tumed versation rolled around to Eliza, my Aunt Nila’s teen-aged daugh-two. She was the youngest of Grandma’s nine children, the one ter, who had just miscarried a fetus conceived out of wedlock. who consistently spit watermelon seeds the furthest to win the "What excellent formnd’ I said. prize of cherry bonbons, which I coveted. Everyone in the family "Nila’s broken-heartedi’ my husband said, disapproving. knew how Grandma had struggled to go to nursing school dur- ~’Why? It wasn’t her babyi’ I said. ing the Depression and had earned her L.P.N. certificate; it was

MAY 1988 PAGE 15 S U N S T O N E

because of this training I thought, that she had taught me to washneed never hear. Grandpa will have no inkling. But our daughters my hmq~ds so thoroughly, to maintain my "female sanitationi’ asshould be told. The courage of our mothers- the grace of the God- she put it, and to keep careful track of my cycles. I sometimesdess to those who say no for their own good and the glory of thought she was a little fanatical, but that that was perhaps typi-Her Who is One-in-Herself-these things must not be forgotten. cal of one trained during that period of time Everyone also knew that Grandpa had been promoted to a lucrative (for those days) traveling job shortly after she got her license, so that Grandma Jean ihad elected to stay home and be a live-in parent instead of a working one She was proud of this choice, proud of the ’~jewels" that were her children, proud of the ways she’d put her skills and talents to work at home and in the Church. I’d been raised not only listening to Grandma’s stories, but also eating her homemade bread, sleeping under her quilts, and playing with her plaster- headed dolls, hand-molded and hand-painted In the family she was held up as womanhood perfected-domestic, creative, organized, content. I knew from an early age I would never be like her. I read aloud to my husband from the ledger pages for several miles. They were much like a modem Relief Society president’s Day-Timer might be; I was lulled half to sleep by the rhythm of people to visit, dinners to arrange, meetings to attend, funerals tO oversee Then, on a Thursday, this notation: "Today is Day 30 of my cycle I cannot be again with child-so much to do, so little money, Maynard so seldom at home Beleatha Caldwell"--and an Ogden address. I read on silently to myself. "Friday Day 31. Beleatha says: 2X pennyroyal, X cohosh, X rue 3 times/day, The tea tastes vile but I will not stop taking it. "Day 33. No one must know. I take the tea quickly when no WAITING FOR THE FLASH... one will see What would the bishop say? Maynard must have no inkling b~ Paris Anderson "Day 39. I am hateful today Screamed as though possessed This first novel by the fine at little Nila. I believe this anger is fernale in origin. I hope to know young Mormon poet and fiction soon. writer, Paris Anderson, is good evidence of how fast Mormon "Day .~r0. Blood. Thank God. I will hide all the evidence, but literature is maturing. It will I would do it again. Oh how I thank my Godi’ bring you new understanding not only of a major part of Mormon Your god is my Goddess, I thought. I folded the papers back experience but deep participation into their creases and, in a gesture millennia of women old, I tucked in a central human experience, them deep into a hidden place in my purse, the journey from life as a mere sinner to life as a pilgrim. ’Anything interesting?" said my husband. -Eugen England ’A recipd’ I said. "That’s about all?’ e A few days after that I called the health food store and asked ...those who ;are whether organizations, especially churches, are constructive or destructive forces should them about pennyroyal. Estrogen, they said. Good for hot flashes. understand this perspective. Cohosh? Yes, also a female tonic. Good stuff. Rue? We don’t carry -J. Bonner Ritchie that. So I called another friend, a healer who works with crystals Waiting for the Flash is not sentimental. Anderson and gemstones and also knows herbs. seems to champion the individual in the LDS culture. "They’re excellent female strengthenersi’ she said, "unless you’re -The Daily Herald pregnant. A of them will cause :miscarriage Why?" W [waiting for the Flash] isn’t just another missionary "I found them growing in my lifei’ I told her. Then I called my book; it is one of the best. [I]t i_s the best at telling mother. how a mission...can be. "It’s what you thought~’ I said. -The Utah County Journal "Will you take care of those papers? Will you bum them?" A Scotlin Publication Available at most LDS bookstores ’Tll take care of themi’ I said. "I’ll bum themi’ And I did. But Suggested price: $7.95 or call ’1-795-2665 toll free to order the story needs to be written. Lon need never know, the bishop

PAGE 16 MAY 1988 S U N S T O N E

Seeing Through the Glass Darkly

DEALING WITH DISSONANCE: MYTHS, DOCUMENTS, AND FAITH

By RichaM D Poll

I AM A MORMON OF THE LIAHONA PERSUASION. I BELIEVE IN the pioneers over sixty years ago. The Saints were driven out of God as the or~nizer and manager of the etemal enterprise in whichNauvoo for a variety of reasons, all classified as ~persecutioni’ They we are all engaged. I believe in Christ as the great exemplar ofwere led into an uncharted wilderness by their prophet, Brigham righteousness and our Redeemer. I believe that we have the rightYoung. After spending some time there, Brigham, like Moses of and power to make choices and that the choices make a differ- old, recognized their destination, rose up in Wilford Woodruffs ence I believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that this church wagon and said, "This is the right place_ Drive oni’ They went is prophetically led. I do not subscribe to the concepts of scrip- down into the Great Salt Lake Valley and began to make the desert tural inerrancy or prophetic infallibility. I do believe that God willblossom as the rose_ yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to his work. A problem arises when one discovers that the statement, "This I am a historian who accepts the challenge of the greatis the right placd’ was first attributed to Young by Woodruff more nineteenth-century German historian, Leopold von Rank< tothan thirty years after the pioneer advent.2 describe the past wie es eigentlich gewesen-as it actually was. I That may or may not prove awthing. Even what Wilford recognize that even isolated events cannot be described perfectly, Woodruff wrote at the time may not prove awthing, but here’s because of such human limitations as narrow perspective, ideo-part of his journal entry for 24 July 1847: logical and emotional bias, faulty and sdective memory, fragmentary This is an important day in the History of my life and the his- and fraudulent records, and inability to deal with the total con-tory of the Church .... On this important day, after trav[eling] text of aW happening With regard to the causes, connections from our encampment 6 miles.., we came in full view of the and meanings of interrelated events and the personalities, ideasgreat valley or Bason [of] the Salt Lake and land of promise held and motives of people, the historian should speak with even lessin reserve by the hand of GOD .... 3 certitude_, for reasons that readily come to mind. Still, I believe Then he described the pleasing prospect and reported: "Presi- that a competent historian can get close enough to wie es eigent- dent Young expressed his full satisfaction in the Appearance of lich gewesen to generate provocative, often profitable, sometime the valley as A resting place for the Saints &: was Amply repaid perilous knowledge. for his Journey." Woodruff recorded that they traveled about four The study of history, whether as professional or nonprofes- miles down to the camp of "our brethren who had arrived two sional, is fraught with the same perils as exploration of any fielddays before. They had . . . broke about five acres of ground and of knowledge. It is a peril aptly expressed in this slightlycommenced planting potatoes7’~ paraphrased language of Dean William Inge: "The fruit of the tree It is very dear from this contemporary record that, at least in of knowledge always drives us from some Garden of Eden7’~ Woodruffs judgment, the hand of the Lord was in the selection Let me first offer a provocative example that is neither perilousof the Latter-day Saints’ new home. The only surprising point is nor particularly profitable. that the memorable Pioneer Day words do not appear in this account. They do turn up many years later when Woodruff looks back upon the event, and they nicely epitomize the sentiments The Case of "This is the Place" is drawn from my teachingthat may have expressed, perhaps even in those experience Today’s Mormon students say they have grown up withvery words. But it is very dear that the journal account does some- about the same images that I encountered when I first heard about thing to the Pioneer Day tradition, because there were people down there plowing and planting potatoes by the time Brigham Young RICHARD D POLL is professor of history, emeritus, at Western said, "This is the right placd’ or whatever it was that he said. Their Illinois University. This paper was given at the ]~087 Washington action obviously had not waited upon this prophetic identifica- Sunstone Symposium. tion of the spot. That decision had been made earlier as Young

MAY 1988 PAGE 17 S U N S T O N E

excellence, and he knew what good story tellers know-use what constitutional convention to create a new state-sent Almon W. works with the crowd. You are making a point. Babbitt east to join forces with Bernhisel. What is 6ne to do with this story? Gene Campbell and I fret- Historians had rationalized away this dissonance or just left ted, then told the World War events; as we had reconstructed them it on the back bum,er until Crawley made some interesting dis- and fell! back on Elder Harold B. Lee for protection. In writing coveries. Among other things, he found that some people who of President Brown’s appointment as an Assistant to the Quorumare described in thi:~ pamphlet as having attended this conven- of the Twelve, Lee had mentioned the episode in terms that we tion were actually somewhere else at the time Further; in the diary felt the documents supported, so we quoted him.8 We neverof one of the alleged participants he found what the Watergate really made a judgment on the currant bush story, but used itgeneration might call "the smoking gun? Here is Franklin D. in another chapter without the military details. Pdchards’s entry for Thursday, 19 July, months after some of the events described in ~:he pamphlet were alleged to have occurred: Attended Council the two weeks past, at which the Memorial[,] What to do with a story in a book is a small thing. What Constitution of the State of Deseret, Journal of its Legislature, Bill separating the myth from the documents does to the image ofor Declaration of Rigtq ts, and the dection of A. W Babbitt as delegate President Hugh B. Brown, each individual must judge for him-to Congress, was all. accomplished)° self. I still love and respect him very much after discovering this Crawl.ey’s explanation is a fine example of dissonance manage- chink m his armor-and chinks in some of the other stories thatment. He notes that the United States had just acquired the Great played very well, too. Basin as part of the spoils of the Mexican War; and that national One of the problems with myths and documents relates to politics was very much in flux before: the Compromise of 1850. a cor~cept in learning theory called cognitive dissonance You learnMter the proposal for territorial government was devised and Bem- things that dorft fit with what you have learned before, and thehisel was dispatched, news from the east, including recommen- experience is jarring. It may be a little jar or it may be traumatic.dations from Thomas L. Ran< led to the conclusion that statehood Trauma is likely to occur when new information is inconsistent,should tq~ave been sought instead. If California and New Mexico incongruent, or incompatible with what you have previouslywere going for it, why not Deseret? Statehood would give the Mor- regarded as important truth. An example is what happens whenmons the self-government that they really wanted. some cl’dldren leam that there is no Santa Claus. Emerging modem The derision makers in Great Salt Dtke City concluded, however; European society had similar difficulty when somebody suggested,that there wasn’t time to go through the steps of electing, drafting on the basis of new data, that the earth is not the center of the ratifying, electing again and then petitioning Congress. They also universe: Many important concepts and values hung on pre-knew that if they asked for statehood without going through this Copemican perceptions of heaven and earth. People had a hard rigmarole, they couldn’t succeed. So they created a record. They time adjusting to the new knowledge; indeed, a few people inwrote a constitution, l~orrowing mostly from a copy of Iowa’s. They our own day still resist. then created minutes and election documents, named members rll illustrate this problem of cognitive dissonance with someto a legislatur< and sent the papers back to Kanesville, Iowa where further examples and then turn to dissonance management in his-Apostle Orson Hyde printed them at the Frontier Guardian office tory, particularly Mormon history. because the Salt Lake valley did not yet have an operating press. Babbitt took copies o:~ the pamphlet back to Washington and went to work with Rane and Bemhisel in an unsuccessful effort to secure The Case of the Missing Convention" concerns the Deseret statehood.’~ statehood movement of 1849. [he key document and the You can make a credible rationalizat~ion for it, and Crawley does, associated problem of cognitive dissonance are described in a but this document is as fraudulent in :its content as the Donation brochure that Peter Crawley wrote to commemorate the acquisi- of Constantine and the "salamander letter." It is still precious, but tion of the document as the two millionth volume in the Harold it does raise questions. Especially if you have difficulty coping B. Lee Library collections.~ with the fact that an LDS First Presidency published it. This rare book, Constitution of the State of Deseret, with the joumal of the convention which.formed it, and the proceedings of the le~sla- ture consequent thereon, is a pamphlet of 16 pages, published in There is dissonance in other pioneer stories-the seagulls 1849. It gives the text of the constitution and describes the events and crickets, for example, and the traditional account of the call- that produced it and the elections that approved it and selected ing of the Mormon B:~tttalion. Think of what has happened to the the first officers for the proposed new Mormon commonwealth pioneer treks. Although tens of thousands of people came West in the Great Basin. between 1847 and 1869, the myth-making process has reduced Historians for at least two generations have been perplexed by the pioneer experience to Brigham Young~s advance compaW and the fact that two political activities seemed to be going on simul- the handcart pionee:rs of 1856-neither of them representative. taneously in early 1849. One-a movement to create a territorial (Young~s caravan of 143 men, 3 women, and 2 children was hardly government-produced petitions with several thousand signatures the demographic mix to build up Zion in the Rocky Mountains!) that John M. Bernhisel carried back to Congress. The other-a The handcart migration has been reduced to one heroic, tragic

PAGE 18 MAY 1988 S U N S T 0 N E considered the options with his colleagues, studied the available I have had the interesting, ddightful, sometimes exasperating geographic information about the Great Salt Lake Valley, andopportunity of reconstructing the lives of three great men, using received at least provisional confirmation that this, in God’s judg-these tools. I’ve tried to recover Hugh B. Brown, Howard J. Stod- ment, was the place. dard and Henry D. Moyle from the memories of people who knew them, the objects they accumulate.d, and the documents they left. An illustration from this research leads to the third term in my Some things in the past are more important than others- title- dissonance. more useful than others. We remember them best and we recall ~The Case of the Disappointed Canadian Officer~ concems Presi- them in association with the purpos< or muse, or value that makesdent Hugh B. Brown, surely one of the favorite LDS General them useful. Sometimes an alteration of the event ~vie es eigentlichAuthorities of the twentieth century. One of the great experiences gewesen occurs in this process. of my life was working with my good friend, the late Eugene Camp- This brings us back to the term "myth’.’ bell, on Browrfs biography. Our last meeting with him was to report Most dictionaries insist that a myth must be fictitious-like athat the book was in press. He was bedfast and near death, but fairy tale Howeve~ that is not what it means to us historians. Ahe still had his smile and his wit. When we told him the book historical myth is an idealized version of someone, or something,was almost ready, he said, "We can call it my obituary." I pro- that once existed. It is what the memory of an event becomes tested, "Oh no, President Brown. This is far more than thati’ He after people have transformed it so that it is more useful, usuallysaid, "Maybe we should call it ’Son of Obituary.’ " for masons involving group values. The process of myth-making Many have heard the story of the currant bush. In summary, distills from the past elements that motivate people to be moreit tells how Hugh B. Brown, as an officer in the Canadian Army patriotic, generous, loving or virtuous in some other dimension.6in the First World Win; took a contingent of troops to England, This process of taking something out of historic experienceexpecting to lead them into combat and anticipating a promo- and converting it-by addition, subtraction, modification ortion in rank. At a critical point he was called in for an interview. revision-into a value-laden symbolic memory can be observedThe general fussed and stalled and then was called away, giving in maW contexts. George Washington was hardly dead before the Brown an opportunity to glance at the papers on the desk. On myth-making process began. The cherry tree was added, because his service record, in very legible letters, was written, "This man Parson Weems wanted to make Washington’s honesty vivid foris a Mormon: Denied the appointment, Major Brown was inclined children. A Valley Forge prayer that may never been uttered became to be resentful. Then he recalled the currant bush complaining one of the most familiar images of the father of our country. of being pruned too short, and his response: "You’ve been cut Myth making forgets things, too. Sally Fairfax almost disappearedback so that you can get the growth that you’re intended fot’ from the Washington story until the diggers into documents and the psycho-historians discovered her again. Them is no big scan- It’s a wonderful story. The problem with it is that, on the basis dal here, but there is evidence that Washington, for all his upright-of the documents, it isn’t true. Hugh B. Brown was a good and ness, never quite got over feeling special about this wife of hisvery popular officm; and he did go overseas expecting advance- good friend, whom he almost certainly would have courted if thement. But when he got to England, he discovered what the his- friend had not done so first. tory of that war clearly establishes-that more enlisted men than A clear indication of the mythologizing process is the visualfield grade officers were being killed in France By 1917 recruits myths that gradually emerge-the pictures of the Pilgrims land-were going to the front as replacements, not as new combat units, ing, or the seagulls devouring the crickets. The statue of Josephand there was no place for all ,of the officers who had trained and Emma at the Nauvoo visitors’ center is a beautiful idealiza-them. The journal of Major Brown’s aide suggests that personal tion of these very important people The statue of Brigham Youngfavoritism was behind the selection of one of the other contenders on the BYU campus is another. It’s fair to say that you may knowfor advancement. Contemporary documents also show, howevm; you have become a myth when they make a statue of you. Unless, that Brown went back to Canada without ever having the inter- of course_, you are a demagogue who commissions your ownview that he requested. As the soldiers he took over began to die, statue-a clear sign that you expect to become a myth. some Albertans made snide comments about "slackers?’ He wrote in his journal then: I spent most of... May at home visiting family and fnends Lt us tum next to the tools of the historians. If an eventand leamed by bitter experience of being misjudged, for some is in the recent past, they have the testimoW of witnesses- peoplewho had appeared to be: my friends were most harsh in their who were there or heard about it from people who were there criticism of my returning home, thinking I came on account of They have also the artifacts that people leave behind formy fear of the battle line But God knows I did not have any choos- archaeologists, anthropologists and antique collectors to find. Mostly,ing and that I tried to do my duty and play the game.7 howeve~ the historians work with documents written on pape~ In such circumstances, one can imagine the parable of the cur- papyrus, wood, metal, stone, or some other material, that convey rant bush beginning to take shape. From the time it appeared in information. Only where there are documents can one really beginprint in 1939 until President Browrfs death 36 years late~ it evolved to "do historyi’ furthm; as such tales do. President Brown was a story teller par

MAY 1988 PAGE 19 S U N S T O N E

episode Although three thousand people crossed the plains with preexistence, and possibly because of my exposure to textual criti- handcarts between 1856 and 1860, the only ones remembered cism at Texas Christian University. Being under no urgent neces- are the members of the Willie and Martin companies who eithersity to impose harmony, I adopted the stimulating and helpful didn’t make it or did so with severe frostbite. The myth invitesideas from the book and left the questions alone-as aW lazy reflection. Which is the more faith promoting experience: To crossLiahona would. When the recovery of the papyri forced the issue, the plains with nothing more serious than blisters, or to leave I sampled a little of the apologetic literature, found it unsatisfac- one’s feet along the way? tory and left my own. position unarticulated until James Allen and Such incongruities-minor or major dissonances-abound. One Glen Leonard gave me a superbly phrased formulation in The Story may ask, "What difference do they make?" The answer is, "Little, oJ-the La:tter-da.y Sailors: if nothing important is at stake2’ I suspect that very little depends The exact relationship between the ancient scrolls and the on whose crops were saved by :he seagulls, or whose great- printed text of the has been a matter of con- granctparents suffered with the handcart companies. On the other troversy .... Although translations by both LDS and other scholars hand, it may make a great deal of diiference ff the myth has become made it clear that [the papyri] were not part of the Abraham text, a sigmficant feature of "some Garden of Edeni’ Church :scholars .... suggested that the scrolls themselves mW A danger in some historical myths is that, by depicting levels simply have been the catalyst that turned Joseph’s mind back to of aspiration and accomplishment that transcend the historic ancient F_gypt and opened it to revelation on the experiences of events, they lead us to inaccurate assessments of ourselves. An Abraham .... Joseph may have received these ideas the same example is the point so often raised in talks about the pioneers: way he did those of the inspired translation of the Bible In that "We could never do thati’ The documents suggest that those peo-instance, acting without original documents, the Prophet’s only ple did what they did because the), had to do it. We don’t know claim was that by divine inspiration he was able to replace incorrect what we would do if we were in their shoes. Some of us mightwith correct ideas and restore the original biblical meaning .... lie down by the path and sing the fourth verse of "Come, ComeEven the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power Ye Saints’,’ but I believe most of us would tough it out. People haveof God rather than through any prior knowledge of ancient lan- a capaciity to rise to challenges. guage When applied by Mormons to Joseph Smith, the term ~tmns- If ipeople grow up believing that the heroes and heroines oflator" thus has a special meaning.~ their past were a different kind of people, without the human Why Joseph Smitlct thought it impolmnt to provide partial expla- traits and vulnerabilities that we have, they have been ill servednations of the pictures associated with the Book of Abraham is, by their "history." The greater the disparity between myth and event,to me, part of the larger enigma that :is the Prophet. I wish that the greater the potential trauma in confronting the past wie es eigent-he hadn’t. I also wish :hat the Allen-Leonard interpretation of’trans- lich g~esen. And the more natural the tendency to respond irra- lator" had wider currency among today’s Latter-day Saints. tionally. Ancient history, tells of a soldier who stumbled into town This brings me to the second problem: If the Book of Abra- with the report that he was the only survivor of a great battleham is not from the papyri, is it from God? The Allen-Leonard and was killed for bringing the bad news. formulation implies an affirmative answe~ to which I will add this personal observan.on: If one prophet can hear God in a burning bush, it is possible for another to sense him in a mummy’s I tum now to a case of more traumatic dissonance-a case wrappings. in which the discovery of documents has had substantial impact This was less of a problem during my undergraduate days, upon an important faith-related historical myth. It also illustratesbecause there was less pressure within the Church to identify several approaches to dissonance tnanagement and permits me revelatiolq~ with such dogmas as prophetic infallibility and scrip- to draw my own conclusions. It is "The Case of the Book oftural inerrancy. We quoted the eighth and ninth Articles of Faith Abrahami’ as though the words "as far as it is translated correctly" and "He The rediscovery of some of the Egyptian papyri associated with will yet reveal maW :great and imponx~nt things" had real mean- The Pearl of Great Price certainly challenged the LDS tradition-ing. We took Joseph Smith seriously when he said that some of the historical myth-that the Book of Abraham is a literal transla-his own revelations might be from man or the devil, and it helped tion of an ancient document. The recovery and identification ofus to che~ish the great insights in his teachings without worrying the sn-sn text presents a two-fold problem of dissonance: One unduly about Zelph or the Kinderhook plates, or whether that problem involves the LDS concept, or concepts, of translation. figure in the Pearl of Great Price is Abraham on an altar. If the book did not derive in any linguistic sense from the papy- rus documents with which its origin is associated, was there a significal:tt connection between them? The second problem involves The relatively recent preoccupation with institutional unity the LDS concept, or concepts, of revelation. If the book did not and individual security has brought us today, howeve~ to the point come from the papyri, did it come from God? where dissonance must be denied. This effort to make everything The dissonance-the incongruity-between the pictures and tidy does not, in my view, stem from doctrine or even institu- text of the Book of Abraham bothered me when I read the work tional necessity, but ft.’ore the idiosyncrasies of some leaders and as an undergraduate, possibly because of something I did in thethe psychological needs of many followers. Without digging fur-

PAGE 20 MAY 1988 S U N S T O N E ther into the "why" question, I want to make a point or two about of the plan of salvation were shaken by it. The Joseph Smith III the prevalence of the denial of dissonance and the degree of its blessing document had already been accommodated by most tes- SUCCESS. timonies before it was exposed as a forgery, requiring no accom- Authoritarian pronouncement is, of course, one technique ofmodation. As seerstones and fl-eemasonry are found to have figured denial, well represented in the literature of the new LDS orthodoxy.prominently in the , similar outcomes may be expected. Since the gospel is tree and all truth is harmonious, perceived What is the moral? A cynical view might be that belief will incongruities in Church teaching and practice must reflect the frailtyovercome evidence, I prefer a more hopeful interpretation, of the perceivec Since the scriptures are substantially inerrant, now paraphrasing language first used in another context: What mat- that the foomotes from the Prophet’s revision are there to smoothters most must not be at the mercy of what matters least. out rough places in the BiN< neither fossils nor floating axes need How well-how righteously-life is lived does not depend on trouble the faithful. Since the public utterances of the prophetseither myths or documents about the past. The myth-making are almost always inspired and cover almost every consequentialprocess contributes to the pursuit of righteousness to the extent topic, one needs only quasi-authoritative help with the odd incon-that it provides ideal models and motivating traditions that are gruity in the Journal of Discourses to remain secure against the buffet- consistent with truth. The historians, with their documents, con- ings of dissonance and doubt. tribute to the pursuit of righteousness to the extent that they check Reliance on selected "experts" is another way to finesse dis- the myth-making capability to generate and perpetuate untruths sonance My good friend Hugh Nibley is a superb example Sinceand half-truths, and even. to sanctify unrighteousness. he gained unique status as "defender of the faith" with his rebut- God only knows the past wie es eigentlich gewesen. Whether tal to Fawn Brodie’s book, he has become a security blanket for we are myth-makers or myth-shakers, we see history through a Latter-day Saints to whom dissonance is intolerable Dr. Nibley’sglass darkly Given our human limitations and the caveats expressed contribution to dissonance management is not so much what hein the eighth and ninth Amdes of faith, we must expect to encoun- has written as that he has written. On the basis of no scientificter cognitive dissonance, even in the sphere of faith. AS God’s free evidence whatsoeve~ I suggest that relatively few Latter-day Saintsagent children, we have the right and the responsibility to choose read the Nibley books that they give to one another or the copi- how we will cope with it. ously annotated articles he has contributed to Church publica- tions. It is enough for most of us that they are there. We have NOTES a scholar who has met the scholars on their own ground and 1. The quotation from the Anglican cleric, as it appears without source citation in class notes established that the dissonances they point to are only apparent, taken when Gene and I audited PA. Chnstenseffs BYU course on Milton, is: "The fruit of the not real. As Hugh retires from the front, other defenders of the tree of knowledge always drives man from some Paradise or other; and even the Paradise of fools is not an unpleasant abode while it is habitable2’ faith are coming forward to perform this service 2. Utah Pioneers (Salt Lake City, 1880), p. 23, quoted in Leland H. Creer, The Founding oJ Discouraging inquiry is yet another way of denying dissonancean Empire (Salt Lake City, 1947), p. 302, n. 913. 3. Scott G. Kenne); ed., Wilford Woodru~’sJournal (Salt Lake City: Stgnamre Books,, 1983), 3:233. I refer not only to the formal and informal restraints on academic 4. Ibid., 3:234. investigation with which ma are familim: but to the general inhi- 5. Ibid. W 6. Historical myths may also generate negative passions, as such asuse as anti-Mormonism, bition of flee discussion in the educational programs of the Church.anti-semitism and anti-communism demonstrate. As a teacher who sees questions as steppingstones to learning in 7. Eugene E Campbell and Richard D. Poll, Hugh B. Brown: His Li~e and Thought (Salt Lake: Bookcraft, 1975), p. 70. both college and Church classes, I am perturbed that the highly 8. Ibid., p 68. structured and correlated lessons prepared for our Sunday School 9. Peter Crawley, The Constitution of the State of Deseret (Provo: Friends of the Harold B. Lee Library, 1982), 27 pp. and seminary consideration repress inquiry, even by the teachers, 10. Crawley, p. 9. Richards was probably referring to the Council of Fifty because no other and treat questions from class members as impediments to "cover- council was involved in with such political matters then. 11. Crawley, pp. 10-17. ing the materialT’ Where the scriptural segments under study have 12. James B. Allen and Glen M. Leonard, The Story of the tatter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: the potential to raise questions, teachers are counsded to use pre- Deseret Book, 1976), p. 68. packaged answers and avoid ~controversy." The apparent intent and observable result is to produce bland instruction in which acquies- cent students read or recite on cue and even contradictory opin- ions are heard without demurrer. The capacity to perceive dissonance is dulled.

There is a touch of irony in all this, because Mormons of both Iron Rod and Liahona complexion have shown remarkable capacity to accommodate dissonance when it has been unavoid- able The Pearl of Great Price has survived the recovery of the papyri. The discovery that certain of God’s children are not going to have to wait until the millennium for the priesthood has been accommodated with grace even by those whose prior concepts

MAY 1988 PAGE 21 S U N S T O N E

ON SAVING THE CONSTITUTION OR WHY SOME UTAH MORMONS SHOULD BECOME DEMOCRATS

By Eugene England

NEARLY ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO, IN SEPTEMBER 1891,assigning one acquiescent family to be Democrats, the next to be there occurred, in Huntsville Utah, a very strange scene for a townRepublicans. in the United States. Almost exactly 100 years before, in 1791, An established part of Mormon folklore are such accounts of this country had ratified a unique and daring Constitution. Thehow in 1891 various local authorities divided congregations into framers, at the close of the Constitutional Convention in 1787,the two acceptable national parties, as part of the process of accom- had believed that their document, then but a govemment in words,modation to Gentile political ways that was necessary for Utah could only succeed because of ~the genius of our peopl¢" by which they meant the average American’s independent political wisdomstatehood. MaW report having heard David O. McKay, later one and love of their independence. But her< in an American town,of the most openly Republican of Mormon Church presidents, on a bright Indian summer moming with the young cottonwoodstell the story of how Huntsville was divided by alternate houses. and Lombardy poplars tuming bright yellow along the streets andJoseph Nelson, later head of the Saltair Corporation, claims he pockets of gold aspen and deep-red maples visible on all the sur- was present when his bishop stood at the head of the chapel rounding hills, Church leaders were going from door to doo~;in Sacrament Meeting in his Salt Lake ward and declared all the Saints on one side of the aisle Democrats and those on the other Republicans) In Rockville, in southem Utah, the leaders simply EUGENE ENGLAND is a professor of English at Brigham Young divided the community down Main Street.2 Whatever the University. A version of this paper was given at the Sunstone Sym- mechanism, in the early 1890s Mormon leaders, from the First posium IX. Presidency through maW General Authorities and stake presidents

PAGE 22 ILLUSTRATION BY MARK ENGLAND MAY 1988 S U N S T 0 N E down to bishops and other local leaders, were energetically engaged mons should become Democrats simply because for about twenty in a remarkably paradoxical enterprise: They were proving theyears the Democrats have been a steadily dwindling minority in independence of Mormons from the political influence of theirUtah, and thus Republicans are developing the attitudes and prac- leaders by using Mormon leaders to influence Mormons toward tices of one-party rule. Those attitudes and practices are much joining the Republican Party. more dangerous than the particular bdiefs or programs of either As everyone in Utah well knew, a wholesale onslaught on Mor- party. I bdieve some Utah Mormons should become Democrats mon beliefs and civil fights had been led by the national Repub-for precisely the same reason the First Presidency encouraged some lican Party since its initial platform, in the 1850s, had promisedto become Republicans in 1891: "The more evenly balanced the to eradicate what it termed the "twin relics of barbarisrff’-slaveryparties become the safer it will be for us in the security of our and polygamy. In response the Mormons formed the Peoples Party, liberties; and.., our influence ~br good will be far greater than which became anti-Republican as its efforts for statehood were it possibly could be were either party overwhdmingly in the denied and increasingly punitive measures were passed againstmajority:’ the Mormons by the Republican-controlled national government. Some of you are thinking by now that you are hearing simply But by 1891 Church leadership had become convinced it must a partisan plea by a disgruntled Democrat. Not so! I am a life- disband the Mormon party in order to gain statehood and thus long Republican, a descendant of Willkie and Dewey supporters. independence from "carpetbaggers’,’ Republican appointees fromI voted twice for Nixon (though not a third time) and twice for Washington who, as they did in the devastated South, exercised Reagan. I grew up heating how my grandfather was kept in near insensitive even immoral and tyrannous, control that essentiallystarvation conditions through the latter part of the Depression by disenfranchised many of the local people. Church leaders knewanti-Mormon Democrats in Idaho. They swept in with Franklin that if things were left to chance most Mormons would simplyD. Roosevelt and gave all his work painting state buildings to their become Democrats, and in reaction Gentiles would become Repub- incompetent cronies, who, as he said, besides depriving him of licans, perpetuating the same bitter political/religious division thata living, "couldn’t paint worth a tinker’s damff’ I often heard my had plagued Utah since the formation of the anti-Mormon Liberalfather fulminate about Roosevelt’s federal farm agents, maW the party in 1870. sons of pork-barrel politicians. With no knowledge of local peo- The insight and intentions of the First Presidency are revealedple and land conditions, they wasted lots of money and tried to in a letter written in May 1891 to John W. Young, who had long impose useless or even destructive controls. served as an unofficial liaison to national Democratic paW leaders. Despite all this I sincerely believe the time has come for me President Wilford Woodruff, and his counselors George Q Can- and lots of other Utah Mormons to become Democrats-at least non and Joseph E Smith, inform Young that the political fielduntil the parties are nearly equal in strength again in most of the in Utah is now "ripe ready to harvest’,’ but that Mormons are anti-state. Republican in their sympathies and thus likely to "rush into the In fact, it might be good for our Church leaders to encourage Democratic ranks? They believe it is "of the highest importanceus to do some shifting. This would have to be behind the scenes that this not be the case~ Consider their reason, which helps explainof course and mainly by example but there could be some old- their controversial and still sometimes maligned actions in dividingfashioned dividing of congregations or at least some quiet assign- Mormon congregations and encouraging many people who werements to even-numbered stake presidents and bishops. At the natural Democrats to become Republicans: "The more evenlyvery least such action would make dear to Mormons the funda- balanced the parties become the safer it will be for us [Mormons]mental Constitutional principle that American freedoms are based in the security of our liberties; and ... our influence for goodupon: separation of powers and prescribed checks and balances, will be far greater than it possibly could be were either party over-strongly aided by the development of the two-paW system. If those whelmingly in the majorityl’3 checks and the party system are kept strong and balanced, they That statement shows remarkable inspired, foresight. It alsocreate a process of government that is the surest guarantee- in fact, demonstrates, I believe greater insight into the basic strength ofthe God-inspired guarantee-of our liberties, much more sure than our political system than that of the anti-Mormons of that time,the particular content of aW person’s or paW’s ideas about what mostly Republicans, who were willing to use aW means, howeverour government should do. unconstitutional, to destroy Mormonism as supposedly un- American. And it shows better insight into the nature and value of political parties than that of many Mormons today, mostlyPolitical parties have generally had just the opposite effect of Republicans, who believe the Truth resides with their party andthat anticipated by the framers, who deplored partisan politics that salvation will come with its supremacy. as too polarizing to society and made no mention of them in the Constitution. Instead, parties have reduced partisan polariza- tion; they have helped keep politics in the United States mainly Yes, I believe some Utah Mormons should become Democrats, non-ideological, forcing partisans to compromise their not because the Democratic platform is "tme¢ certainly not becausedemands, trade favors, unite with strange bedfellows to get part its leaders and candidates are "betteff as political rhetoric of thoseof what they wanted and in turn help those strange people get in both parties would claim for themselves. I believe Utah Mot-part of what they wanted. This has provided a basis for coopera-

MAY 1988 PAGE 23 S U N S T O N E

tion between people of different religions, races, and sectionalmajority will not be likely at the same moment to have a com- interests; it has tended to shrink vo].atile dogmatisms into manage-mon interest from that of the whole or of the minority and, in able issues and has effectively translated what I think was thethe second place that in case they should have such an interest, most profound and inspired insight of James Madison, truly thethe}, may not be able to unite in the pursuit of it.~ "father" of the Constitution, into reality. Madison thus provided the delegates a way to believe that the In August 1786, just ten years after the Declaration of Indepen- evils the), all had seen flowing from an excess of democracy, rather dence and only five after the Articles of Confederation had beenthan being increased in a national government and large growing ratified, America’s great experiment in creating a "new order ofcountry, would actually be decreased as they counteracted each the ages" was failing so seriously that George Washington wroteother. And as the delegates acted on that faith to create our coun- John.Jay; "What a triumph for the advocates of despotism to findtry, Madison became a prophet of how a huge pluralistic society that we are incapable of governing ourselvesl’4 But at about thishas in fact worked with unique success for over 200 years. The same time Madison, an intellectual and political leader from Vir-unusual :stability and intemal peacefulness of our country results ginia who had come to exactly the same conclusions as Washing-from its government structure and what the noted writer on our ton, moved to do something. He had been engaged in six monthspolitical and educational systems Daniel Bell calls America’s "con- of intense study of books on history and government sent himstitutional cultural’ with its many checks and balances, including from Paris by Thomas Jefferson. He now took time off from histhe two-party system.~ Our system encourages the formation of studies ~:o attend a convention at Annapolis on regulating tradeshifting coalitions in ways that safeguard the liberties of all citizens, among the states. There together with two friends, the strong fed-particularly minority groups, whose rights are always most at risk eralist Alexander Hamilton of New York and Governor Edmundin any society. Randolph of Virginia, he successfully led the delegates in making a unanimous call for yet another convention. It was to be held the next May in Philadelphia and with a greatly expanded agenda:Two other moments stand out for me in that four-month essentially to amend the Articles of Confederation. process of compromise and shifting coalitions that produced the In the meantime Madison wrote two papers based on his miraculous document we have honored this past year. They are studies and shared those and other ideas extensively with Washing-particularly importanl: to my argument for political pluralism. The ton and Randolph and the rest of the Virginia delegation. Whentwo moments are the decision to give the war-making power to business began on May 28, 1787, Randolph rose with a prepared Congress: not the president, and the ,decision not to give either sketch for a new Constitution, what became known as the Vir- Congress or the president the power to impose what were called ginia Plan and mainly the work of Madison. That written plan~’sumptuary laws~’ immediately moved the Convention beyond its announced pur- I begin with the ~second: In late August, as the Convention pose and ~ve the affirmative edge to those favoring a sn’ong nationalmoved into its final stages, George Mason of Virginia moved to government. enable Congress to enact laws desigmed to regulate personal Howeve~ by the second week, in a reconsideration of the means behavior on moral and religious grounds. He argued, in a way of sdecting members to the proposed two-house Congress, a basic that sounds reasonable to most Mormons and conservative reli- roadblock became visible: Some womed that states with smallgious people generall}; "No government can be maintained unless populations like Rhode Island would be "subject to factioni’ rentthe manners [by which he meant private moral behavior] be made by the: passions of minorities, while others found the large states[my emphasis] consonant to it7’r After a few speeches in oppo- like Massachusetts impervious to effective democratic government,sition, the: Convention voted down the proposal, and, except for but inclined to anarchy and misrule Madison tumed these appar-the unfortunate fourteen year experience with Prohibition from ently :mutua!ly supportive arguments against each other: Draw-1919 to 1933, our system has generally avoided wholesale infringe- ing on his long study of republics and confederacies he pointedment upon people’s private morality. out, in the argument he later developed fully in The Federalist, Why would I, a teetotaling Mormon, who believes that smok- letter 1.0, that all civilized societies are divided into numerous sects,ing and drinking and sexual promiscuity and perversity are among factions, and interests; that whenever a majority is united by acivilizatiorg most desn-uctive evils, want government to stay entirely common interest or passion, the rights of the minority are inaway from trying to control those things except as they directly danger; and that neither honesty, respect for character; nor con- victimize others? For two reasons: First, I want freedom of con- science had succeeded in restraining the majority in past socie-science in areas of personal morality and faith for myse!_iand there- ties from infringing on the rights of the minority-in fact, hefore must protect it for others. Second, I do not want to live in reminded his colleagues in a sentence that should burn witha society, like most of those in the world, driven by the conflict memory and caution for every Mormon, "Religion itself mayand violence that always result from attempts to coerce faith and beconte a motive to persecution and oppressioni’ personal morals-as we can see it clearly did in Prohibition, as What remedy then? It was brilliantly simple original-and cru-well as in the earlier attempt to control Mormon polygamy. cial in removing the roadblock to an acceptable Constitution: Daniel Bell has a twofold explanation for the remarkable even To enlarge, the sphere and thereby divide the community into sounique stability of our government for over 200 years: First, the great a number of interests and parties that, in the first place aunexpected stability in pluralism that Madison predicted, built

PAGE 24 MAY 1988 S U N S T O N E on coalition-forming between interest groups and thus protec-governmental coercion upon teachers or curriculum-as is often tion of the interests of potentially rebellious minorities. And second,made against teaching of particular religious views and is now the way we have reduced conflict by largely avoiding legislationbeing attempted in the South against teaching evolution. Yes, we in areas of personal morality. As Bell points out, for most peopleshould even be against prescribed school praym; even so-called those areas are nonnegotiable- They involve the deepest personal~moments of silencg whenever; however subtly, those publicly man- convictions, which cannot be adjusted or compromised, and when dated forms act to coerce young minds. Spiritual and moral coer- compliance is forced, it gives rise to the deepest resentments andcion not only violate the most central value of the Constitution eventual rebellion. The arena of law should be reserved forbut the central values of the Mormon religion, the very ones that procedural matters and areas where we directly harm others or lead us to revere the Constitution. restrict their rights. These matters are generally dear and acceptable-or are at least negotiable, meaning we can compromise Mormons are perhaps the only remaining religious body which and live with the compromises. When we cannot compromise our consciences or we believes the U.S. Con- feel personally in- stitution was literally fringed upon, conflict inspired by God. The is the result. As Apos- crucial scriptural pas- fie Brigham Young, Jr., sage is Doctrine and reflecting, I am confi- Covenants 101:77-80, dent, his father’s view, a revelation to Joseph confessed during the Smith in 1833, only polygamy persecutions forty years after ratifi- of 1884, "I am willing, cation and not long in political matters, before Madison died, to ... let the majority the last surviving rule .... But in the framer and certainly things pertaining to one of those the Lord conscience no man, refers to in saying to no set of men.., can Joseph, "I established control me before my the Constitution of God .... I am a free this land, by the hands man in relation to of wise men whom I these matters, not raised up unto this bowing to any major- very purpose" (Doc- ity nor to aW party’.~ trine and Covenants Majority control 101:80). over matters of con- Knowledgeable science was precisely non-Mormons-and what happened in some Mormons-may polygamy, and Mor- laugh at such a mons should remem- description of those ber it well. As Bell fifty-five mortal men, pointed out to a BYU mostly quite seculm; audience in the fall of 1986, well aware of whom he was speak-few of them pious, and many quite dissolute But after reading ing to, "Cultural conservatives should be political liberalsl’~ Inthe story of their accomplishment in William Peters’s excellent other words, those who want the freedom to practice their strong history, A More Perfect Union (Crown Publishers, 1987), I cannot and unusual personal religious bdiefs and ethics should be amonglaugh. By devising the first govemment in history which allowed the most active in promoting a system where all are free to do a group of people consciously to place themselves under the rule so, even "evil people" whose beliefs and actions are deeply repug-of law- and then convincing them to do just that, these men have nant to them, as long as those bdiefs and actions do not unavoid- proven to be extremely courageous and wise_ At the same time ably and significantly infringe on the rights of others. they achieved a structure that promotes the most fundamental Mormons should be among the most active opponents to any- goal of inspired prophets through the ages, that individuals be thing like George Masons sumptuary laws, such as Prohibition,able to assume moral responsibility for their own actions. blue laws of any kind, such as Sunday closing, laws that try to The revelation I have quoted from also says that the American control private morality or activities between consciously con-Constitution and laws are acceptable to the Lord only as they are senting adults, no matter how perverse, We should be against any"established and.., maintained for the rights and protection of

MAY ).988 PAGE 25 S U N S T O N E all flesh, according to just and holy principles" (D&C 101:77). hold office, and the :infamous Utah Commission, appointed by The principles which are then stated, as Nod Reynolds has pointed Republican President Chester Arthur to enforce that Act, imposed out,’° are precisely what we mean by the rule of law: "That every a religious test oath by requiring that voters and office seekers man may act in doctrine and principl~e pertaining to futurity;, accord- swear they did not practice polygamy and then made that oath ing to the moral agency, which I have given unto him, that every retroactiw_" (both actions directly violate the framers’ express inten- man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judg- tions). In Idaho, mere membership in the Church was used as ment" (D&C 101:78). The framers wanted a system where peo- a religious test to disenfranchise all Mormons, whether polyga- ple could be free to pursue wealth and happiness and personal mous or not! salvation in whatever tbrm they chose and could do so with con- In 1887 the ReF,ublican Congress, angry about Mormon fidence that the laws would apply consistently and equally to all, resistance; moved directly to attack the organization behind the whatever their private goals. practice of polygamy. The Edmundsqhcker Act disincorporated There: would be absolutely no intervention by the whims and the Church, took over most of its properties, disenfranchised all arbitrary commands of rulers that would prevent them making polygamists and all Utah women (MonTnon or not), abolished the moral choices as well as legal contracts with reasonable ability Perpetual Emigrating Fund that subsidized immigration from to predict the future consequences;. Europe, and took over the Mormon-do:minated public school sys- Such a system uniquely guarantees that all persons can be hdd tem. No wonder tha~: James Henry lVloyle, who wimessed this morally :responsible, both before the law where appropriate and period as, a young rnan, could write: that reading the Liberal always before their consciences and God: They are accountable Republican-controlled Salt Lake Tribune for that time demonstrated for their actions and choices since they are free from compul- that "there was no fundamentally American political principle that sion. As Hugh Nibley has written: "-[he best of human laws leaves [the crusaders] would not have sacrificed to achieve their ambi- every :man free to engage in his own pursuit of happiness, without tion and determination to secure the political control of the Utah presuming for a moment to tell him where that happiness lies; Territory :and the destruction of Mormonism .... Not a few of that is the very thing the laws of God can guarantee At best, the them placed no limit on the executive and judicial action which political prize is negativd’~ they would take to secure for the minority control of the majority Mormons have trouble with this. Natural utopians, we tend and to deprive the majority of its most fundamental political to want more from the system than it can give_ Republicans also ts." 12 tend to want to legislate private morality, to use law to make peo- Moyle was an ardent, lifelong Democrat and devout Mormon. ple good, to get them not just to refrain from harming each other Though he eventually served as a mission president for the Church, but be good. Such an effort by Republicans to do God’s work for he suffered much hmniliation under the cloud of anti-Democrat him, to use the power of the state to do what only churches and feeling that strangely developed among Mormons after the parti- other non-coercive social and cultural forces should ever try to tions of 1891. Mormons soon forgot their former evil treatment do, once led the party into one of the most outrageous intrusions at the hands of Republicans, and he was amazed and sorrowful upon human rights in American history, one that ranks with Jim that the Church leadership, in trying to prevent Utah Mormons Crow laws and our internment in concentration camps of U.S. from going overwhelmingly Democrat (which, in a moving pas- citizens of Japanese ancestry during World War II. sage of devotion to his leaders, Moyle says they were right to do), made Utah Mormons ove~’helmingly Republican. He regrets mainly the great confusions and personal tragedies these efforts I mean, of course, the antipolygarny crusade against the Mor- produced, especially those that came to Mormon Democratic mons. That crusade was doubly pernicious in that it not onlyleaders B. t-t. Roberts and Moses Thatcher. He feels deeply the violated the fundamental principle that government should not"great injustice to the Democratic PaW that was perpetuated" in intrude into matters of personal belief and morality, but it let thatthe ingratitude and partisan excesses that followed. He concludes, end ju.sti!~y blatantly unconstitutional, means. Perhaps most repug-in a lesson for Mormons and non-Mormons today, that it is futile nant is fftat it employed two ancient enemies of the rule of lawfor even great men "to be both political and ecclesiastical leaders that the framers explicitly renounced: ex post facto laws, whichat the same time in a ,government where political parties are con- make past actions criminal and thus remove predictability andtrolling and voters dive.de on political lines In.... America politics moral responsibility (see Journal of Discourses 4:39 for Brighamand religion should never be entangled:’’~ Young’s denouncement of this) and bills of attainder (declarations of guilt and punishment of specifically targeted individuals or groups by legislative bodies rather than by fair trail in court).My concern is that religion and politics are beginning to be Led rnainly by Republicans, the government passed, declared entangled again in Mormonism, not among the General Authori- constitutional, and then brutally enforced a series of laws designedties so much as among local leaders and in Mormon popular cul- to coerce Mormons into conformity with Victorian America. Theture It is no longer merely a joke that a good Mormon cannot Morrill Act of 1862 forbade people from "cohabitation" in pluralbe a Democrat, and Mormon Democrats are constantly on the marriage_ The Edmunds Act of 1882 imposed five-year sentences defensive_, seeming to feel a need to apologize for being Democrats. on polygamists and deprived them forever of the right to vote andThe natural reaction feared by Church leaders in 1891 is also occur-

PAGE 26 MAY 1988 S U N S T O N E ring, though now in the opposite direction: Non-Mormons areplete victory and one-paW govemment control. They are rather gravitating to the Democratic Party as the Republican Party in Utahthose who rejoice in the compromise, enlightening debate, checks becomes identified with Mormonism. on natural aggrandizement of power; etc., that the process of inter- One of the most troubling elements of this polarization is theparty conflict makes possible They are like Todd Britsch, Dean growing Mormon tendency to find absolute or at least superior;of Humanities at BYU, who recently said to me, "I do not feel even divine, troth in the Republican Party plaform. At the practi-good when I have power to implement my ideas without argu- cal level our system depends, I believe, on a difficult skill, suitedment and opposition. I’ve leamed that without strong rebuttal and to that quality the framers called "the genius of our peopld’ It isrethinking they are likely not to be very good ideas-and may be the ability to energetically pursue a program or idea in the politi-very bad onesi’ Good Democrats and Republicans are those who cal marketplace and then calmly accept its defeat or modificationrealize that the political process is strongest when the parties are through compromise It is a skill based on the recognition thatnearly equal in strength. If necessary they work, or even change the finest troth or law or program is never the creation of oneaffiliations, to bring that about. person or partisan group but is rather the result of the passionate conflict and combining of ideas and proposals in a democratic context. It is based on the notion articulated by Milton in Areopa~t- Lt me illustrate the danger I feel in Mormon devotion to sup- ica, his great defense of freedom of the press and of expression, posed one-paW truth. In the spring 1987 ran-off dection for BYU which freedom was among the first listed in the Bill of Rights,student body officers, two students who had had some experience right after free exercise of religion, and is perhaps the mostin using negative methods in state political campaigns used such cherished American freedom. Milton’s surprising idea is that vir-methods to defeat a student they found objectionable simply tue and troth are made pure and whole, not by being cloistered because he was a liberal Democrat. The candidate, who had led and protected from exposure to contrary, even "evil" actions andstrongly in the primary and thus was likely to win, had been presi- ideas, but by the opposite: full engagement in a tempting worlddent of Response, a club that sponsors the Peace and Human Rights and a full marketplace of ideas. symposium held at BYU each year. He had participated in an on- Three hundred years after Milton’s essay, Walter Lippmann, writ- campus anti-Contra demonstration, and he had signed a peti- ing in August 1939, just as liberty was under worldwide assaulttion published in the Daily Universe calling for U.S.-Soviet arms at the beginning of World War II, reminded us that our vauntedreduction. ideal of freedom of speech and political opposition is not merely The two students, according to a report in BYU’s independent an abstract virtue or matter of simple neighborly toleration butStudent Review, "were committed to the perpetuation of a conser- an absolute practical necessity: "We must protect the right of ourvative political philosophy at BYU through the perpetuation of opponents to speak because we must hear what they have to politically conservative [studentl leaders:’~ Their campaign con- say..., because freedom of discussion improves our own opin- sisted solely of allegations about the candidate’s financial manage- ionsl’~ He points out that in our system we pay the oppositionment and criticism of his bringing to campus "leftist speakersT’ salaries out of the public treasury, because like a good doctor; who The candidate, and other people m a position to know, responded, tells us things that are unpleasant and may have to be changed,in a Universe artide, with statements such as: Yes, he brought liberal operated on, in our bodies, an opponent can help us be more speakers to campus, but along with conservative and moderate healthy. speakers, as part of the intended and approved function of the Lippmann shows how dictatorships defeat themselves by symposia to educate the BYU community to a range of views, and liquidating or at least terrifying into silence the very voices thatYes, there was an $800 deficit listed on the Response account, would help them avoid or correct their inevitable errors. It is pre- but it was simply an accounting error and had been removed. cisely such opposition and debate, especially concerning such a The two students then printed an illegal but apparently very crucial matter as making war; which our Founding Fathers placedeffective tyro; which quoted only the admissions but not the expla- firmly in an open, contentious body like Congress, because theynations. When asked why they did this they responded that to knew that there, rather than in the patriotic but narrow visionprint the explanations as well would have limited the "rhetorical of a single person like Oliver North or H. R. Haldeman, the best effectiveness" of their flyers)6 These actions were probably the decisions would be made and most effectively changed if theyreason the candidate lost:, and they reveal a profound and dan- needed to be It is there where what Lippmann calls "the indispens-gerous misunderstanding of our political process (as well as Chris- able opposition" most effectively operates and where Reagan, astian morality) by some young Mormons. well as Nixon, should have named to tell and hear the troth, because, as Lippmann concludes: "A good statesman, like aW other sensible human being, always learns more from his opponentsBut lest anyone think that such intolerance and misunderstand- than from his fervent supporters. For his supporters will pushing of our system occurs only at BYU or among conservatives, him to disaster unless his opponents show him where the dangerslet me tell about my alma mater; the University of Utah. Because lid’ the "U" was founded by Mormons and remained predominantly Good Democrats or good Republicans are not those who believe Mormon until well into this century, there was much Church their party has all truth and goodness and who yeam for com- influence, and the increasing non-Mormon faculty at times felt

MAY 1988 PAGE 27 S U ,N S T O N E somewhat beleaguered. In some departments there is probably dents by engaging openly in serious dialogue with them. Then still a Mormon clique that sometimes controls things unfairly. Butthey could act (including legal action) on the assumption that when. I was a student there in the 1950s, I found in all the human-undergirds our Constitution, that all individuals and groups, eth- ities and most of the social science departments an almost com- nic or religious or whatever, are potentially equal in the value of pleted swing to the opposite condition: Nearly all the teacherstheir ideas and feelings and must be accorded equal opportunity were non-Mormons or had left the faith, and I found in manyto work and learn and teach, without ]being impeded by awthing classes and most public occasions a subtle but unmistakable dis- irrelevant to the matter at hand, whether race, sex, or their religion dain for things Mormon. or lack of it. Sometimes the disdain wasn’t so subtle. Naive or pious fresh- man themes and term papers by Mormons were belittled, among the faculty and graduate students m-Ld even directly to the authors. There may be some still not convinced, so let me return to The local culture was openly stereotyped as ignorant, repressive, the other of the two actions by the Constitutional Convention and pre.judiced. A faculty member even seriously asserted at athat I said were so important to my argument that some Utah public forum that it was inconsistent for a Mormon bishop toMormons should become Democrats. Republicans have recently be a university professor because commitment to any particularparticipated in the massive erosion of a central constitutional prin- set of beliefs precluded the necessary scholarly skepticism andciple, the restriction of war-making to Congress, not the president. ob]ectivi.ty. Which left unspoken the interesting question of whatThey need some prin,cipled, even religiously passionate, opposition. professors were to profess-apparently only criticism of religious On August 6, 1787, the Committee on Detail distributed a or conservative beliefs or fostering, of particular liberal politicalprinted draft of the proposed Constitution to the Convention, and moral crusades. And this was usually done under what I which provided, "The legislature of the United States shall have believe is the most dangerous cloak for unexamined beliefs andthe power.., to make war. . . " Pierce Buffer of South Carolina assumptions, the claim and aura of objectivity. suggested that the war power be given to the president, who, he In 1975 I found that things were getting worse. My visits tosaid, "will not make war [except] when the Nation will support the U., and a stint teaching a class in the extension division, rev-iti’ But he was the only delegate, then or ever, to suggest that the ealed that maW professors thought of the University as a small executive branch be given power to initiate war. In fact, the danger island of light in the great darkness of Mormon country. Theirof a too-powerful executive was perhaps the chief concern of the mission was to disabuse the Mormon students of their condi- delegates in forming a strong federal government. "It has been tioned naivete and to belittle their church and culture-if in noobserved that in all countnesi’ one warned, when they were first other way by simply not taking it seriously. Even though 70 per-deciding in May whether to have a one-person or three-person cent of their students were LDS, maW professors and graduateexecutive, "the executive power is in a constant course of assistants seemed to feel no obligation to respond to that reality~ncrease. John Rutledge of South Carolina said, "I am for vest- in their ~:eaching, the way their liberal convictions would have leding the executive power in a single person, though I am not for them to respond in any university with predominantly black orgiving him the power of war and peacd’’s Jewish sl:udents-that is, by leaming about and engaging in respect- In the 6 August 1787 review of the document, Madison moved ful dialogue with the ideas and an: and institutions and peopleto replace "make war" with "declare war" in the provision giving of the local culture Congress that power, qeaving it to the Executive the power to repel One of my revered former professors, in genuine sorrow, admit- sudden attacksT’ And the discussion that followed makes perfectly ted that his department simply would not hire an active Mor-clear that the general concern of the delegates was not thus to mon into a tenure-track position. ~t was extremely hard for me narrow the power of the Legislature but simply to allow the Execu- to bdieve that such blatant prejudice was possible at a modem tive to respond quickly to invasion. George Mason of Virginia, the state un:iversity, but as I looked more closely I could see he was records of the Convention tell us, "was against giving the power right-they hadn’t hired an active Mormon in twenty years (andof war to the Executive, because not [safely] to be trusted with still haw_’n’t twelve years later). I also found that friends had simi-it .... He was for clogging rather than facilitating war; but he was lar experiences with other departments, one even finding that hefor facilitating peacd’’° had been mistaken for a non-Mormon and invited to the separate We have come to a condition, 200 years later, where the presi- non-Mo:crnon party for candidates, where he was being told frankly dent has effectively taken over the power of initiating war, with about t_k~e majority’s anti-Mormon convictions and determinationalmost no opposition from Congress,. Until recently presidents not to hire such an intnnsically handicapped creature. (such as Lincoln in 1861 and Truman m 1950) have initiated hostil- Since awthing a Mormon president or academic vice-president ities with. some assurance that the American people would agree would do about this embarrassing and costly blot on Utal4s remark- and Congress would ratify the action. But this unconstitutional ably fine higher education system would be immediately suspect,encroachment has reached such arrogance that President John- it seems, to me that it is high time for non-Mormon leaders of sta-son intentionally misled the country and Congress in order to ture in the administration and faculty to approach the questioncarry on a war in Vietnam, and President Reagan and his execu- as an educauonal rather than a religious issue They could set thetive branch supporters have continued the war they began in example, showing respect for their Mormon colleagues and stu-Nicaragua by secret and illegal means;, even when polls consist-

PAGE 28 MAY 1988 S U N S T O N E ently showed that a majority of Americans were against it andbasis in intemational law or rational morality-certainly no more Congress had expressly forbidden such actions. than does the Brezhnev Doctrine (in which he claimed the right Congress is far from faultless. For forty years it has abrogated of Russia to support socialist revolutions), which we rightly con- its constitutional and morally sensible responsibility to debate care-demn without seeing that :it exactly parallels the Monroe Doctrine. fully, decide cautiously, and then announce clearly to the world What if Russia were to insist that West Germany, a nation that a declaration of war by this great nation. MaW Congressmen haveis nearer to their borders than Nicaragua is to ours and is, on made this violation of their promise to defend the Constitution,historical evidence, much more a threat to them, must install a it seems, out of a misguided loyalty to their president when hegovernment to their liking and exclude all American weapons? is of their same party. Such partisans fail to understand the basicSuch a demand would lead to World War III. Yet our Mormon constitutional principle of separation of powers, which means thatCongressman have raised no objection to our similar demands to fulfill their oath of office they must oppose improper actionsconceming Nicaragua. They have apparently become more Repub- by the president, especially infringement of the separation oflicans than legislators or Mormons. They seem to be more com- powers, even when he is of their own party. mitted to the obsessive anti-communism of their party, which has The fault is certainly shared quite equally by both parties, justallowed them to endorse violent efforts to overthrow governments as they share about equally the number of imperial presidents,we do not like, than they are to the clear teachings of Mormon beginning with FDR, who have most blatantly and improperlyprophets, which categorically reject such means. The Book of Mor- taken to themselves the war power But right now Republicansmon is perfectly clear on this, generally condemning all violence seem most guilty, which is another reason I think more Mormons,and only justifying as acceptable to God warfare that is purely who have particular reason to respect the Constitution and oppose defensive, warfare that is a measured response to a direct attack wac should be Democrats. on a peoplds own territory and is carried out within its own borders (See Alma 24:17-19; 25:32-33; and 43:45-46). But in case that was not clear enough, David O. McKay, speaking for the First Perhaps Mormon Democrats would have enough independence Presidency, at the beginning of World War II, outlined for modem from loyalty to our Republican president to point out that thisnations the conditions under which such purely defensive war country has not been attacked, in the sense clearly intended byis justified, emphasizing carefully the limitations, especially this the framers in giving some power to presidents to initiate defen-one: "Nor is war justified in an attempt to enforce a new order sive action, since Pearl Harbor. They might ask why, given thisof government.., however better the government.., may bd’2° fact, we have had a series of horribly costly wars. They might The United States directly violated that prophetic principle in be willing to point out that the excuse usually offered for unilateralViemam and Grenada and is now doing so in Angola and presidential action-that in a smaller and more technological worldNicaragua. Yet most Mormon Republicans approve, apparently will- we cannot wait until the enemy is at our shores (which has beening to accept the argument of govemment and party leaders, "We’re used concerning Viemam and Grenada and Nicaragua)- makes for peace in Nicaragua, but you can’t have peace without just as much sense if carried all the way to a first strike on Rus-democracyi’ That is simply a way of saying we will use force to sia. They might suggest the unlikelihood that God would blessmake other governments do what we want them to do and makes and protect a nation that engages in illegal activities and lying.as much sense as a reason for invading Russia or China as for They might be willing to renounce rather than defending suchsupporting the Contras. Such an argument could be used, as ration- actions by functionaries-and even the president-from the branchally and probably more morally, to support intervention in South of government directly charged to execute the law. They mightAfrica for the disenfranchised black majority-or any number of find impeachable offense in presidential condoning of assassina-other places in the world we might want to enforce a govem- tion, preemptive strikes, secret building of permanent bases inment more to our liking But, as our prophets have insisted, the Honduras in violation of law and treaties, and continued, arro- argument is morally wrong and as history has shown, it merely gant disregard of the judgment of the World Court that we shouldleads to perpetuation of violence, not to either peace or freedom. stop interfering in Nicaragua. Mormon Democrats, since our Mormon Republicans will not, might be willing to ask why our government assumes it can useYou can see how important it is for some Utah Mormons to illegal and underhanded means to support the Contras, a group become Democrats: First, it might produce some leaders on the we have essentially created, who are trying to overthrow a legalnational level who could help restore the badly violated separa- govemment which has committed no illegal or even aggressivetion of powers that right now most threatens our Constitution act directly against the United States and with whom we are cer-and our honor as a nation, our economy, and our very lives. tainly in no state of declared war What possible legal or moralSecond, it would produce a vital two-party system in Utah, one right do we have to insist, as we are continuing to do, in waysthat could prevent a destructive Mormon/non-Mormon split and that work against the peace plan recently developed by five cen-lead, through constructive dialogue and compromise rather than tral American nations, that Nicaragua become as democratic as lazy ideology, to much more innovative solutions to our pressing we wish or even that they exclude all Russian strategic weapons?state problems. Third, it might even help us all to leam the basic It simply will not do to cite the Monroe Doctrine, which has nolesson of our Constitution, that virtue and troth are the province

MAY 1988 PAGE 29 S U N S T 0 N E

of no single person or party-in fact, are best found in the process Assembly, 7 October 1986. 10. Noel 13. Reynolds, "The Doctrine of an Inspired Constitution’,’ in "By the Hands qf Wise of cM1 debate, which includes listening because we have to andMen": Essays on the U S. Constil:ution, ed. by Ray Hillam (Provo, Utah: , even want to, adjustment, compromise, and then honest and 1979). pp. 1-28. 11. Quoted in Reynolds, p. 15. honorable acceptance of the results until new ones are created 12 James Henry Moyle~ Mormon Democrat, The Reli,~ous and Political Memoirs, ed. by Gene in the process. We would oppose, e~en by those in our own party, A. Sessions (Salt Lake City, Utah: LDS Church Historical Department, 1975), pp. 185-86. 13. Moyle p. 209. illegal, covert means to undermine such things as the Congress- 14 Walter Lippmann, ~The Indispensable Opposition; The Atlantic Monthl£ August 1939, p. 221 ional decision to stop aid to the Contras, means that are used 15. James Cromar, "When One Man Made a Differencei’ Student Review 2, 13 (May 1987): 1 16. Cromar, p. 16. simply because we think they know better what’s good for our 17. Peters, p. 57. country than the vote of our elected representatives. 18. Peters, p 47. 19. Quoted in Edward B. Fimaage and Francis D. Wom~uth, To Chain the Dogs of War (Dallas: But, :some readers, perhaps all, are thinking your argumentSouthern Methodist UP, 1986), p. 18. This book, co-authored by a prominent Mormon professor leads to the conclusion that not only should some Mormons inof law at the University, of Utah, Edward Eirmage~ is the best history of the gradual abrogation by Congress of its Constitutional war making power and critical review of the consequences. Utah (and presumably in California’s Orange County and Southern 20 David O. McKay, One Hund~’ed and Twelfth Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Chrisl Idaho, etc.) become Democrats, but :some Mormons in Democratic oJ Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1942), p. 72. strongholds like Massachusetts and Chicago should become Repub- licans. "[hat not only should qualified Mormons be hired in the humanities and social sciences at the University of Utah but a non-Mormon president should be appointed there for the first time--and more non-Mormons hired at BYU. That Mormons should be invited to speak and teach about Mormon literature and culture and even theology at the: U. and non-Mormons invited to speak and teach about challenging, even controversial "non- Mormon" subjects at the Y That not only should Congress rise up and reclaim its Constitutional powers over war-making but that we :should renounce all military interference in other govem- ment2~ and lands, even at the risk of communist subversion there. That we should not only switch proxies easily to help keep things balanced and the dialogue vital but work against the passage of laws about what are dearly private actions, even Sunday dosing laws and imposed school prayer. Are you saying that we should be less certain about the truth and virtue of our political posi- CALL FOR PAPERS tions, more willing to listen to opponents and change our minds, more passionate about the process of give and take in the develop- ment of new troths and better virtue than about which side we’re on? Are you saying that both religious partisanship and anti- religious partisanship are extremely dangerous forces when mixed with politics or education? And m’e you even saying that what you have said in this essay, despite your very best efforts to speak the truth, is surely a little and might be a lot wrong that it ought 1989 to be argued with and modified? Yes, you’ve got it. That’s exactly what I’m saying DOCTRINE & COVENANTS LECTURE SERIES NOTES

1. J.D. Williams, "Separation of Church and State in Mormon Theory and Practice:Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 1, 2 (Summer 1966): 37. See also, concerning this period, Thomas G. Ale>aander, Mormonism in Transition, A History of the Latter-day Saints, 1890-1930 (Urbana: U of Illinois Press, 1986); Gustive O. Larson, The "Americanization" of Utahfor Statehood (San Manno, California: ]-he Huntington Library, 1971); and Edward Leo Lyman, Political Deliverance: The Mor- mon Quest for Utah Statehood (Urbana: U. of Illinolts Press, 1986). 2. Ibid PROGRAM CHAIR 3. First Presidency to Joseph W Young, 29 May 1891, Historical Department Archives, Church of Jesus; Chnst of Latter-day Saints. DAN MARYON 4. Quoted in William Peters. A More Perfect Unio:q (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc.: 1987), p. 1. 5. Quoted by Peters, p. 63. 6. See Daniel Bell, "The End of American Exceptionalismi’ in The Winding Passage, Essays and Sociological Journeys, 1960-80 (New York, Basic Books, Inc., 1980), especially pp. 264-271. SUNSTONE FOUNDATION 7. Quoted in Peters, p. 160. 8. Bl~igham Young, Jr, address given 22 June 1884, Journal of Discourses (Liverpool, England: 801/355-5926 E D. Richards, 1854-86). vol. 25, p 191. 9. Daniel Bell. "The Principles of Pluralism and Tolerationi’ Brigham Young University Forum

PAGE 30 MAY 1988 BETWEEN THE LINES too," but rather "if you’re righteous, you get to be white and delightsome instead of dark and loathsome." Skin color, then, serves as a mark of difference, a way for the "chosen" people to CULTURAL DOGMAS define and recognize their position in a world of "opposition" in all things. In the absence of Canaanites, Philistines, Babylonians, and other VS. UNIVERSAL TRUTHS "idol worshipping" races by which to measure their favored position with God, the Book of Mormon Jews must create such distinctions By Dorice Williams Elliott from within their own cultural group. This process of projecting difference outward, says historian Dominick LaCapra, is a way to A RECENT GOSPEL Doctrine Sunday writing, and reading work, 1 know that it is repress its inwardness. Such a scapegoating School class raised again an issue that has often impossible for any mortal to speak, write, or mechanism, says LaCapra, "is a short-cut to troubled me. The lesson dealt with 2 Nephi 5, even quote someone else’s words (including solidarity that projects all undesirable ’alterity’ where the Lamanites are cursed with a dark God’s) outside of a context which unavoidably or otherness onto the clear and distinct, sepa- skin ’~that they might not be enticing unto includes both his or her own background and rate ’other,: thereby providing a sense of purity [God’s] people" (verse 21). I sat there nervously the frameworks for understanding provided by or innocence for the in-group."l In other while the teacher tried valiantly (and somewhat culture. When a scripture or other statement words, projecting evil onto an enemy or an unconvincingly) to make a case for reading this conflicts with or directly contradicts what my oppressed group is a way to repress one’s own and similar Book of Mormon passages symboli- conscience and other scripture or modern frightening tendencies and temptations to evil cally. I noticed the pained looks on the lowered prophecy tells me, I begin by asking if cultural and to reassure oneself of one’s worthiness. The faces of several black members, and cringed as differences could account for such discrepan- "curse" of dark skin seems to function primarily a couple of older white members raised their cies. as a prohibition against intermarriage, which hands to expound on various justifications for It is difficult to say much about Book of would, of course, blur all visible distinctions what amount to overt racial prejudice. And I Mormon culture since the record is primarily a between chosen and not-chosen, and would asked myself again, how do you deal with a history of the Church, various hero figures, and create unbearable tensions for people insecure book that is blatantly racist and sexist but a series of wars. Like most traditional histories, about their own identity as God’s chosen. which we have also been repeatedly told is "the it gives little information about the everyday life But the fact that so much is made of the truest book ever written"? of the peoples it chronicles, especially in the Lamanites and their dark skin-and that the For someone like me, who believes that cultural activities usually considered part of the possibility of the "curse" being eliminated is so racism and sexism are morally wrong and "feminine" or "domestic" sphere. The very often raised (the Ammonites, the utopian unacceptable to God, the only way to reconcile uniqueness of the Book of Mormon makes it period after Christ’s ministry, etc.)-indicates such passages from the Book of Mormon is to impossible to glean any such information from that such racial animosity was a site of contest- conclude that, amid a great deal of bedrock other sources: there are no other records (like ation. The dark skin of the Lamanites is always truth about the eternal plan of salvation and Josephus’s, for example), no parallel mytho- termed a "curse", with the stipulation that it can Christ’s mission on earth, some deep-seated logies, no histories of neighboring cultures to be removed on condition of being righteous, or, cultural dogmas have also slipped in. Such compare it with. And there are certainly no in secular terms, conforming to the rules of the cultural dogmas may come either from the diaries, personal narratives, letters, bills or more privileged group. The Nephites send mis- Nephite culture of the Book of Mormon proph- account books, or any other "personal" histori- sionaries to the Lamanites at various periods, ets, or from the nineteenth-century American cal evidence from which to construct a social and there are examples, such as Samuel, of culture of Joseph Smith the translator, since history. Even the archaeological evidence is righteous Lamanites. Thus the racial animosity every translation, however accurate or even controversial, to say the least. Few, if any, Mor- of the Book of Mormon is tempered, and one inspired, is also always a rewriting, an act of mon historians or anthropologists have been could read that as a sign that the mark of interpretation and commentary which is fil- willing to make guesses based on the various difference is not so much God’s "curse" as a tered through the world view of a translator. I Indians in North and South America, although psychological weakness of the Nephites which realize that it would be quite presumptuous for some feel that these tribes are direct descend- must be overcome in order for them to be true me to claim the authority to decide which parts ants, but their culture is degenerate and apos- Christians: of the Book of Mormon or even the Bible tate. And it came to pass in the thirty and (whose status as a "correctly translated" book is From what is said in the Book of Mormon, sixth year, the people were all converted far less assured in Mormon theology) are eter- however, we can draw a few conclusions about unto the Lord, upon all the face of the nally true and which bear traces of merely the Nephite culture. The text makes plain the land, both Nephites and Lamanites, and cultural attitudes and prejudices. But knowing cultural fact of virulent racial animosity based there were no contentions and what I do about the ways in which language, on skin color. Even when the "curse" is over- disputations among them, and every come by selected righteous Lamanites, it is man did deal justly one with another. DORICE WILLIAMS ELLIOTT is a Ph.D. Candi- overcome through assimilation into the privi- And they had all things common among date in English literature at Johns Hopkins leged white culture, not through any revaluing them; therefore there were not rich and University with an emphasis in narrative litera- of the dark skinned. The promise held out is poor, bond and free, but they were all tu re. not "black [or brown, in this case] is beautiful, made free, and partakers of the heavenly

MAY 1988 PAGE 31 gift . . . course, that none of these basic cultural atti- himself have in the "curse" of dark skin? Was -[here were no robbers, nor murderers, tudes went unchallenged. There were organ- it a natural p~gmentation reaction that the neither were there any Lamanites, nor ized movements for women’s suffrage and abo- Nephites naturalized by calling it an act of God any manner of-ites; but they were in lition of slavery, and at least some published (another of those explanations one often hears one, the children of Christ, and heirs to protest against the inhuman and unjust treat- in Gospel Doctrine classes)? Was it a temporary the kingdom of God (4- Nephi ment of Indians. Moreover, the w:ry fact that measure that God himself employed in order to 1:2-3,17). women, blacks, and Indians (to name only preserve a righteous people but which He Clearly, God’s ideal society is not racist, and, three of the largest and most visible oppressed expected them to move beyond as they later did in fact, what is notable about 4 Nephi is the groups) were vociferously and even scientifi- in q Nephi? Did God even use the word breakdown of oppositional distinctions cally denounced as inferior to white male "curse", or did the Nephite prophets, or did between people. Opposition in all things, this Christians is a sign that this dominant group Joseph Smith? If women are equal in the sight suggests, may be a worldly principle. felt threatened. In these post Enlightenment of God, why would he allow a book of scripture However, in the utopian breakdown of dif- years the "naturalness" of white male suprem- to virtually ignore their existence? I see no way ferences in q- Nephi, however, any mention of acy in Western culture was no longer quite so to arrive at any definitive answers. And, as I sexual equality-or any mention of women at obvious as it may have been in previous genera- said earlier, I am certainly not going to set all, for that matter-is notable for its absence. tions. Historian Chantal Mouffe suggests, for myself up as a judge of which parts of scripture What we know about women’s lives from the instance, that what makes racism and sexism are cultural dogmas and which are universal Book of Mormon is sketchy in the extreme. We visible is the elimination of other forms of truths. What I am offering here instead is a can assume that Book of Mormon women were hierarchy and subordination. In other words, suggestion-a general approach to reading and not a part of the power structure of state or in a land where all men had recently been thinking about inspired texts which are none- church (one Lamanite queen reigning with her declared "created equal," it was inevitable-and theless inextricably rooted in unfamiliar cul- husband is admitted to the record, but no also terrifying- that questioning about equality tures. What I want to point out is simply that Nephite women after ). In one o1: the rare in other domains would follow. attitudes and practices that seem so "natural" as passages where women are mentioned-the This kind of ambivalence about ~:he "natural- to be self-evident and unquestionable in some story of the Sons of Helaman-they were cred- ness" of racism and sexism is reflected in cultures are not necessarily universal and ited wi~h (what else?) righteous mothering Joseph SmitNs own writings and the practices unchanging, ew:n when they are canonized as Wherea:s the racial curse on the Lamanites is he instituted in the Church. He opposed slav- an integral part of the "truest book ever writ- worried over frequently, the absence of women ery, for instance, while denying blacks the ten." In the desire to claim "only trueness" for in the Book of Mormon is not questioned or Priesthood. Women were allowed to participate the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, even commented upon by the book’s writers; in the sacred temple endowment, but were many Mormons actually have the habit of they seem to feel the absence is so perfectly there put under covenant to obey their hus- metacnorphosing many such culturally specific natural that it needs no comment. Thus the bands and denied unmediated access to God. practices, values, and attitudes into universal very ab:sence of references to women in the Indians were actively proselyted, but none truths. In the attempt to preach the gospel of Book of Mormon is the most telling evidence of became important or powerful fig, ures in the Christ to all the: world, we also tend to spread deep cultural bias against women appearing in Church organization. our culture over all time and all places-both any public role or in any capacity besides that What Joseph Smith began, however, has the historical past and the worldwide present. of wife and mother. Only one woman, Abish, is been carried further by twentieth-century LDS But the fact that many practices described in even noted for her religious faith; Sariah prophets. Most obviously, black men can now scripture-blood sacrifice, dietary laws, and appears as an Eve-like example of woman’s hold the Priesthood. We now haw_" one Indian priesthood exclusions, to name only a few of weakness. While we know virtually nothing . There have even been some the most obvious-have been questioned and about what women were doing in Book of modest institutional changes in the role of overturned by later prophets proves that just Mormon culture or how they were treated, we women in the Church: they may now pray in because something is in scripture doesn’t mean can nonetheless read their absence as a sign meetings, speak (occasionally and briefly) in it is universally true and applicable to all. In that sexual equality was so far from a reality General Conference, and hold :~ome token fact, perhaps in each age people struggle with that it was not even raised as an issue-or if it power positions (the BYU Board of Trustees, for issues which were not even recognizable as was an issue, it was so threatening as to be instance). While such changes in the position problems to other ages. Fortunately for us (at entirely repressed in the text. What many today of women in the Church are far from sweeping, least in my view), we live in a culture where would call rampant sexism is seen in the Book they do indicate a gradual erosion of sexist racial and sexual prejudices are not so deeply of Mormon as entirely "natural." attitudes toward women which once went entrenched that they seem "natural" and con> The nineteenth-century Americart culture almost unquestioned. pletely reasonable. With the help of God and of from which Joseph Smith translates is much The questions of racial and sexual prejudice our own prophets, perhaps we can learn to more: accessible. Of course traditional history in the Book of Mormon, our oxvn contemporary eliminate in our age evils as repulsive and books from and about that period would-like Mormon culture, or, for that matter, any cul- reprehensible as idolatry was in another, and the Book of Mormon--feature primarily white ture, continue to trouble and perplex all sensi- come even closer to the kind of eternal relation- male: figures performing in events of ,.state, reli- tive readers who find such attitudes and prac- ships with other mortals and with God that we gion, and war, as well as a racial prqudice so tices un-Godlike and morally questionable. came here to learn. extreme that slavery of blacks and extermin- Although I, like so many others, have given a ation of Indians were both widely accepted great deal of thought to these issues, I can’t NOTE social practices. But contrary to these tradi- claim to have solved the problem or to have 1. Dominick LaCapra, "Ideology and Critique in Dick-. tional historical narratives, we also know, of answered all the questions. What part did God ens’s Bleak House," Representations 6 (1984), p. 121.

PAGE 32 MAY 1988 Cooked, he pointed to the connection between LIGHTER MINDS food categories and parallel realms of culture and nature, showing the linguistic rdationships of cooking metaphors with processes of sociali- zation.2 Explaining the "culinary triangle" pro- TOWARD A MORMON CUISINE posed by Levi-Strauss, Edmund Leach agreed that food is an especially appropriate "media- tor," tbr eating establishes "a direct identity A LIGHT-HEARTED ENQUIRY INTO between ourselves and our food~’ Cooking universally becomes a means of transforming THE CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE OF FOOD nature into culture.3 In another context, Louis Dumont has shown how food is inherently connected to and defines a complex array of social relation- By James M. Hill and Richard L. Popp ships? The anthropologist Mary Douglas has also noted that a meal can be treated as a cod< which contains messages about the degrees of hierarchy, inclusion and exclusion, boundaries "THOU SHALT EAT, and transactions across boundaries. "Like sex~’ she says, "the taking of food has a social com- BUT NOT BE SATISFIED" ponent, as well as a biological onel’5 Discussing the eating patterns of the ancient MICAH 6:14 Israelites, Douglas shows that the orthodox meal can be: interpreted as a poem, and that dietary rules celebrate themes that have been ’’celebrated in the temple cult and the whole history of IsraeF’ "The rules of the menu are not in themselves more or less trivial than the SUCH TIME AND thought have been context, food does have its creative aspects, and rules of verse to which a poet submits?6 given to discussing the proper relationship more importantly, reflects larger cultural pat- Food is present in many of the crucial between Mormonism and the arts. Is there such tems and attitudes. scenes in the unfolding plan of salvation, from a thing as Mormon art? Should there be Mor- Mormon writers and artists sometimes use the Garden of Eden to the Last Supper. Scrip- mon art? Do Mormon art, literature, and music canned peaches or loaves of bread to symbo- tural references to food range from the sym- reflect distinctive characteristics of the Mormon lize deeper Mormon values and social struc- bolism of the fruit of the tree of life, to the meals way of life? Should Mormon artists strive to cre- tures, but rarely go beyond the superficial miraculously provided for the prophet Elijah, ate forms that are uniquely Mormon, or should images. Other students and critics of Mormon to Christ’s parables which often use food they work for excellence in established modes? culture smugly poke fun at lime sherbet punch imagery to make his concepts understandable One of the problems with many of these and jello salads, but do not stop to think about to the widest possible audience. The implicit discussions is that they rarely touch on issues the profound social and religious implications analogies between dietary laws and holiness that are relevant for the Church membership that food takes on in particular contexts. We found in the Pentateuch are made explicit in as a whole. Painting, sculpture, fiction, poetry, hope through this presentation to show that the New Testament, where, in the body and drama, and dance, while they may have legiti- fundamental issues are involved that cannot blood of Christ, "the meal and the sacrificial mate places in Mormon culture, remain largely afford to be neglected any longer by those who victim, the table and the altar, are made-to peripheral to the daily lives of most Mormons. claim to be concerned about the direction the stand for one another.’r However, no Mormon can go without food. Church and its people are heading. Do Mor- Though not usually considered in this sort of mons take their potential for godhood seriously Certainly Mormons understand the when eating main dishes made from canned importance of food in social gatherings; a ward .]AMES M. HILL, a pioneer o[ the potato-based cream of mushroom soup or desserts made social must have a potluck dinner o~; at the very revolution, is a founding member of the Orange with marshmallow creme? Will their children least, punch and cookies. Meals have an Chiffon Pie Coalition, a lunch dub compiling leam correct principles if they are fed on chili undisputed place in such ntes of passage as a review of tacky restaurants in San Francisco, mac and gelatin products? Is a gift of tuna cas- weddings and funerals, and are the climax of to be entided High Diving on a Low Budget. serole the ultimate expression of compassion- family gatherings ranging from weekly home RICHARD L. POPP enjoys explonng ethnic ate service?~ Can Mormons remain unspotted evenings to large annual reunions. In a church storefront restaurants, dabbles in Thai cook- from the world when Relief Society cookbooks where family is so important and liturgical ing, and is researching the impact of Ame~- are filled with recipes for "Tater Tot Surprise" ritual relatively scarce, the dinner table may can canned milk imports on the economy of and "Instant Pumpkin Pie?" become the focal point of ritual in the home. the Chao Phraya Pdver Basin in the ]gth The importance of food in the study of cul- We take blessings on the food for granted century ture and myths was established by Claude because they are often mechanical and repeti- This paper was presented at the ]985 Levi-Strauss, the founder of structuralist anthro- tious, but still a meal is not sanctified until Washington Sunstone Symposium. pology. In his seminal work, The Raw and the everyone stops and an invocation is voiced.

MAY 1988 PAGE 33 Snac]~, take-out food, even sumptuous restaur- Britain was a land of one sauce and forty-two As Paul Fussell notes in his book Class: ant fare cannot attain the status of macaroni religions.~ Is Utah a land of one religion, hold The middle-class fear of ideology we and cheese which has been tersely blessed by the sauce? noticed in their home decor has its counter- a barely articulate two-year-old. Relief Society cookbooks serve several part in their flight from sharp flavors in food. In an urban and industrialized society essential functions to disseminate basic infor- This is where meals are fashioned out of the where the production of food is separated by mation about cooking, to share ideas among bland and the soft ;and the blah, and where multiple steps from its consumption, the members, and to honor and reward those who the very mention of garlic causes the eyeballs Church welfare program takes on increasing have created or collected good recipes. While to roll back. Even onions are used sparingly, significance in making people aware of the much is undeniably accomplished by these and canned fruits (or fruit cocktail) are important role of food in God’s plan. Church publications, they reflect not only the best but preferred to the: real thing both because they farms and canneries provide opportunities for also the worst of trends in Mormon food. The are sweeter and because they are more taste- members to experience growing, tending, and list of ingredients for "Magic Cookie Bars" is a less .... Soon there will be a whole genera- processing food together for the good of the case in point: tion, sprung f:rom middle-class loins and community of Saints. While some see these 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs feeding largely out of freezers, which will projects as an inefficient use of time and 1 cup chopped nuts assume that "fish" is white mushy stuff, very, resources, the stress on the commodities them- 6 ounces (1 small package) chocolate chips like bread.. selves over monetary value may alleviate some 1 1/3 cups flaked coconut of the alienation that results from a money 1 can sweetened condensed milk~° Mormons; who do seek to create a "style economy. Nearly every item has been preprocessed of their own" often get caught in the trap of Tihe importance of food to the divine plan before even being purchased. Most are purely didacticism. A good case in point is the whole is obvious; the kinds of food we eat, and the commercial products, simply recombined to wheat and honey movement, which produced way they are presented, influence and reflect make something that is supposed to be "home- some solid works and showed promise of ° our attitudes about life in this world and in the made" We do not deW that ~Magic Cookie Bars becoming a cuisine which could flow natur- world to come. But despite the large part that are probably quite tasty. But this recipe indi- ally out of Church programs and Christian food plays in our lives, it has been sadly cates a complete lack of respect for food and teachings. Industrious Mormons not only neglected in gospel discussions. Beyond super- its origin, that is, as a product of nature, a gift revived old recipes t~’om their pioneer forebears ficial aspects covered in talks on the Word of from God. but developed breads which capitalized on Wisctom or fasting, its role is often completely modem advances in kitchen technology such ignored With little guidance or support from as new types of wheat grinders. Faced with While the authors recall fondly many Church councils, even cooks who are sincerely 50-gallon cans of the stuff in the basement, and memories of quality food both at home and concerned about quality food are easily led not content to rest with old standbys like wheat at church gatherings, still we feel that Mormons astray. Lack of direction leads some to search mush or using it as a "stretcher" TVP-style, Mor- as a group have become lazy and complacent for the perfect casserole or the complete ooey- mon cooks devised recipes and new forms of about tlcteir food. One would have expected the gooey ba~ rather than face the ambiguities and food which took advantage of wheat’s innate dialectic between gospel principles and cuisine contrasts that are necessary to a great meal. characteristics. to produce a great flowering, but it si~nply has Others expend their efforts on creating "new" Whole wheat and honey cuisine was bold, not happened. This is not a question of prepar- dishes such as "taco saladi’ refusing to confront imaginative, and original. At the same time, it ing exotic or fancy dishes that use expensive larger culinary issues. They are left: vulnerable took Mormons back to their pioneer roots and ingredients and require large amounts of time. to the changing winds of fashion which dic- tied them into Biblical traditions as well. The Obviously the worldly standards of food are tate bean sprouts one year, nachos the next. new foods exemplified simplicity, purity, and often, in. direct contradiction to the Mormon Forced to rely on books written by non- health. And they confirmed once and for all belief tlc~at food should be prepared with "sin- Mormons if they wish to use fresh ingredients, the divine origin of the food storage program- gleness of heart" (D&C 59:13), an attitude that they may also start cooking with wine. They yes, whole wheat could be eaten. Although chef James Beard expressed when he said, "I may be tempted into the narcissistic excesses somewhat limited by the constraints of texture approach a plain baked potato reverently. of "nouvelle cuisind’ eating food for food’s sake, and flavor, there were strong signs that a cui- Maybe ii’ve been missing the truth-the nutty, instead of catching the higher vision of food sine was developing that could embody basic delicate earthiness of a perfect baked, potatol’s as an avenue for magnifying our talents and Mormon values and bring people closer to Instead, there seems to be a great tendency to glorifying God. Although Mormons have God. opt for the convenient, the quick, the mass- mounted defensives against secularization in Unfortunately the movement got carried marketed. Relief Society cookbooks become other aspects of their lives, the complete neglect away. Fanatics began to construct entire diets free advertising for certain brands of whipped of their food allows the standards of the world from nothing but whole wheat, honey, and topping> and processed cereals. Instead of to encroach into the very heart of their homes dried milk. They narrowed their vision to dis- using their individual skills to create fresh com- and churches. allow anything else, teaching that all foods binations of flavors, textures, and colors in their Perhaps the problems with Mormon cui- which could not be stored safely for a mini- meals, lvlormons tacitly accept the easy solu- sine follow from our blind acceptance of mum of two years were sinful. This eventually tions offered in Reader’s Digest inserts paid for American middle-class values and the pre- led to absurdities such as whole wheat cake by corporations whose only goal i.s higher packaged, franchised products of[ered by our (which is tasty but definitely not cake), and profits. host culture Our food might only represent the complete perversions such as "gluten steaks~’ Voltaire once said that France was a land deplorable state of American cuisine in Much contention resulted as the moderates of forty-two sauces and one religion, whereas general.~ who had only recently been converted to

PAGF. 34 MAY 1988 whole wheat were now being accused of lack cuisine, if it is to remain in touch with the NOTES of faith if they ever indulged in bleached flour expanding church, must be able to accommo- date the needs of the world church, without 1. See Lori Boyer, "Compassionate Service with or without or refined sugar. the Casserole2 Ensgn 15(January 1985):68-70. An example from a recently compiled cook- losing its pioneer heritage. This is a great 2. Claude 12vi-Strauss, The Raw and the Cooked (New York: book describes another common problem challenge, which will require the best efforts of Harper & Row, 1969). 3. See chapter 2, "Oysters, Smoked Salmon, and Stilton among Mormonslzeal without knowledge. A our cooks and the constant encouragement of Cheese2 in Edmund Leach, Claude L"evi-Strauss, rev. ed. (Lon- graduate student in one ward experimented for all those who enjoy fine food and the spiritual don: Fontana, 1974). years and finally came up with what he thought edification that should accompany its con- 4. Louis Dumont, Homo Hierarchicus (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970), pp. 137-151. was the perfect chocolate chip cookie Loyal- sumption. 5. Mary Douglas, "Deciphering a Meal~’ in Myth Symbol and ties in the ward divided, howevm; between his The subject of a Mormon food aesthetic Culture, ed. Clifford Geertz (New York: WTW. Norton & Com- new invention and the time-tested version of cannot be fully treated here. Clearly there is a pany, 1971), pp. 61-81. For a comprehensive introductory sur- vey o[ food and its social, cultural, and religious contexts, see a mother of three from a long line of Utah need for further study and discussion, as well Miriam W. Lowenberg et al., Food & Man (New York: John Wiley homemakers. The strife was ended only when as serious research by our best gourmands. The & Sons, 1968), esp. chapter 4, "Food Habits and Foodway<’ pp. 85-124, and chapter 5, "Food, blan, and Religion’,’ pp. the two cooks agreed to divulge their recipes problem of developing a Mormon cuisine fully 125-158. for the new Relief Society cookbook. It was consonant with gospel principle and ideals 6. Douglas, pp. 77, 80. found that not only were they identical, but goes beyond avoiding the tacky and the trendy. 7. Ibid., pp. 75-76. 8. James Beard, The New James Beard (New York: Alfred they differed only slightly from the recipe on Only when we can approach each meal A Knopf, 1981), p. ix. the back of the chocolate chip package Because sacramentally, as an offering of our best fruits 9. Irma S. Rombauer and Marion R. Becket The Joy of Cook- and talents, in thankfulness for the gifts of ing, rev. ed. (New York: Bobbs-Mernll Company, 1975), p. 336. of their ignorance of textual traditions, both 10. Chartell Reilly, comp., 74th Ward Relief Society Cookbook, cooks wasted their considerable talents "rein- nature, can we hope to see a blossoming of n.p., nd. venting the wheel" when they could have been truly great Mormon food. We look forward to 11. See Waverley Root and Richard de Rochement, Eating the day when, as Brigham Young was once in America: A History (New York: William Morrow and Com- expanding their horizons and enriching their pany, 1976). fellow ward members with new creations.’3 quoted as saying, "we will have James Beards 12. Paul Fussell, Class (New York: Ballantine Books, 1983), We commend those who have committed and Julia Childs of our ownS’ p115. 13. Thymes and Seasonings: Favorite Recipes of the Hyde Park themselves to learning refining, and passing on Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Chicago, the art of preparing such classic foods as ca. 1982), pp. 103-105. canned peaches and whole wheat bread. These are fine examples of foods which, while not uniquely Mormon, embrace the whole of Mor- mon principle and tradition. Another good example is chocolate, which is fully a part of Mormon folkways although not yet accepted theologically. A tolerable but somewhat suspect replacement for the prohibited items in the , it is for some too closely associated with worldly desire But to Mormons who are denied alcohol, caffeine, and pleasur- able sex, chocolate may come to represent the totality of happiness achievable in the temporal’ world. Although their worthiness is never spe- cifically questioned in temple recommend interviews, Mormon chocolate-lovers feel con- siderable anxiety over the proper role of choco- late in their lives. Taught from childhood that those who are addicted to tobacco and other worldly pleasures will suffer etemal torment by not being able to satisfy their cravings, they wonder if chocolate will also be absent from the mansions prepared for them above. The ambivalence on the part of the Church toward this important issue causes unnecessary guilt and pain. So far we have not touched on the ques- tion that looms large for the future: can we develop a cuisine which is uniquely Mormon, which magnifies the best traditions and talents of the members of the western United States, which can also incorporate the diverse cultures Wendell wondered what he would do about his Sunday School Lesson, and foods of Saints in other lands? Mormon as he discovered money can buy happiness.

MAY 1988 PAGE 35 REVIEWS ing is his account of his conversion to the Book of Mormon); Islam; Shakespeare; children’s literature (including a passage on the difference between the worth of fairy tales and that of folk AN ABUNDANCE tales); the morality of language.., these are only a few of the topics he introduces and OF OPINIONS illuminates by what he perceives to be the light of the gospel. Alternately working inside the system-ie., the Church, Brigham Young University, and THE ABUNDANCE OF THE HEART America-and then outside, King brings a fresh viewpoint which is stimulating and ofttimes combative. The variety of subjects, and his By ARTHUR HENRY KING insights into each, constantly keeps one off balance. These are not topics traditionally con- Bookcraft, 1986, 286 pp. $10.95 sidered in church gatherings, formal or informal-in rnost cases they represent a genuine departure from conventional talking points upon which we have decided our stance (rationale for defending that stance) long ago. These are fresh questions, new ideas that could provoke meaningful discussions in any group. Many of them raise important questions that Reviewed by Arthur R. Bassett merit attention; few are insignificant. Central to most of King’s writing, however, is the deeper question of the relationship between Mormonism and traditional Ameri- can values and practices. It is a problem he SUMMER IS MY SEASON for casual nately. It is a provocative book, pregnant with raises throughout. One of the major difficult- reading--so when the winter semester ended, controversial issues. Each page engages the ies for many American Mormons, according to I decided that it was time to fulfill a long- reader with a new argument. It would be an King, lies in their inability to draw lines of overdue commitment I made to SUNSTONE excellent book for study groups to read and demarcation between a universal principle of to review Arthur Henry King’s book, The Abun- discuss. the gospel (good for all people at all times), and dance oJ-the Heart. The Abundance of the Heart is a collection a specifically American adaptation of a gospel Actually, it was my second time through the of essays with no unifying theme ~hroughout. principle. As an outsider to the current Ameri- book since I needed to refresh my mind regard- In one way that is its major strength. One of can system-both in terms of place and time ing particulars. There are few church books that the most fascinating aspects of the book is the (this book is often reminiscent of Victorian I would give the time for a second reading (and abundance of issues King raises from his heart: England~ especially the ideas of John Ruskin)- I probably would not have reread this, except every, thing from dating practices to child-rearing King continually challenges many cherished for my previous commitment). As it turned out, (with interesting asides on American wedding practices close to the heart of traditional Amen- I was glad that I did, because some o:F my ini- receptions); from the utopian university to stu- can Mormonism. tial impressions were tempered this time dent life at BYU (and the two are definitely not Therein lies both the strength and the weak- through. synonymous in King’s view); aesthetics and the ness of the volume, including one of the most Brother King’s book is not the stereotypi- function of art; class structure in England and ilTitating ironies; in King’s book: its tone. He cal church book; it deserves far more consider- in Mormon Salt Lake City’, the problems of a spends much space and effort throughout the ation than most. However, I have been mildly democratic system and of patriotism; foreign volume condemning the class structure in puzzled by the majority of the reviews of the service missionaries; American teens; the England-a nightmare from his early life that book that have appeared to this point-most arrogance of shyness; proper physical posture still seems to haunt him. Unfortunately, it often of which have contained primarily glowing for those who would be sons of God; death appears as if he is trying to cast off this incu- reports, filled with accolades and bordering on (and the absence of it in our lives); love (with bus by reversing his status in Mormon society adulation, written primarily by friends and interesting views on the physical aspects of in America (the, ugh I am certain he would be admiring disciples. In the course of my read- human relationships); tradition and genealogy; the first to deny this). ing I often found myself wanting to differ vio- journal writing; the function of history in every His constant name dropping and references lently with them. The Abundance of the Heart person’s life; sincerity and rhetoric; speed read- to his vast readings and experiences both in is not a book to be readily dismissed with high ing; reading aloud; Joseph Smith’s writing style the literary world and in the educational realm praise. I wanted to condemn it as much as to (a major feature in King’s own conversion); (King was an administrator in charge of Brit- praise it-and found myself doing both alter- music (the kind we should listen to and the ish cultural and educational work overseas), kind the ought to sing); tele- could easily be: mistaken for an attempt to ARTHUR R. BASSETT is a professor of human- vision; mathematics; the atonement; interior impress his Church reading audience. Though ities at Brigham Young University: decoration; his conversion (especially interest- methinks he doth protest too much that he is

PAGE 36 MAY 1988 not talking as a highbrow, an elitist aura plagues make American Mormons more aware of the "One of the worst things that a rhetorician much of the work, a perceived tone of problems inherent in carrying the gospel into does is to manipulate himself’; "Humor is arrogance throughout (he admits that he is sure all the world, and cause us to think more care- deeply enshrined in religion; it is one of those he "was a little snob~’ and that he "must have fully about the roots of some of our biases- to things that distinguish the believer from the been a prig"-I suspect that many will come separate where possible the difference between hypocrite"; "The ways of salvation are not the away from the book mistakenly feeling that he generic Mormon culture per se and American- ways of persuasion, but the ways of conviction"; still is). "Buff as he himself notes, "don’t think isms. That is why I highly recommend the "If setting g~als does nothing else, it will tend that snobbery is necessarily a bad thing if it book for study groups. to occlude the Holy Ghost~; ~Reason is the serv- enables one to dress better, to think better, to Some of his ideas I found fascinating-such ant of faith and not the master"; ’Art is the read better; there is something in it?’ as the idea of encouraging returned mission- example of beyondness"; "The devil’s world is That is one of my reasons for being thank- aries to enter into foreign service careers where a mechanical one"; "In the long run our greatest ful for having gone through the book a second they might take their families back to the mis- difficulty is to be humble enough to put our- time A second reading helped me past the tone sion fields where they served, and thereby selves in the position to be saved?’ into the arguments, and it is at this level that function as a new type of missionary (his com- In maW ways The Abundance of the Heart The Abundance of the Heart ~it~ works best. parisons with the missionary work of the is an important book for our times. It certainly I frankly am less concerned about whether church in the Roman era are perhaps instruc- deserves at least one reading. members of the Church should or shouldn’t tive). His ideas on history, genealogy, and the chew gum in meeting, or whether extended family provide meaningful insights a man should or shouldn’t have his hands in into that aspect of the gospel, insights that again his pockets while he prays, or slouch while he can only be described as exciting-"Going back walks (minor issues King introduces in pass- in eternity is part of going forward. We walk ing). I personally hope that a loving Father sees into the future backwards~’ beyond any of that. What we are hearing at that All members of the Church could benefit point, I would argue, are remnants of a value from his thoughts on the difference between structure dating back to Victorian England. And religion and morality (religion functioning at I personally do not believe that American a much deeper level), and his thoughts on sin- universities lower the quality of education by cerity. He has thought long and carefully about admitting too many students-though I do the problems of language and rhetoric, and has agree that many are in universities who ought important things to say concerning them. I also not to be there. To me, this smacks of British found his ideas on education challenging, even educational elitism-which he constantly as I picked and chose among them. appears to attack on one hand, and to support I reject out of hand his idea that thinking on the other. However, he argues his point with and desultory conversation per se are com- such conviction that one is forced to rethink monly wastes of time- time that is better spent one’s own stance on this issue-as on all others. reading. I believe that it is possible to rely too I am also troubled by King’s authoritarian much on the thoughts of others, i.e., thoughts stance throughout, and would prefer that he gained through reading, and that we need to offer his ideas as suggestions or issues for dis- spend more time searching our own depths cussion, rather than as dogmas. The same is in introspection and thought. However, this is tree of his pontificating on issues- the "greatest something I find myself thinking about at passage in all literaturd’ the "greatest short lyric length now that I have confronted his ideas- poemS’ the "greatest autobiography~’ the "best which perhaps proves his point. modem example of critic and poeU the "best The text is full of mini-sermons and books to read for a lifetimd’ the "greatest sin aphorisms that speak meaningfully to our time: being committed by intellectuals in this church: "Most people are tolerably miserable most of Ultimately one is relieved to find even one the time"; "The bread of life is more important qualifier: "perhaps~’ as in "perhaps the best than the cake"; ’American Mormons must English prose writer of the early nineteenth exemplify and teach the gospel, not American century~’ cultural attitudes"; ’Ambition without manipu- But all of that is to trivialize the importance lation is rare indeed"; "Every absence is a little of King’s book. It is evident that he has traveled death"; "The absence of death is a dangerous extensively, and that he has matched insights thing"; "Genealogy is important because our with some of the finest minds of our time. families are the extension of ourselves back These credentials alone should qualify him to infinitely and forward infinitely. It is by virtue speak with insights not common to most of them that we are individuals"; "Historians within the Church. It may well be, if one can are always biased"; "Literature is not a turning get past the desire to defend one’s own artistic away from life. It is a way into life"; "We need or national biases, that there may indeed be to be unremitting in our study of the best, room for reevaluation of many of our cherished because our lives are short"; "Sincerity is being prejudices. A careful reading should at least oneself without thinking of oneselff

MAY 1988 PAGE 37 certs, choral performances, and dramatic pre- A COMPANION FOR sentations along with architecture, painting, and sculpture in context with political and THE TELEVISION SERIES economic development. For example, he men- tions the competition for musical talent and the famous offer :made in 1870 by my great- great-grandfather Bishop Henry Hughes of UTAH: A PEOPLE’S HISTORY Mendon, promising" ’Ten acres of the best land in the settlement.., for a good basso, tenor, By Dean L. May and soprano, who.., would settle in Mendon and attend meetings regularly.’ " In an observation which I believe is essen- University of Utah Press, 1987. tially correct, May finds that the nineteenth century Utah community supported the $25.0{) (cloth), $14.95 (paper). graphic arts such as painting, writing, and sculpture less generously than they did the performing arts, such as theatre and music. He suggested that the relative absence of the graphic arts resulted from the "closeness to life in the small Mormon town of the period that Reviewed by Thomas G. Alexander some found oppressive. It was difficult," he argues, "to be a dissenter and to go one’s own way. Community achievement was more highly prized than individual achievement." SEVERAL YEARS AGO, Dean May and Nunes Carvalho’s portrait of Chief Walker, and Although h:is observation is insightful, I the University of Utah media department pro- John Hafen’s oil painting of Big Cottonwood believe that his interpretation of the reasons for jected a new television series called ’3\ People’s Canyon. differential support in the arts is mistaken. History of Utah." At the time, professor May The interpretations of nineteenth century While dissent ~nay have been difficult in small asked a group of historians and others to cri- political and economic development are quite Mormon communities, it did exist, as Jeff Sim- tique proposed scripts, and some ot! us were conventional, with emphasis on the Mormon monds, Robert Dwyer, and Ronald Walker have invited to participate as guests in vm’ious seg- contribution, the importance of mining, and amply documented and as May acknowledges ments. The U of U filmed much of the series on the contributions of non Mormon immigrants. (p. 121). local:ion, and May provided an engaging tele- Coverage in the book for the nineteenth More to the point, however, to interpret the vision presence. century is quite adequate for a survey. These failure of graphic arts as a consequence of their Professor May and the University of Utah are chapters dealing with the physical environ- "dissent" is certainly misplaced emphasis. Press designed this hook as a companion to the ment and native peoples, pre-Mor~non explora- Numerous historical examples amply docu- series. As such, it has some strengths and some tion and occupation, the relationship between ment that dissent is not a sine qua non for weaknesses. the Mormons and the people of the United success in the graphic arts. Shakespeare glori- First, let me mention some of the strengths. States, the Americanization of Utah, and non- fied the reigning Tudors rather than attacking Like most of what Dean May writes, A People’s Mormon immigrants. them (witness his characterization of the last History was well written. May makes his points On the other hand, the book’s treatment of Plantagenet, Richard liD. Michaelangelo and clearly and insightfully, he provides compara- the twentieth century is less than adequate. The Leonardo succeeded in large part because of tive examples, and his arguments are carefully chapter on progressive reform (1890s to 1917) the patronage of powerful aristocrats and the stated. is sufficient for a survey, but the .entire period Catholic church. Utah: A People’s History is filled wifft engaging from the World War I (1917-18) through World A more fruitful approach, it seems to me, illustrations, including adequate maps and War II (194-5) is covered in one chapter. The would have been to examine the market for the black and white photographs. Most s~gnificant, era since World War II is covered in a short graphic arts and to compare Utah culture with however, are undoubtedly the reprodactions of chapter which also projects trends into the the culture of communities of similar size, paintings from the nineteenth and early twen- future. If May had given the nineteenth century wealth, and situation. In that comparison we tieth, centuries. They include Alfred Jacob Mil- the same cursory treatment, he would have find that Utah was not unique, since graphic ler’s watercolor of the 1837 Green Riw_’r rendez- covered the period from Mormon settlement to artists did not generally succeed in the Moun- vous;, George M. Ottinger’s skillful painting of the Woodruff manifesto in ten pages. More tain West until the twentieth century. Not until camped at Chimney Rock, space (3 pages) is allotted to travel over the after 1896 did Charles M. Russell of Montana paintings of the Great Salt Lake by James T. Hastings Cutoff than to the combined adminis- turn himself from an itinerant cowboy who Harwood and Alfred Lambourne, Solomon trations of J. Bracken Lee, George D. Clyde, sketched for friends into a professional artist, an Calvin M. Rampton, and Scott M. Matheson. achievement he did not complete until 1920. THOMAS G. ALEXANDER is Professor of His- May is to be applauded for not separating Even then, he I’tad to sell paintings in New York tory arm Director of the Charles Redd Center cultural life into unrelated chapters as though it to succeed. In New Mexico, it was not until for Western Studies at Brigham Youn’g Univer- were an afterthought and not an integral part of 1916 that artists settled in Taos, the first signifi- sity. the life of the people. He discusses band con- cant artists’ community in the Mountain West.

PAGE 38 MAY 1988 I would argue, in fact, that the nineteenth century Utah patronized the graphic arts more generously than other Mountain Western com- BIBLICAL SCHOLARSHIP AND munities. A number of graphic artists found work painting scenery in the theatres, several CHURCH EDUCATION TEACHERS found work in photography, and at least one took his painting on the road in a travding exhibit. May acknowledges that when the LDS church needed graphic artists to decorate the THE GOSPELS Salt Lake Temple, it supported a number of STUDIES IN SCRIPTURE, VOLUME 5 them in study in Paris. I would be surprised to find such extensive patronage in other nine- teenth century frontier communities. Nevertheless, in Utah as elsewhere in the Edited by Kent P. Jackson and Robert L. Millett Mountain West, the community seems to have , 1986, 492 pp., $15.95 supported the performing arts more fully than the graphic arts. As a working hypothesis, I would suggest that rather than prizing com- munity achievement more highly than indi- vidual achievement, the community prized individual achievement in the performing arts more than in the graphic arts, and was thus Reviewed by Blake T. Ostler willing to devote greater resources to them. I would suggest that the reasons lie in the relatively higher value Western culture gener- ally (in the sense of Western Europe and the THIS BOOK IS the fifth in a series of Luke. Anderson claims that "by distrusting the United States) has placed on the performing works "intended to enhance and supplement objectivity of the Gospels, scholars have cre- than on the graphic arts, at least since the one’s personal study of the revelations and ated a crisis of subjectivity .... for this reason classical revival of the eighteenth century. In truths found in the of the the New Testament student will find many that regard, Utah culture was not unlike the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." It current books on the Gospels to be short- larger American culture. This is perhaps contains thirty-one essays by twenty-five dif- sighted. Rather than read heavily in secondary because in Western culture the performing arts ferent authors. The editors have arranged the literature, serious students should define peo- have a more significant role both in the civil various chapters by chronological subject, ple and places with the aid of an up-to-date religion and in community and religious ritual beginning with the Jewish history as backdrop Bible dictionary and mainly search the Gospels and entertainment than the graphic arts. to the Gospels and ending with the Resurrec- themselves, perhaps with the aid of a harmony On balance, however, my reservations about tion narratives. The authors are all teachers in printed in parallel columns" (p. 79). Of course, the interpretation of the relative success of the the educational program of the Church of Jesus Anderson’s own essay becomes irrelevant if arts and the scanty coverage of twentieth cen- Christ of Latter-day Saints, and they write from such advice is taken seriously. tury history are minor in comparison with my the perspective of the "orthodox" faith which Robert L. Millet provides a brief overview of praise for the strengths of the book. It is an accepts the biblical record at its word. Every the synoptic problem and the two-document excellent introduction to the history of the state author accepts the claim that the individual for the general reader, and the bibliographic hypothesis, but concludes that Latter-day Gospels were written by those whose names Saints don’t need to worry about evidence essays at the end of each chapter constitute a they bear and are historically accurate and suggesting that Matthew and Luke used Mark as fine guide to the literature for those interested theologically unified. The essays vary widely in a source document because "it is not difficult to in studying further. expertise and worth, ranging from scholarly believe that God could reveal the very same insight that comes only with studied familiarity words to Matthew and Luke that he inspired with the subject matter to unanalyzed reha- Mark to record. In short, one resolution of the shing of the New Testament stories. problem might well be revelation: all of the None of the essays are addressed to an Gospel writers were inspired by the very same audience familiar with issues in New Testament source. At the same time, it would not be out scholarship. Indeed, the essays generally ignore of harmony with principles of truth for one the significant views of biblical scholarship Gospel writer to utilize the writings of another" except to set biblical criticism up as a straw (p. 50). Millet seems to espouse a very strong man to be knocked over, for the sake of defend- notion of propositional revelation as a "solu- ing the "gospel." The tendency to denigrate tion" to a problem which he admits shouldn’t biblical scholarship is especially strong in Rich- be a problem to Lattcr-day Saints. Is the two- ard Lloyd Anderson’s treatment of the Gospel of document hypothesis a problem simply because it is suggested by scholarship rather BLAKE OSTLER is an author in Mormon scrip- than revelation? When confronting the diver- ture studies and an attorney in Salt Lake City. gence between Gospel writers, however, Millet

MAY 1988 PAGE 39 suggests another strategy to understand the the scribes, chief priests and elders as Jesus’s Does Griggs believe that such differences are differences. Pointing to "prophetic editorial "real opponents" rather than the Pharisees iden- insignificant and unworthy of consideration? changes" made by Joseph Smith in the 1835 tified in Luke and Matthew (p. 66). Probably The remainder of the essays are less worth- edition of the Doctrine and Covenants and most biblical scholars maintain that Matthew while. Many of them show little familiarity continuing revision of "the inspired version" of and Luke have read the struggle of the later even with the text under consideration. The the King James Bible, Millet suggests that "we church against the Pharisees into Jesus’s strug- writers often seem to be more familiar with the need to recognize the appropriateness for a gle against the Sadducees. The Pharisees did late Bruce R. McConkie’s commentary on the writer-even an inspired writer-to add to or not have the prominence attributed to them in New Testament than with the texts they treat. take away from his work as he matures or gains Matthew and Luke. Apostle McConkie’s commentary is quoted new or added perspective" (p. 45). Millet seems J. Phillip Schaelling’s essay on the Prologue of more often than any other source, with the to adopt here the view thaf-revelation is not John is also noteworthy. He appropriately treats exception of the New Testament itself. There are necessarily propositional; rather, the initial the important aspects of the prologue for Mor- surprisingly few quotes from James E. Talmage’s expresston of the revelation may be augmented mon ditheism. Schaelling’s demonstrates a Jesus the Christ, and even fewe~ from non- by experience and later perspective. Never- trained hermeneutic awareness, evidenced by Mormon scholars. Some writers do little more theless, Millet would seem to limit such "targ- his careful treatment of the nuances of the than rehash their subject texts with little evi- umic" or expansionist tendencies to the original Greek words Logos and pistis. He also effectively dence of research or analysis. Gospel writer. Does not Joseph Smith’s "trans- uses Mormon scriptures to bring out some In the final analysis, The Gospels is important lation" of the Bible suggest that later prophets legitimate nuances of thought in the Prologue because it is a foray into biblical commentary could also add insight into the works of earlier without turning the writer of the Gospel of John by Church Education teachers (those writers prophets? In any case, Millett’s essay i:~ inform- (who Schaelling clearly believes is the apostle who do not teach in the Church Education ative. John) into a modern Mormon. Stephen Ricks’s System are BYU teachers involved in teaching There are some outstanding essays in this scholarly treatment of the rejection of Jesus by biblical languages). Those serious about under- book for those who are seeking to understand the people of Nazareth is also worth considera- standing the Gospels within an accurate con- basics. Stephen E Robinson’s essay "The Set- tion, as is Rodney Turner’s essay on the farewell text could profitably consult the Anchor Bible ting of the Gospels," is an excellent treatment of discourse of Jesus. Series. Those interested in an insightful and the salient events and parties involved in Jew- spiritual appreciation of the person of Jesus as ish history from the Babylonian exile through presented in the Gospels should reread Jesus the beginning of the New Testament period. There are also some very frustrating the Christ. However, with the exception of The most interesting statement made by Robin- essays in this book. How can a scholar as those essays specifically noted, the serious stu- son refers to the "ecumenical age" of tt-~e second talented as C. Wilfred Griggs ignore the signifi- dent should take Richard L. Anderson’s advice century B.C. Greeks, and concludes that Greeks cant differences between the synoptic Gospels to spend their time reading the New Testament were open to ecumenism, "since ecumenism is and the Gospel of John in his overview of"The itself in a parallel column format and avoid always ,easiest when people are least certain of Testimony of John"? He states, "prqudice and wasting time on the mediocre essays about it their beliefs" (p. 14). I suppose religious intoler- ignorance have combined to prevent modern contained in The Gospels. ance is also easiest when people are most scholars from giving John similarly high marks certain of their beliefs. [to the Greek historian Thucydides] for the The essay by S. Kent Brown treating the historicity of his Gospel, but such judgments Gospel of Mark is also first-rate. Though I should not overly concern us" (p. 1.19). If John disagree with his reliance on Patristic writers to is an accurate historian, the synoptic writers are establish that the Gospel of Mark was written not, for the chronological and topographical by Mark under the direct influence of Peter framework of the Gospel of John is different (after all, the Patristic writers had only hearsay from the Synoptics. Except for the passion tradition as their source), Brown provides some narrative, the Gospel of John has; almost no good reasons to believe that Mark was not material in common with the Synoptics. John’s merely a gatherer of oral traditions. Brown Gospel is characterized by a struggle between understands the vital issues regarding the "light" and "dark" which is absent from the authorship of Mark and treats them fairly. His Synoptics. John’s Gospel portray’s Jesus’s min- discussion of critical biblical scholarship is out- istry as beginning jointly with the ministry of standing. I can think of no better introduction John the Baptist, while in the Synoptics Jesus’ to the Gospel of Mark xvhich demonstrates both ministry begins only after John is imprisoned. awareness and appreciation of the relevant John envisions a ministry of two or three years, issues and scholarship and also caution in with several visits to Jerusalem. The ministry of accepting the assumptions of critical biblical Jesus in the Synopticslasts only one year and studies. Brown has a sympathy for both schol- includes only one visit to Jerusalem. More arship .~nd faith. importantly, the Jesus of the Synoptics focuses Brown restates some persuasive arguments repeatedly on repentance and the kingdom of of Martin Hengel regarding the authorship and God realized through Jesus’ exorcisms. The dating of Mark before the fall of the Jerusalem Christ in John does not teach about repentance Temple in 70 A.D. Indeed, Brown implicitly and the kingdom (except in one passage) and accepts the view that Mark properly identified there are no exorcisms in the Gospel of John.

PAGE 40 MAY 1988 THE SUNSTONE FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES THE 1988 STUDENT ESSAY CONIEST

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PAGE 42 MAY 1988 demic settings, it is rejected by time more clearly defines where the NEWS many conservative Mormon and line is drawn. Others simply regret fundamentalist Christian scholars the loss of scholarship for the and lay persons who maintain a school. "We can’t continue to expel B YU PROFESS OR TERMINATED more literalistic view of scripture. our best minds from the university," In response to his termination, lamented one professor. FOR BOOK OF MORMON Wright says that considering the Few members of the faculty circumstances he has been treated regard Wright’s dismissal as the BELIEFS very judiciously and in a Christian. start of an inquisition on professors’ manner. While he acknowledges private bdiefs, although some have Earlier this year, David P Wright, fn response to numerous ques- the Church’s "right to demand cer- expressed fears that they need to assistant professor in Asian and tions about his termination, Wright tain things of its employee<’ he be more careful about what they Near Eastern languages, was prepared a statement outlining the questions their commitment to the say in class. Most professors see informed that he would have to events which he distnbuted to ideal of a university where %cholar- inquiries about private beliefs as an leave Bngham Young University interested individuals. It is ship works best in a non-coercive exceptional issue coming only because of his unorthodox views reproduced alongside this article. context" and "where people change occasionally in the regular faculty on biblical scholarship, scriptural Although the university review their minds because they are con- advancement review process. prophecy and the Book o[ process usually does not include an vinced by evidence? He fears his However, some are disturbed by Mormon. examination an individual’s specific termination may cause retrench- what they see as ignorance on the Academic Vice President Jae doctrinal beliefs, BYU spokesperson ment in the scholarship of other administration’s part concerning Ballif gave notice of the termination Paul Richards said the school professors and move the university issues of religious scholarship. at the conclusion of Wright’s three- makes no apologies for the termi- in a more conservative direction. Many were surprised to see that year evaluation (faculty may receive nation because "we have a respon- Personally, many faculty mem- Wright’s opinion that some bibli- "continuing status"- tenure- after six sibility and stewardship to students bers interested in related issues say cal books, especially Genesis, had years), wnght had received favora- and parents who sent them here, they are saddened by Wrights dis- multiple authors was given as a rea- ble evaluations by both his depart- who expect a thorough grounding missal because he was both well son for termination, especially since ment and college review in the beliefs of the LDS church. like, d and extraordinarily compe- he is a professor of Hebrew. Some committees. He was ranked high in We are to provide an environment tent; however, most don’t feel his say university administrators, all three areas of review: scholar- for intellectual pursuits and one dismissal will have a ~chiLling effect"challenged by conservative religion ship, teaching and citizenship. that reflects what our living on their scholarship because they. professors who advise some school In fact, Wright’s competence in prophets believe2 do not share Wnght’s views or they trustees, are "running scared" on Hebrew Bible studies is widely Wright’s offending views stem avoid sensitive areas of research. In this issue because the administra- recognized. His dissertation from from his examination of LDS texts fact, some say that, ironically, tors are responsible to maintain the Berkeley on elimination rites in the with the scholarly tools of biblical Wright’s dismissal frees them to school’s mission for the General Bible has been published by the criticism, which examine issues of continue their studies because they Authorities but are themselves prestigious Scholars Press, and he authorship and influence by con- can point to him and say, "I’m not uninformed about modem reli- has authored a dozen articles for temporary sources. While the like Dave Wright? In some ways, gious scholarship. "We have no the forthcoming Anchor Bible historical-critical approach to the Wright is becoming a scapegoat for understanding of textual study in Dictionary. Bible is widely accepted in aca- scholars while his case at the same the Church, and are threatened by .u o-t- /" r J’. 4 oatt- ATTENTION Students, Scholars, Lovers ® of the Book of Mormon For over 140 years L.D.S Scholars have been trying to locate where the writers of the Book of Mormon lived in Central and South America. A new study based on the writings of Modem Prophets, ancient writings of Mesoamerica, the Doctrine and Covenants and the Book of Mormon suggest a new and differet location! For your copy of The Land of the Nephites send $3.00: to: D. Curtis Box 222 American Fork, Utah 84003

MAY 1988 PAGE 43 its processe<’ explained one of seminary and institute teachers related fields who have almost no line<’ said Daniel Peterson, an Wnght’s colleagues. being exposed to his views when awareness of the most generally instructor of Arabic in Wright’s Reportedly, influential individ- they took Hebrew and other bibli- accepted methods of biblical department. "You can argue where uals; in the College of Religion cal classes in the Asian and Near scholarship. the lines should be drawn, but alerted the administration about Eastern Languages department. The event has renewed campus there must be tines7 Wngh:E’s scholarly views. Appar- This is a point of contention with discussions about the role of faith ently they were uncomfortable non-religion faculty, who are and scholarship at the university. allowing him to teach classes in embalTassed when the university "If BYU is to be a Mormon univer- their college and did not want graduates students in biblical sity then it has to be able to draw

ment and college review committees derided in my favorThe university advancement committee. however; made no decision but turned the matter over to the administration. From: David E Wright I discussed my ideas with the administration in April (I988) prior Re: My Termination at Brigham Young Universit3’ to its decision. In this interview I was frank, yet positive, from my per- July 2I, 1988 spective I made it clear that I supported the Church and that I always tried to relate my scholarly conclusions to Mormon gsues in a positive way for the benefit of myself and others, including students. I was not seeking to injure the Church or its members. I I-LAVE BEEN EMPLOYED AT BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVEI~SITY Those not acquainted with the critical study of the Bible should since the Fall of 1984 as an Assistant Professor of Hebrew and Near note that my views and approach are not eccentric, but are part of bib- Eastern Languages in the Department of Asian and Near Eastern Lan- lical scholarship as undertaken in the majority of academic settings. guages in the College of Humanities. Brigham Young University has As I understand, reviews of my work by peers outside BYU have been recently terminated my employment because my scholarly views and favorable My professional publications include a book, The Disposal of approach to the Bible and other Mormon scripture are. in its view, too Impurity: Elimination Rites in the Bible and in Hittite and Mesopotamian divergent from the belief system of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day ~’~ints, which sponsors the University. the Catholic Nblical Quarterly, and the Theoto~sches WOrterbuch zum Alten Testament, and I am a contributor of several artides on biblical religion tenmnation. I chose the latter because the matter was too serious to and cult for the forthcoming Anchor Bible Dictionary (to be published by Doubleday around 1991). let go undocumented on the part of the institution. AS for my views about the Book of Mormon, while some Mormon The lette~ dated.June 13, 1988,.gives three specific reasons for the scholars, mainly at BYU, argue for its antiquity, more and more Mor- University’s decision which exemplify its concerns. I should note the mon scholars are recogmizing that if the book does not entirely derive letter has represenmd my ideas fairly. Summarily, the reasons are: from a nineteenth century provenance, it has been largely colored by (I) My view that the Book of Mormon is best explained as a concerns of that era. nineteenth-century work of scripture, rather than a translation of a docu- I have mainly taught biblical. Mishnaic, and modem Hebrew lan- ment from ancient America around 600 B.C.-400 A.D.: guage and literature classes. I have also taught other languages of the ancient Near East and a few courses that deal with the history and religion of the Bible and ancient Near ~stem cultures. As I have taught

about the Book of Mormon in class.

PAGE 44 MAY 1988 secular federal church of the Bureau demographic studies, and for scho- SCHOLARS REVISIT of Redamation’s central planning of lars to study more twentieth cen- an irrigation-based economy. tury history. GREAT BASIN KINGDOM Worster said that Arrington’s The afternoon session consisted book searches for an alternative of panelists discussing the book AFTER THIRTY YEARS myth to the traditional individualis- from five academic disciplines.. tic Western cowboy, with his Jonathan Hughes, a professor of On 4 May 1988 scholars and occurred, coupled with never- bloody courage which saves towns economics at Northwestern Univer- friends gathered at Utah State sufficient outside financial support, in the "dog eat dog" world, and sity, said Arrington’s book was "a University for a symposium revisit- the splits in the heterogenous com- found it in the religious community masterpiece of the historian’s crafff ing Leonard Amngton’s Great Basin munity of anarchists, socialists, where technology and religion are and praised its "brilliant account of Kingdom, which was first published orthodox and other Jews, caused merged into redemptive salvation. emigration?’ in 1958. Professors from a wide the community to fail and, since Mormons made technology a vir- Anthropologist Mark P Leone range of disciplines were invited to there were other places they could tue by using it to redeem the lost discussed how historians, as review the book and discuss topics go to, most families left. paradise, he said. "The work of Amngton in Great Basin Kingdom, addressed in it. Goldberg contrasted Clarion redeeming the land redeems the write seamless narratives but The symposium was sponsored with Mormon settlements which people. There is moral force in anthropologists look at how the by the Mountain West Center for had similar struggles with the dams, siphons and canals." culture, which is rarely coherent, Regional Studies at Utah State environment but had experienced However, Worster says the myth is addresses conflicts and holds University, the Charles Redd Center farmers, ways to socialize income, currently in trouble because tech- opposites together. for Western Studies at Brigham good morale from the "spiritualiza- nology now exploits the land, Sociologist Stan Albrecht dis- Young University, and the Utah tion of temporal activity" (buildingopposes environmental steward- cussed how Mormon belief systems Endowment for the Humanities. the Kingdom), and because of ship, and is anti-democratic. affect the economy, He explored (1) Barbara Allen, folklorist and persecution, no visible alternatives "The role of history is to help the Church’s ability to exercise associate professor of American until the twentieth century. us understand our value<’ Worster social control, which he said is studies at the University of Notre Edward W. Clyde, of Clyde, Pratt said. "In Great Basin Kingdom, overstated but has become more Dam< discussed how the environ- & Snow Attorneys, discussed Amngton brought back to the diverse in twentieth century, (2) the ment, religion and economics con- development of western water law memory of his people the fact that gradual accommodations to the tribute in determining whether a and speculated that the reason they stood apart and reminded political society where we are now settlement is a failure. Using her there is no court case about water them of values forgotten~’ only unique to the extent we have studies in Fort Rock Valley, Oregon, rights dunng the first thirty years Luncheon speaker Charles S. accommodated, and (3) the rejec- she illustrated how supposedly of the territory is because the LDS Peterson spoke on "Beyond Great tion of the cooperative movement "failed" settlements are not always church resolved the problems on Basin Kingdom: Problems of Excep- in favor of individualism to the perceived as such by the settlers. its own. tionalist History," and said that point where the economic patterns "The ways in which people per- Donald Worster, Meyerhoff Arrington’s book was a foundation established to create economic ceive and interpret historical professor of American environ- study in good history-"milepost 1 equality are now totally eradicated. experience are just as valued and mental studies at Brandeis Univer- for the New Mormon History?’ Geographer Lowell "Ben" Ben- valuable as the outside perspective2 sity, spoke on "Water Power in the Peterson, who is the editor of the nion humorously noted geographi- Robert Goldberg, associate Kingdom?’ He discussed how Western Historical Quarterly, dis- cal errors in Arrington’s book, professor of history at the Univer- although the driving forces of cussed three aspects of Great Basin criticized its lack of maps, and then sity of Utah, put the process of capitalism developed the West, the Kingdom: (1) Economic history, its discussed the geographical shapes Mormon colonization in "larger per- Mormons were a materialistic soci- commendable ordering of a mass- of the Mormon villages-compact, spective" by comparing it to the ety yet anti-capitalists and against ive amount of data; (2) General mixed, and dispersed. Bennion Jewish colonization of Clarion, social Darwinism. Through the regional history, breaking the mold said that the s~ttlement patterns of Utah. Goldberg outlined five Judeo-Christian and Puritan ideas of narrow LDS institutional history; many Mormon communities were colonization variables: (1) of public control of natural and (3) Church history, which in more dispersed than historians experience, (2) environment, (3) resources, common wealth, price a sensitive way showed that Mor- traditionally assume. available capital, (4) morale, and (5) controls, and income regulation mon history can be examined more Richard W. Etulain, professor of viable alternatives. they developed a partial socialistic closely. history at the University of New He explained that the 200 Jew- cooperative ecohomic system. Peterson, who is a professor of Mexico, called Great Basin Kingdom ish settlers in Clarion had little Worste~ who is the author of Rivers history at Utah State University, "a memorable work of literature" farming experience and were moti- of Empire, said that irrigation stro@y criticized most Mormon whose quotes give immediacy and vated because of the early twentieth required coordinated behavior and history since Great Basin Kingdom whose well-ordered, even-handed century "back to the soil" move- gave power to who controlled the for ignoring regional connections sentences march across the page It ment, a Jewish attempt to revive system. "The capitalistic West may and isolating influence in the insu- shows "faith producing history,~ and spirituality and destroy their com- think it defeated the Mormons, but lar community. He also chastised builds a desire in the reader to mercial parasite image. Although the climate forces collective historians for sugar-coating their know the facts. Etulain said the the settlers were learning how to behavior’ he explained, stating that analyses. Saying that Arrington book’s "approach, content and farm on the semi-desert land, when Mormon communitarianism has pointed the way, Peterson called for mood illustrate Amngton’s indefata- drought and canal problems merely been transferred to the more comparative, economic, and bile efforts to nan’ate and explain,

MAY 1988 PAGE 45 but not necessarily defend, the thll singing, ’And Here We Have Idaho:’ story of his people to his people He recounted how he came to MORMON HISTORY EXPLORED and the world~’ He contrasted the write the book and thanked every- chror~ological approach of the book one for their critiques. He light- IN LOGAN UTAH to the topical treatment in Amng- heartedly quoted Isaiah 41:24, "Ye ton’s earlier dissertation, noting a are of nothing, and your work of DURING THE firsl: weekend in are conducting for BYU’s Charles vast literary improvement in the nought: an abomination is he that May, historians interested in Mor- Redd Center. Roger Launius out- transtbrmation. chooseth you~’ and said concern- mon studies gathered at Utah State lined the history of blacks in the At the concluding banquet, ing history, "God does not need us University in Logan, Utah, for the RLDS church, noting that although Arrington, a native of Twin Falls, to pretty up our lives~’ annual meeting of the Mormon they had always received the priest- Idaho, led all the Idaho natives in History Association. As with most hood, the RIDS church has its own MHA annual meetings, the confer- history of prejudice and dis- ence included provocative sessions, crimination. WHAT’S WHO IN MORMON gossipy hallway conversations, a Ronald Walker presented a fas- generous publishers’ book display, cinating paper on the 1887 succes- late night conversations, and the sion crisis following the death of HIS-I©RY making of new and deepening of LDS President John Taylor. Other While the follmving list is notorganization and government. old friendships. papers presented at concurrent ses- exhaustive it is SUNSTONE’s col- Janet Jensen, Franklin S. Hams The Association is proud that its sions included Maureen Ursenbach lection of scholar’s research projects biography; RichardJensen, European diverse membership of LDS, RLDS Beecher on "Poetry as Autobiogra- gathered at MHA. emigration history, LDS branches in and other professional and amateur phy: Inadvertent Disclosure in the Tom Alexander, Wilford England; JefferyJohnson, the family historians gets along so well, and Poems of Eliza R. Snow"; Newell Wbodruff biography, volume 1 of of Brigham Young. that its conferences have a fresh- Bringhurst and Boyd Robertson on Utah history; Lavina Fielding Ander- Edward L. Kimball, Spencer W. ness and[ significance which most Sam Brannan; Dan Vogel, "The son, t:Listory of YWMIA; Paul Ander- Kimball presidency biography; academic meetings lack. This point Book of Mormon in Jacksonian son, history of Hawaii tempi< Book Gregory Kqfford, New England Mor- was emphasized by outgoing MHA America"; Douglas ToNer, "Karl G. of Mormon architecture; Harriet mon history. president Val Tippetts Avery, who Maeser’s Educational Philosophy: A Arrin, gton, Alice Memll Home Roger Launius, Joseph Smith III, attended her first MHA meeting as Century Later"; G. Wesley Johnson, biography; PhilipBarlow, history biography; Carl Larsen, Mormonan amateur and an~.ounced that "Tl-te Study of Local Leadership in of the Bible in Mormonism; Lowell Battalion sites and journal entries. she wanted to write a biography of 20th Century Mormon Society"; ~’.rf P, ennion, the place of polygamy Carol Cornwall Madsen, Emme- Emma Smith. As she recounted in Re>: Cooper, "Religious Salvation in early Mormon history; Mary line Wells biography; Michael Mar- her closing remarks, she was and Family Solidarity: A Compar- BnMford, Lowell Bennion biography; quardt, Mormon New York origins; encouraged and aided by the MHA ison Between Puritan and Mormon Martlha S. Bradley, ZCMI and Armand Mauss, study of the twen- historians as she and Linda King Notions of Being Born in the cooperative movement history; Meg tieth century reaction to cultural Newell researched and xvrote Mor- Covenant". Brad),, Mormon women, revelation, ~ssimilation; Brent Metcalfe, Book of mon Enigma: Emma Hale 5mith. During the Friday luncheon folklore and food; Newell Bringhurst, Mormon exegesis. Later she obtained a degree in his- Ross Peterson spoke on "Utah State Fawn Brodie biography, Sam Bran- Ross Peterson, Utah State Univ. tory and was elected as MHA University and the Land Grant Tra- nan biography; Fred Buchanan, ter- centennial history; Keith Perkins, president. dition? Peterson was quite candid ritorial superintendents of Utah Joseph Smith in Kirtland, develop- In her presidential address, with his opinions on the sorry lack schools. ing gospel doctrine computer data- "Irreconcilable Differences: David of support for education in Utah. Donald Cannon, major doctrines base; Richard Poll, history of Utah H. Smith’s Association with the The annual Tanner Lecture restored through .Joseph Smith, war Muse of Mormon Historyi’ Avery endowed by Obert C. Tanner, is an Mormons in Washington, D.C.; William Russell, RLDS split told how Joseph SmitlYs son Daxqd, invitation to a distinguished non- Marie Cornwall, exploring differ- between liberals and fun- born after the martyrdom, visited Mormon religious historian to ences in the faith development ot7 damentalists. Utah and discovered that his father incorporate their understanding of LDS men and women; Richard Richard 5adle~; Weber Basin had practiced polygmw: "I am not Mormon history into a topic of C,~an, temples and temple work. water history, Weber State College what I wa<’ he said about the dis- their choice This year’s lecturer was Larry Dahl, word prints in the history; Franklin D. Richards biog- turbing revelations. Aver}, discussed Henry Warner Bowden, a profes- Doctrine and Covenants; Jill Derr raphy; Patricia Scott, polygamy bib- how history tells us who we are by sor of religion at Rutgers Universi ,ty Relief Society history. liography, Utah counties, cities, and defining what we are. and editor of Religious Studies K,’view. Paul Edwards, Frederick M. towns; Jan 5hipps, From Satyr to The conference opened with a His; lecture, entitled, "From the Age Smith (second RLDS president); Saint: Essays on Perception of Mor- session examining blacks in the of Science to an Age of Uncertainty: Ronald Esplin, WTvV. Phelps biogra- mons, and Being, Mormon: The LD5 LD$ and RLDS churches on the History and Mormon Studies in the phy. Church in the mid-Twentieth Century; tenth anniversary of LDS President Twentieth Century," reviewed the Van Hale, doctrine and evolution John 5illito and Constance Lieber,Spencer Kimball’s revelation on evolution of theories on how to of theology of Joseph Smith; K/aus Martha Hughes Cauces; Linda Sil- blacks and the priesthood. Jessie write history. Hansen, revising/updating book on. litoe, native American Indians; Susan Embry and Alan Cherry discussed Bowden discussed how reli- the Council of 50 and the Kingdom Ronald Walker, Heber J. Grant the experience of black Latter-day gious historians, who believed that ot5 Clod; William Hartley, Church. biography. Palmyra neighborhoods, Saints, based on oral histories they a scholar needed a proper point of

MAY 1988 PAGE 46 observation and conception to Friday night showcased the final Missouri 1846-1852: "And,Should We to the council. Membership com- interpret the past, accommodated original cast performance of John Die" (University of Oklahoma mittee chair Steve Eccles reported their writings when the scientific Homer’s The Kirtland Rehearsal, a Press) Richard S. Van Wagonm; that membership had declined approach became popular in the provocative play about a cast Steven C. Walkm; and Allen D. from 1300 several years ago to 700. early twentieth century and rehearsing a historical play for the Roberts, the T. Edgar Lyon Award He chided some for not paying attempted to eliminate prior RLDS rededication of the Kirtland for best artide for "Lectures on dues, and encouraged members to assumptions and limit explanations Temple_ Throughout the drama, Faith: A Case Study in Decanoni- talk up how fun the association is. to natural observations. He then their rehearsal is interrupted by cast zation" (Dialogue); D. Michael Since its founding in 1966 MHA reviewed how historians like Carl members stopping to discuss the Quinn, the Best Book Award for has embraced both LDS and RLDS Becker reacted to the scientific theological and historical implica- Early Mormonism and the Ma~c. scholars. Howevm; because of the approach by arguing that facts do tions of what they are acting. Most World View (Signature Books); overwhelming numbers of LDS not exist independently, that every- major viewpoints are expressed by Richard Jensen, a special citation historians some RLDS feel left out, one brings biases shaped by their different cast members. for his work in organizing and although they are always well contemporary culture, that a The conference also provided a directing BYU’s British Isles and represented in the MHA leadership. "detached mind is a dead mindi’ tour to the Richard V. Jensen Liv- European Oral History Project; and At this year’s conference in Logan, and that the first level of reality is ing Historical Farm and to Mendon, E Henry Edwards, a special citation the problem of balance was more lost, history is written from remain- Utah. At the sites Leonard Arring- for his lifelong contribution to the pronounced. Almost no one ing documents and is shaped, ton gave a paper on "Pioneer Mor- study of the Restoration. Whittaker attended the session that had only selected, and arranged sub- mon Agricultural’ and Charles S. announced that the Association RLDS history papers and it was jectively-"history is an act of faith: Peterson spoke on "Cache Valley had established the Stephen E cancelled by the presenters. Bowden noted that the modem Towns: Fun and Function in Mor- Christensen award for best Traditionally, conference loca- age of history is an age of relativity mon Country~.’ documentary tool (bibliography, tions are rotated between histori- and a variety of historical methods, David Whittaker presided over atlas, etc.); it will first be awarded cal sites convenient to each group, where the role for scholars is to the awards banquet where the fol- in 1989. Next year the May conference is in acknowledge their biases and order lowing individuals were honored: Incoming MHA president Stan- Quincy, Illinois, and will include and interpret the data by relating it S. George Ellsworth received the ley B. Kimball presided over the excursions to Nauvoo and Carthage to a frame of reference_ He then Grace Fort Arrington Award for concluding banquet where MHA with papers presented at historical reviewed the history of the writing Historical Excellence; Richard E. business~ . was conducted. Carol sites. In June 1990 the meeting will of Mormon history and concluded Bennett, the Francis M. and Emily Cornwall Madsen was elected be in Hawaii, with an emphasis on that it is a microcosm of the 2,000 Chipman Award for the best book president-elect, and M. Guy Bishop each church history in Asia and the years of writing Christian history. by a young scholar for Mormons at and Eugene England were elected’ Pacific.

MAY 1988 PAGE 47 OXYMORMONS

GREAT CHICKEN KINGDOM WHEN HISTORIAN Leonard J. Arrington tires of studying nineteenth century Utah economics or the life of Brigham Young, he can always relax by turning to his other passion in life-chicken iconography. Arrington’s fascination with chickens dates back to a boyhood stint with the Fufure Farmers of America. Howeve~ the pride of his coop (see: photo) appeared on Christmas Eve 1987, a surprise gift from Arring- ton’s stepson Rick Sorenson, who had the plastic chicken flown up from Arizona. However, when a giant egg appeared next to the chicken last Easte~ Sorenson denied all responsibility.

A MOVABLE FEST trated about "recently discovered" chi-building exercises from the "l-HIS YEAR, when the organ- ancient Chinese Shaolin Temple izers of Provo Utah’s annual Fourth that put one on the path to "con- of July "Festival of Fire’-one of tinual progressionS’ The article dis- America’s largest fireworks shows- cussed, with accompanying attempted to schedule BYU’s pictures, four hand clasps (includ- stadium, they were told that the ing, "vertical palm grip" and university does not allow its facili- "grip of fellowship") and four ties to be used on Monday nights breathing exercises (including, so that LDS members may attend ["torso chi builder," "lower mid.- Family Home Evening. The event section chi; and =chi breathing") was rescheduled for Saturday, July that were secrets practiced by 2, and on Monday night every ancient monks to develop strength family in Utah Valley gathered in and "internal powei.’ However, their living rooms to read the home when excited Mormons began evening manual lesson on citizen- exploring these amazing parallels to ship, patriotism and community the LDS temple ceremony, the involvement. sources in the article proved to be fictitious, much to the magazine’s embarrassment. The author was a KINGS, PRIESTS, former LDS missionary who had AND BLACK BELTS been excommunicated from the Church. MORMON MARTIAL artists were intrigued by an article in a recent issue of Karate/Kung Fu Illus-

PAGE 4.8 MAY 1988 1988 SUNSTONE SYMPOSIUM WEST CONFERENCE AUDIO TAPES RECORDED LIVE JANUARY 15 & 16, LOS ANGELES, CA

TOPIC SPEAKER TAPE # "Foundations or Christianity" Sterling McMurrin 1 "A Different Drummer" Lavina Anderson 2 "Mormon Concept of Authority" Dan Vogel 3 "Scientific Foundations of Mormon Theology" David Bailey 4 "A Study in LDS Glossolalia" Robert Starling 5 "Monologues & Dialogues" Robert Rees 6 "Mormon Domestic Ritual" M. Guy Bishop 7 "Temple Ritual & Change" Margaret Toscano 8 "Determinism & Free Agency" Ronald Hellings 9 "On Saving the Constitution" Eugene England 10 "From Sect to Denomination" William Russel 11 "A Case For Grace" Paul Toscano 12 "Life in Zion After Conversion" Karen Moloney 13 "Early Mormon Folk Magic" D. Michael Quinn 14 "Mormons & Divorce" Marshall, Webb, Carlston, Bunce 15 "Non-Mormon Journalists" Peterson, Dart, Birleff 16 "Women & Raids" Martha Sontag Bradley Jessie L. Embry 17 "Study of 1st Mormon Family" C. Tess Groesbeck "Lucy Mack Smith" Irene Bates 18 "Raising Faithful Children" Hobbs, R. Rees, Hunter, MacArthur, Barrus 19 "Mormons & Psychotherapy" Langlois, Shaw, Taylor, Porres 20 "Women/Early Schismatic Mormonism" lan Barber "Mediums of Jehouah" Susan Staker 21 "Response To Fawn Brodie" Newell Bringhurst "Puzzle of Anna Lee Skarin" Samuel Taylor 22 "Liberation of Christianity from Patriarchy" Rosemary Rodford Ruether 23

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