MORMON EXPERIENCE, SCHOLARSHIP, ISSUES, AND ART March 1993 Volume 16:4 Issue 90

2 Our Readers ...... READERS’ FORUM FEATURES 14 Wayne A. Meeks ...... THE PUZZLE OF CHRISTIAN BEGINNINGS 20 Lynn Matthews Anderson ..... DELIGHTING IN PLAINESS: ISSUES SURROUNDING A SIMPLE MODERN ENGLISH BOOK OF MORMON 30 Margaret Young ...... IN SEARCH OF SPILLED ROOT BEER Brookie & D. K. Brown Memorial Fiction Contest Winner 35 Sterling M. McMurrin ...... SOME DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS OF MORMON PHILOSOPHY SUNSTONE (ISSN 0363-1370) is published by the Sunstone Foundation, a non-profit corporation with no official 47 John Durham Peters ...... REFLECTIONS ON MORMON MATERIALISM connection to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Articles represent the attitudes of the writers only and not POETRY necessarily those of the editors or the LDS church. 13 David Clark Knowlton ...... [WHERE IS THERE A SINGING BIRD...] Submissions may be on computer diskettes, IBM-PC 19 5ean Brendan Brown ...... PORTABLE SHRINE compatible, and written in WordPerfect format, or on double-spaced typed manuscripts. Submissions should not 29 Lisa Bolin Hawkins ...... VISITING TEACHING (A SPIRITUAL) exceed nine thousand words and must be accornpanied by a signed cover letter giving permission for the manuscript to be 34 Kathleen Weber ...... ANOTHER COUNTRY TO CAT CASTEEL filed in the Sunstone collection at the University of Utah Marnott Library Archives (all literary rights are retained by the 46 David Clark Knowlton ...... [BRING ME A GUITAR...] author). Unsolicited manuscripts will not be returned; authors 57 Sean Brendan Brown ...... will be notified concerning acceptance within sixty days. LOOKING AT HER, I COULD SUNSTONE is interested in feature- and column-length articles COLUMNS relevant to Mormonism from a variety of perspectives, news 8 Elbert Eugene Peck ...... FROM THE EDITOR stories about Mormons and the LDS church, and poetry, psalms, and limericks. Short stories are selected only through A Cornucopia of Things the annual Brookie and D. K. Brown Memorial Fiction Contest 11 (submission deadline: 1 June 1993). All fiction submissions will Lawrence Young ...... TURNING THE TIME OVER TO... be considered as contest entries. Journeying Into the Desert: The Faith-based Letters for publication should be addressed to "Readers’ Witness Against Nuclear Weapons Forum." SUNSTONE does not acknowledge receipt of letters to the editor. Letters addressed to specific authors will be 49 Carol Lynn Pearson ...... THIS SIDE OF THE TRACTS forwarded unopened to them. I Don’t Want to be a Mormon Anymore! Upon request, SUNSTONE will not provide a subscriberg address to mail solicitors. REVIEWS 58 D. Michael Quinn ...... PLURAL MARRIAGE AND THE MORMON Send all correspondence and manuscripts to: TWILIGHT ZONE SUNSTONE 5olemn Covenant: The Mormon Polygamous 331 South Rio Grande Street, Suite 206 Salt Lake City, UT 84101-1136 Passage by B. Carmon Hardy 801/355-5926 60 Kenneth L. Cannon II ...... Fax: 801/355-4043 SYMPATHETIC BUT HONEST Things in Heaven and Earth: The Life and Times United States subscriptions to SUNSTONE are $30 for eight issues and $50 for 16 issues. Eight-issue of Wilford Woodruff, A Mormon Prophet international subscnptions are $30 (U.S.) for Canada and by Thomas G. Alexander Mexico and for surface mail to all other countries. Airmail subscnptions are $39 for Europe, South America, Asia, Africa, 61 Dennis Clark ...... A CRASH LIKE A SHOT Australia, and the Pacific. Bona fide student and missionary Things Happen: Poems of Survival subscriptions are $10 less than the above rates. by Emma Lou Thayne NEWS This magazine is printed on acid-free paper. 63 Sunstone Correspondents ..... NEWS, UPDATE ¯ AWARDS ¯ SUNSPOTS C0pynght © 1992 by the Sunstone Foundation. SUNSTONE CALENDAR ° PECULIAR All rights reserved. PEOPLE ¯ IN THE NET Printed in the United States of America. Cover Larry Clarkson ...... Clarkson Creative SUNSTONE READERS’@ FORUM Founded in 1974 SCOTT KENNEY 1975-1978 son as its publisher, we decided to again ALLEN D. ROBERTS 1978-1980 mark the leadership change in the masthead PEGGY FLETCHER 1978-1986 DANIEL H. RECTOR 1986-1991 by quietly switching the O’s slant. The only Editor and Publisher ELBERT EUGENE PECK rigorous debate in the office was not about Associate Editor Business Manager editorial content but how inclined the slant MARTI DICKEY ESPLIN KIMBERLY KOLAN should be (I thought it was a tad too much, Production Manager Administrative Assistant MARGERY MULLIN CAROL QUIST but was outvoted). With Linda Jean’s depar- Student Intern JASON ESPLIN ture in December 1992, we’ll probably re- Advisory Editorial Board arrange the O once again. Since the first issue PATRICK BAGLEY, BRIAN BEAN, T. E. BEHREND SUNSTONE M. SHAYNE BELL, poetry; JAY S. BYBEE in 1975, SUNSTONE has had seven mast- DENNIS CLARK, poetry reviews; CONNIE DISNEY heads, each reflecting the graphic styles of MICHAEL HARWARD, DANIEL MARYON, fiction the time rather than editorial philosophy. MARK D THOMAS, LYNNE KANAVEL WHITESIDES SUNSTONE Contributing Columnists Whatever the typeface and design, we will ORSON SCOTT CARD, DORICE WILLIAMS ELLIOTT continue to celebrate the wide spectrum of MICHAEL HICKS, DAVID KNOWLTON, TOM LEFLER MARYBETH RAYNES, PETER SORENSEN Mormon experience, scholarship, issues, and Cartoonists art that I hope at times will comfort and irk CALVIN GRONDAHL, PAT BAGLEY KIRK ANDERSON, MATT CHATTERLY, CHRIS CHECKETTS SUNS1DNt readers who lean to the right and the left. KENT CHRISTENSEN, DANNA JACQUES, GEOFF JONES STEVE KROPP, LEGUMI~-, CARL McBRAYER, ROBERT MURRAY £ S. MUELLER, BRUCE READE, BRAD VELEY AN APOLOGY RYAN S. WAYMENT THE ROLLING STONE Volunteers BARBARA HAUGSOEN, .ROBERT VERNON IN CONNECTION WITH your report U.S. Correspondents WHAT GIVES? At my study group of events and publicity last August concern- STAN CHRISTENSEN, Cambridge, Ma. NANCY HARWARD, Newark, De. someone noted that a few issues ago without ing the Strengthening Church Members RENEE CARLSON, Potomac, Md. fanfare SUNSTONE switched the O in the Committee ("Church Defends Keeping Files ALICE ALLRED POTTMYER, Arlington, Va. NEAL & REBECCA CHANDLER, Shaker Heights, Oh. masthead on the cover from leaning to the on Members," SUNSTONE 16:2), I offer an JONATHAN & COLLEEN THOMAS, Chicago, II. left to leaning to the right (SUNSTONE apology and an invitation. MILES SPENCER KIMBALL, Ann Arbor, Mi. KARL SANDBERG, St. Paul, Mn. 15: 6). We got out old issues for several years I am sorry that I spoke out so rashly and JOHN DURHAM PETERS, Iowa City, Ia. LIONEL GRADY, Cedar City, Ut.; RON PRIDDIS, Salt Lake City, Ut. and analyzed the changing content of the angrily--and before I learned more about the JOHN COX, Auburn, Ca.; ERIN SILVA, San Diego, Ca. magazine, and some concluded that SUN- Committee or spoke privately to its members JOHN &JANET TARJAN, Bakersfield, Ca. IRENE BATES, Pacific Palisades, Ca. STONE has pulled back from the hard-hitting, about my concerns. My main objection to the International Correspondents truth-telling, controversial articles for which Committee (which I wrongly understood to MARJORIE NEWTON, Australia; WILFRIED DECOO, Belgium it is known. Is this subtle, unannounced, be an ad hoc group of Church employees) HARTMUT WEISSMANN, France PAUL CARPENTER, JAMES FIELD unexplained, and apparently permanent was that as a result of its reports people were WERNER HOCK, DIETRICH KEMPSKI, Germany SHUNICHI KUWAHATA, Japan change on all future covers an intentional being punished or at least intimidated with- IAN BARBER, New Zealand; CHRIS SEXTON, United Kingdom symbolic message of a new conservative slant out being confronted directly and privately THE SUNSTONE FOUNDATION in editorial philosophy to appease the right- by the offended parties~a process that both Board of Trustees leaning critics of SUNSTONE? Say it isn’t so! our democratic and our Mormon Christian J. BONNER RITCHIE, chair KENT FROGLEY, vice chair JEANNETTE TWITCHELL ideals call for (see D&C 42:88 and Matthew LISA BOLIN HAWKINS, ROBYN KNIBBE Salt Lake City GLEN LAMBERT, LOUIS MOENCH 18:15). DANIEL H. RECTOR, ELBERT EUGENE PECK Yet in my accusations I violated those Executive Director Editor’s reply: same ideals~with what I recognize now was ELBERT EUGENE PECK Development Board We value our careful readers, but O so a desire for revenge on those whom I thought JEROLD KINDRED, chair many conservatives and liberals read the had hurt people I know. I have apologized RONALD L. MOLEN, vice chair BLAINE CARLTON, ROBYN KNIBBE, DANIEL H. RECTOR worst possible motives into innocent ges- privately and now do so publicly: I regret MARGARET REISER, J. BONNER RITCHIE, NICHOLAS SMITH tures. Several years ago when Daniel Rector what I said and the spirit in which I said it. MARSHA S. STEWART, MARK J. WILLIAMS and Elbert Peck succeeded Peggy Fletcher Symposium Chairs I also invite all of us to find ways to deal MOLLY BENNION, Seattle Stack as publisher and editor, then SUN- with our differences of opinion, even our GREG CAMPBELL, Salt Lake City STONE ALISON BETHKE GAYEK, Washington, D.C. art director Connie Disney and I de- offenses, directly and privately--in such a DON & LUCINDA GUSTAVSON, Boston cided to redesign the look of the magazine. way that both offended and offender can REBECCA & KIRK LINFORD, Chicago ~ KIM McCALL, San Fransisco We amusedly observed how the A in Atlantic express fully their concerns and hear full National Advisory Board magazine’s masthead playfully leaned left, explanations and, when necessary, apologize ALAN ACKROYD, MOLLY BENNION KATHERINE BOSWELL, BELLAMY BROWN right, and settled straight up. We decided to or repent. I invite my colleagues at BYU-- and TONY & ANN CANNON, COLE CAPENER, STEPHEN C. CLARK be a tad playful ourselves and created our all in the Mormon community as a wholem DOUGLAS CONDIE, D. JAMES CROFT, ROBERT FILLERUP MARK GUSTAVSON, JEFFREY R. HARDYMAN, GREG KOFFORD new masthead with the 0 slightly tilted; Con- to refrain from criticizing our leaders and FARRELL LINES, BRIAN C. McGAVIN, PATRICK McKENZIE nie slanted it left because that was graphically GRANT OSBORN, RICHARD SHERLOCK, GEORGE D. SMITH JR. each other in ways that violate that ideal. RICHARD SOUTHWICK, LORIE WINDER STROMBERG easier to do and looked better. A year ago, I also invite all who are involved in or NOLA W WALLACE, DENNIS & CARl_AN YOUKSTETTER when SUNSTONE hired Linda Jean Stephen- affected by the actions of the Strengthening

PAGE 2 MARCH 1993 Church Members Committee, including "scriptural" with which to don a cloak of courages the notion that in the world are local leaders, to work toward the ideal of integrity to justify faulty reasoning. many "weak" and "vulnerable" testimonies open, patient, and direct exchange. I suggest The larger issue is, of course, the attitude that might be forever damaged by the ques- we all report in detail to Committee Members seemingly prevalent among the general lead- tioning or dissent from other members? Elders James E. Faust and Russell M. Nelson ership of the Church that the membership What sort of God would permit such a thing what is happening to us and those in our care must be censored and discouraged from to occur? Although I don’t believe that mem- as a result of their Committee’s actions, so publicly expressing any attitude contrary to bers who consider themselves "strong" and they can assess those results. the Church. According to U.5. News & World "established" in the Church have any man- EUGENE ENGLAND Report, the LDS church is at the point of date to speak their minds without responsi- Provo, UT becoming a major world religion with a pro- bility for what they say, I certainly question jected future membership of hundreds of the notion that one member has the persua- THE TRUE CHURCH millions. If that is so, then the censorship and sive power to endanger eternally the spirit of suppression are not only a sad commentary another. I am accountable for what I say and SO NOW I’M aware of a committee of on real attitudes of the top hierarchy but do, and if another accepts what I say without grown men who, with better things to do, are probably unnecessary ever questioning and testing my words, then nonetheless wasting time "monitoring" for Does claiming to be the "One True and that person is ultimately accountable. Other- the existence of attitudes and activities Living Church on the Face of the Earth" wise, the interweaving of guilt and responsi- threatening the health of the institution. bring with it a responsibility to suppress any bility for all our social intercourse over our I agree with Eugene England as reported activity within the Church that is contrary to lifetimes creates the vision of a judgment day in your news story, whose writings were in- that proposition? If any institution holds sta- so complicated that it is absurd. fluential in easing much of the anger and tus as the official instrument of deity, that A "true church" that is threatened by the frustration I’ve come to feel in the past few institution could justifiably rely on divine dissent of some of its members perhaps years, that a committee such as the SCMC will sanction in surviving on the earth without ought to rethink the implications of its self inevitably do more harm than good. having to worry about what is said or done perceptions--and evince a greater trust in The use of section 123 of the Doctrine by anybody, not just opponents. I would like the strength of the testimonies of those who and Covenants as justification for the "need" an honest and forthright explanation from dissent because it takes a strong testimony to and activities of the committee makes the the leadership on why suppression, albeit remain in the Church when doubts arise. Church guilty of the same sort of thinking gentle, loving, and spiritual, is good for the ART RUGER that has been part and parcel of anti-LDS souls of the membership. Vancouver, WA rhetoric for years: finding something What is there about God’s plan that en-

MARCH 1993 PAGE 3 NEW MORMON HYSTERIA events are in revisionist histories by Lavina Fielding Anderson, Leonard J. Arrington, NEAL W. KRAMER’S letter (SUNSTONE James B. Alien, Daniel W. Bachman, Maureen 16:2) demonstrates how the discussion of Ursenbach Beecher, Davis Bitton, Richard L. New Mormon History by its critics has been Bushman, Jill Mulvay Derr, Reed C. Durham, "rancorous, paranoid, and deliberately Andrew E Ehat, Ronald K. Esplin, Kenneth slanderous" (his words). Kramer claims that W. Godrey, William G. Hartley, Donna Hill, SUNSTONE the New Mormon Historians regard "the Marvin S. Hill, Richard L. Jensen, Dean C. IS AVAILABLE AT THE weakness of Traditional Mormon History is Jessee, Stanley B. Kimball, Carol Cornwall FOLLOWING LOCATIONS its unwillingness to adopt these [’modern Madsen, Dean L. May, Linda King Newell, DESERET BOOK STORES Cache Valley Malt historical’] standards and to wistfully rely on Max H. Parkin, Charles S. Peterson, Grant Community Shopping Center talk about the supernatural. Instead of rely- Underwood, Ronald W. Walker, and David J. Cottonwood Mall ing on physical evidence and the rules of Whittaker. Fashion Place Mall reason, the Traditionalists inject metaphysics Even my revisionist examination of the Layton Hills Mall Ogden City Mall into their work." He claims that "New Mor- esoteric and occult dimensions in Mormon- South Towne Mall mon Historian counterparts" oppose "Mor- ism’s origins affirmed the reality of the meta- University Mall mon history that openly supports, or at least physical events in Joseph Smith’s experience. Valley Fair Mall ZCMI Mall accepts as legitimate, traditional claims about However, because I explored those little- SEAGULL BOOK & TAPE God’s role in the restoration and building of known circumstances surrounding founda- 427 Preston Valley Center the kingdom." tional events of early Mormonism, Kramer’s Dallas, TX This is the familiar drum-beat and false fellow travelers dismiss as irrelevant my affir- 2144 Washington Blvd. dichotomy of Louis Midgley, David E. Bohn, mation of the reality of Joseph Smith’s visions Ogden, UT Neal W. Kramer, and others that New Mor- and the Book of Mormon’s historicity They 2146 N. Main #528 mon Historians reject the revelatory, vision- class me among their bete noir revisionists. Layton, UT ary, and metaphysical in the New History’s In like manner, Midgley-Bohn-Kramer 1720 S. Redwood Road reconstruction of the Mormon past. The class Richard L. Bushman as a "good guy" Salt Lake City, UT other side of their false dichotomy is that Traditional Mormon Historian, even though 5730 S. Redwood Road New Mormon Historians criticize Traditional Salt Lake City, UT his Joseph Smith and the Be~nnings of Mormon- Historians for making affirmations of faith ism concluded that the Prophet organized the 1629 W. 90 S. West Jordan, UT and for including supernatural events and Church in April 1830 before the visit of 2255 N. UniversityPkwy #2 explanations in traditional history of Mor- Peter, James, and John. Thus, Bushman dis- Provo, UT monism. Traditional Historians are a diverse putes the 1829 dating of this priesthood res- 110 Mesa Drive bunch, as are New Mormon Historians. toration by every traditional Mormon Mesa, AZ However, the Midgley-Bohn-Kramer dichot- account from B. H. Roberts to Joseph Field- 10714 Santa Monica Blvd. omy falsely stigmatizes most of the New Mor- ing Smith to the current Church Almanac. Los Angeles, CA mon Historians I know. Bushman’s analysis means that the divinely KENSINGTON, MD To name prominent examples within the restored LDS church existed for a time with- This is the Place New Mormon History, matte>of-fact refer- out the Melchizedek priesthood and without 10405 Montgomery Ave ences to Joseph Smith’s vision of God and the authority of the apostleship. If Bushman’s COLORADO SPRINGS, CO Jesus, the appearance of Moroni and other book is not a revisionist history, then I don’t LDS Chapter & Verse angels, the gold plates, or other metaphysical 3650 Austine Bluffs Pkwy, Ste. 183 know what could be. However, I also know LOGAN USU Bookstore SALT LAKE CITY Benchmark Books 331 S. Rio Grande, Ste. 300 Hayat’s Magazine & Gifts 236 S. Main Sam Weller’s Zion Bookstore 254 S. Main PROVO BYU Bookstore Valley Book Center 52 W. Center Walt West Books 1355 Riverside Dr. ST. GEORGE Dixie College Bookstore TEMPE, AZ. Books, Etc. 901 S. Mill Ave

PAGE 4 MARCH 1993 Richard Bushman is a devout believer whose izes the massive New Mormon History; there avoid acknowledging the unpleasant rather faith permeates his every publication about has been a consistent fraud on the part of than updated phrases that better convey cur- Mormon history. Midgley, Bohn, Kramer, and others who as- rent correct thinking. In my experience, the New Mormon His- sert or imply that the New Mormon History SAMUEL BARNARD torians I’ve listed do not criticize Traditional excludes the divine. San Jose, CA Mormon History for accepting "as legiti- D. MICHAEL QUINN mate, [the] traditional claims about God’s Salt Lake City ANOTHER LOOK role in the restoration and building of the kingdom." Instead, we regard as inadequate CODE WORDS ROBERT A. REES is undeniably one of and distorted the following examples of Tra- the most articulate and compassionate of the ditional Mormon History. IN YOUR SUNSPOT on "Mormon-Cor- Church’s apologists. His "Forgiving the Official LDS history presents the Missouri rect Language" (SUNSTONE 16:2), you could Church and Loving the Saints: Spiritual Evo- persecutions of 1838 as the acts of irrational have noted other LDS terms that have been lution and the Kingdom of God" (SUNSTONE anti-Christs. Traditional Mormon Historians changed. For example, premortal life replaced 16:1) was a cooling zephyr across the torrid usually fail to note that Mormon bloc-voting the illogical pre-existence (how can there be landscape Joseph E Wyson and his ilk stake overpowered the non-Mormons politically, something before existence?). And you ne- out in their zeal to purge SUNSTONE of all and that Joseph Smith published Sidney glected the most contemporary and obvious heterodoxy (see letters "Children of Light," Rigdon’s sermon that dared mobs to attack new terms: SUNSTONE and its symposiums SUNSTONE 15:3, and "A Narrow Gate," SUN- the Mormon community. The pamphlet even (to use Elbert Peck’s modern plural form) are STONE 16:1). Nevertheless, an apologist Rees threatened Missourians with "a war of exter- never mentioned by name by Church remains, and apologia, despite its soothing mination.., for we will carry the seat of war leaders--they always use the code-words timbre, is sometimes more disquieting than to their own houses, and their own fami- alternate voices and symposia (the Latin plural diatribe. While it is easy to take issue with the lies .... " Governor Boggs was not first to use used in the [in]famous Statement [SUN- likes of Wyson, the Mormon apologists invite the word "extermination." STONE 15:4], perhaps showing Elder Dallin a more thoughtful response. I offer the fol- New Mormon Historians also criticize: bi- Oaks’s legal hand in its drafting). Someone lowing observations. ographies of Brigham Young that fail to even needs to supplement Scott Card’s Saintspeak Rees begins by acknowledging diversity mention that he had plural wives; Church with a compilation of recently coined terms, and complexity and by confessing his own histories that assert that Apostles John W. many of which are really euphemisms to struggles--reassuring words to SUNSTONE Taylor and Matthias E Cowley were solely responsible for fourteen years of new plural marriages after the Manifesto, when the First Presidency actually authorized the new marriages; discussions of Brigham Young’s "so-called Adam-God doctrine" that claim he gave only one talk that was misunderstood, when in fact he repeatedly preached this controversial doctrine for the last twenty-five years of his life. In sum, New Mormon Historians have criticized instances where Traditional Mor- mon History sanitizes the Mormon past of human infallibility, ignores topics obviously relevant to the subject of discussion, portrays events contrary to the available evidence, fails to acknowledge even the existence of "controversial" evidence about the subject under discussion, or posits that "the hand of God" is the only needful explanation for any event in the Mormon experience. Contrary to the implications of Midgley-Bohn-Kramer- and-company, New Mormon Historians do not argue with the bulk of Traditional Mor- mon History, which affirms divine events, faith, sacrifices, and heroism that New Mor- mon Historians also affirm. I have always opposed those who present the Mormon past from a perspective that excludes the possibility that there is objective reality to divine revelation, visions, and an- gelic manifestations. However, exclusion of metaphysical realities is not what character-

MARCH 1993 PAGE 5 readers yearning for something, anything, otherwise intolerant and unloving? Could it impedes rather than conduces to such love. beyond the simplistic formulas offered up be that the institution itself, in its doctrines, STEPHEN C. CLARK from the pulpit and the Church’s captive dogmas, organizations, and practices, insidi- New York City press. But he quickly (and I think unwit- ously reinforces racism, sexism, homopho- tingly) slips into the facile moralism he pur- bia, and other attitudes contrary to all but the FAMILY VALUES ports to eschew. For example, after observing most narrow interpretation of the Judeo- that we sometimes judge others "for not Christian tradition? Rees seems afraid to ask, I AM AMAZED that the fictional story abiding by our personal view of what the let alone answer, such questions. "Prodigy" (SUNSTONE 16:2) left me so cold, Church should be," Rees proceeds to do pre- Rees also speaks of those "who have been nauseated, and sick at heart. I am even more cisely that--albeit in sugar-coated terms. physically, psychologically, and sexually amazed to think that I am protesting, in Adopting a dubious, arbitrary moral hierar- abused and who because of this often have an writing no less, the spiritual emptiness of a chy, Rees seems to say that spiritual progress impaired sense of moral reasoning." Could it fictional character; perhaps it too has the involves nothing more than increasing fealty be (as Rees hints, but again seems afraid to "Murphy Brown" dimensions. tolerance, but he finds it hard to conceal his say) that the Church itself is in many cases At any rate, the awfulness of its spiritual judgment of those (such as his long-time the perpetrator and perpetuator of such implications are akin to the unexpected ap- friend and the member of his former congre- abuse and impairment? Mental health pro- pearance of a serpent or an unbidden glance gation) who choose not to stick with the fessionals and others (including compassion- of pornographic material. Electrifying, yes, Church’s program. We are left with the im- ate LDS bishops) who must try to unsow the but it leaves a sickening, unclean feeling in pression that they are now utterly without seeds of self-loathing can attest to the perni- its aftermath. hope, drifting aimlessly through lives of suf- cious ways the Church can become rooted in I am protesting only one character in the fering toward eternal misery. But, for all we the conscience. The Mormon apologists, un- story. The antics of a foolish and even a very know, they could be perfectly happy and able or unwilling to analyze the root causes wicked young girl can be understood and finally at peace with themselves and their of spiritual devastation, prefer to view the pardoned. Obviously she has never read the god. Rees’s barely concealed judgment rein- Church as part of the solution rather than Book of Mormon. But the shallow uncer- forces the notion (which Wyson at least de- part of the problem. It is time to have another tainty of a father who had just risen from a clares unequivocally) that only the straight look. prayerful encounter with the book itself is and narrow path leads to such happiness and I agree with Rees that love--not fear, not another matter. I defy any knowledgeable peace, here or hereafter--a judgment di- the need to please, not obedience--drives reader who has had a more-than-casual bash rectly contrary to the moral of the stories and spiritual evolution. In my favorite metaphor, with the Book of Mormon and, even more anecdotes Rees cites. When Rees finally gets love is a stone dropped in a vast, calm ocean, especially, a prayerful experience to thereaf- around to the point that spiritual evolution a ripple in the individual heart and soul that ter successfully refute the authenticity and ultimately consists of growing in one’s desire radiates outward in ever-widening concen- divinity of the book. and ability to love, he first trivializes it by tric circles to embrace lovers, family, friends, MAX RAMMELL citing pop psychology, and then reduces it neighbors, strangers, and eventually would- Rexburg, ID once again to a matter of simple obedience to be enemies, to fill the limitless expanse. Un- the Church and the commandments. Rees fortunately, by twisting self-abnegation into THE BOOK OF MALAY thus remains squarely within the comfort- self-loathing, by creating a bizarre hierarchy able confines of the "limited point of view" he of values that exalts pharisaical form over FOR OVER a century we have searched says we should strive to avoid. substance, by perpetuating the myth of an the Americas for the Book of Mormon peo- I agree with Rees that many faithful, lov- infallible gerontacracy, by creating and then ples. We have found little (if any) evidence. ing, striving Latter-day Saints are frustrated attacking perceived enemies under the cloak Perhaps it is time to look somewhere else. and often in great pain. Could it be, however, of committees to strengthen the Saints, by But where? Mormon’s general description that this is not merely because some individ- ultimately becoming an end in itself rather of the land suggests that they lived in a place uals in the Church’s patriarchal hierarchy than a means to an end, and in a thousand narrow from east to w~st and long from north appear racist or sexist or homophobic or other ways large and small, the Church often to south. From south to north the lands were

MARCH 1993 PAGE 6 Nephi, Zarahemla, Bountiful, and Desola- olation, north of the narrow passage. The A. Mormon tells us that in the first century tion. Each of these extended from the sea on Nephites held them in awe because they had B.C. the Nephites were building syn- the east to the sea on the west. The Lamanites tamed the elephant (Ether 9:19). To this day agogues after the manner of the Jews (see lived in the southern most Land of Nephi the countries to the north of Kra--Burma Alma 16:13). The Jewish synagogue did and were unable to expand their territory. In and Thailand--use the elephant in their na- not arise until after their return from addition, the entire country was nearly sur- tional crests. exile~long after Lehi had left Jerusalem. rounded by water except for a narrow neck 6. Mormon refers to the south as up and How did the Nephites know how the Jews of land on the border of Bountiful and Deso- north as down (the Lamanite attacks always built synagogues? Being widely traveled lation that led into the north country. This came down from the south). This had noth- and greatly dispersed, the Jews were liv- description suggests that the Land of Nephi ing to do with the elevation of the land, but ing among them. The Nephites saw how was at the southern end of a north-south with the orientation of their maps. The synagogues were built. trending peninsula. The peninsula was suffi- Nephites drew their maps with the south at B. That Jesus’ teachings in 3 Nephi so closely ciently narrow at the border of Bountiful and the top, the same way other ancient Asian parallels those in Matthew has led to crit- Desolation for a person to walk from the east cultures drew their maps. icism of the Book of Mormon. I suggest a to the west in a day and a half (see Alma 7. The Lamanites had two favorite attack copy of Matthew’s work came into 22:27-34). In addition, it was narrow routes --one down the eastern sea shore and Mormon’s hands, who, in turn, used it. enough at the border of Nephi and the other down the Sidon River valley into C. Lastly, I suggest that the Magi were Ne- Zarahemla for General Moroni to build a line the heart of Nephite territory. Why not down phites. The Nephites knew what the star of defensive outposts from the east sea to the the western sea shore? The east coast of the meant; they knew where to find the new west sea (see Alma 50:7-13). peninsula is smooth and easily traveled, but King; and it would have taken them about A few crude measurements suggest the the west coast is broken with many inlets. one year to make the journey. general size of the peninsula. For example, 8. Hagath built his ships at the border of What does all this mean? If people are Alma and his community walked from the Bountiful and Desolation and launched them interested in finding the ruins of old Land of Nephi to the Land of Zarahemla in into the western sea (see Alma 63:4-6). Why Zarahemla, they might try looking along the thirteen days (Mosiah 24:20-25). If they cov- west? At the Isthmus of Kra is an estuary west bank of the Kalantan somewhere in the ered fifteen miles a day, their journey would about a mile wide, and ten miles long that vicinity of the present village of Daborg. have been about 200 miles. Yet, the entire leads into the west sea, a perfect place for MAYLIN DITTMORE extent of the peninsula from the Land of Hagath to build and launch his ships. Brentwood, CA Nephi on the south to Desolation on the 9. Archaeologists identify two waves of north was not great enough to preclude an immigration into the peninsula--the Proto- SUNSTONE ENCOURAGES CORRES- expedition from going and returning in a Malays about 2500 B.C. and the Deutero-Ma- PONDENCE. ADDRESS kETTERS FOR reasonable time (Mosiah 8:7-11). lays about 3000 B.C. If the Deutero-Malays PUBkICATION TO "READERS’ FORUM" Where should we look for a north-south can be associated with the Mulekite-Nephite- (FAX: 801/355-4043). WE EDIT kETTERS trending peninsula (connected at the north) Lamanite peoples, then the Polynesians are FOR CLARITY AND TONE AND CUT several tens of miles wide and several hun- the true Lamanites of today. THEM FOR SPACE, DUPkICATION, AND dred miles long? Florida is a possibility, so is 10. Living in the Golden Khersonese the VERBOSITY. LETTERS ADDRESSED TO Baja and Kamchatka. However, the most Nephites were not isolated from the Old AUTHORS WILL BE FORWARDED UN- compelling is the place the ancients called World, as we generally assume. Consider: OPENED TO THEM. ~ the Golden Khersonese (Golden Penin- sula)--the Malay Peninsula. Consider the following: 1. When Lehi sailed east from the coast of Southern Arabia across the Indian Ocean, his first landfall would have been the Malay Pen- insula, a journey of over 3000 miles, a few hundred miles more than that of Columbus or the Mayflower. 2. The peninsula is of a size commensu- rate with the few distances given in the book, and water completely surrounds it except for a narrow twenty-four-mile wide neck of land at the Isthmus of Kra. 3. There were large bodies of water in the Land of Bountiful (see Alma 50:29). There are still large bodies of water todaymThale Luang and Thale Sap Saugkhla. 4. The Kalantan river system runs north from the central peninsular highlands and empties into the eastem sea. Anciently they called it Sidon. "We’ve come such a long way! Now we can pray in sacrament meetings, 5. The Jaredites lived in the Land of Des- speak in general conference, and go home teaching with our husbands."

MARCH 1993 PAGE 7 office could see the organization, its services, FROM THE EDITOR AND PUBLISHER workings, and clients, so divergently. Now I celebrate that diversity and enjoy learning from others "What SUNSTONE Means to Peo- ple Like Me," as one long-ago article put it. A CORNUCOPIA OF THINGS Sometimes, however, a subscriber’s quirky expectations elicit chuckles. Such as the perennial telephone request to be con- nected to the "subscription department," as if we were Time magazine with a room of "specialists" like Judy on late-night TV, each with a high-tech headset. Conversely, visitors are sometimes surprised by our suite of rented offices with a paid staff. What were they expecting, Eugene England’s basement staffed only by idealistic student volunteers? SUNSTONE serves two kinds of readers: For some it is a cause to champion; for others it is but another magazine purchased for infor- mation and entertainment, like U.S. News or TV Guide. I value both kinds. For the record, suite 206 comprises nine rooms--five offices, plus conference, mail, By Elbert Eugene Peck symposium tape, and receptionist rooms. RECENTLY I READ U.5. Catholic, the post-consumer recycled, archival quality, We’re in the Carpenter Building, which is a Ensign for American Catholics. That issue acid-free, coated paper. Well, one’s reach renovated old industrial building that now featured: "Will the Real Catholic Church must exceed one’s grasp! Like my expanded houses architects, graphic designers, com- Stand Up?"; "Does the Church Mishandle its job, this editorial reports and explores both puter companies, the famous Benchmark Cultural Treasures?"; "The New Catechism: the mundane means and sublime ends of Books, and Fashion Scents, a door-to-door Will It Play in Baltimore"; "Just Do It: How to SUNSTONE, and provides inside information discount perfume sales company that em- Jump Start Your Prayer Life"; and "Jesus you may never have wanted. ploys high school-age students who un- Saves. But How?" I considered how our On our front office wall all the SUNSTONE explainedly and fruitlessly search for room Church magazines could benefit from featur- covers are hung in chronological order, invit- 350 on our second floor. Each day its owners ing similar self-critical articles and how SUN- ing one to interpret its history. I frequently hype up their sales staff with a series of loud STONE would benefit from more how-to use them to conduct a visitor on a thumbnail cheers and gimmicks that would make the religious articles. Similarly, after reading the history tour of SUNSTONE. New staff mem- most brazen missionary zone leader blush Christian peace and social justice magazines bers quickly learn the pivotal_junctures: vol- and that make us feel mainstream. Salt and Sojourners, I feel we need to cham- umes two and three, where the philosophy Technically, we’re not on the wrong side pion and explore applied Christianity as and design of the magazine changed three of Salt Lake’s tracks, we’re between them-- much as we do history and theology. times in three consecutive issues; volume just across the street from the Rio Grande I have been thinking a lot about SUN- nine, the dark days, when we put out only railroad depot that now houses the Utah STONE, its readers and authors, its potentials two issues; volume seven when the Sunstone State Historical Society and the Amtrak sta- and shortcomings, its roles and contribu- Review split off with the book reviews and tion, whose late-night departures keep the tions, its histories and goals, and, most re- news, which were replaced with columns; scary street filled with taxis and patrol cars. cently, its operations and finances. Every volume ten when all were remarried into one Mingling with business clients and travel- category is plural--a wide spectrum of magazine with a larger scope. Sunstone is a lers are the people Jesus loved, the homeless needs, expectations, and standards that com- living, growing, adapting organization. and destitute. The rescue shelter and the pete and frequently conflict with each other. A decade ago, when ! worked as manag- Salvation Army, both on our street, house The balance that is eventually struck rarely ing editor of the Review, for one staff meeting and feed them, and Pioneer Park on the next totally pleases anyone, fortunately. each person drew on the same large piece of block east, site of the original Mormon set- Now, since Linda Jean Stephenson butcher paper their interpretation of Sun- tlement, is their daytime address. Confront- ing them daily continually calls me to love stepped down as SUNSTONE publisher in De- stone. When we were done, there was a vivid cember 1992, after serving for a year, and the collage of abstract and representational without condescension and to treat all with undiscriminating dignity and regard. board of trustees appointed me editor and magic-marker drawings that, after discus- sion, revealed as many views of our organi- Early one summer morning while walk- publisher, my thoughts have not only been ing to work, I silently nodded to a homeless about contents and readers but also about zation as there were employees--visionary, budgets and promotions: How to write an cynical, expansive, myopic, frustrated, so- man as we passed in the alley on the north effective and educational renewal letter. How cial, theological, committed, disinterested, side of our building. After a couple of yards fragile, financial, familial, and bureaucratic. he turned and yelled at me, "Well, I can be to solicit donations without succumbing to offended, too!" I contemplated that rebuke flattery. And how to cheaply print an inside I was startled at how people who day-by-day full-color, lavishly illustrated magazine on occupied that same drab but mysterious old all day. I wasn’t the one who apparently had

MARCH 1993 PAGE 8 told him that he, or his grooming, was ground-breaking articles, of which the ex- commission (pay) a thoughtful observer. I offensive. I nevertheless felt chastised. How treme example is Mike Quinn’s ninety-six- see SUNSTONE becoming a monthly with long had that put-down haunted him in a page treatise on post-Manifesto plural timely news and commentary. Now it comes conversation that cycled in his mind? How marriage. As former Dialogue editor Mary out six times a year--a fact some don’t real- many times had he come to that lonely con- Bradford told me, "Dialogue doesn’t rush to ize, due to its irregular publication schedule. clusion of his own humanity that exploded print with the first article on a topic; it takes My interim goal is to put the magazine out like a volcano at me, a symbol of the uncar- the time to publish the definitive article, to eight times a year. Years ago, Peggy gave an ing society? Yes, I did collude in the pro- get it right." Fortunately, Dialogue is more interview to the Seventh East Press that was cesses that alienated him from the rest of us. than an academic journal; it also features titled "Always a Little Hungry." That vision of I was guilty, but I also felt trapped like him. personal essays and opinion pieces. unrealized dreams still describes SUNSTONE. That passage from Isaiah that we sing in In contrast, at its core SUNSTONE is an But with growth I don’t want to lose the Handel’s Messiah now had a second meaning intellectual magazine of ideas and issues. chummy, interwoven familiarity that now for me: "He hid not his face from shame and That framework affords it a broader, more exists with writers and readers. spitting" (see Isaiah 50:6) meant not only popular appeal to the college-educated gen- As nice as it is to dream, our office life that without reproach did Jesus accept the eralist reader. Its graphic design, with illus- consists of juggling the nitty-gritty tasks that hate and spit of his persecutors, but also that trations and call-out quotes, makes it more can be overwhelming. Here is how we are he did not avert his gaze and attention from accessible. While its scholarly articles are organized. As a non-profit organization, the those whose lives are called shameful. He often sent to readers for review, it also fea- Sunstone Foundation is not owned by indi- confronted the poor, the leper, the whore, tures strong opinion, humor, and contempo- viduals. It is directed by a board of trustees the heretic, face to face in an egalitarian rary issues and trends that are rarer in that meets several times a year to give general conversation of acqeptance and esteem. journals. Then, too, it has its unmistakable oversight and to hire and receive reports What does this have to do with the oper- magazine departments, such as news, car- from the full-time, salaried executive direc- ations of SUNSTONE? Besides my desire for toons, and columns. SUNSTONE is a blend of tor (the publisher-editor). more articles on doing justice, it illustrates the journalistic Newsweek, the opinionated The business side is coordinated by a our main perquisite: to legitimately ponder New Republic, and the literary New Yorl~er. I full-time business manager (Kimberly such religious things at work with a delight- have heard Jan 5hipps describe SUNSTONE to Kolan) and a part-time assistant (Carol ful group of like-hearted friends. Such delib- non-Mormons as a Mormon Atlantic. Quist) who adeptly surf the relentless waves erations color our responses to Mormon It will take time and added resources to of subscriptions, renewals, address correc- issues and cause us to regularly reevaluate completely realize its magazine model, but tions, orders, bookkeeping, deposits, payroll what SUNSTONE is and is about. SUNSTONE’S future is structured by it. That taxes, advertising, and promotions. "What is the difference between SUN- means paid, permanent, career employees in The editorial side has a full-time manag- STONE and Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon various departments, just like other periodi- ing editor (to be hired) and a part-time asso- Thought?" is perhaps our most-asked ques- cals. What a service to Mormonism to have ciate editor (Marti Esplin) who edit, tion (next is "Do you have a testimony?"). an independent, established organization to proofread, arrange for artists, and coddle The primary and defining difference is that host the reporting and discussion of issues authors. Our full-time production manager Dialogue is an academic journal and SUN- from a wide spectrum of perspectives that (Margery Mullin) corrals the cows of desk- STONE is an intellectual magazine. extend beyond the Church’s appropriate nar- top publishing, magazine layout, and truant Academic journals, often quarterlies, are row sanction. This full-scale magazine vision yearlings--like getting those pesky end-of- usually edited by professors who are given was best articulated when the incredible article sunstones straight. time by their university to do the task for a Peggy Fletcher edited two simultaneous All assist our symposium chair (Greg certain period. Article submissions are Sunstone publications. The staff then had Campbell) in conducting the unwieldy and "refereed"--critiqued--by a board of quali- several full-time editors, a news department, unrehearsed orchestra of the annual sympo- fied editors to ensure that they add new a business manager, advertising and circula- sium in Salt Lake City. knowledge to the field, meet that discipline’s tion employees, two art designers, a typeset- We few, we happy few, keep busy. Everyone scholarly standards, and thoroughly cover ter, and a book review editor--all paid. It takes telephone subscriptions and complaints, and document the topic. Very important, was a New York-style magazine with all the hosts drop-in visitors, and contributes to Our academic journals do not pay for manu- departments in embryo. Peggy’s vision out- philosophical conversations. scripts-publishing is part of the academic’s paced financial realities, and SUNSTONE Notice how this rambling discourse university job. This is a tradition both SUN- drastically cutback (the dark days of volume bounces between visionary issues and pro- STONE and Dialogue honor; our authors write nine). Now, we operate with a skeleton crew duction pragmatics--the two are inextrica- out of passionate interest and service. that doubles-up on responsibilities. I hope bly connected. The realization of any vision With important differences, Dialogue was within a year to employ a full-time journalist depends on SUNSTONE’s financial situation, organized and is run on the academic model. to cover contemporary Mormonism--there which has always been tight. We live as most It is a refereed, quarterly journal of the inter- are important stories to tell. As it is, our news Americans do--hand to mouth, or to put it disciplinary Mormon studies--history, the- now primarily summarizes the reporting in more kindly, within our means. To the sur- olog> sociology, arts, humanities, science, other media, providing an invaluable service prise of many, subscriptions do not cover all etc. Its editors have five-year paid terms, for readers off the Wasatch Front. the costs of SUNSTONE. In fact, one-third of which they fulfill while otherwise employed. In the unchartable future, I’d like to hire our budget comes from donations. This is It also has a small, paid staff that supple- a graphic designer to make the look more typical for small intellectual publications; al- ments its volunteer editorial board. It has the creative and interesting. I’d like the luxury to most all are subsidized by donations, an luxury of publishing long, heavily footnoted, identify a topic that needs examining and to endowment, or institutional support (such

MARCH 1993 PAGE 9 as a university, church, or foundation). But of time (such as a year). To tell how close ness of God to his children, the fruitfulness we need more than financial help. your subscription is to expiring, compare the of a generous harvest, the gathering and shar- We are darn proud of crossing the thresh- expiring issue number on the mailing label ing of all things good. old of 10,000 subscribers, which is triple our with the one on the table of contents. When I think of the cornucopia, I think 3,300 mark of six years ago. But it would 4. There is no such thing as a free phone of John Peters’s article on perfection (SUN- take at least another 10,000 subscribers for call. SUNSTONE’s "toll-free" 1-800 telephone STONE 11:3). In his exegesis, John showed SUNSTONE to be entirely supported by sub- number is not a WATS line. Many friends that the Sermon on the Mountg summing scriptions and to attract advertisers in large incorrectly assume that we pay a flat command to be perfect is more accurately a numbers. Our dramatic increase is the result monthly fee for unlimited, incoming 800 command to live a life of overflowing good- of promotional mass mailings that offer at- long-distance calls, and use it for a friendly ness and fruitfulness than to be flawless. tractive premiums, and is also due to gift visit. We pay per call, and only advertise the Through this constructive essay, the spirit subscriptions. As our budget and content are number for official business, such as for has regularly called me to grow in charity, linked, so are current and new subscribers. credit-card renewal and subscription promo- service, and nonj udgmentalness. New mailing-list names come from old sub- tions. A call saved is a call earned. These symbols frame my thoughts of scribers, so please share with us names and 5. Patronize stores that carry SUNSTONE. what SUNSTONE is about and help me assess addresses. If you allow us to use your name, We’re working to get more LDS bookstores to its success. Our task to explore the interplay we’ll send your referral a sample issue. (Use carry SUNSTONE. On page four we list those between the human and the divine is diffi- the convenient insert card in this issue.) that do. Please encourage your local store to cult, just ask a New Mormon Historian. No In addition, retaining current subscrib- carry us and refer them to friends who want doubt the magazine sometimes overstresses ers requires multiple renewal mailings. To a copy of a particular issue. the human aspects of what it means to be the glean those who need yet a stronger incen- As you can see, the sun doesn’t set on the people of God. I believe we need to charita- tive, we’re startin.g a project for which we diverse work of the magazine. The image of bly confront the unpleasant, albeit in- need help. Two nights a month, volunteers the sun has been a rich metaphor for SUN- complete, truths for solid growth, but at will gather at the office to call individuals STONE: the radiating of light, truth, knowl- times I fear that we don’t sufficiently cele- whose subscriptions have expired. For each edge, and beauty; the democratic blessings brate the divine. How fruitful is honest ex- hour volunteered, we’ll give a complemen- of God to humankind; the dispelling of false- ploration when it leads to cynicism, tary ticket to a session at the Salt Lake sym- hoods and the uncovering of hidden truths; regardless of undeniable insights, as it occa- posium or one cassette recording of a and the seeing of things by new light. In sionally does? But that doesn’t mean we previous symposium session. We also need Mormon temple iconography, the sun is a should abandon the quest for an examined volunteers during weekdays. symbol for the celestial kingdom, and the religious life. In my spiritual journey I have After having confronted the insistent lo- carving of it on the Nauvoo and Salt Lake found God through understanding the teles- gistical demands of SUNSTONE, I understand temples created the fortunate compound of tial dramas of others and myself. (One friend why, when asked to distill from his life a rare two primal words, sun and stone. SunStone, suggested that Starstone more accurately de- gem for posterity, international hotelier Con- as an earlier SUNSTONE masthead combined scribes what kingdom we are exploring.) rad Hilton reportedly said, "The shower cur- them, fuses heaven and earth, the divine and I don’t have final answers, but the regular tain goes on the inside of the tub." In Hilton’s human, the visionary and practical--all cou- consideration of such questions by both ed- self-interested tradition, here are five things plings that I think characterize the dynamic itors and readers is essential to an endeavor I’d like subscribers to remember and to do. of SUNSTONE’s processes and products. such as SUNSTONE. In a couple of issues, 1. The U.S. Postal Service forwards only There is a second image on the Nauvoo we’ll send out a special edition that features first-class mail. 5UNSTONE is sent by slow- Sunstone that is often overlooked-~the two a cumulative index of Sunstone’s magazines boat, third-class mail. The words "Address cornucopia held by hands above the image and symposiums. The Readers’ Forum sec- Correction Requested" by the mailing label of the sun. Like the sun that shines on both tion will feature letters reflecting on the con- on the back cover instruct the postal service the wicked and righteous, the horns of tributions, and failings, of SUNSTONE. Please to tell us (for a price) where an addressee has plenty also symbolize the overflowing good- share your own ruminations. ~ moved; it does not include forwarding the magazine to you or returning it to us. Many subscribers miss an issue because they rely on letter carriers to tell us their new address. 2. Share your thoughts with authors, readers, and editors. If you discuss an article in a study group, if you distribute copies in a class, give a report to its author. Since we are really a small, interconnected group, it is surprising how little feedback authors get. The same is true for editors; you can now fax letters to the editor (801/355-4043). SUN- STONE does not give out authors’ addresses, but we cheerfully forward letters addressed to them unopened. 3. SUNSTONE subscriptions are for a spe- cific number of issues--not a specific length

PAGE 10 MARCH 1993 have gathered at the rim of the Nevada Test TURNING THE TIME OVER TO ... Site in recent years to pray and to protest the idolatry of nuclear weapons. Thousands have found this place of evil, where their Lawrence Young nation has developed and tested the tools of mass destruction, to be a significant arena for the deepening of faith and for nonviolent actions of resistance. JOURNEYING INTO THE DESERT" During Lent of 1992, I made my first visit to the Test Site as I joined a weekend retreat THE FAITH-BASED WITNESS sponsored by Franciscans. It was a deeply moving experience as I joined with hun- AGAINST NUCLEAR WEAPONS dreds of others in praying, singing, reflect- ing, sharing, listening, worshiping, symbol-building, and "crossing the line" (trespassing) in the desert through an act of nonviolent civil disobedience. Over the past few years I have met many who have committed part or all of their lives to the Franciscan tradition of Christian devo- tion and practice. My respect for this tradi- tion was heightened through the presence of Brother Hermann Schaluck, the minister general of the Franciscan Order, and the fourteen Franciscan provincials of the Eng- lish speaking Roman Catholic Church, who worshipped with us at the Test Site. Brother Hermann delivered the keynote address dur- ing the weekend retreat; and listening to the modern-day spokesperson for Francis of As- sisi stirred the subterranean whisperings of the spirit that call my soul. In his address, Brother Hermann re- flected on the essential components of the faith journey in ruder to help each of us reflect on the nature of Christian witnessing. He said that the call to be peacemakers must The 1992 Franciscan weekend at the Nevada Test Site. The first person "crossing the line" be rooted in faith of a living and loving God at the cattleguard onto federal land as part of her witness against nuclear testings is who is among us--it is this faith that is the hugging the police officer who is arresting her. source for our lasting optimism as we seek a more just world. He emphasized the link Acting as individual Latter-day Saints, Mormon Peace Gathering between voluntary poverty and peacemak- ing, noting that one’s poverty becomes a hu- is planning a weekend of activities that affirm dedication to the manizing force by placing us in a position restored gospel of Jesus Christ and to God’s command to where we can say, "I don’t want things "renounce war and proclaim peace. "" A campaign of prayer because then I would need arms to protect my things." He told us that the world needs and witnessing is part of the process of creating a will for peace. healing and that the source of that healing was not abstract theology, but relationships lived out in the context of nonviolent lan- But now I shall woo her, lead her Israel’s behalf with the wild beasts, guage (he would view language constrained into the wilderness, and speak the birds of the air, and the crea- by patriarchy as one indicator that authentic words of encouragement to tures that creep on the ground, and relationships were still restricted). Brother her .... I shall make a covenant on I shall break bow and sword and Hermann called on each of us in the world weapon of war and sweep them off to overcome evil by doing good. Making the earth, so that my people may lie accusations against actions or policies we LAWRENCE YOUNG is a member of the organ- down without fear. (Hosea 2:14-, perceive to be evil may be justified, but it is izing committee of Mormon Peace Gathering, 18, Revised English Bible.) no solution. He said that we must bring which can be contacted by writing P. O. Box about something new--and this is done by 520736, Salt Lake City, UT 84152 (801/595- PEOPLE OF FAITH, coming from a doing and saying the positive. Finally, he 8226). wide range of denominational backgrounds, expressed hope and counseled that in what-

MARCH 1993 PAGE 11 ever we do in our commitment to peacemak- broader involvement with issues of peace tracted from the Christian ideal of love (see ing, we must do it consistently with pure and social justice. President Kimball’s 1976 bicentennial ad- motives and with patience. I returned twice more before the end of dress). Finally, they shared our faith that On the Sunday morning that I was first Lent, first for a weekend sponsored by the "when there is enough of a desire for peace arrested for unauthorized entry onto the Test Society of Friends (Quakers) and then for an and a will to bring it about, it is not beyond Site, Brother Hermann stood with me as I interfaith Palm Sunday worship service and the possibility of attainment" (1980 First prepared to "cross the line." As we quietly direct action. Presidency Christmas Message). conversed, he reflected on how surprised he On each of my three trips to vigil at the Leaders of the Nevada Desert Experience was by the spirit of the place. Our collective Test Site, I was accompanied by other Mor- (NDE), the organization that has coordinated commitment to a code of nonviolence, cou- mons-men and women representing a va- much of the faith-based resistance to nuclear pled with our just completed worship, cre- riety of backgrounds and ages (a student in weapons testing at the Test Site, asked the ated an atmosphere of gentleness, honesty, her early twenties, a lawyer in his mid-thir- Mormons who participated in the 1992 and love for our fellow beings (including the ties, an administrator in his fifties, etc.). By Lenten Desert Experience if there were other security personnel who were about to arrest Palm Sunday, nearly a dozen Mormons had Mormons who might add their voices to the us). We had come to a place of evil and were joined with me at these interfaith worship inter faith witness against nuclear weapons. enveloped by a sense of humanity and deep services and witnesses. Without exception, Specifically, they wondered whether NDE spirituality. all were deeply moved by the experience; might help us organize a Mormon weekend In the desert, I learned that the religious many spoke of it as a deeply transformative as part of the 1993 Lenten Desert Witness. community’s witness against nuclear weap- moment in their lives. What was the motivation of those at NDE ons is quiet, humble, and based in faith. It Others at these interfaith gatherings were in seeking such an alliance? Over the past confronts ultimate evil with powerlessness, impressed by the presence of Mormons, and decade, NDE had already welcomed peace- love, and hope. People find God at the Test they wondered what it was that brought us making groups from across the religious Site, they discover themselves in ways that to the desert. They seemed to understand spectrum--including Catholics, Method- seem remarkably familiar and experience a our concern that "men seldom [have] created ists, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Friends, profound sense of community as they share armaments that eventually were not put to Mennonites, Jews, and Buddhists--who the witness with others. This experiment use" (May 1981 First Presidency Statement came as people of faith to protest nuclear with peacemaking transforms those who on the MX System). They .joined with us in weapons testing. It was in their nature to participate in it, and the work of inner heal- deploring "the use of nuclear weapons with seek an expansion of that interfaith witness. ing takes place even as they seek to heal the their terrible potential for the destruction of Although a Mormon weekend would add to world. On a personal level, the Franciscan life, property and even of civilization itself" the workload of the NDE staff, it would also weekend deepened my resolve to pursue the (1981 First Presidency Easter Message). be a new source of energy and vitality in the spiritual journey that had recently been call- They shared in our view that weapon sys- interfaith effort to overcome the terrible ing me to deeper personal reflection and tems represented modern-day idols that de- threat of nuclear weapons. By early summer of 1992, a group of Latter-day Saints--calling themselves Mor- mon Peace Gathering--had made a commit- ment to Nevada Desert Experience to organize a Mormon weekend at the Test Site in March of 1993. Other weekends during Lent of 1993 will be sponsored by groups of Franciscans, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Methodists, and Friends. Acting as individual Latter-day Saints, Mormon Peace Gathering is planning a weekend of activities that affirm dedication to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and to God’s command to "renounce war and pro- claim peace" (D&C 98:16). What do those involved with Mormon Peace Gathering hope to accomplish? Let me draw on their words, as contained in one of their organizing pamphlets: Our objective is to bring about an end to nuclear weapons testing at the Nevada test site, as a first step toward negotiation of a compre- hensive test ban treaty. We are in- spired by the efforts of many people throughout the world who, "Just for the record, Mormons were non-smokers recognizing the presence of evil long before it was fashionable." and injustice around them, have

MARCH 1993 PAGE 12 heeded the spiritual prompting to end. I know that many Mormons have al- Non-Proliferation Treaty. However, we must "be anxiously engaged in a good ready found a deep spirituality in the desert recognize that powerful interest groups are cause, and do many things of their journey toward peacemaking. I am confident lobbying for a continuation of business as own free will, and bring to pass that those who join with us at the 1993 usual. Failure to get a Comprehensive Test much righteousness" (D&C 58:27). Mormon weekend will have similar experi- Ban Treaty in place prior to the expiration of Adding our voices to the thou- ences. the Non-Proliferation Treaty could have dire sands of others calling for an end to consequences for global peace as numerous nuclear testing, we can make a dif- ONE major question looms over the nations stand on the threshold of having ference. continuing faith-based witness at the Test nuclear weapons. Many non-nuclear nations And there is more. In our own Site: Is the witness still necessary in a post- have indicated that they will proceed with lives, we are grateful for the testi- Cold War era? Those involved with Nevada nuclear weapons development if a Compre- mony of God’s love we have expe- Desert Experience and Mormon Peace Gath- hensive Test Ban is not in place by 1995 and rienced in feeling called to bear ering believe we are at a crucial juncture in if nations with nuclear weapons have not personal witness against prepara- the history of efforts to limit the proliferation made a commitment to undergo a build- tions for nuclear war. We feel an of nuclear weapons and that it is the respon- down of their stockpiles of weapons. obligation to talk and reflect to- sibility of those committed to peace to seize Nevada Desert Experience and Mormon gether on the significance of what the opportunity. Peace Gathering believe that a campaign of we have experienced personally: The U.S. government is currently in the prayer and witnessing is part of the process on the one hand, horror at our middle of a nine-month moratorium on nu- of creating a will for peace. These acts of faith nation’s continued preparations for clear weapons testing. At present, U.S. test- are coupled with continuing lobbying ef- a "holocaust, the depth and ing is scheduled to restart after 1 July 1993 forts-efforts that can be energized by the breadth of which can scarcely be and continue until after the 1995 expiration presence of Mormons in the interfaith wit- imagined" [1980 First Presidency of the current Nuclear Non-Proliferation ness. Christmas Message]; on the other, Treaty that restricts the building of nuclear The faith-based effort to bring about an a celebration of God~ love, plainly weapons by non-nuclear nations. Although end to nuclear weapons testing and a reduc- manifest in the spiritual prompt- Congress has indicated that the resumption tion in nuclear arms has experienced signifi- ings we feel, and in the natural and of U.S. testing should focus on a restricted cant achievements within the past several human creation we are called to set of "safety" issues, recent reports indicate months, but much remains to be done. Over preserve and protect. The NDE that some military officials and scientists are the years, church people have encouraged Mormon weekend will provide us arguing for add-on experiments to the au- other church people to pray with them in the with an opportunity to lift and thorized nuclear tests. These add-on experi- desert, to protest the testing of nuclear weap- strengthen one another in an ex- ments will focus on the development of new ons. It was what they knew how to do, so pression of faith that integrates kinds of weapons and would likely fuel a they did it. Thousands have come to the Mormon identity with peacemak- continuation of the arms race. These same Nevada desert over the years to pray and ing. Like our pioneer forbearers, military officials and scientists are arguing protest the idolatry of nuclear weapons. Now our faith in God challenges us to that the current ban does not restrict "zero- they have invited Mormons who share this embark together upon a spiritual yield" tests that could be used to design new concern to join with them. And while the .journey into the desert. (From the nuclear weapons. (See, for example, "Bomb .journey we have been invited to join is fo- Mormon Peace Gathering pam- Designers Stick to Their Guns, Want More cused on resistance to nuclear weapons, it phlet, "Mormon Peace Gathering: N-Tests," Salt Lalze Tribune, 26 November involves much more. In the solitude of the Answers to some commonly asked 1992, A10.) desert at the gate of the Test Site, those who questions about the Nevada Desert Many who are involved in the peace embarked on this journey have learned that Experience 1993 Mormon Week- movement believe that we now have a win- when they pray "What in God’s name are we end. dow of opportunity to establish a permanent to do?," the prayer includes the question Mormon Peace Gathering is proceeding moratorium on U.S. nuclear weapons testing "Who in God’s name are we to be?" The with plans to hold a 1993 Mormon Weekend and to enact a Comprehensive Test Ban .answer we find in the desert is a gift of grace in Las Vegas on Friday and Saturday, 26-27 Treaty within the international community from God. ~rg March, and near the entrance to the Nevada before the 1995 expiration of the Nuclear Test Site at Mercury, Nevada, on Sunday, 28 March. Activities will include individual re- flection, testimony sharing, group worship (including keynote addresses by Eugene England, Edwin B. Firmage, and Claudia Peterson), nonviolence training, meals, a sing-along (Mormon pioneer trail songs in- Where is there a singing bird terspersed with "songs of the movement"), when all I hear is silence? and plenty of time for getting to know one Leaves droop from lonely limbs another--culminating in an outdoor wor- whence brightly colored sounds once came. ship service near the entrance of the Test Site. Where is there a warm lit bloom Based on my own experience at the Test when all is languid darkness? Site, I eagerly await the 1993 Mormon week- --DAVID CLARK KNOWLTON

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The cities of the eastern Roman provinces were teeming with reli,cous associations, initiatory cults, and purveyors of moral reform. That was the world in which Christianity began, and no other. Both its ways of belongng to and estrangement from that world are equally parts of its character. We must try to understand both. THE PUZZLE OF CHRISTIAN BEGINNINGS

By Wayne A. Meeks

YOU WOULD NOT THINK, AFTER NEARLY TWO within which Christianity began and developed. We owe most thousand years of diligent inquiry, that the beginnings of Chris-of our new insight to advances that have been made by tianity would still be a puzzle. Or even if they are a puzzle, oncescholars in other fields, particularly in the social and intellec- we acknowledge that hard facts about the early years are hard tual history of the Roman Empire and in the history of the Jews to find, at least you might think that there is nothing new thatunder Roman rule. Moreover, for a variety of reasons too could be said on the question. However, the picture that histor- complicated to go into here, scholars of early Christianity have ical scholarship has formed of early Christianity has changedlearned to pay more resolute attention to the movement’s larger significantly in recent years. Why has this happened? Withoutenvironment than has often been the case in the past. doubt one. reason is that there are a great many scholars like me I hope to provide an introductory sketch of the way the who earn their livings by trying to say something new. Still,puzzle of Christian origins now looks to me as a result of the there are more substantial reasons why we have had to revisechanged perspectives I have just mentioned. I will begin by our understanding of the way Christianity began. describing Christianity as one among several innovative move- For one thing, new evidence has turned up. The most ments and sects of Judaism that flourished in the first century dramatic discoveries have been widely publicized: a cache ofof our era. To see the followers of Jesus as a sect of Judaism is fourth-century manuscripts in Egypt shed extraordinary newthe fundamental starting point for any historical account. light on one deviant movement in the early Church, Gnosti-However, for reasons that will become apparent, I will concen- cism. And the now-famous "Dead Sea Scrolls" have shown us trate on what became of the Jesus movement when it moved with some clarity the inner life of a sect of Judaism that wasfrom the land of Israel into the cities around the eastern active for a century and a half before Christianity began, andMediterranean basin. My primary aim will be to try to help the which had many traits in common with it. reader imagine how this new movement would have been seen As important as these discoveries and dozens of other by ordinary people in those Greek-speaking cities. smaller ones are, another factor has worked even more strongly to shift our perspective on Christianity’s origins. That THE JESUS SECT factor is our increased knowledge about the environment AS a sect of Judaism, Christianity was not a success. That WAYNE A. MEEK5 is the Woolsey Professor of Biblical Studies and is not so surprising; it shared the fate of almost all the Jewish Fellow of Calhoun College at Yale University. He is the author of sects of which we know, lasting about as long as any of them. The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle The one exception was the Pharisees, the one truly successful Patti and The Moral World of the First Christian, and is the sect, if we can believe the conventional view that it gave birth general editor of the Library of Early Christianity series published to the rabbinic movement. I mean by successful that the by the Westminster Press. avowed or tacit reason for a sect’s existence is either to convert This paper was delivered at a plenary session of 5unstone or to replace the main religious tradition and organization over Symposium XIII, 10 August 1991, at University Park Hotel in Salt against which it has defined itself. Although the rabbinic Lake City. An earlier form of the lecture was delivered at Davidson movement required several centuries and a great deal of luck College, Davidson, NC, 29 September, 1986, at Miami University to succeed, the earliest Christians tried but failed to change of Ohio, 10 March 1987, and at Carleton University, Ottawa, Judaism. In that respect they were like the Essenes and the Canada, on 8 February 1989. other obscure sects.

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The Jewish sects in general, so far as our sources inform us,enterprise in Asia Minor and Greece. Interestingly, that contro- had little impact outside the land of Israel. The Therapeutaeversy over circumcision was still within the context of a dis- celebrated by Philo were a Diaspora group, but they appear to senting Jewish sect, for the whole issue was whether (male) have been a small and isolated phenomenon in a single loca-gentile converts could be received into the community in any tion in Egypt. A sect, by definition, takes its shape in vocal orother way than that which had come to be prescribed, in tacit opposition to the central institutions of its larger society.post-exilic times, for proselytes to Judaism. In second-commonwealth Judea those institutions were the But the oddest thing of all is that as vehemently as Paul temple and the priesthood. When the temple was destroyed inrejected that requirement, his own understanding of Christi- 70 C.E., the sects accordingly anity, as laid out in the Letter to Ro- ceased to exist. We hear no more mans, was that of a Jewish sectary. of the Essenes, and the Pharisees Paul understood the new movement, apparently were absorbed into including the gentiles whom he the emerging proto-rabbinic thought it his peculiar mission to in- movement. For a time some corporate, to be the fulfillment of the parts of the Christian sect de- hopes precisely of Israel--its destiny fined themselves over against consolid with Israel’s, his proselytes that emerging set of authorities, were but wild branches grafted into the rabbis, but its future lay else- the trunk of Israel. And unlike the where. later author of Matthew’s Gospel, Paul did not think of the kingdom as taken THE MOVE TO THE away from Israel and given to another DIASPORA people; he does not yet speak as later Christians would of "the New Israel" THE Christian sect did or "the True Israel." It is the conver- move to the Diaspora (the Jews sion of Israel for which he, like every scattered abroad), and early, long sectary, hoped for. before the revolt of 66-73 C.E. The irony is that the practical orga- The second-century Roman his- nization of Paul’s mission was, so far torian Suetonius reports that the as we can discover from his letters, emperor Claudius expelled Jews altogether independent of the Jewish from Rome because of distur- communities that existed in the cities bances in their community where he ar~.d his fellow-workers caused by a certain "Chrestus." founded their Christian cells. By the The usual and probably correct time he wrote his extant letters, these interpretation of that report is groups were no longer effectively a that Christian missionaries had Jewish sect at all, but were something already arrived in Roman syn- quite new. agogues. Opinions about the date differ, but it was no later NEW CULTS IN THE than 49 and perhaps as early as GRECO-ROMAN CITIES 41. The followers of Jesus had found adherents in the Jewish THE appearance of a new reli- communities of Syria much earlier than that, first in Damascus,gious group in the cities of the Roman empire was nothing and then in the great metropolis of Antioch. It was at Antiochunusual, of course. Most of these imported cults, however, that the crucial step was taken, as we are told by the book of were the native religions of people who had immigrated. The Acts, that some of the Greek-speaking Jesus-sectaries who had Hellenistic and Roman periods of Mediterranean history were been chased out of Jerusalem began to proselytize non-Jews. times of rapid growth of cities, of consequent movement of There, too, outsiders first nicknamed this sect "Christus-fol-people from rural areas to cities, and also of a constant flux of lowers," christianoi. The name stuck, and it marked a steppeople from one part of the Mediterranean to another. Every toward having an identity distinct from the Jewish community.city of any size thus took on a mixed complexion as it acquired There at Antioch Paul served with Barnabas his apprentice- ethnic neighborhoods from the immigrants who settled near ship as a Christian missionary, after an earlier, apparentlypeople who had come earlier from their homelands. Today’s unsuccessful, venture into the "Arabian" kingdom of thevisitor to the cities of Turkey and Greece whose Roman strata Nabateans. The great controversy over circumcision thathave been excavated can see the patterns of those immigrant started at Antioch led to his break with Barnabas and his associations laid out patently before the eyes. One of the most departure and his subsequent organization of new missionarygraphic instances is the Aegean island Delos, which, because it

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is now virtually uninhabited, has been almost entirely exca-Glykon, however, was only a new appearance and form of vated. In the age of the Athenian-run Delian league, Delos hadApollo, and the things he was supposed to do give oracles, been sacred to Apollo and his sister Artemis, who supposedly provide miraclesnwere familiar enough. By and large, the were born there, and in Roman times a colossal statue ofcults that moved with their migrating supporters were varia- Apollo still towered over the central plain. As Delos had lost itstions on a few familiar themes, and they came to resemble one political significance and become instead a major marketinganother still more as they assimilated to the styles and fashions center, waves of merchants from all over the world had come,of the modern Greek cities. Greek was everybody’s language, settled, and brought their own gods with them. There by the and the temples that every cult erected as soon as it could harbor one sees the vast plaza ded- afford to were Greek, too. icated by the Italian merchants to The Jews and the Samaritans, to business and its patron, Mercury. be sure, were different, and some Leading off from it is the avenue on people held that against them. whose verge still stand many of the However, the Jews of the Greco- row of monuments to the Greek Roman cities were not really as dif- Dionysus, those astonishing giant, ferent as we have been led to be- erect phalluses, which must have HE TRULY SIGNIFICANT lieve, as we can see now from such made Victorian visitors fairly giddy discoveries as the magnificent syn- with what seems to modern eyes DIFFERENCE OF THE agogue on the main street of Sardis, blatant pornography. Off to the left or the reserved section in the theatre are remains of a grand community JEWISH SECTS WAS THEIR at Miletus, or the list of members center of the immigrants from Bei- and "God-rearers," with their trades rut, dedicated to the god Poseidon. EXCLUSIVITY; ONE and status-designations, of the syn- Ascending the hill above the thea- agogue at Aphrodisias. The truly tre, the visitor comes upon the sev- COULD NOT FULLY significant difference was their ex- eral shrines, built over succeeding clusivity: one could not fully partic- generations to the Egyptian gods PARTICIPATE IN THE ipate in the worship of their god and Isis and Serapis. Over near the far- also still casually share in other cults ther shore, in much plainer build- WORSHIP OF THEIR as well. That was thought odd and ings, were the community centers to many eyes offensive in a religious of the Jews and of the Samaritans, GOD AND STILL world characterized on the whole the latter referring to themselves as by both easy tolerance and frequent "Israelites of Delos who send their syncretism. Nevertheless, this ex- offerings to Sacred Har Garizim." CASUALLY SHARE IN clusivity was officially acknowl- At the time when Christianity was edged as part of the ancient tradi- born, Delos would have made OTHER CULTS AS WELL. tion of Judean religion, and that today’s San Francisco seem paro- therefore the Jews were behaving chial. And a similar confluence of quite rightly in preserving their an- peoples and their gods would have cestral customs. One of the most been evident in each of the cities where the Christian mission-problematical things about the Christians, indeed, was that aries looked for converts as one can readily see in the ruinsthey insisted on the same sort of intolerance toward other cults of Corinth, Philippi, or Ephesus. as the Jews. Yet once it was apparent that they were distinct It is not surprising that, in such cosmopolitan settings,from the Jewish communities and were not of any particular people would be curious about the rites of their neighbors andethnic origin, the Christians had no ancient customs to excuse some would sample them. Most of the rites were public and it. took forms that were fairly standard: processions on festival The Christians were not the first offshoot from an ethnic days through the streets of the city; banquets in the anteroomscult in the Greco-Roman world to take a form quite different of the temple; sacrifices on the altar of the god; salutations tofrom that of its native parent. I have already suggested that the god’s statue at set times. For some there were special every native religion modified itself to some extent to fit into functions, like the popular healing gods, particularly As-the world of the Hellenistic city in the age of Roman imperial- klepius, and of course the rites of some gods seemed more ism. There were also a few instances of a radically new form of exotic than others, exciting sometimes titillation, sometimescult emerging from native roots. One of these was already outrage, by staid Romans of the older school, like the historianwidely established in the world in which Christianity began: who was among the first to mention Christianity, Tacitus.the cult of Isis and Serapis. Though they were known as "the Occasionally a new cult would be organized, like the famousEgyptian gods," Serapis was not part of the ancient Egyptian one satirized by Lucian, the cult of Glykon founded in the latepantheon at all, but first appears on the scene in the third second century by a certain Alexander of Abonuteicus. century B.C.E. And the Isis who became so popular all over the

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Mediterranean basin at the time of Romeg dominance was verydents in exchange for their support and honor for him. Schol- different from the ancient consort and sister of Osiris. Manyars have discovered a number of inscriptions from antiquity scholars think that the new cult was the deliberate and artificialwhich were put up to recognize such benefactors properly. creation of the Ptolemaic kings of Egypt in the Hellenistic age, made up in order to advance their imperial policy, which THE CHRISTIAN CULT extended their interests far beyond the borders of Egypt. If so, IN PAGAN EYES they were extraordinarily successful, as you can easily see by reading Apuleius’ famous novel Metamorphoses, or Plutarch’s WHEN we read in the Book of Acts about Paul moving learned philosophical essay on in with fellow tent-makers Prisca and Isis and Osiris, or the popular .... Aquila, or accepting the hospitality of novel about the Ephesian couple the Jewish adherent Lydia, a merchant saved by Isis’ providential care, of luxury fabrics, or staying in the Xenophon’s Ephesian Tales...... house of Jason, who had to post bond Another new cult with only for their good behavior, we are wit- tenuous native roots was Mithra- nessing the use by the early Christians ism, the cult that became so pop- of this same familiar institution of pa- ular with members of the Roman tronage. The same is true when Paul armed forces in the second and sends greetings to the Meeting at the third centuries. Its chief deity, House of Philemon, or Prisca and Mithras, had very little to do with Aquila, or Nympha, and when he re- the minor god of that name in the minds the Corinthian Christians of ancient Zoroastrian religion of the special recognition they owe to Persia. So it is not so ironic that householders like Stephanas. The the Roman garrison in Dura Eu- pagan observer would have seen in ropos, sent there to defend the these little household meetings a fa- borders of the empire against the miliar phenomenon. Adherents to a Persians, should have been so en- newly imported cult were setting up thusiastic about a nominally Per- as voluntary associations in private sian god that they repeatedly re- households. Although they showed modeled a house into a grand few of the public trappings of a proper home for his worship. religion--they held no processions Archaeologists have traced and celebrated no visible festivals, the way the Mithraists of Dura they performed no sacrifices and had progressed in that little border no statue of their god--yet like many town, expanding from modest of the new cults, they practiced an beginnings in a private house initiatory ritual and assembled at set through successive enlargements times for a ritual meal. and remodelings until they had a thriving establishment. It was typical of the way other cults THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE established themselves in a new place as well. Indeed, on the CHRISTIANS AND OTHER CULTS same street where the Mithraeum of Dura was found, the Jews had gone through a similar progression, producing that won- STILL, there were important differences between the derfully decorated synagogue whose painted walls so aston- Christians and other cults. Once it became apparent that ished scholars when it was unearthed in 1935. A few blocks Christianity was not, or no longer, a sect of the Jewish commu- down the same street, the Christian group had progressed the nity, it seemed odd because it had no single ethnic root. The same way, though they were obviously still smaller and poorerChristians did not come from anywhere. Tacitus, you will than the Mithraists or the Jews; their house and its decorationrecall, still saw the Christian "superstition" as Judean in origin, were still fairly primitive by comparison. The adherents to aeven at a time when, in Rome, it had become clear they were cult in a new place, whether the cult of their homeland or onenot a part of the Jewish community proper. But even in Paul’s of the new or modified cults that were attracting worshippers lifetime, though Paul persisted in thinking of the gentile Chris- across ethnic lines, formed an association, a club. And theytians as somehow part of the stock of Israel, the communities characteristically found a patron--a relatively wealthy personhe founded were overwhelmingly gentile. Their fundamental who would either pay for renting or building a suitable meet-identity was not ethnic in the sense of having a common ing place or would permit them to meet in his or her ownimmigrant heritage. In this way, the Christians resemble their home. This patron might either be an adherent of the cult oryounger rivals, the Mithraists. simply someone who wished to do a favor for some depen- The Christians were further different from other Greco-

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Roman cults in their sharing with Jews an extraordinary exclu- aid, mutual meddling, oversight, and complaint that con- siveness or intolerance of other cults. We cannot be sure, of nected those Christian groups to each other and about which course, of the degree to which every convert to the new faith Paul and his disciples wrote their letters. No wonder that by really separated him or herself from participation in every one the third century the emperors were beginning to regard of the religious activities that permeated civic life in antiquity. Christianity not merely as a local secret society that might be In the Pauline groups in Corinth, for example, an argument politically or morally dangerous, but a kind of international broke out whether a Christian was allowed to accept invita- conspiracy whose structure in some ways rivaled the imperial tions to dinner with a pagan, or even to eat any meat from the bureaucracy itself. And when Constantine decided to join this local meat-markets, since the cult that his predecessors and com- principal source of publicly sold petitors hadn’t been able to stamp out, meat was the sacrifices that went he found that church bureaucracy and on incessantly in the various the bishop’s schools that prepared temples. The question remained candidates for service in it a useful controversial through the first source for recruitment to the imperial century and was mentioned in IN THAT CONTEXT, civil service. Christian handbooks in the sec- The final external distinction that ond. Most leaders were more the astute observer of Christianity conservative than Paul; appar- ONE MUST MARVEL AT THE would have noticed is that in many ently many individuals, on the ways this cult was more than a cult. other hand, were more liberal. COMPLEX NETWORK Not only did it lack many of the exter- Nevertheless, the principle that nal features of a proper religion, it Paul insisted upon remained the OF CONNECTIONS, occupied itself with things that were not ordinarily the province of religion norm for the mainstream of the VISITS, LETTERS, MUTUAL AID, Christian movement: anyone in ancient societies. The letters of Paul, for example, or the letters of baptized as a Christian must not MUTUAL MEDDLING, participate in a clearly recog- other leaders of the new movement, nized cultic rite of any other god. OVERSIGHT, AND COMPLAINT or the handbooks that the movement "Even though there are many so produced, devote an astonishingly called gods in heaven or on earth, THAT CONNECTED small space to the specifically reli- as indeed there are many gods gious, that is, cultic matters. By far the and many lords, yet for us there THOSE CHRISTIAN GROUPS dominant concern of these docu- is one God, the Father, from ments is with the behavior of the whom is the universe and for TO EACH OTHER. members of the Christian groups. The whom are we ourselves, and one preponderant form of the literature is Lord, Jesus Christ, through exhortation or moral advice, explain- whom is the universe and ing and backing up in multiple ways through whom ourselves" (1 Corinthians 8:5-6). "You cannot the reasons for behaving in the ways advocated and holding drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot the attitudes that were inculcated. The ancient reader would share the table of the Lord and the table of demons" (1 not have seen this as religious literature, but as examples of Corinthians 10:21). that set of genres so popular with literate pagans of the time, A third, and significant, difference between Christianity and which the Greeks called psychagoffta, the guidance of souls. most other cults is that they very early developed a translocal The closest parallels were in the teachings of the leading organization. The model for this development was clearly philosophical schools, like the so-called Diatribes of Epictetus, Jewish, for in Jewish scriptures and in Jewish consciousness or the public discourses of such moralizing sophistsmprofes- there was one People of God as there was One God. Yet the sional rhetoricians of philosophical bent--as Dio Chrysostom, Christians developed a practical organization and maintained or the rougher and more popular harangues of Cynic preach- lines of communication among their scattered little groups ers. No wonder that Christian apologists in the second century more elaborately than even the Jews. The reason seems to have begin to represent their community as not a religious club but been simply the practical needs of the rapidly spreading mis- a philosophical school. It was not merely another cult; it made sion in the latter decades of the first century. Anyone who has far more demands upon its initiates than any cult. It was a read Ramsay MacMullen’s book on Paganism in the Roman comprehensive, intimate, and totalistic community that was at Empire and sees how loose and weak were any connections the same time an empire-wide organization with utopian between the Isis cult in Ephesus and that in Rome, Alexandria, claims. or Memphis, sees how inappropriate it is to speak of an CONCLUSION "Isisism" or "Dionysianism." In that context, one must marvel I HAVE emphasized a few of the ways in which what we at the complex network of connections, visits, letters, mutual

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know about the beginnings of Christianity has been modified in recent decades. The changes have come principally in our knowledge about the cultural and social setting within which Christianity emerged. They have come about because of new discoveries as well as through alteration of the ways in which historians interpret the evidence. The latter is part of the on-going conversation that students of the past have with one another, and that conversation is an inextricable part of our own cultural experience, training, and conditioning, part of the way we see the world simply because we belong to the here PORTABLE SHRINE and now and not to some other time or place. Neither side of this process of trying to understand the past will ever come to Shoki glares from rice paper pennants, rest. We will never, in this life, come to the point at which we squat and bloody above the armor-box can say, "Ah, now I understand perfectly just who the first as Yoshitsune is pierced by a fish-kite; Christians were, and what they thought, and how they be- the battle ground is between taxi haved, and why." We are looking into badly polished mirrors; and pedestrian swallowed we see in enigmas. in the great shadows of Sanbancho skyscraper-- We know, then, a great many things that our fathers and mothers did not know, but our knowledge is in part, and our children shriek between chrome bumpers, prophecy is not so great either. We know many things, but do their brown arms baskets of iris. we therefore better understand? A difficult question, indeed. As we have seen so many of our historical certainties under- An old man slips through brushing mined by additional evidence or replaced by different perspec- from the shou].der of his dirty kimono tives, many historians have become more humble, which is a a quivering monkey. He has wrapped desirable development. Some people, however, have gone rope around the monkey until it is nearly beyond humility to counsel despair. History teaches us noth- dead and still it fightshpanting, leering, ing certain, they say, so let us abandon the search. The histor- jabbing and pawing at the old man’s kimono. ical critical method of studying scripture is bankrupt; let us throw away those false canons of objectivity and suspicion, A young couple (he suited, she in jeans since they have not served to provide a firm grounding for and Rolling Stones t-shirt) stop to eat. He faith. This reaction is altogether understandable, but I believe is tired, cross, sweat greasing his forehead, it is also quite wrong. The voices that call us to abandon the she is pregnant. They have been standing quest to understand Christianity’s beginnings and its develop- ment within the best picture we can obtain of its historical waiting to eat half an hour, contexts are voices of disillusion, indeed sometimes the voices at last she has bought boiled of moral cowardice. eggs, rice cakes, sake. "Omedeto!" he says, I have stressed, on the one hand, those things which the cramming his :mouth full as if the waiting movement that formed around the memories and beliefs about and hunger were her doing. Jesus shared with other people in their time and place. On the other hand, I have pointed to some of the unexpected combi- The moon is high in heaven, burnt blind nations and transformations of those familiar things which behind the sun. show up in early Christianity when one looks at it within its Wind blows through the silk carp historical context. Our attempts to understand the origins of this faith have always veered between these two poles. We are and rice paper deities smog-warnings. wont to claim that Christianity is explained either by what it I will not wear the surgical mask, has in common with other things we know or by its unique- I will distinguish myself above ness. Surely either is an abstraction. Jesus was one of many sickness: the old man has no mask, prophets in Roman Galilee and Judea about whom some the monkey and children are unmasked-- people had notions that he might be the restorer, the prophe- I will breath the fumes, motes, germs, sied king, or prophet or priest of the end of days. The cities of the eastern Roman provinces were teeming with religious vapors, and if I die the children will carry me associations, initiatory cults, and purveyors of moral reform. on their shoulders shouting .joy, That was the world in which Christianity began, and no other. the screaming horses of 5akanoue Both its ways of belonging to and estrangement from that unbridled will gallop forward, world are equally parts of its character, and we must try to pounding flat rny shrine’s waiting-place. understand both. ~ --SEAN BRENDAN BROWN

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Does it cheapen or invalidate the message of the Book of Mormon to use common words and unpoetic sentence structures? Would Nephi or Mormon speak to us today using archaic forms, or would they be more concerned that as many people as possible learn about Christ and his gospelmincluding the undereducated, the funtionally illiterate, and the learning disabled? To paraphrase Jesus, the scriptures were made for people, not people for the scriptures.

DELIGHTING IN PLAINNESS: ISSUES SURROUNDING A SIMPLE MODERN ENGLISH BOOK OF MORMON

B.y Lynn Matthews Anderson

INTRODUCTION revisions. After I began working on this project, the need for such a thing became even more clear--not just as a tool for DUTIFULLY FOLLOWING COUNSEL, I BEGAN children, but for functionally illiterate adults and learning-dis- reading the Book of Mormon in 1988 to my children, theabled individuals as well. oldest of whom was five at the time. I was not surprised to have I live in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. As of to paraphrase what I was reading so that they could under- four years ago, the number of functionally illiterate adults in stand what was going on. For example, rather than reading, my county alone was estimated to be 186,000, or roughly 15 "For it came to pass in the commencement of the first year ofpercent of the entire adult population. Literacy statistics for the the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah (my father, Lehi, havingUnited States indicate that at least one in six adults, and dwelt at Jerusalem in all his days); and in the same year therepossibly as many as one in five adults, cannot read above a came many prophets" (1 Nephi 1:4), I would say somethingfourth-grade reading level. The incidence of functional illiter- like:, "Lehi lived in Jerusalem his whole life. Then at theacy is even greater in second- and third-world countries such beginning of the first year that Zedekiah was king of Judah,as Nigeria and Ghana, where one is considered lucky to receive many prophets came .... " After only one session of this kinda fifth-grade education. of simplification, the thought struck me that I ought to write During the 1990-91 school year I taught the Book of Mor- down a verse-by-verse paraphrase so that my children would mon for home study seminary in my ward. Evidently Church be able to read and understand the Book of Mormon by Educational System personnel have been paying attention to themselves. I have been working on The Easy-to-Read Boot~ of the growing problem of illiteracy: at the outset of course work, Mormon1 since. we seminary teachers were to administer a reading test to each I now have a full draft that has been through four extensiveof our students. More specific to my project, one of the most prevalent learning exercises in the Book of Mormon study guide was to have students read a particular verse or set of LYNN MATTHEW5 ANDERSON has a degree in English from verses and then rephrase the passage in modern English to and owns and operates a desktop publishing business. She and her ensure understanding. My students were all capable of reading husband, David, are production co-editors of the Mormon the authorized Book of Mormon, but I would ask them from Women’s Forum Newsletter and the parents of three girls. time to time to rephrase a verse using their own words. The

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interpretations they came up with were occasionally comical,misdeeds of Laman and Lemuel. In like manner, the animated sometimes way off the mark, and sometimes surprisingly in-video "Nephi and the Brass Plates" adds an entirely fictitious sightful. When their interpretations were far afield, we wouldscene of Nephi’s brothers bribing the guards at Jerusalem’s discuss what it was about the language in the verse that madegates.) the verse hard to understand, or what made it possible to Finally, such materials, with the exception of the audio interpret the passage in more than one way. recordings, are obviously designed for children. Literacy ex- Why is the Book of Mormon so difficult to read? There are perts are well aware that most functionally illiterate adults several factors: length and complexity of sentence structures,would rather not be caught reading "kids’ books." Adult liter- vocabulary (including an enormous number of unfamiliaracy materials are intentionally designed to avoid a cutesy or proper nouns), and use of archaic language forms. The Easy-to- juvenile appearance. Read Book of Mormon makes every effort to keep sentences In sum, The Easy-to-Read Book of Mormon is meant to bridge relatively short and simple. Written in simple, modern Englishthe gap between children’s materials and the authorized ver- on approximately a fifth-grade reading level, it uses roughlysion. Although I am working on a fifth draft, earlier drafts have half of the vocabulary of the authorized version. (Other fea-already been used in my own ward and elsewhere to help tures of The Easy-to-Read Book of Mormon include: a "words to learning-disabled individuals, new converts, children, and know" glossary section that provides uncomplicated defini-other individuals better understand the Book of Mormon. I tions of hard words for which there are no simple equivalents,want to make it clear that I consider this work a stepping-stone such as "salvation," "atonement," and so on; brief explanatoryto, and not something to be generally used instead of, the notes; and a paraphrased rendition of the Joseph Smith story) authorized version. Some have suggested using The Easy-to- The Easy-to-Read Book of Mormon is shorter in length overall Read Book of Mormort in tandem with the authorized version, than the authorized version by about one-third, which makesperhaps in a parallel-column comparison edition. it a less formidable-looking challenge to the functionally illiter- ate. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF A On learning of this project, a few people have asked, "Well, SIMPLE-ENGLISH BOOK OF MORMON what about Book of Mormon Stories or the Deseret Book illus- trated Book of Mormon Reader ’comic-book’ version? What THE single greatest advantage of a simple-English Book about these new animated video stories of the Book of Mor- of Mormon is that people with minimal reading skills will have mon and audio recordings? Aren’t these sufficient?" No. Whileaccess to the message of the authorized text. Simplifying and I believe an animated or film reenactment of significant Bookupdating the language can also help provide greater overall of Mormon events might be helpful were it possible to do it inclarity. Let me give an example. the same way that the Genesis Project’s Book of Luke videos There are four places in the Book of Mormon that describe were done, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Nephi" seems designed people "listing to obey." Three are in King Benjaming discourse more as commercial entertainment than as a source of spiritual(Mosiah 2:32, 2:33, and 2:37) and one in Alma (3:27). I enlightenment. Audio recordings of the authorized Book ofassumed for years that this phrase meant "listen to obey," since Mormon still require a certain level of education and linguistic"list" is a poetic form of listen, and was reasonably meaningful sophistication to be understood. Comic-book style versions in context as well. But "list" as used in the Book of Mormon leave out doctrinal exposition and impose a not-necessarily-means to desire, to want. In fact, in the index, the entry for list accurate visual interpretation of events. Sometimes there aresays "see also ’desire." " Thus: serious inaccuracies in the retellings themselves. (The Book of Mormon Reader, as a case in point, depicts Christ as coming Mosiah 2:32 Mosiah 2:32 almost immediately after the catastrophic natural disasters (Authorized) (Simple English) signifying his death. But the authorized text indicates that heBut, 0 my people, beware But, O my people, be care- did not visit the Americas until nearly a year later.) lest there shall arise conten- ful not to fight and argue In a First Presidency message in the Ensign some years ago, tions among you, and ye with each other, so that you President Thomas S. Monson related the poignant story of a list to obey the evil spirit, will not want to obey the missionary who came to him in tears because he couldn’t read which was spoken of by my devil that my father Mosiah well enough to read the Book of Mormon. This missionary was father Mosiah. talked about. advised to read Deta Peterson Neeley’s A Child’s 5toU of the Book of Mormon, through which the missionary was able to learn But there are some disadvantages to simplification as well. enough about the Book of Mormon to truly feel he could gainFirst, and most important, all paraphrases or translations of a testimony of it. But A Child’s Story, as well as the original Book necessity involve some degree of interpretation. The reader is of Mormon Stories, avoids any kind of in-depth doctrinal expo- more or less forced to rely upon the paraphraser’s understand- sition and relies heavily on fictitious embellishment to makeing of what the original is saying. If the paraphraser’s under- the story-line read more smoothly (For example, in A Child’s standing is uninformed, impaired, biased, or flat-out wrong, 5tory Nephi’s wife, from Neeleyg description, is evidently Scan-this will be reflected in the text. Putting the Book of Mormon dinavian and prone to anxiety attacks brought on by theinto modern language has required me to make some choices

MARCH 1993 PAGE 21 S U N S T O N E about meanings that were somewhat more ambiguous or open require similar choices with possibly more significant conse- to interpretation in the original translation. Some of thesequences. I did my best to follow the Spirit in these instances. I choices have included what percentage of the original text tohope that people reading The Easy-to-Read Book o.fMormon will include and what words to use--factors which have the capac- frequently cross-check what I have paraphrased with the au- ity to significantly affect a reader’s comprehension of the in-thorized version. If the reaction is "does the Book of Mormon tended messages. For example, the first part of 1 Nephi 3:28 really say that?," then The Easy-to-Read Book of Mormon will reads: "And it came to pass that Laman was angry with me, and have served a useful meditative function! also with my father; and also was Lemuel, for he hearkened Second, some of the internal, linguistic kinds of proofs of unto the words of Laman." How should Lemuel be portrayed the Book of Mormon’s veracity that Hugh Nibley and others according to the text? Is the text swing that he listened tohave found so compelling are lost in simplification and short- Laman in just this particular instance, or does this mean thatening. Chiastic and parallel structures often disappeared, he always listened to Laman and may never have had analong with myriad "authentic Middle-Eastern" expressions and original evil thought of his own? The Easy-to-Read Book ofHebraic poetics and phraseology. While the awkwardness of Mormon used to read this way: "Laman was angry with both the authorized version’s translation has been a great witness to me and my father, and so was Lemuel (because he alwaysits truthfulness to some scholars, for many people (and not just listened to Laman)." But my choice at that time to include thenon-readers), this same "verifying awkwardness" has proven to word "always" would obviously color someone’s opinion ofbe an enormous stumbling block. Lemuel, painting him as the Book of Mormon’s Consummate Third, there is some concern that a simple, straightforward, "yes-man for evil." I have since revised this passage, droppingeasy-to-read text may induce people to avoid studying the "always." As with the authorized version, it is left to the readerauthorized version as they should. It is possible that some to decide about Lemuel’s status as a follower. This is probablypeople will prefer this version, regardless of their reading not so important in the long run, but there are other places thatskills. While I strongly believe that there is much more to be

know in whom ihave trusted. led

waters of the

the comuming of my flesh. it burned almost like fire. 22 He hathconfounded mine enemies, the causing

to 241 have, prayed to him without fear during up came down and taught and helped ministered unto me. me.

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gained from reading the authorized version, I don’t believe thatone LDS publisher had to treat it as a translation (requiring the this simplification will require any less thought and ponderingFirst Presidencyg go ahead for them to proceed with the and prayer for those seeking spiritual truth. Although Theproject, which is unlikely as evidenced by the recent First Easy-to-Read Book of Mormon is in many ways easier to under- Presidency statement [see the news section in this issue]). stand on a surface level, it does not provide people with anyAnother publisher apparently thought it ought to be a bona fide shortcuts for applying gospel principles in their lives nor fortranslation, with half of its editorial board rejecting the manu- gaining a testimony of the truth of the Book of Mormon andscript on the interesting "philosophical" premise that I did not its message. have the original source material (by which I believe they The title The Easy-to-Read Book of Mormon has undergone meant the Golden Plates). numerous changes since the project began. Although I have The prime objective of paraphrasing is to avoid doing some fear that using "Easy-to-Read" in the title might poten-violence to the meaning of a text by saying the same thing in a tially alienate adult readers, I felt a compromise was necessarydifferent way from the original (which in this case means the to try to make this work less threatening to conservative folkcurrent authorized version of the Book of Mormon). My for whom "The Book of Mormon in Simple Modem English"method was straightforward: I wrote down what I read in the seems to be anathema. Reaction to this work has been gener- authorized version using as simple language as I possibly ally positive. Only a handful of people have indicated that theycould, and the work evolved from that point on. As men- feel it is the height of presumption on my part to try to dotioned, at some point in the earlier drafts I changed my anything that may in any way be construed as a "newprimary audience from young children to functionally illiterate translation"; of these, only one has attempted to call me toadults. Note the differences in the paraphrasing from one draft repentance. By contrast, I have received a great deal of support to the next in the below sidebar excerpt from the "Psalm of and affirmation in this effort from priesthood leaders at variousNephi" (2 Nephi 4:16-30). levels.2 One late development concerns the presentation of the Although The Easy-to-Read Book of Mormon is a paraphrase, paraphrase itself. I have been partial to the idea that The

soul! Do-not be weak

will: y~ . Yes,.~ "0 , I will e you forever. Yes, my you~ ~ , the rock soul will ~ hap,,py in you, my God, the rock of my salvatior; ;

MARCH 1993 PAGE 23 S U N S T O N E

Easy-to-Read Book of Mormon should be written in a verse-by- MULTIPLE AUTHORS, verse format in order to allow the reader an easy way to TEXTUAL AMBIGUITIES, compare it with the authorized version. But several people AND DOCTRINAL INTERPRETATION with whom I have consulted have recommended approaching the text in paragraph format, which they feel will make the THERE have been systematic and scientific studies trying work more comprehensible to those with minimal reading to show that a variety of authors contributed to the Book of skills. Although it remains to be seen which format will go to Mormon. To me, based solely on my subjective impressions press, the paragraph format does have the advantage of making borne of extreme familiarity with the Book of Mormon itself, the text read more smoothly by eliminating redundancies) For there are clearly noticeable differences in style from one author example, here is the first chapter of Moroni in verse and to another. The later writers seemed less remote linguistically paragraph formats. than earlier writers; it seemed harder to paraphrase Nephi’s writings than those of Mormon and Moroni. (Authorized) (Simple English) As I am neither an Isaiah nor a Hebrew scholar, the Isaiah 1 Now I, Moroni, after hav- 1 Now I, Moroni, did not portions represented a different kind of challenge. I sent my ing made an end of abridg- think that I would write first effort to the noted LDS Isaiah scholar Avraham Gileadi for ing the account of the anything else after I had his comments. He suggested that I look at his new translation people of Jared, I had sup- finished writing about the of Isaiah for help in trying again, which I did.4 Although I am posed not to have written Jaredites, but I have not much more comfortable with the current draft of these sec- more, but I have not as yet been killed yet. I am hiding tions than I was with previous drafts, I intend to enlist the help perished; and I make not from the Lamanites so that of someone better qualified to edit these particular passages. myself known to the they will not kill me. But even with simplification and updated language, the Lamanites lest they should "Isaiah wall" still exists. People may very likely skip or stop at destroy me. the Isaiah portions of The Easy-to-Read Book of Mormon for the 2 For behold, their wars are 2 They are fighting each very same reasons, they skip or stop at those places in the exceedingly fierce among other, and they are killing authorized version. The mysteries of prophetic discourse and themselves; and because of every Nephite that will not symbolism therein are not unraveled simply by using shorter their hatred they put to deny the Christ because sentences and easier words. death every Nephite that they hate them so much. All of this brings me to the next point--handling textual will not deny the Christ. ambiguities and doctrinal interpretation. According to Joseph 3 And I, Moroni, will not 3 I, Moroni, will not deny Smith, the Book of Mormon is "the most correct book" vis-a- deny the Christ; wherefore, the Christ, so I go and hide vis its clarity of Christian doctrine and precept. For a book of I wander withersoever I wherever I can so I will not its size, I must say that there were not as many places where can for the safety of mine be killed. the text was ambiguous as one might expect, and those places own life. by and large nearly always concerned minor points of detail, 4 Wherefore, I write a few 4 Since I have not been not doctrine. more things, contrary to killed yet, as I thought I On occasion I found it helpful to look at the French and that which I had supposed; would be, I am going to other Romance language translations to see how other people for I had supposed not to write some more things treated ambiguities in the text. For example, we start right off have written any more; but that will be good for my with a difficulty in the first verse of Nephi: What does "goodly I write a few more things, Lamanite brothers and sis- parents" mean? Contemporary U.S. Latter-day Saints tend to that perhaps they may be of ters to know when the Lord believe that this means Nephig parents were morally upright worth unto my brethren, thinks the time is right. individuals, when a better rendering might make it clear that the Lamanites, in some fu- Nephi’s parents were rich enough to afford to have even a ture day, according to the younger son formally educated to some extent. (This interpre- will of the Lord. tation is supported by the subsequent text.) The French ver- sion reads Moi, Nephi, ~tant ne de bonne famille . .. ("having (Simple English, paragraph formaO been born into a good family"). Bonne famille is generally ~Now I, Moroni, did not think I would be able to write understood to mean wealthy or upper class. anything else after I had finished with the history of the Jaredites. 2The Lamanites are fighting each other, and because Questions of doctrinal interpretation were far more prob- they are so full of hate, they are killing every Nephite who will lematic, to be sure. In particular, Abinadig extremely trinitar- not deny the Christ. 3I will not deny the Christ, so I go ian-sounding exposition on the Father and the Son--on which wherever I can to keep from being killed. 4Since I have not I’ve yet to hear a reasonable explanation that does not try to been killed yet, as I thought I would be, I am going to write distort what the Book of Mormon actually says on the sub- ject--posed an interesting problem. While I initially consid- more things in the hope that, God willing, they may someday ered making some additions to the text that would make do some good for my Lamanite brothers and sisters. Abinadi’s discourse more closely resemble current teachings

PAGE 24 MARCH 1993 S U N S T O N E about the Godhead, I finally went with my own feeling that I (Authorized) (Simple English) could not in good conscience try to pretend that Abinadi said 10 Even this mortal shall 10 "Mortal bodies will be- something other than what the authorized version reports that put on immortality, and come immortal, and im- he said. If the simplified version causes the same kind of this corruption shall put on perfect bodies will become confusion as does the authorized version, the reader will have incorruption, and shall be perfect. People will come to rely on later, modern revelation clarifying or even radicallybrought to stand before the and stand before God, and modifying our understanding of this and other doctrines. bar of God, to be judged of he will judge them by the Another troubling aspect of the Book of Mormon is its him according to their good and bad things they racism--dark skin being equated with wickedness and light works whether they be have done. skin with righteousness. I am a believer in the "limitedgood or whether they be geography" theory of the Book of Mormon: I do not believe evil- that Lehi’s people were alone on the two continents, but rather 11 If they be good, to the 11 "If they have done good that they occupied a relatively small tract of land and were resurrection of endless life things, they will be resur- surrounded by all sorts of other peoples and cultures.5 Doubt- and happiness; and if they rected to life and happiness less Laman and Lemuel and company had fewer scruples be evil, to the resurrection forever. But if they have about assimilating and being assimilated by other cultures, at of endless damnation, done evil things, they will least partly through intermarriage. I suspect that all Book of being delivered up to the be resurrected to damna- Mormon peoples looked pretty much alike--small and dark, devil, who hath subjected tion. They will be given to rather than tall and Scandinavian in complexion (Arnoldthem, which is damna- the devil, who has made Friberg’s heroic northern European depictions notwithstand- tion- them his slaves. (This is ing). What might account for the distinctions drawn in the damnation.) Book of Mormon? One anthropological principle holds that 12 Having gone according 12 "They will be damned when two peoples or tribes, virtually identical in nearly allto their own carnal wills because they did whatever points of appearance and culture, become enemies, each tribe and desires; having never evil they wanted to do. will ascribe to the other any and all characteristics that either called upon the Lord while They never prayed to the or both tribes find to be repellent and loathsome, despite the the arms of mercy were ex- Lord while he could have fact that these are shared characteristics of both tribes. So I take tended towards them; for mercy on them. The Lord the literal reality of contrasting dark and light skins of the Book the arms of mercy were ex- wanted to have mercy on of Mormon peoples with a large grain of salt. Prophets then as tended towards them, and them, but they did not now interpret events in the light of their own understandingthey would not; they being want it. They were warned and through the windows or blinders of their own cultures. warned of their iniquities about their sins, but they The Lord is very clear in Doctrine and Covenants 1:24 that he and yet they would, not de- would not stop sinning. speaks to his servants in their weakness and in their own part from them; and they They were commanded to language--with all of the cultural and ethnic baggage associ- were commanded to repent repent, but they would not ated with that language. and yet they would not re- repent. My personal reconciliation of this matter, however, did not pent. address the problem of what to do with these passages in the text, and again I found myself painfully opting for letting the GENDER-INCLUSIVE LANGUAGE Book of Mormon say what it says, rather than what I’d like it Using "brethren" or "brothers and sisters" to say. I have given serious thought to putting my personal views into a section all its own--a "note on the text"--but WE as a church tend to be linguistically conservative, have concluded that such an explanation is the province of aat least where English is concerned. Although things have been prophet, not a paraphraser. I wish one of our modern prophets changing somewhat, we still hear many (but thankfully not all) would provide an official, revealed repudiation of this demean-speakers at general conference using such gender-exclusive ing doctrine before The Easy-to-Read Book of Mormon goes to terms as "man" to mean both men and women (even though press, which I would then gladly simplify and add to the work’sthis generic meaning has been fast fading from current public explanatory notes. discourse and memory). Many more male examples than fe- Another major problem dealt with convoluted sentence male are found in talks and manuals ostensibly aimed at both structures that went on clause after modifying clause. I havewomen and men, and gender-role stereotyping still abounds. concentrated on this problem in the fifth (hopefully the last)The Book of Mormon, mirroring womeng lots and stations in full draft. My approach has been to repeat the main idea several its own time and in Joseph Smith’s, is a very male-oriented or times in short sentences so that all of the modifiers--whichandrocentric work. It is evident from the text that women were seem important to fully understanding the messages--are in-not Nephite citizens: they were chattel. Much as I regret that cluded. The following example is part of Abinadi’s discoursethis was the state of things among a chosen people, I also found in Mosiah 16:10-12. recognize that it was never the intent of the Book of Mormon to tell us in any great detail about the day-to-day life and

MARCH 1993 PAGE 25 S U N S T O N E culture of the Nephite people, female or male. transcription of counsel or a letter addressed to Alma’s son, so I have approached the question of using gender-inclusivethe text has retained the masculine address in this and in all language very simply as I have gone along: I have followed thesimilarly explicit instances. counsel in 1 Nephi 19:23 to "liken the scriptures unto [my- What is my justification for making these kinds of inclusive self]" wherever appropriate. Not surprisingly, there are very changes? Alleviating my own discomfort was a prime motiva- few places where it is inappropriate to use gender-neutral tion. I am a sister, a mother, a daughter; I have never been a pronouns. brother, a father, nor a son, and whatever rationales have been One concern about using gender-inclusive language in a used in times past to justify using masculine language as being Book of Mormon context is that it might distort the reader’s sufficiently descriptive of both genders has simply lost its picture of Nephite culture (what little we know of it). Such relevance and self-presumed "weight of reason" in our day. usage may give rise to the idea that the Nephites were more Moreover, using gender-exclusive terminology perpetuates egalitarian vis-a-vis the status of men and women than what common misconceptions about the importance of womeng the authorized text can support. After a great deal of thought contributions throughout history, however domesticated and and prayer on the subject, I feel that the benefits of using commonplace those activities may have been. Sadly, some of gender-inclusive language outweigh the ramifications of this the most notable women of the Book of Mormon remain legitimate concern. The Book of Mormon must be treated in nameless--even one with such astonishing faith as King this context as living scripture, which to me is a more impor- Lamoni’s consort. tant function than that of being a "window on the past." Despite my own firm belief that our Heavenly Mother was Gender-inclusive language changes have mostly been lim- and continues to be actively involved in people’s lives here on ited to places in discourses now applicable to both men and earth, all pronouns and names for God in The Easy-to-Read women--when "my beloved brethren" is more appropriately Book of Mormon are masculine, as found in the authorized rendered in our day as "my dear brothers and sisters." I have version. (I look forward to the day when we treat our Mother tried to clarify the use of "Nephites" as meaning "Nephite men"as a viable theological entity, and she once again takes her in those places where women and children are also mentioned rightful place in both ancient and modern scripture.) in the same breath. The frequently used grammatical construct "if a man, he..." has been changed in virtually all cases to read SACRED VS. VERNACULAR LANGUAGE "if people, they .... " Note the difference between the exclu- sive and inclusive language in this example (Moroni 7:~r8): FINALLY, the issue of sacred language versus the vernac- ular has been the bugaboo for all modern language renditions (Authorized) (Simple English) of any sacred book, from the Bible to the Koran and now, 48 Wherefore, my beloved 4-8 Dear brothers and sis- perhaps, for the Book of Mormon as well. Those of us reared brethren, pray unto the Fa- ters, pray to God the Father in the Church, who are comfortable with King James-style ther with all the energy of with all of your hearts, so scriptural language, may find it difficult to move from "I, heart, that ye may be filled that you will be filled with Nephi, being exceedingly young, nevertheless being large in with this love, which he this love, which he gives to stature" (1 Nephi 2:16) to "I, Nephi, was big for my age." But hath bestowed upon all all who are true followers the latter rendition, to me, is exactly what Nephi meant and who are true followers of of his Son, Jesus Christ--so quite possibly the way he might express himself were he his; Son, Jesus Christ; that that you may become God’s conversing with late-twentieth-century speakers of English. ye may become the sons of sons and daughters; that Likewise, for Lehi to dwell in a tent is less messy than for him God; that when he shall ap- when Christ comes again, to live in one: "living" more accurately illustrates the sober and pear we shall be like him, we will be like him, and we unromantic realities of their lives: they sweated, defecated, for we shall see him as he will see him as he is. May unnated, had sex, squabbled, reared children, and so forth. is; that we may have this we have this hope, and may For me, at least, "dwell" is a cut above all that earthy stuff hope; that we may be puri- we become just as pure as stuff that a prophet of God surely wouldn’t be a party to. fied even as he is pure. he is pure. Amen. Tackling prayer language posed another interesting choice Amen. between old and new language forms. Currently, English- speaking Latter-day Saints have been officially counseled to 6 With few exceptions, the use of gender-inclusive languageuse the thee-thou-thy forms of address in prayer. For the is unobtrusive and subtle--in fact, most people who have hadmajority of Church members, who have been converted as access to earlier drafts were not aware of this "feature" until itadults, an occasional Ensign article or priesthood or Relief was pointed out to them. (I am careful to tell readers about thisSociety lesson on how to use thee-thou-thy can scarcely make in my preface.) a dent in overcoming a lifetime of never having used those However, there are exceptions to gender-inclusive usage. forms before. For example, even though for myself I read "O remember, my Others have pointed out the inconsistency in the Church’s rationale for continued use of archaic forms as a token of son, and learn wisdom in thy youth" (Alma 37:35) as "O 7 remember, my daughter," the text clearly indicates a verbatimrespect, rather than of intimacy. I believe that the Lord cares

MARCH 1993 PAGE 26 S U N S T O N E far more about the content of a message than its form: were it would ask him to tarry a not so, he would have had an angel specializing in grammar little longer with them. and syntax hovering over Joseph Smith as he translated. Lan- 6 And he said unto them: 6 So he said to them: "I am guage is dynamic and fluid. Meanings change over the course Behold, my bowels are filled with mercy and love of time and understanding far outweighs efforts to preserve filled with compassion to- for you. archaic linguistic traditions. For this reason, along with the wards you. overriding purpose of making the Book of Mormon accessible 7 Have ye any that are sick 7 "Do you have any sick to everyone, The Easy-to-Read Book of Mormon always uses the among you? Bring them people with you? Bring you-your forms. hither. Have ye any that are them here. Are there any Unlike some modern renditions of the Bible in juxtaposi- lame, or blind, or halt, or people with you who can- tion with the King James Version, there isn’t an awful lot of maimed, or leprous, or that not walk, or who are blind, poetic or beautiful phraseology lost through updating and are withered, or that are or deaf, or who are hurt or simplifying the Book of Mormon. A large part of the Book of deaf, or that are aftlicted in sick in any way? Bring Mormon language is not the stuff of great literature in any any manner? Bring them them here and I will heal worldly sense. Obviously, this reflects my own tastes and hither and I will heal them, them, because I love you, biases. Wherever possible, however, I have done my best to for I have compassion and I am filled with mercy preserve whatever loveliness of form or expression there is, as upon you; my bowels are for you. in 3 Nephi 17:1-25: filled with mercy. 8 For I perceive that ye de- 8 "I see that you want me to (Authorized Version) (Simple English) sire that I should show show you what I have done 1 Behold, now it came to 1 After Jesus had said these unto you what I have done for your brothers and sis- pass that when Jesus had things, he looked at the unto your brethren, at Jeru- ters at Jerusalem, and I see spoken these words he people again and said to salem, for I see that your that you have enough faith looked round about again them: "I have to go now. faith is sufficient that I for me to heal you." on the multitude, and he should heal you. said unto them: Behold, my time is at hand. 9 And it came to pass that 9 After Jesus said this, the 2 I perceive that ye are 2 "I see that you are weak, when he had thus spoken, people all came and weak, that ye cannot un- and that you cannot under- all the multitude, with one brought all those to him derstand all my words stand all of the words accord, did go forth with who were sick or who which I am commanded of which Heavenly Father has their sick and their af- could not walk, or who the Father to speak unto commanded me to tell you flicted, and their lame, and were blind or deaf, or who you at this time. at this time. with their blind, and with could not speak, or who 3 Therefore, go ye unto 3 "So go home and think their dumb, and with all were hurt in any way. He your homes, and ponder hard about the things I them that were afflicted in healed every one of them as upon the things which I have said. Ask Heavenly any manner; and he did they were brought to him. have said, and ask of the Father in my name to help heal them every one as they Father, in my name, that ye you understand, and to get were brought forth unto may understand, and pre- your minds ready for to- him. pare your minds for the morrow, when I will come 10 And they did all, both 10 Then all the people-- morrow, and I come unto to you again. they who had been healed those who had been healed you again. and they who were: whole, and those who had been 4 But now I go unto the 4 "Right now I am going to bow down at his feet, and well--bowed down at his Father, and also to show Heavenly Father, and also did worship him; and as feet and worshiped him. myself unto the lost tribes to show myself to the lost many as could come for the And as many people as of Israel, for they are not tribes of Israel. (They are multitude did kiss his feet, could come to him lost unto the Father, for he not lost to Heavenly Father, insomuch that they did knoweth whither he hath (because of the crowd) because he knows where bathe his feet with their kissed his feet, and his feet taken them. he has taken them.)" tears. 5 And it came to pass that were washed with their 5 After Jesus said this, he tears. when Jesus had thus spo- looked at the people again, 11 And it came to pass that ken, he cast his eyes round 11 Then he commanded and he saw that they were he commanded that their them to bring their chil- about again on the multi- crying. They looked at him little children should be dren to him. tude, and held they were in as if they wanted to ask him brought. tears, and did look stead- to stay with them a little 12 So they brought their fastly upon him as if they 12 So they brought their longer. little children and set them children to him, and had

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down upon the ground them sit down on the come. round about him, and Jesus ground around him. Jesus 19 And it came to pass that 19 Then Jesus told them to stood in the midst; and the stood in the middle, and Jesus spake unto them and stand up. multitude gave way till the people made room bade them arise. they had all been brought until all of the children 20 And they arose from the 20 They got up from the unto him. could be brought to him. earth, and he said unto ground, and he said to 13 And it came to pass that 13 When the children had them: Blessed are ye them: "You are blessed when they had all been all been brought to Jesus, because of your faith. And because of your faith, and brought, and Jesus stood in who was standing in the now behold, my joy is full. now I am full of joy." the midst, he commanded middle, he commanded the 21 And when he had said 21 When he said that, he the: multitude that they people to kneel down on these words, he wept, and wept, and all the people should kneel down upon the ground. the multitude bare record saw it. Then he took their the: ground. of it, and he took their little little children one by one 14 And it came to pass that 14 After they had all knelt children, one by one, and and blessed them, and when they had knelt upon on the ground, Jesus blessed them, and prayed prayed to Heavenly Father the: ground, Jesus groaned groaned in his heart and unto the Father for them. for them. within himself, and said: said: "Father, I am sad 22 And when he had done 22 After he did this, he Father, I am troubled because of the wickedness this he wept again; wept again. because of the wickedness of the people of the house 23 And he spake unto the 23 Then he said to the peo- of the people of the house of Israel." multitude, and said unto ple: "Look at your little of Israel. them: Behold your little children." 15 And when he had said 15 After he said that, he ones. these words, he himself knelt on the ground also 2~r And as they looked to 24 And as they looked to also knelt upon the .earth; and prayed to Heavenly Fa- behold they cast their eyes see, they looked up toward and behold he prayed unto ther. The things that he towards heaven, and they heaven, and they saw the the: Father, and the things prayed cannot be written. saw the heavens open, and heavens open. Angels came which he prayed cannot be This is what the people say they saw angels descending down as if in the middle of written, and the multitude who heard him: out of heaven as it were in fire and made a circle of fire did bear record who heard the midst of fire; and they around the little children, him. came down and encircled and blessed them. 16 And after this manner 16 "Eyes have never seen those little ones about, and do they bear record: The before, and ears have never they were encircled about eye hath never seen, nei- heard before, the great and with fire; and the angels ther hath the ear heard, be- wonderful things we saw did minister unto them. fore, so great and and heard Jesus say to 25 And the multitude did 25 The people saw and marvelous things as we saw Heavenly Father. see and hear and bear re- heard these things, and and heard Jesus speak unto cord; and they know that were witnesses of them. the Father; their record is true for they They know that their re- 17 And no tongue can 17 "No tongue can speak, all of them did see and cord is true, because they speak, neither can there be and no one can write, nor hear, every man for him- all saw and heard these written by any man, nei- can people even think of self; and they were in num- things for themselves. ther can the hearts of men such great and wonderful ber about two thousand (There were about two conceive so great and mar- things that we saw and and five hundred souls; thousand five hundred velous things as we both heard Jesus speak. And no and they did consist of men, women, and chil- saw and heard Jesus speak; one can understand the joy men, women, and chil- dren.) and no one can conceive of that filled our souls at the dren. the joy which filled our time we heard him pray to souls at the time we heard Heavenly Father for us." Does it cheapen or invalidate the message of the Book of him pray for us unto the Mormon to use common words and unpoetic sentence struc- Father. tures? Not too many centuries ago devout scholars were put to 18 And it came to pass that 18 When Jesus finished death for translating the Bible from Latin or Greek into the when Jesus had made an praying to Heavenly Fa- common or "vulgar" language. Would Nephi or Mormon end of praying unto the Fa- ther, he stood up, but the speak to us today using archaic forms, or would they be more ther, he arose; but so great people were so full of joy concerned that as many people as possible learn about Christ was the joy of the multi- that they could not get up. and his gospel--including the undereducated, the function- tude that they were over- ally illiterate, and the learning-disabled? Perhaps we can take

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current conference addresses as a guide. Most general author- chapters. He recommended that I consult his translation of Isaiah for some clari- fications. I used his translation (Avraham Gileadi, The Apocalyptic Booh of Isaiah ities are plain-spoken and quite easy to understand. For the [Provo, Utah: Hebraeus Press, 1982]) in tandem with the authorized version in most part, they seem to care more for content than they do for my efforts to deal with certain textual ambiguities. In 1991, I sent him the re- form. To paraphrase Jesus, the scriptures were made for peo- vised sections, which he again returned with detailed notes on one chapter. He ple, not people for the scriptures. The Church has slowly felt the sections needed more work, but he did not have time to work with me on the project. I did another revision of these sections in 1992. (Copies of all begun to recognize this, as the occasional use of other editions correspondence are in the author’s possession.) of the Bible even in general conference attests, although we 5. John L. Sorenson, An Ancient American Setting for the Bool~ of Mormon have recently been counseled in a First Presidency statement (Salt Lake City gr Provo, Utah: Deseret Book and F.A.R.M.S., 1985). to use the King James Version at church. I strongly feel that 6. Boyd K. Packer, "Reverence Invites Revelation," Ensign, November 1991, 22-23. God will be highly displeased if we allow tradition to take 7. Lavina Fielding Anderson, "The Grammar of Inequity," Dialogt~c: A Jot~r- precedence over other people’s ability to learn about the gospel hal of Mormon Thought, 23:4 (Winter 1990), pp. 81-95. in their own language--in this case, late-twentieth-century 8. An electronic version of The Easy-to-Read Boobe oj Mormon is available free English. of charge to all interested persons. For information about downloading the files, send electronic mail to [email protected]. Printed spiral-bound copies of the Although this project has been a not-for-profit venture from 1992 electronic release are available at cost (approximately $10, which includes the start, I have felt greatly rewarded in many ways. In taking postage). A version on diskette is also available at cost. It is anticipated that a The Easy-to-Read Book of Mormon to this point, I honestly feel perfect-bound, corrected edition will be printed and available at cost in mid- that I have done what God has wanted me to do; in addition, 1993. Persons interested in obtaining any of these versions of The Eazv-to-Rcact Book qfMormon should contact Lynn Matthews Anderson, 5806 Hampton Street, my experience in producing this paraphrase has strengthened Pittsburgh, PA 15206, or send electronic mail to [email protected]. my conviction that the Book of Mormon really is a translation of an ancient text by an unschooled farmer who was reason- ably well-versed in the King ..lames Bible. I don’t know under what auspices The Easy-to-Read Book of Mormon may appear or how it will ultimately be used, but I sincerely believe that a way will be provided for this work to be a useful tool in helping build God’s kingdom. Many people VISITING TEACHING (A SPIRITUAL) eagerly await its publication. (Current plans are to print the work privately and have it in circulation by the end of 1993.)s Lord, send babies, good healthy babies It is my fondest hope that The Easy-to-Read Book of Mormon will (yes, sweet Jesus), help its readers gain a testimony that Jesus is the Christ and Cause I don’t want to be a sick old lady that his church has been restored through the prophet Joseph In a senior citizens subsidized apartment Smith. This desire has been both the impetus and the rationale That smells like old cooked grease, behind it all. ~ Where everyone leaves before I can get to the door, NOTES And hangs up before I can get to the phone, And someone brings groceries I can’t see to cook, 1. At the time this talk was given, the title of my work was "Mormon’s So I eat waffles I put in the toaster, Book," and it was mentioned with this title in an article by Marvin Folsom ap- pearing in a 1992 edition of the F.AR.M5. journal. However, in November of And no one comes, most days 1992 I was made aware of another book using the title ~’Mormon’s Book," sched- (yes, Lord, hear it now). uled for publication in 1993, which purports to be a modern English (but not explicity simplified) version of the Book of Mormon, as interpreted by Timothy Lord, send babies;, good healthy babies B. Wilson. Although my work and my use of the title "Mormon’s Book" precedes Wilson’s by more than two years, there appears to be no legal way to prevent (amen, sweet Jesus), him from using this title; and because of the extreme differences in our respec- Cause I don’t want to be a sick old lady tive intentions toward and approaches to paraphrasing the Book of Mormon, I am unwilling to have my book appear in print under the same title. In a nursing convalescent old age senior citizens home 2. I was careful to keep the First Presidency apprised of this prqject. On That smells like urine, two separate occasions I advised them of the progress of the work, both times of- fering it gratis to the Church. On both occasions ! received polite responses indi- Where teenagers .call me by my first name, cating that the Church had no plans for producing any kind of simple English And they serve jello at every meal, version of the Book of Mormon. Neither letter from the First Presidency indi- cated that it would be inappropriate for me to continue with the project. I also And the members; of my high school class maintained a correspondence with a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy Stare wordless at the walls and drool, who was very enthusiastic about this project. He believes there is a definite need for such a thing, and encouraged me to pursue private publication. My stake And no one comes, most days president and especially my bishop have been veU supportive. (Copies of all (hear me talking at you, Lord). correspondence are in the author’s possession.) 3. Some modern translations of the Bible use the paragraph format, but ref- And make those babies care for their mama erence the verses in superscripts. q. I wrote to Dr. Gileadi on two separate occasions, each time enclosing my Or let me come to you simplification of the Book of Mormon’s Isaiah sections. The first time, in 1988, (amen, amen) Dr. Gileadi returned my work after having made detailed notes on one or two ~LISA BOLIN HAWKINS

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Second Place, 1990 Brookie & D. K. Brown Memorial Fiction Contest IN SEARCH OF SPILLED ROOT BEER

By Margaret Young

WHEN JAKE HAMPTON GOT HIS CALL TO his greenie, Elder Cline--a plump, apple-cheeked farmboy Michigan Detroit, where he had lived until four years earlier,from Santaquin, Utah-~on tour. "This is lower-middle-class he shouted all the way to the Inkom Woolworth’s, which hisDetroit, Elder Cline," Jake said. "Right over there is where I got grandfather owned and operated. "Gramps, lookee there," he my boots stuck in snow up to my hips. And there--that said, showing the call. "Goin’ home, Gramps. God’s called melightpost--that’s where I saw a guy get mugged once. Now, home." mugging doesn’t happen as often as you might think. It mostly Across the back wall of the store were posters of basketball happens if you look scared. Elder, you’re looking scared. Don’t stars, a display Jake had designed. Two of the players were look scared, Elder. Over there, right at the corner, there’s this Motown boys, who Jake had never known. He had, though, little old lady. I washed her windows with soap one November known "The Ace" Carlton, who sure as fire would someday be day after she didn’t give us treats for Halloween. Over there, part of that back wall display, dunking a ball, his face sayingtwo houses down, that’s where Ace Carlton lives, unless he’s "Eeeasssy." Jake had seen Thd Ace shoot perfect three-pointers, joined the pros by now." His voice grew soft, reverent. "I where the ball didn’t even touch the rim, made no noise at all,remember we had a party there once. They gave me root beer. save one sinful-quick SWOOSH as it poured through the net I spilled it all over the front room floor. I was laughing so hard like orange water. The Ace was built for fame. Jake had a at this bad joke The Ace told that I spilled my root beer." testimony of that. Cline kept looking over his shoulder. AndJake was going to find him. God was sending him back "Elder buddy," said Jake. "Hey, cut it out, huh? You are for some big purpose like that. going--I promise--to get us mugged. I swear you are." When he went through the Idaho Falls Temple, made his pilgrimage from glory to glory, he thought of The Ace. Coming THE sky was mother-of-pearl the day they tracted out through the veil, he imagined The Celestial Ace, reaching up,The Ace’s house. Tiny bits of snow floated down like powder fingering the lights on that brilliant crystal hoop. from heaven, like the angels were dusting each other’s wings, It was a June afternoon when Elder Hampton boarded the and vanished on yellow grass. It was the kind of snow you plane for Michigan. His mother gave him a bouquet of daycould see through, but your face got wet. Some of the trees lilies; she had picked that morning. She cried about how herwore clumps of white from yesterday’s blizzard, but the snow brown-eyed little boy had grown so tall and now was goingon the ground was patchwork. away and she wouldn’t have him again, since when he "Here it is," said Jake, looking up at the yellow gables. Two returned he would be a man. of the attic windows had jagged, black stars in their middles where baseballs or rocks had broken through. The other win- HERE was Detroit: muggy, grey, slow. On busses, every- dows were thick with dust. Most had finger-writing on them, one looking drugged, but flashing streetwise eyes at anywords like "No soliciting" and "Royben loves Tilda." The front sudden sound or movement. room window had "Merry Christmas" written in its dust, and Jake’s first two areas were far from where he had once lived. a thin, glittery, gold garland in place of curtains. He was in the rich zones--the George Romney suburbs. But at The Ace," said Jake, as though the name were part of a the start of his eighth month, he made senior and was trans-mantra. ferred to a zone that included his old house. Ace Carlton’s place "How tall’d you say he was?" asked Elder Cline. was five minutes from the missionary apartment. "Maybe almost seven feet, I’d say." The day after he arrived in the old neighborhood, Jake took "You sure he won’t be hostile?" "The Ace? No. He’s easy." "Some of the coloreds don’t like us much, I don’t think. On MARGARET YOUNG is the author of House Without Walls account of the priesthood. From before the revelation." (Deseret Book) and Elegies and Love Songs, a short story collec- Jake flashed his companion an accusing glare. "Don’t think tion to be published in the spring of 1992 by the University of Idaho about that," he said. "The Ace will be--you watch. When he Press. sees me, when he recognizes me--watch the grin. You’ll think

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made of construction paper and cotton balls hung from the doorknob. "Carlton" was scrawled in red marker on the mailbox. "I knew it," said Jake, closing his eyes. "The Ace. Thank you, God, for letting me come back. This one’s for you." He rang the doorbell. When no one responded, he knocked. "Think I’ve changed too much for him to know me?" he said. Elder Cline shrugged. "This neighborhood gives me the willies, Elder. I’m ready for some flippin’ Watusi to come through that door. Gives me the willies." There were sounds of movement inside. "Whozzeh?" came a woman’s voice. Jake covered his missionary tag with his overcoat. "One of Henry’s friends," he called. "Say what?" "Jake Hampton. I used to know Henry." A tiny window in the door opened. A brown eye squinted through it. "You sellsmen?" "No. Friends of The Ace," said Jake. "Speak up?" "Friends!" he shouted. "Friends?" "Yes!" "Who friends?" "Henry’s." "Not here." "Where is he?" The door opened three inches. The woman’s face stared at them from above a chain bolt. "He’S a come soon. He down at the Y." "The YMCA?" "That’s what I say. The Y." "Working out, is he?" "Right. He workin’." "Can we come back?" "If your legs work, I reckon." "Say in an hour?" "Awright. He come by then." z "Tell him Jake Hampton came." "Hammton? He know you?" "Yeah. I was here once. Right here. I spilled root beer on your front room carpet. The carpet was blue, right? Your carpet blue?" "Ace,"Jake said, "I thought you’d go pro, man." "Brown." Ace looked away. "So’d I," he said to the teddy bear. "You sure?" "I sure. And don’t try to take looks. I don’t his teeth are filled with God, they’ll shine so much. Gird uplet no strangers inna my house." your loins, bud." Elder Cline tapped him on the shoulder, said let’s go, with THE Aceg sidewalk was weather-cracked, lined with his eyes. "You Henry’s sister?" said Jake. uneven, dirty snow. There was a film of ice on the cement, "Wife. I give him the message. You best leave for now." which the missionaries negotiated slowly. A faded Santa Claus "Come on," Elder Cline said. "She’s right. Come on."

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"His wife?" said Jake. "Five years is all." The door closed. Elder Cline took his arm and they nego- "That long time." tiated the ice again. "In that room there," Jake pointed, "my brother and me "Married!" said Jake. "The Ace got married!" slept. We put notches in the door. For our growth, y’ know? To The snowflakes were getting bigger. The sun was an apricot measure it." stuck on maple tree claws. The man’s stone face moved to a loose grin. He chuckled. "Hey, Cline bud, what say I show you where I lived as a "That you been wreck the door?" kid?" said Jake, and started walking ahead, walking fast, as "Yeah. Me and my brother." though there were no ice. "These trees are the same, y’ know? Beyond the old man, Jake could see the front room--a ruin Nothing’s changed. Married! Shee-oot!" of his memory. Where his mother had had an autumny hide- Elder Cline skidded behind him. "It’s getting dark, Ham." a-bed and two burgundy arm chairs, the old man had a "Hang loose." He did not look back as he spoke, but moved burlapish couch with sunken cushions. The only light was a faster. A winter fog was descending. dim lamp in the corner. The lampshade had children’s pencil Eider Cline begged him to slow down. "Don’t vanish onscrawls all over it. Above the couch was a velvet painting of a me!" But Jake was already into the mist. Cline heard himcocker spaniel pup with pathetic eyes. scream. "Same as y’members?" said the old man. "Oh God!" said Elder Cline. A prayer. "Yeah," said Jake. "Same." "Elder!" "Good then. You best be on your ways, I reckon. Night "God!" Cline whispered. comin’." He smiled tiredly and closed the door. "It’s my flippin’ house!" "I’m catching a bus," said Elder Cline. "Swear I am." "What?" "You’re sticking with me, bud, or you’re in for your first "Come on, bud. Rush the buns. My house! My flippin’mugging. Your fear stinks, Cline. Streeters will smell you house!" coming two miles away. And I’m senior anyways." Cline moved gingerly forward. The fog was cold and moist. Cline sniffled and murmured under his breath, "Die and Jake was a phantom, his arm outstretched, indicating a hazy, rot." dilapidated, white house. Cline jogged up to him, said, "You do that again, Ham, and I’m on a bus without you, understand AN hour had passed when they returned to the home of that?" The Ace. Jake knocked. The woman called again, "Whoozeh?" "Do what? That’s my house! See the trellis? Looks grey, don’t "Jake Hampton." it, but it’s blue. My father put it up. Pretty lousy shape now, but The door opened two inches. A dark face appeared again in back then--and my mother planted tulips. Should we see who the rectangle. A man’s voice called, "You know me?" lives there these days?" He started towards the walk. "Ace? Ace, is that: you?" "It’s dark," Cline called. Heavy steps. The door closed, then opened wide. Ace "Come on, bud." Carlton stood in the frame, two inches taller than Jake. "I’m catching a bus, Ham. Seriously." "Ace?" "Damn it, come on!" In The Ace’s arms was a skinny child, a boy about three Cline, glancing quickly over his shoulders, acquiesced.years old, wearing faded Winnie the Pooh pajamas. "Foul-mouthed bastard," he accused through clenched teeth "Ace? It’s Jake Hampton. We used to play basketball to- when he caught up. gether. Remember me, doncha?" "My house," Jake repeated, and knocked. "Nope." "Foul-mouthed flippin’ bastard." "Jake Hampton? Lived on Adams Street? Moved to Idaho "Shut up, Elder." when I was fifteen?" A hunched old man with steel wool hair answered the "Idaho?" knock, cursed, and slammed the door. "Yeah. I kept thinking I’d see you on some basketball poster "Let’s go," said Elder Cline. in Idaho." He grinned stupidly. Jake knocked again. Again the door opened. Before the old "Jake Hampton?" The Ace shook his head and rubbed the man could speak, Jake said, "Please, sir, it’s not what you think.child’s back. "It don’t come to me." I used to live here is all." Jake gazed at the dark, suspicious face. The Ace had grown "Right," said the man. fleshy around his jaws. "No reason you should remember me. "Yes sir, I did. My dad put up that blue trellis. My dad did Not really," said Jake. "I was just some dumb honky. Couldn’t that." play basketball to save my--" He glanced at Elder Cline. "To "Name?" save my nose.,, "Jacob Hampton." "Ain’t heard it. And m’ rent’s paid." "Yo’ nose?" The Ace broke into a grin. Two of his teeth were "I used to live here." missing. "Damn, man!" he said. "We had a party here," said Jake. "I came, and I spilled root "Must be long time ’go." beer on your rug. Used to be a blue rug, didn’t it? Blue?"

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"Brown. Always be brown." marry t’once?" "Maybe I just think blue because--I don’t know. The sky." "Nah, man. That’s them moonies." "You sellsmen?" "Oh yeah. Yeah." "Missionaries." Jake’s voice was soft. Elder Cline whispered, "We don’t want to miss the bus." "Damn, man. Shee-it. Why you come here for?" "So how’s the basketball?" said Jake. "Just to see you, man," said Jake. "Don’t worry. You don’t The Ace shrugged. "Last I look, basketball fine." need to hear no missionary talk from us. Just come to see you, "Come on, Ace. You’re the best basketball player I ever man." seen," said Jake, looking him square in the eyes. The Ace "Jake Hampton. You wear glasses?" shrugged again. "I did. Have contacts now." "You was workin’ out when we come first time. Basketball, "Li’l black kiss-ass, Poindexter glasses, din’cha." right?" "Yeah, Ace. That’s me." "When?" "I ’member. Spilt root beer all over my rug. My mama like "Before. Your wife said you was at the Y." t’ kill me. Shoulda make you pay for that." He grinned big. "My job. I sweeps up." "Can we come in, Ace?" "You sweep?" "Chassay forrard!" Ace stood back and let the missionaries Another shrug. pass. Jake blinked and. pushed at the glasses he no longer wore. He could feel himself starting to sweat. His lungs stung. "Ace," THE house smelled of cigars. The front room was lacer- he said. "I thought you’d go pro, man." ated. In one corner was a tinsel tree, rattling like paper-- Ace looked away. "So’d I," he said to the teddy bear. shivering, it seemed, with the coldness Jake and Elder Cline "So yeah. So--what happened?" had let in. In the opposite comer was a teddy bear. It sat "Nothin," he said, still to the toy. "Weren’t nothin to count grinning, spilling its white guts. There were four Santa Clauson gettin’. I never was good enough." He turned his eyes back cards hanging on nails above the couch. Each Santa had a to Jake. "Got busted up. An’ I don’t wanna wrassle with my blue-grey beard and a sugary blue-grey tassel; each wore a shadow, understand me?" fuzzy suit. The couch was mock leather and looked knifed. "But you’re the best, Ace!" said Jake, his voice nearly Black tape covered the biggest splits in its upholstery; nonesqueaking with adolescent conviction. "The best!" covered the smaller ones; stuffing poured out of them. The Ace’s eyes were as pathetic and big as the cocker When they sat, Jake could feel the couch’s coils. Looking atspaniel’s in Jake’s ex-house. They circled Jake’s face. His voice, the yellow light bulb swinging from the ceiling iikewhen a he spoke, was a soft, low monotone. "I don’t have nothin’ metronome, Jake had a fleeting thought of an electric chair. to brag on." He paused, looked from one missionary to the "Right there," said The Ace, pointing to the corner whereother, eyes moving back and forth between them, then up and the teddy bear sat. "That’s where you spilt it." down. "Mormons," he said. "Mormons. Isn’t they the church Jake nodded. don’t let no black man inside?" "Probably there still." "That’s changed, Ace," Jake said fast. Jake chuckled. "Yeah?" "Damn man," said The Ace. "I ’member you for sure. I "Yeah, Ace. Changed way back." thought I forget off’n the mind, but I ’member. But what’s this "The way used to be all blocked up. I don’t reckon you’d get-up? You get ’ligion? You some moonie or somethin’?" know what that’s like, wouldn’t you. Havin’ the way blocked "Mormon, man. I told you. Mormon." up. You wouldn’t know, bein’ from Idaho." The Ace laughed hard and didn’t stop for a long time. He "I do know, Ace." tried to speak twice, but couldn’t get the words past his laughs. "Nah. You wouldn’t." "’Scuse me," he said at last. "Sorry for the gigglement, but you "Ace--" know how funny ’tis seein’ some dressed-up MORmon dude, "Most my friends, they call me Hank now." sassy as’a jay bird, y’know, in his shiny blues, sittin’ like "Ace, you should practice or something. You’re too good to nothin’s unusual--sittin’ right here in my room?" He finishedsweep up other guys’ sweat. You should be up on the posters, laughing with a ghostly moan. "Damn, man," he said, wipingyou know? Shootin’ baskets. Ace, you got to gird up your his eyes. loins!" "Ace, heyk" said Jake, and The Ace started laughing again. The man leaned forward, stunned. "I got to WHUT?" "It’s getting late," whispered Cline. Jake glanced at Elder Cline, who gave him a defiant look of "So Ace," Jake said, "you got married." abandonment. "Gird up your loins," Jake whispered. "Yeah." Ace grinned, and started laughing again. "Git up my "She’s pretty." WHUT?" Ace wiped his eyes. "Oh yeah. My woman. Love her like the "It’s a song. A Mormon song. Says ’Take fresh courage. Gird mischief, you know. Now you allkyou all have them bigup your loins.’ " weddin’s, right? Like thousand brides and thousand grooms all "Sound like some faggot song ta me," he laughed.

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"Nah, it’s just--" "Good to see you," Jake said. "Really." ".Jacob," he said, his face suddenly hard. "Jacob, you know Grinning, The Ace slapped the missionary’s palm. "Other how many high school kids’s wantin’ to be pros in basketball?"side, man," said The Ace, and, by reflex, Jake turned his hand Jake shook his head. over. The Ace slapped it again, hard, andJake felt himself being "No idea? I tell you, then. More ’n all the MORmons in thegently shoved toward the door. world. More ’n all the MORmons in the whole damn world." "Ace--" THE construction paper Santa Claus swayed back and "You bes’ be gettin’ on your way now, missionaries." forth when the door closed behind them. It was fully dark now. F.lder Cline sat up straight. "He’s right," he said. "The man’s "Cold," Cline said, his breath white. right. We don’t want to miss our bus." Snowflakes were big and thick. Clumps of snow fell from The Ace shook his head. "Lookin’ so shiny and so sassy. the Carlton roof like rags. It was a black and white, frozen Kickin’ up shines and shuttin’ all the doors and the windahs.world. Pines towered above them, seeming to Jake like huge You best go. You wanna give me money for the spilt root beer, black bears, the snow on their limbs white stuffing, coming all that"s awright." undone as they stood there waiting to get slapped, stood there "Ace, that’s not why I come. I--" saying with the wind, "Gimme fa-a-av, m-a-a-an. Utheh s-s- "Maybe ten dollar." side, ma-a-a-n." Jake slapped one branch, then turned his Jake felt around in his pockets. "I just come to say ’Hi.’hand over and caught the snow as it fell. He made it into ice in That’s all." his fist. The Ace held out his palm. Jake fed it a ten. Elder Cline was two steps ahead. "Come on," Cline said. "Elder!" said Jake. Jake held out his hand for The Ace to shake. The Ace backed "Die and rot!" yelled his companion. away. To Jake. To the world. ~

ANOTHER COUNTRY TO CAT CASTEEL Easy to come for the weekend and stay until Tuesday, in your country. Now I try to remember everything how the boys practiced their swimming in the bathtub and said their rhymes in the language of your country. Next time I’ll come sooner and stay later. To see the Palominos stamping in your stable, to ride out through the wind, to feel the sand sucking at our toes at the shore, Your country, like beryl in a sapphire sea. Someday I will live there. We’ll eat apricots in the gloaming, the bowl heaW between us, the skins peeled back to get at the sweetness, the apricots so perfect in your country. And we’ll eat them off the ground, in your orchard in the morning, walking beneath the trees in the morning, in your country, in death, your perfect country --KATHLEEN WEBER

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Mormon theology is somewhat different from the norm. In its concreteness and in the raw it appears to be meaningful, without the fancy linguistic garb that usually adorns theological discourse. But the problem is, it also appears to be false. At least it appears to be false unless one is able to make, as the faithful Mormon makes, a complete about-face from the traditional ways of thinking about God and the soul and the human condition.

SOME DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS OF MORMON PHILOSOPHY

B.y Sterling, M. McMurrin

I WILL COMMENT ON THREE BASIC ELEMENTS IN reality. Every philosophy must come to grips with the apparent Mormon philosophy that have both theoretical and practicalfact of matter--whether it is real or is appearance only, is one implications for the Mormon religion and that distinguish it ofin two or more kinds of reality, or is the only thing that is fundamental ways from the traditional forms of Judaeo-Chris-genuinely real. The dominant tradition of occidental philo- tian philosophical and theological thought: Mormonism’s ma-sophic thought has been idealistic, holding that the ultimate terialism, its nonabsolutism, and its natura!istic humanism. real is idea or the product of idea, mental rather than physical, In the beginnings of the LD5 church, its philosophy andor, in theological contexts, spirit--that matter is either unreal theology were quite fluid and in some respects transitory, aor at best is an extremely low level of reality. Moreover, that condition entirely normal for a movement in its infancy. In thematter is the source of evil and suffering. The anti-materialistic early years, the theology was not basically different from typi-temperament and clharacter of traditional Christian theology cal Protestantism, but there were radical changes before the are not derived from biblical sources, but rather especially death of Joseph Smith. In the first decades of this century, thefrom the overwhehning influence of Platonic metaphysics, philosophy and theology achieved a considerable measure ofwhich dominated major segments of philosophic thought in stability and consistency. But things changed after the death inthe Hellenistic and Roman world in which Christianity was 1933 of the Church’s leading theologians, Brigham H. Robertsborn. The biblical religion does not denigrate material reality. and James E. Talmage; now for several decades there has been On the contrary, the Bible holds that the material world is good considerable confusion in Mormon thought, with the resultbecause God created it. that it is often difficult if not impossible to determine just what The radical materialism of Mormonism has its ground in the are and what are not the officially accepted doctrines. Doctrine and Covenants and has been basic in the thought of virtually all influential LDS writers to the present. Section 131 MORMON MATERIALISM includes the familiar statement, "There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or DESPITE the confusion, however, nothing is more char- pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes" (D&C 131:7, acteristic of Mormonism than its materialistic conception of 9). In numerous writings officially accepted by the Church, even God is described as a material being, having "body, parts, and passions." Orson Pratt, B. H. Roberts, and James E. Talm- STERLING M. McMURRIN is the E. E. Ericksen Distinguished age, major influences on Mormon thought, all agree with this Professor Emeritus at the University of Utah and has authored The materialistic principle, insisting that there is no such thing as Philosophical Foundations of Mormon Theology and The immaterial matter. Of course, no respectable philosopher ever Theological Foundations of the Mormon Religion. This paper held that there is immaterial matter; this is obviously a logical was read before the Friends of the Library at the Marriott Library, contradiction. The immaterialist position has been grounded University of Utah, on 13 October 1991. in the theory of the reality of immaterial substance. The Mot-

MARCH 1993 ILLUSTRATIONS BY PATRICK CAMPBELL PAGE 35 S U N S T O N E mon writers have fallen victim to the common tendencythe totriumph of Christianity. Stoicism, which was opposed to treat the term "substance" as a synonym for "matter." Thereatomism and held that reality is a continuous material plenum, may be no immaterial substance, but that is a factual matter towas in its dominant form favorable to religion and had a strong be argued on the basis of factual evidence, not logic. It is not aimpact on Christianity. Even though much Roman Stoicism, as logical contradiction to say that God or the spirit or mind is anin the writings of the emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus in immaterial substance. the second century, was essentially pantheistic, the Stoic meta- It is of interest that the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher physics was a thoroughgoing materialism--b oth the physical Anaxagoras, who was the chief originator of the occidentalworld and mind or spirit were regarded by the Stoics as conception of mind or intelligence, material. nous, employed the same terminology At least one major early Christian used by Joseph Smith in describing theologian was a confirmed material- spirit. "Mind," he wrote, about 460 ist-Tertullian (ca. 155-after 220 C.E.), B.C.E., "is the finest of all things, and the the earliest of the Church Fathers to purest, and has complete understanding write in Latin and to give a strong West- of everything, and has the greatest era-Roman emphasis to Christian doc- power. All things which have life, both trine. Like the Mormons, Tertullian held the greater and the less, are ruled by that the spirit or soul is material and that mind" (Hermann Diels, Fragmente der even God is corporeal. "For who will Vorsokratiker, translated by Kathleen deny," wrote Tertullian, "that God is a Freeman, 59:12). There is some ques- body, although God is a spirit? For Spirit tion of whether Anaxagoras held that has a body substance of its own kind, in nous, which became soul or spirit in its own form" (Adversus Praxean, ch. 7). theology, was material or rather his use But materialism failed to capture Christi- of the terms "fine" and :’pure" as descrip- anity, which came increasingly under the tions of nous as matter was due to inad- dominion of Platonism, especially equacies of the Greek language in his through the influence of the Jewish phi- time. But the extant fragment which ex- losopher Philo Judaeus and the foremost presses his views seems to mean that Roman philosopher, the Neoplatonist nous is simply a different kind of matter. Plotinus. The Spanish Jewish philoso- The foremost historian of Greek philos- pher Solomon Ibn Gabirol in the elev- ophy, Theodor Gomperz, in his monu- enth century held a position somewhat mental The Greek Thinkers, wrote that like that of Mormonism--that there are "nine-tenths of the ancient philosophers two kinds of matter, spiritual and physi- ¯ . . regarded the individual ’soul’ as a cal. This had been suggested even by St. substance not immaterial, but of an ex- Augustine (354-430), the greatest of the tremely refined and mobile materiality" theologians, but it was opposed by (Vol. 1,216). Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth cen- Clear and unambiguous materialism tury. There were some under Aristotelian entered the stream of occidental philos- influence, however, who accepted the ophy with the atomism of Leucippus idea of spiritual matter especially be- and Democritus in the fifth century cause Aristotle held that matter is the B.C.E. For the Greek atomists, the world, principle of individuation, and angels, both physical and mental, is a mechanical congeries of materialthough spiritual, are individuals rather than species. They atoms, all of the same quality and differing only quantitatively,must therefore be in some sense material. This, of course, was in their sizes, shapes, positions, and motions. If this mechani-the point of the medieval argument about how many angels cal atomism had prevailed, what we call modem science mightcan stand on the point of a needle--or was it the head of a pin? have developed many centuries earlier than it did, but atom-If angels, as the Church taught, are immaterial beings, they are ism and mechanism were completely overshadowed by thein Aristotelian terms species rather than individuals and there- science of Aristotle until the time of Galileo and by the idealis-fore occupy no space whatsoever. At a 1978 meeting of the tic metaphysics of Plato, which is even today a powerful forceTrustees of The Tanner Lectures on Human Values at Cam- in philosophical and theological thought. bridge University, Lord Ashby, in commenting on the scientific Nevertheless, atomism survived as the scientific base of thetradition of Cambridge University in contrast to the philosoph- ethical school of Epicureanism, which reached its zenith in theical tradition of Oxford, called attention to the angel-pin prob- De Rerum Natura of Titus Lucretius Carus (ca. 96-ca. 55 lem. The two universities, he said, had been requested by a B.C.E.) in the first century B.C.E., and exerted a considerableleading scholarly academy to put an end to the controversy influence as an anti-religious school in the Roman world untiland come up with the correct answer. Oxford replied with a

PAGE 36 MARCH 1993 S U N S T 0 N E detailed commentary on Aristotle’s principle of individuation, There was a young man who said, "God the scriptural description of angels as spirits, the tradition of Must think it exceedingly odd the Church, etc. Cambridge, on the other hand, replied with a If he finds that this tree short telegram: "Please advise concerning the area of the head Continues to be of the pin in question and the center of gravity and girth of the When there’s no one about in the Quad." several angels." But Pratt did not fully understand Berkeley, and contrary to In a sense materialism went underground in occidentalhis criticism that Berkeley’s mentalistic approach to the reality thought and let the metaphysics of idea, mind, and spiritof the physical world produced atheism, Berkeley regarded it dominate both philosophy and religion. as an argument for the existence of God. But it surfaced again in the modern After all, he gave up philosophy and be- world, especially in the seventeenth cen- came a bishop. Someone came back with tury when there was considerable revolt a reply that nicely puts Pratt in his place against both Platonism and Aristotelian- and states Berkeley’s theistic position: ism. Pierre Gassendi (1592-1655), a "Dear Sir: priest and mathematician, revived at- Your astonishment’s odd: omism in the Epicurean form, which I am always about in the Quad, described a break in the mechanical be- And that’s why the tree havior of the atomic world allowing for Will continue to be, freedom of the will. From then on, the Since observed by atom gained ground steadily as a basis Yours faithfully, for the essentially material conception of God." the world, a conception that dominated Orson Pratt went all out for the atom- one branch of science after another until istic approach to matter. Like the atoms there was a virtual mechanical synthesis of Democritus, Epicurus, and Gassendi, in science as the nineteenth century and indeed of the generality of physicists neared its close--a synthesis grounded of his time who were under the influence in the classical physics of Isaac Newton. of Newton, Pratt’s atoms were extended, The established religions resisted the space-filling, solid pieces of matter. His materialistic description of reality, as did atoms, of course, composed both mind the dominant idealistic philosophical or spirit and body. But Pratt was really a schools, especially Hegelianism and its panpsychist. His were no ordinary offspring, but Mormonism, which was atoms. They were little material minds, born and nurtured in the century of in some ways not unlike the monads of materialism, played matter for all it was the great German philosopher and math- worth--and then some. Of the many ematician Gottfried Leibniz (1646- philosophical defenders of materialism 1716). Pratt was a Newtonian up to a in the past century, the British philo- point, so his atoms obeyed the law of sopher Herbert Spencer (1820-1903), gravity; they were very smart; they whose materialistic metaphysics was a obeyed Newton’s laws because they were cosmic expansion on the principle of obedient and did what they were sup- evolution, has been the main non-M or- posed to do. Pratt never disclosed how mon influence on LDS writers. his atoms knew so much about Newton- The chief defender and advocate of materialism in the earlyJan physics or why, being free to do as they pleased, they years of the Church was Orson Pratt, whose essay Absurdities always pleased to do what God had in mind for them. Leibnizg o_[ Immaterialism (1849), the most impressive analytical piece monads, on the other hand, were subject to a pre-established in Mormon literature, had a permanent impact on Mormonharmonious behavior when they were created by God, but thought. Pratt objected to the idealistic argument of the philos-Pratt’s atoms were uncreated and had free will. The generality opher George Berkeley (1685-1753) on the ground that it was of Mormons were not partial to the idea that sticks and stones, productive of atheism. In technical metaphysics, materialismas well as their own bodies, are made up of little living minds, had received a telling blow in the seventeenth century fromand that part of Pratt’s materialism, his panpsychism, failed to Berkeley~ brilliant and influential essay on the Principles q[get official recognition. As a matter of fact, it was this kind of Human Knowledge, which argued that esse est percippi, to be is speculation that got him into trouble with his chief nemesis, to be perceived. There is no ground, Berkeley insisted, for Brigham Young. regarding a thing to be real apart from its being perceived by a The materialism that was so strong in the nineteenth cen- mind--which gave rise to a famous limerick by Ronald Knoxtury suffered a mortal blow early in our own, with the relativity which Orson Pratt would have endorsed: theory overthrowing the absolute space and absolute time of

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Newtonian physics and quantum theory destroying classicaluncertainty in quantum mechanics. mechanics in the treatment of both light and matter, raising Mormonism has refused to accept either of these objections serious questions about causation, and mercilessly complicat-to materialism. Its reply to Platonism is that matter is real in ing the structure and behavior of the atom. The poor old atom every positive sense, and to both the Platonism and Gnosticism of solid stuff no longer exists. It was supposed to be impregna- in Christianity, that the material world is good. It is good ble-the very word atom means the unsplittable, the indivis-because God said that it was good--not the bad God of ible-but as everyone knows, in our own time it has been splitGnosticism, but the good God of Judaism and Christianity. Its and split until now there are electrons, photons, neutrons, andreply to the specter of mechanical determinism, like that of more, and heaven only knows how Epicurus, is that even within the frame- many other "ons" will show up in the work of a world of physical law, human future. Matter, which was supposed by beings have genuine freedom of will, or the old materialists to be absolutely in- what Mormons, in the old-fashioned ter- destructible, is shown to be convertible minology, commonly call free agency. to energy, and now from energy to mat- The Mormon theologians have never ter. given a good explanation of how this can To say the least, over the past few be true. But in Mormon philosophy the decades, matter and old-fashioned ma- uncreated intelligence, which is the es- terialism have been having a rather sential being of humankind, is presum- rough time, much to the delight of most ably by its very nature free. theologians and all philosophical ideal- The LDS writers have done little or ists. As Bertrand Russell has written, nothing to clarify the meaning of the idea "Modem physics is further from com- that spirit is refined matter, to bring it mon sense than the physics of the nine- into the context of the contemporary teenth century. It has dispensed with treatment of matter in physics and chem- matter, substituting series of events; it istry, or to seriously wrestle with the dif- has abandoned continuity in micro- ficult problem of the relation of mind to scopic phenomena; and it has substi- body. It seems to me that the simplistic tuted statistical averages for strict deter- idea of spirit, or mind, or nous being ministic causality affecting each individ- refined, pure matter--whether in Jo- ual occurrence" (Human Knowledge: Its seph Smith or Anaxagoras--is ambigu- Scope and Limits, 322). The British as- ous in the context of the early nine- tronomer and philosopher Sir James teenth-century conception of matter and Jeans, a modern Pythagorean, held that unintelligible if not meaningless in the God is a "pure mathematician" and the context of today’s scientific description of universe is his "pure thought" (The Mys- matter. John A. Widtsoe, a scientist and terious Universe, 165, 168). So much for an apostle, seemed to have some interest the old-style matter. in this problem when he employed the The opposition of religion to materi- concept of ether in his speculations on alism, which has a long and complicated the Holy Spirit; but he didn’t get very far history, has been due, I think, especially with this, in part because he advanced to two things: that matter is the source his ideas in the early decades of this of evil and suffering, and that a materi- century at the very time that physics was alistic conception of the world entails a mechanical determin-in the process of discarding the explanation of light by refer- ism that leaves no room for the freedom of the will, which isence to a luminiferous ether. the basis of moral responsibility. The first idea entered Christi- More than once I discussed the problem of so-called refined anity especially from Platonism, which held that matter in itselfmatter with Henry Eyring, a devout Mormon and the Church’s is non-being, the lowest level of reality, and from the Gnosti-foremost scientist, and one fully cognizant of the most sophis- cism that plagued Judaism and Christianity in the first twoticated theories on the nature of matter--a field in which he centuries of the Common Era and had infected Christianitymade important contributions. But I was never able to get very especially through its intrusions into the writings of Paul andfar with Eyring. He knew all about quantum mechanics, and the Gospel of John. The second, mechanical determinism, ishe also knew that the gospel is true. That was about it. In The found in Democritean atomism and in ancient Stoicism andFaith of a Scientist, Eyring says, "The scriptural description of was very strong in much nineteenth-century scientific andspirit as a more refined kind of matter takes on a new perspec- philosophic thought. It is still around despite the efforts oftive in the light of this larger concept of the interchangeability many scientists and philosophers to dispel it through theof matter and energy. Matter, in the broader sense, can still be indeterministic interpretations of the Heisenberg principle ofspoken of as indestructible [a position held by Joseph Smith

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and the LDS theologians and also by Anaxagoras and mostworld of particulars is in space and time, the objects in space Greek philosophers] providing we realize that energy is justand the events in time. But the higher, ultimate realities, the another form of matter" (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1967, 78). universals, are spaceless and timeless; they are not anywhere A new perspective indeed. It is one thing to think of a more and they are not anywhen. They are without motion, without refined matter in the days when it was thought that theoreti-change or process of any kind; unlike the particulars, they do cally a piece of matter might be ground up more or lessnot come into being and do not go out of existence; indeed, indefinitely. But what is refined matter when ordinary grossthey do not exist, they subsist. They are abstractions that are matter is a congeries of electrical charges? apprehended not by the senses but by the rational mind. They inhabit an intelligible world as physical objects and events inhabit a sensory MORMONISM’S NONABSOLUTISTIC world. CONCEPTION OF GOD Now, this doctrine of universals as ultimate realities as opposed to particu- BUT enough of this. I’ll turn to the lars, which exist by participation in the nonabsolutistic conception of God. universals, is the essential feature of Here Mormonism is even more heretical Hellenic Platonism and the later than in its materialism--if you’re a Neoplatonism and was fated to have a good Protestant or Catholic. And here is most profound influence on the whole the most important and, in my opinion, character of occidental thought. An ob- the best thing in Mormon philosophy or ject such as this paper is a particular. It theology. exists somewhere in space and some- Whatever is absolute is uncondi- when in time; it comes into existence, tioned and unrelated. At least that is the moves from place to place, goes through case for whatever is absolutely absolute. various processes, and ceases to exist. There can be, of course, only one abso- But its smoothness, its whiteness, and lutely absolute absolute-- The Absolute. whatever else can be said of it, are uni- The Absolute must be the totality of re- versals. The adjectival descriptions of the ality, as in the case of pantheism, where paper are abstract nouns or substantives God is everything and everything is which designate realities that are inde- God. The classical Judmo-Christianity pendent of particular pieces of paper, was theistic, of course, and followed the realities by virtue of which the particular biblical pattern of an ontological distinc- exists. At least this is the argument of tion between God, the creator, and the Platonism. Just acts and just judges are world, his creation. In that theology, particulars, but justice is a universal; therefore, God was not a genuine abso- beautiful sunsets are particulars, but lute, as he was related to the created beauty is a universal; true propositions world. It was a relation imposed by him- are particulars, but truth is a universal. self. But from the beginning, the Chris- Whether universals have genuine re- tian theologians’ passion for absolutism ality independently of particulars, as the pushed it to the limit, and there it is Platonists have argued, is probably the today in the more orthodox forms of the most important problem in metaphysics, established religion, as the traditional and this position, which is known tech- omni’s testify--omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence,nically as realism, has had the most profound philosophic and all the rest. influence on theology, religion, and morals. The opposite of In its formative years, Christianity had what might be calledPlatonic realism is nominalism, the position that only particu- a political or power absolutism in its background, the powerlars are real and that universals are simply names or words of both the biblical creator and law-giving God and the Romanemployed to refer to similarities among particulars. Nominal- emperors. But the main source of its absolutism was its inher-ism is strong today, with today’s commitment to sensory expe- itance of Greek Platonic and Aristotelian metaphysics. rience as the chief source of reliable knowledge, but over many Plato was influenced by the Pythagorean philosopher centuries realism dominated philosophy, science, and religion Parmenides, the arch-absolutist who held that reality is oneand was the philosophic basis of orthodoxy in Christian theol- and that all sensations of individual objects and events areogy. Even today it is a powerful influence in our thinking, as illusory. Platog description of reality was a kind of two-levelwhen we insist that truth is eternal or an act is right or wrong affair--the world known by the senses of particulars whichregardless of the related circumstances. Here the Platonic ab- come and go and are in process, and a higher reality ofsolutism is still with us. universals, the Platonic forms or ideas. The sensory, material Now, Platonism had a powerful impact on the Jewish phi-

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losopher Philo of Alexandria, who was roughly a contempo-ment against it in both Catholicism and Protestantism, as rary of Jesus. Philo (ca. 13 B.C.E.-ca. 45 C.E.), much of whose evidenced particularly by the so-called process theology and work is still extant, was born and reared in two cultures, asphilosophy that are identified especially with the metaphysics most of us have been, the Greek philosophic-scientific cultureof Alfred North Whitehead and the theology of Charles and the Jewish-biblical culture. He attempted to combine andHartshorne. reconcile the two, Plato and Moses, in his philosophy, and he It is important to recognize what is meant by the creeds of thereby set the pattern for the early development of Christianthe churches when they express the idea, as in the Thirty-Nine theology by the Alexandrian theologians who, after Paul, wereArticles of Faith of the Church of England, that God is a being major creators of that theology. "without body, parts, or passions." These In keeping with Plato’s doctrine on are ideas with predominantly Greek an- the nature of universals, Philo held that cestry. The "without body" is fairly sim- the creator God of the Bible is a being in ple. Body suggests materiality, and mat- neither space nor time, but is absolute ter in Platonism is the lowest form of and free of all external conditions and reality, non-being, and, to make matters relations. God is not in space and-time, worse, it is the source of evil and suffer- because he created them. "The great ing. This, of course, has some support Cause of all things," wrote Philo, "does from especially the Gnostic elements in not exist in time, nor at all in place, but the New Testament. The "parts" business he is superior to both time and place, for is a little less obvious. In Plato’s Phaedo, having made all created things in sub- where Socrates is discoursing to his dis- jection to himself, he is surrounded by ciples prior to drinking the hemlock, he nothing but he is superior to every- makes a case for the immortality of the thing." Moreover, God "is uncreated, soul on the ground that it is a simple and always acting, not suffering," an entity rather than a compound. If it were idea that indicates espedially the influ- a compound, theoretically it could de- ence of Aristotelian metaphysics on compose. If it had parts, it could come Philo. apart. But being simple, it is indestructi- Now, to make a very long and com- ble and therefore immortal. That God is plicated story short and altogether too without passions, despite the passions of simple, by the fifth century, with Chris- anger and mercy evident in the biblical tianity finally the official Roman religion accounts, draws especially on the power- and St. Augustine, the greatest of the ful influence of Aristotelian metaphysics theologians, hard at work sorting out on Christian thought, mediated through the ideas that would determine the the same channels as Platonism. God, course of the theology even to our time, says Aristotle, is pure act and is in no way the living personal creator and law-giv- passive. He is always the subject, never ing God of the Hebraic tradition was the predicate, always in the active voice, defined by impersonal descriptions never the passive. God influences all else which came predominantly from Greek but can be influenced by nothing. He is sources, especially Plato. For Augustine impassive, without passions. This idea and most Christian theology since his has never had much appeal for the typi- time, God is a personal, living, thinking, cal worshiper, who likes to influence and willing being, but he is eternal or timeless and not inGod through prayer. But it has always been popular with the space. He is related to nothing and subject to nothing. He theologians, who obviously don’t go in for praying. Aristotle’s created the world from nothing and is free of all influence byGod, who or which was the chief cause of this impasse, is pure his creation. The mind of God is eternally stocked with thethought, the prime mover; but he thinks only himself, as other Platonic value universals, and the universals determine hisobjects of thought would be impure. He does not know that will. the world, which he moves by attraction, even exists. It’s The biblical God, who was intimately involved in the tem-obvious that he isn’t really a he, and certainly not a she. In his poral processes of human history, became a timeless being whoScience and the Modern World, Alfred North Whitehead wrote has no past and no future, who embraces in his being the past,that "Aristotle’s metaphysics did not lead him very far towards present, and future of his temporal creation and who entersthe production of a god available for religious purposes" (24-9). into it only once, descending vertically into the horizontal Everyone knows that God is eternal, but that is usually movement of history by becoming incarnate in Jesus Christ.taken to mean that he had no beginning and will have no end. The idea that God is an eternal, timeless being still dominatesThat, however, is not the point of the technical theology. He the official Christian creeds, but today there is a strong move- has no beginning and no end because he is not at all a temporal

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being. Most informed non-Mormon Christians know that Goddivine. Mormon theology lends itself all too easily to trivializa- is not anywhere in particular. But because he is not anywheretion. in particular he can be everywhere in general. That’s the beauty But the importance of the belief that God is in time, the of the Platonic universals. Yet those same Christians, believingmost distinguishing characteristic of Mormon theology, is dif- that God is eternal, do not come to grips with the idea that heficult to overstate. The entire question of the meaningfulness is not anywhen in particular, but rather that he is everywhenof human history and the life of the individual person, his in general. This is a more difficult, and far more important,hopes, aspirations, failures, and successes, is at stake. If for idea. God every event in the totality of the world occurs simulta- I rather think that most churched neously, as St. Thomas Aquinas held, or people, if asked "Where is God?" would if God has everything in the total creation say that he is everywhere in general, but immediately present before his eyes, as nowhere in particular. But if asked John Calvin held and as some contempo- "When is God?"--a strange but techni- rary Mormon writers seem to believe, so cally correct way of asking--would say that our future is God’s present, what can that he simply is eternal, not meaning, we say of human effort and human free- however, that he is not in time. But if dom? It isn’t the familiar question of how this is the case, they would be at odds can we have free choice if God knows with the technical theology, both Catho- what we are going to choose. St. Augus- lic and Protestant. Of course in Protes- tine answered that very simply: God tantism, especially, there has been a knows that we are going to choose it large movement even among church freely. Rather it is the far more important leaders and theologians away from the question of what is free will if what we major founders, Luther and Calvin, in are going to do tomorrow is for God matters of doctrine. And there is some already being done by us today. Is there indication of important dissension in no real past and no real future? Not just these matters in Catholic theology. for us as creatures but for God as well. The idea that God is a temporal being This is the chief problem faced by subject to time and space is the basic theistic philosophy: how an absolute heresy of Mormonism. God is some- God who is timeless and spaceless can be where in space and is in the context of related to a world that is in space and the passing of time. He has a genuine time. The death-of-God theology that past, present, and future. His present is made some impression a few years ago our present, his future our future. In arose from this predicament--that the view of this spatialization and tem- God of the theologians has no meaning poralization of God, taken together with for the life of humanity. Absolutistic the- the extreme anthropomorphic character ology encounters an insoluble difficulty of Mormon theology, there was always in the problem of why there is evil and the problem of how the deity got around suffering in a world over which the om- the universe, a problem worked over by nipotent and omnibenevolent God has several Mon33on theologians by distin- total control. The absolutism of the tradi- guishing between the Holy Ghostkthe tional theism is supported, of course, by traditional third member of the God- the orthodox doctrine of the fiat or ex head, regarded by Mormons as a separate person--and the nihilo creation--that God created the world from nothing, Holy Spirit, the all-pervading agent of God’s actions. including the space and time that the world is in. All theistic religions which hold that God is a person, as is Aristotle held that God could not do anything because he the case in Judaism, Islam, and the Christian churches gener- should already have done it, but St. Augustine, certainly one ally, have anthropomorphic conceptions of God, since they of our brightest saints, pointed out that God could not have describe God essentially in terms of human values. But Mor-already done anything before he created the world because mon anthropomorphism is of the extreme type, where God is "already" involves time, and there was no time before the described as being so human-like that unfortunately somecreation of time. In the eleventh book of the Confessions, St. Mormons seem to think of God almost as if he were simply oneAugustine’s brilliant psychological treatise on time, he avoided of us, only a lot smarter than the rest of us, and, of course, waythe temptation to say to those who insisted on asking "What ahead of us. This overhumanization of the conception of Godwas God doing before he created the world?" that he was busily is the weakest part of the Mormon theology and religion. Aengaged in creating a proper hell for those who persist in doctrine intended to emphasize the divinity that is latent in theasking this question. human, too often it results in stressing the human in the It is well known that in denying the absolutistic conception

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of God, Mormon theology denies the ex nihilo creation, hold- It is well known, of course, that Mormonism has much in ing with the ancient Greek philosophers and most moderncommon with pragmatic philosophy. Both came out of New scientists that the world is uncreated. In some form or otherEngland, and both are intellectually descendent from Puritan- the world of space and time has always been. The Genesis ism. The Mormon activism is one of its obvious similarities to account of the creation does not say that the world was made pragmatic philosophy, which judges in terms of results, and from nothing, but that idea became important in both Judaismalso what might be called futurism, which issues from the and Christianity as the absolutistic conception of God gainedstrong temporal emphasis of both Mormonism and pragma- ground, for God as absolute could not be conditioned by or tism. Here I must succumb to the temptation to tell of an related to anything external to himself incident in a seminar given by William except his own creation, and in a sense Pepperell Montague, one of America’s he included his creation. This was a foremost philosophers. Montague said, self-limitation, as today’s theologians "Mr. McMurrin, I understand that you sometimes describe it. In his late dia- are a Mormon." When I assured him that logue the Timaeus, Plato describes the I was, he said, "All I know about the constructor God, a demiurge, making Mormons is what I have learned from my the world of particulars from uncreated friend and colleague Professor John matter after the patterns of the uncre- Dewey, the great pragmatist. Professor ated ideas or universals, a scenario Dewey regarded Mormonism as an ex- somewhat like the Mormon belief in two emplification of his instrumental prag- creations or constructions, spiritual and matism writ large, and he once told me physical. that when you Mormons die and go to Or take the case of the American phi- heaven you don’t get harps and play on losopher William James, the chief philo- them like other Christians. Could that be sophic enemy of absolutism in all its true?" I said, "That’s the truth, no harps." forms. In a famous passage in his Prag- Montague continued, "Professor Dewey matism, a statement that should warm told me that in heaven you Mormons get the hearts of the pragmatic Mormons, jobs and go to work like in this life. James says, Could that be true? .... Yes," I replied, "we Suppose that the world’s author put have to go to work." Whereupon Monta- the case to you before creation, say- gue said, "Ah, I like that, I like that, that’s ing: "I am going to make a world great; I was never partial to string music." not certain to be saved, a world the Every Mormon believes that the de- perfection of which shall be condi- nial of the ex nihilo creation entails the tional merely, the condition being idea that the essential being of a human that each several agent does its own being, the intelligence, is uncreated. In ’level best.’ I offer you the choice of his influential King Follett sermon taking part in such a world. Its shortly before his death, Joseph Smith safety, you see, is unwarranted. It is insisted that humankind is uncreated a real adventure, with real danger, and co-equal with God. The Church felt, yet it may win through. It is a social quite rightly, that that was pushing the scheme of cooperative work genu- point a little too far and edited "co-equal" inely to be done. Will you join the down to mean "co-eternal." At any rate, procession? Will you trust yourself and trust the other the human being turns out to be in an ultimate sense self-ex- agents enough to face the risk?" (290-91.) istent, a necessary rather than accidental element of the world. Now, Mormons take this idea very seriously, right down toIf the uncreated intelligence is described in part in terms of the point of joining up. The world is imperfect and unfinishedfreedom, that is, free will, as I think it should be, it provides an and will never be finished. The future is as real for God as forimportant basis for the intense Mormon emphasis on free his children; it is open, free, and undetermined. Anything canmoral agency. happen. They and God are in this thing together, and they The pre-existence of the soul, or spirit, or mind, or what- must work through it together. ever it might be called, is commonplace in some Eastern Confronting the problem of evil and suffering, Jamesreligions, but not in Christianity. The Alexandrian theologian blasted those who say, as most religious people do to comfort Origen believed in pre-existence, but not like the Mormons. themselves and others, "God is in his heaven and all is well."He believed that God created the soul in a pre-existent state. It James said, in effect, "in times like these God has no businessis possible, but I think rather doubtful, that Plato held to a hanging around Heaven. He is down in all the muck and dirtdoctrine of pre-existence in connection with his theory of of the universe trying to clean it up." knowledge, that a human being is born with innate ideas

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acquired in a previous existence by direct contact with thethe suffering caused by the natural world. Primitive religions universals. But I agree with those who are inclined to think thatoften explain natural evils on the basis of moral behavior, as in this was a kind of myth employed by Plato as an explanatory the case of God’s brutality in Genesis in drowning everyone for device to account for knowledge. But two modern philoso- behaving badly, and then repenting after it was too late, saving phers of major stature have held to the idea of uncreated only a rather well-packed boatload to start things all over pre-existent souls: J. M. E. McTaggart of Scotland, who did not again. Today, of course, it is obvious that some of our suffering believe in God, and George Holmes Howison, a theist who from natural causes is due to our immoral exploitation of established the philosophical tradition at the University ofnature and of one another. California. There are several ways in which evil Nothing in Mormon philosophy re- and suffering have been explained short ceives more attention from the faithful of denying the reality, omnipotence, or than the freedom of the will. But as far omnibenevolence of God--from the as I know, no accepted Mormon writer "every cloud has a silver lining," and has made any contribution to the basic "God is in his heaven and all is well" problem of free will versus determinism syndromes, through the conversion of within the context of the generally ac- moral to aesthetic values, so that evil and cepted principle of universal causation. suffering are necessary to the total good, Instead, there seems to be an uncritical like the dissonant tones that are neces- assumption of the so-called libertarian sary to harmony, or the dark shadows in conception of free will, where the con- a work of art that are essential to the nection of cause and effect is interrupted beauty of the light--from such explana- by uncaused causes. Henry Eyring, who tions as these to the denial that evil and was an authority on the problems of suffering are really real--all to preserve quantum physics, and with whom ! dis- the omnipotence of a God who appar- cussed this matter extensively, held, as ently doesn’t seem to care much for us in have many others, that the Heisenberg the first place. To the absolutist-pantheist principle of uncertainty in the behavior Spinoza’s insistence that we should see of sub-atomic particles is a principle of the world sub specie aeternitatis, from indeterminacy. But, contrary to a quite God’s standpoint, William James replied popular opinion, I fail to see that this in effect that it is high time that God saw could have any relevance to the freedom a few things from our standpoint. of the will, at least until someone estab- The most persistent pattern for treat- lishes that the will is an electron and that ing this problem in technical Christian the operations of such an individual theology had its source, as might be ex- particle can determine the course of pected, in Platonism and Neoplatonism events in the macroscopic world where and was secured for Christian thought by moral action takes place. the writings of St. Augustine. In Platon- But now to return to the issue that is ism, as I have pointed out, the negative so crucial to theology, how to account facets of human experience, such as evil, for evil and suffering if God is absolute are laid at the door of matter, and un- in power and absolute in goodness. formed matter is non-being. In Plotinus Only a comparatively primitive religion and then St. Augustine, evil was regarded would compromise the absoluteness of God’s goodness, andas real only in a negative, privative sense; as darkness is the traditional occidental religion has held tenaciously to the beliefabsence of the light, evil is the absence of the good. It is not in the absolute power of God. This follows easily from thecaused by God; it is the absence of the influence of God. But doctrine of creation ex nihilo. And here is the seat of the just why God would permit even a negative reality to stain his trouble: Why does an all-powerful God either cause or permitworld has been carefully hushed up as a mystery of the faith. the surd evils and suffering of his creatures--the evils andThere’s no point in blaming it on the devil, for an omnipotent suffering which they inflict on one another, the moral problem,God could take care of the devil in short order if he wanted to, and the suffering of living things caused by the natural world,without waiting for the millennium, which is always coming the natural problem. Moral evils, the evils committed bybut never quite makes it. human beings, are commonly dealt with on the basis of free In the early period of the Hebraic religion, as evidenced in will, but there is still the problem, except for Mormons, of whythe Old Testament, God seems to have been responsible for the God permits the will to be free to the point of producing theevil as well as the good. He was ably assisted by a corps of good heinous crimes that are so prevalent. angels and bad brownies. But as the concept of God was But the most difficult problem is the so-called natural evils,moralized by the prophets, the evil was eventually shunted off

MARCH 1993 PAGE 43 S U N 5 T O N E on such characters as the Persian deity AnTra Mainyu, who and the leading contemporary theologian, Charles Hartshorne. conveniently became the Christian devil. The theologians haveMormons should take some pleasure in Whitehead’s statement never liked the devil and have usually more or less ignoredthat "that religion wi!l conquer which can render clear to him. I think they have been embarrassed by him and don’tpopular understanding some eternal greatness incarnate in the know quite what to do with him, but the conservatives are passage of temporal fact" (Adventures o.f Ideas, 41). stuck with him. He is still around in fundamentalist religion But too many LDS preachers and writers, like the faint- and in the mythology of Mormonism--and is still an embar-hearted in all religions, lust for the linguistic fleshpots of rassment. orthodoxy, the vocabulary of absolutism which provides a Now, in Mormon theology and phi- plethora of those words of assurance losophy there seems to be some ground which the religious seek. Words like infi- for a theodicy that can account for natu- nite, absolute, eternal--and the host of ral evil and suffering without implicat- omni’s that the orthodox coin--roll ing God, for the Mormon God is not from the writer’s pen and resound from omnipotent. He is limited by the mate- the preacher’s pulpit with dogmatic and rials at hand, which he did not create in comforting conviction. The vocabulary the first place, but which were the nec- of nonabsolutism, with words like lim- essary materials with which he con- ited, conditioned, finite, and temporal, structs and reconstructs the world. Nor the language of a religion of creativity, is he the ultimate creator of the laws that adventure, progress, and risk, simply dictate the structure of the universe. doesn’t come off well in church. These Heresy of heresies, there apparently is words don’t stir the emotions. This kind no ultimate creator. The totality of real- of religion, religion of struggle and fail- ity has always existed alongside God. ure as well as victory, where the end is And in the matter of moral evils, the not determined from the beginning, will evils that are willfully done by human always have an uphill battle. People sim- beings, here again God is vindicated. He ply do not like to take their problems to has to put up with working with these a God who has problems of his own. recalcitrant free intelligences, which he did not create, just as he is caught in a MORMONISM’S world of uncreated matter that doesn’t HUMAN ISTIC-NATURALISTIC always behave. QUALITIES At any rate, the Mormon theology, if worked at properly, offers at least an TURNING now to my third distin- opening for treating the most persistent guishing characteristic of Mormonism, problem in theistic religion, even its humanistic-naturalistic qualities, I though at the same time it opens the way will make only a brief comment. But first for other serious problems. The trouble a few words about the recent charges of is that most of those LDS leaders, profes- some evangelicals that the LDS religion is sors, and writers who seem to have a not Christian. Apparently this charge is kind of proprietary claim on the theol- based on two considerations: first, that ogy too often fail to understand the po- Mormonism does not accept the fourth- tential intellectual strength of the radi- century Nicene Creed, which sets forth cal, heretical ideas which their prophet propounded. Of course the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity; and, second, that it does those ideas are often trivialized, as I have said, to the point ofnot accept the doctrine that salvation is by grace only. Both of nonsense, or are presented in crude and even vulgar terms, but these claims, of course, are quite true. Mormonism is tri-theis- the fundamental proposition that God is a nonabsolutistic,tic rather than trinitarian, and it believes that salvation de- finite being, moving in time and genuinely related to things pendsin upon both grace and works. space and time that place limits upon him--ideas that are The Nicene Creed is basic in both Catholic and traditional compatible with the belief that the deity is really a person inProtestant theology, expressing as it does the doctrine that God the fullest sense of that word, related to the other persons in is one in substance and three in persons. Actually, the Creed the process of creation--such a proposition sets forth an idea does not employ the term "person," but that came into the and its implications that are now capturing the interest ofpicture later as an interpretation of its meaning. The Creed was talented theologians from all corners of occidental religion. Asthe result of intense hassling over the status of Christ in the I have indicated, the leading symbols of this movement ofmatter of his divinity and was a remarkable achievement process philosophy, a movement in which Mormonism mightconsidering that it is soil the basic Christian symbol after have been a leader, are philosopher Alfred North Whitehead almost seventeen hundred years. Now there is no scriptural

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basis for the trinitarian doctrine which, in the Nicene Creed,belief, which is supported by the idea of the necessary exis- employs Greek metaphysics in holding that God is both one intence of the individual intelligence. It rejects the dogma of substance and has three personae. This formula was tremen- original sin, which arguably is the worst idea ever to infect the dously important, for here were the early Christians with twohuman mind. James E. Talmage called it that "belief... with gods, the Father and the Son, and eventually, with the Holyits dread incubus as a burden which none can escape," which Ghost, three gods on their hands, not only tied intimately to"has for ages cast its depressing shadow over the human heart the intense Judaic monotheism, but also heavily involved withand mind" (The Vitality of Mormonism, 1919, 45). the monistic metaphysics of Platonism and Stoicism. The Original sin is supposed to be a consequent of Adam’s fall, Creed was a brilliant stroke. It provided but the Mormons believe that it was a fall for both the one and the three. The upward, that Adam did just what God Mormons are not the only tri-theists to wanted him to do--what the philoso- break with the trinitarian theology. A pher Arthur Lovejoy has happily called notable case is Roscellinus in the elev- "the paradox of the fortunate fall." The enth century, whose nominalistic meta- Mormons, to employ the crude vernacu- physics dictated his break with the lar, hold that in all this "fall" talk Adam Creed. His tri-theism was, of course, has received a bum rap. Always con- declared heretical. cerned with women’s rights and anxious The other basis for the charge against that she receive full credit, they point out Mormonism, that the Mormons do not that Eve was responsible for the whole believe in salvation by grace only, but thing in the first place. Instead of the "fall insist as well on works, does have a of Adam," it should be called the "up- scriptural basis--in the writings of the ward reach of Eve." Apostle Paul, especially his Letter to the Luther and Calvin and today’s conser- Romans. But it has nothing whatsoever vative Protestants follow St. Augustine, to do with the teachings of Jesus, to who followed Paul, in holding that the whom Paul paid little or no attention. "fall" resulted in original sin, that human His concern was with the risen Christ nature is corrupt, that we sin because we and how human beings who are in the are sinful. The Mormons, with liberal condition of sin can die and rise with religionists generally, hold that this is him--by confessing him as their savior. nonsense, that we are sinful because we Now, if it is necessary to accept the sin. The official Catholic position on Nicene Creed and believe in original sin original sin is a mild, half-way doctrine. in order to be Christian, the Mormons Original sin is the loss of the supernatu- would do well to abjure that name. But ral gift of sanctifying grace, but it is not a since they believe in the divinity of corruption of human nature. The natural Christ and that he is their savior, the reason is preserved. Both Catholics and charge of non-Christian is something Mormons, and also liberal Protestants-- they should not be willing to accept. perhaps the majority of members of the Generally speaking, Mormons and mainline churches--believe, therefore, Catholics prefer the Epistle of James to that human beings can contribute some- Romans because it lays great stress on thing to their own salvation, and perhaps the moral teachings of Jesus and, in con- the salvation of others. This makes all the trast and probably in opposition to Paul, it insists on moraldifference. It accounts for the life-affirming character of Mor- works as a requisite for salvation. Very conservative Protestantsmonism. Mormons may experience sin when they smoke, or generally are not favorable to James, whose author may havedrink, or rob, or get involved in a little illicit sex. But they don’t been a brother of Jesus. Martin Luther, who was intoxicated feel morally guilty just because they exist as human beings. with Paul’s commitment to sin and grace, didn’t like James andNormally, they don’t suffer the anguish of being estranged from refused to give it full canonical status. God. In a sense, the Mormon preference for James over Romans Mormon naturalism is, of course, an aspect of its material- is an index to what I have called Mormon humanism. Inism. In the Mormon conception of reality there is no supernat- contrast to Paul’s epistle, which is the chief source of theural. This is most evident, perhaps, in the conception of doctrine of original sin, with all of its negative entailments andmiracles. There is no miracle in the traditional sense of an overtones, James has a positive flavor with a life-affirmingintervention in the laws of nature. Mormons believe in mira- quality that suggests the possibility of genuine moral advance-cles, but the apparently miraculous events are simply in prin- ment through human effort. Mormonism has essentially aciple the operation of natural law beyond human understand- liberal doctrine of humankind, a typical nineteenth-centurying. Now it is possible to say that this is simply quibbling about

MARCH 1993 PAGE 45 S U N S T O N E words, but the important thing here is the sense of continuityof what the people believed. He was quite right in holding that of the natural and human with the divine. For Mormons, justthere must be something over and above this process of a being as there is not a metaphysical opposition of the eternal and the becoming God. temporal or of the spiritual and material, there is not a basic Now that is why I refer to the idea of Mormon naturalistic contradiction of the supernatura! and natural--which trans-humanism. What must be over and above as the real ultimates lates into the divine and human. are the value universals, as Pratt apparently believed. For St. Ideas such as these can be an open invitation to nonsense, Augustine, God’s mind was eternally stocked with the Platonic and there has been without question a serious trivialization ofvalue absolutes and his mind determined his will, but the spiritual matters in Mormon theology. Among Mormon writersMormon deity apparently had to work into it. Mormon theol- one can find a fair share of what I would call uninhibitedogy is still in its formative stages, and I rather think it may theological absurdity. Now in my opinion, most theology,eventually abandon this belief. wherever it is found, is probably cognitively meaningless. But But the point is, who decides what these values are, such as usually it is disguised by sophisticated-sounding language thatTruth, Beauty, and Goodness? Human beings decide, of course. appears to make it not only meaningful but even believable.The Mormons believe that God legislates for human thought Mormon theology is somewhat different from the norm. In itsand human behavior, but always the legislation is in terms of concreteness and in the raw it appears to be meaningful,what passes as the best ideas and best insights of human without the fancy linguistic garb that usually adorns theologi-beings. In this, of course, Mormonism is no different in prin- cal discourse. But the problem is, it also appears to be false. At ciple from other religions--at least those that attempt, as least it appears to be false unless one is able to make, as the Mormonism does, to be reasonable, or at least pretend to be faithful Mormon makes, a complete about-face from the tradi- reasonable even when they are unreasonable. We create our tional ways of thinking about God and the soul and the humangods in our own image, and they have a way of thinking our condition. best thoughts and echoing them back to us in revelation. This There is in Mormonism a kind of folk theology, and whatis the anthropocentric paradox of all theistic religion. It’s sim- might be called an esoteric theology, as well as the standardply that Mormon theology makes this human, naturalistic normative theology, but these are difficult to define. Perhaps itfoundation of religion a little more obvious. ~ is in the esoteric category that one of the most radical ideas in Mormon thought appears, a complete contradiction to the whole tradition of occidental theism, and, most critics would agree, a contradiction of common sense: that God became the supreme deity through some kind of process of achievement that took him to the top, so to speak. Now I don’t want to Bring me a guitar pursue this line in any detail because I have real difficulty in a song beats within me. making any sense of it. But this is an established Mormon belief. Back in the early fifties, the Mormon Bible scholar Heber Bring me a guitar C. Snell and I discussed this matter with the Mormon theolo- a song flows through me gian Joseph Fielding Smith. In reply to the question of how he sounding its life-giving rhythm. could hold that God is absolute while believing that God went through an educative process to achieve the status of deity, Bring me a guitar President Smith gave the simple reply that he was a relative before it’s too late. being until he finally became God, and from that moment on he was no longer relative but absolute. What can one say in Hurry, bring me a guitar. reply to that kind of argument? To put it crudely, who was It pounds on my soul minding the store, or the school, while all this process of becoming God was going on? Whoever it was, she has cer- threatening to break me tainly managed to keep herself well hidden in the background. if I frustrate its birth. I am aware of the various attempts by Mormon writers to Quick, bring me a guitar justify this belief--an infinite series of Gods, the God of our corner of the universe, and so on. But it seems to me that none before this song steals of them makes sense, unless it was Orson Pratt’s attempt to the meter of my life invoke the Platonic universals in his famous statement in The in its still passing. Seer that TRUTH, in all caps, is the ultimate God and that it is Bring me a guitar. TRUTH dwelling in the deity that makes him divine and an object of worship (Vol. 1:2, para. 22). Pratt was severely I need a guitar disciplined for his efforts, as he apparently described the witlh strings and fertile box ultimate divine as impersonal. But he was just trying to do to save me from this song. what theologians are supposed to do, make some kind of sense --DAVID CLARK KNOWLTON

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We incredibly rich and largely spoiled North Americans need to turn to finite and material things, rather than flee from them, for this may be the character of our continuing and eternal existence.

REFLECTIONS ON MORMON MATERIALISM

By John Durham Peters

MUCH IN MORMON THINKING SUGGESTS A POS- good things of the earth. Such examples, doctrinal and histor- itive attitude toward the realm of matter--the Earth, ourical, could be extended almost endlessly. Mormon thinking bodies, material things. At the most basic level, Mormontraditionally melts down the metaphysical barrier between cosmology is the story of humankind’s increasing immersionmatter and spirit. Matter, for Mormonism, does not weigh in matter for the sake of progress and growth. Though life ondown spirit; it brings glory to it. 1 The glory of God is described Earth may sometimes feel to us like a brief sojourn in an alienin Mormon scriptures as inseparable from the increasingly condition or an enforced terror in a dark place of forgetting and wondrous collaborations of spirit and element throughout the temptation, it is more fundamentally a sort of homecoming.universe. We live on Earth, not as exiles from a more perfect realm of Despite this magnificent heritage, we hardly have any ink- spirit and crystal, but rather as initiates into a new, and higher,ling of the philosophical and practical consequences of the stage of existence: the realm of element, of matter, of bodies. materiality of spirit and the spirituality of matter. Much of our The world of pure spirit is a preschool: Earth life is a higherdoctrinal discourse slips into older Christian habits. Thus we order where spirit and element commingle. Mortal life is not atalk about the spiri~ and the body at war, or about the dual deviation but a foreshadowing of what is to come; it is annature of our existence.2 Further, current Mormon attitudes invitation, not a condemnation. This continuity of present andand practices are often confused about the realm of matter. On future spheres is emphatically expressed in the distinctivethe one hand, the most wondrous of all material things, the Mormon doctrine that the very earth on which we now live,human body, is often mistrusted as a source of sin (or sinful not some distant heaven, will be the eternal dwelling place oftendencies) and hence in need of mastery. On the other, we its valiant citizens. Heaven, in a Mormon vision, is not anMormons are almost famous for being heirs of the Protestant alternative to but the exaltation of this world. The marriage ofethickthe notion that (to simplify) if you are righteous you are matter and spirit is the order of the eternities: "spirit andrich and vice versa. That these two attitudes--the distrust of element, inseparably connected, receive a fullness of.joy; Andthe body and the love of material success--coexist should when separated, man cannot receive a fullness of joy" (D&Cstrike us as something of a puzzle: how can you simulta- 93:33-34). neously disdain and adore material things? In what follows, I A positive attitude toward matter shows up in key places of offer a few reflections on this puzzle, bearing in mind the Mormon thought. Joseph Smith wrote that spirit was a form ofcurious fact that while denunciations of the lust for fine things matter, and that God the Father and his Son have tangible are a dime a dozen, ihardly anyone votes with their checkbook bodies of flesh and bone (D&¢ 130, 131). Orson Prattg classic against fine things when all else is equal. treatise, The Absurdities of Immaterialism, denounced as absurd any theology that was not materialist. Brigham Young saw Zion THE BODY as a place where holiness was crowned by the beautiful and Why the Body is Not a Source of Sin A DISTRUST of the body is one of the major legacies of JOHN DURHAM PETERS is an associate professor in the depart- the Christian tradition. Neo-Platonism, Gnosticism, and Helle- ment of communication studies at the University of Iowa. An earlier nic culture generally helped teach Christians that their bodies version of this paper was presented at the 1988 Washington, D.C., were a gross weight and a bondage from which the spirit Sunstone Symposium. should long to soar free) A whole language and set of disci-

MARCH 1993 PAGE 47 S U N S T 0 N E

plinary practices developed Why the Notion of around the lusts of the flesh, the the Spirit Mastering passions of carnal (i.e., fleshly or the Body Makes No Sense embodied) beings, and so on, that blamed the body for sin. THE whole imagery about We inherit, by default and lack the relation of spirit and body of a positive alternative, some of that we have inherited is one of this language and the attitudes the spirit as master and the body that go with it. All too often as slave--an imagery that needs Mormons feel their bodies to be to be examined for its violence: sinful, as sources of temptation, whips, chains, subjection, en- as secondary to the spirit, and in slavement, mastery, taming, and need of the spirit’s discipline. so on. Too often it is implied, for The reasoning seems to go like instance, that we fast monthly to this: We live on Earth as spirits somehow let the spirit breathe in bodies. Our spirits are eter- free from its dead bodily weight nal, pure, and born of God. Our for awhile. Fasting thus becomes bodies are temporary and a sort of spiritual discipline de- earth(1)y. Further, we all sin. signed to knock the body into What then is the source of sin? shape, a self-denial in the name It can’t be the spirit, since it is ASTING IS AN ACT OF SOLIDARITY WITH OUR of increased "spirituality." Where eternal. Therefore, it must be the did this strange asceticism come body. F FATHER’S CHILDREN WHO ARE PERPETUALLY from? In contrast, the spiritual I do not believe that anything foundations of the monthly fast in in the gospel truly obligates usHUNGRY--TO FEEL, BRIEFLY, AS THEY DO AND TO Mormondom have less to do with to such a conception of bodily DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT--NOT AN EXERCISE IN the discipline of self than the love evil. Consider King Benjaming of others.6 Fasting is an act of sol- dictum: "The natural man is anSELF-AFFLICTION. idarity with the many of our enemy to God" (Mosiah 3:19). Father’s children who are perpetu- What is this "natural man"? Is it ally hungry--to feel, briefly, as man and woman embodied, they do and to do something with our built-in inclinations to eat, sleep, mate, and so on?about it--not an exercise in self-affliction (see Isaiah 58). More Clearly not. Benjamin is not referring to humans in the state ofcentrally, the scriptures are clear that the urge to lordship and nature, but to socialized adults. This is clear in his point thatdomination is suspect in whatever shape it appears. Even (or the little child is the opposite of "the,natural man." Benjamin’sespecially) when you’re doing it to yourself or your body, it’s terminology is a bit confusing since natural" can signify bothstill domination. You don’t need a Nietzsche, the German the innocent joys of paradise and the animal brutishness of rawphilosopher, to tell you that there is usually a lot of resent- physical need. Clearly, in any case, the "enemy to God" is notment--the frustrated desire for power or recognition--at the the body.4 Worldliness, not bodiliness, seems to be the prob- heart of self-denial. Nietzsche had a keen eye for seeing how lem. Furthermore, if the body were the source of sin, thensome people get pleasure from suffering stoically, all the while infants indeed would need baptism; but they do not (Moronienjoying a fine sense of their own nobility. He believed that 8). That we baptize children when they are eight years oldChristianity was "nothing but" the will to power turned in- testifies that it is not the body per se that leads to sin, butward: since the kingdom was not built on Earth, Christians something else. Likewise, humankind did not instantly be-turned their desire to rule and reign on themselves. Asceticism come "carnal, sensual, and devilish" upon exiting Eden, but as(which he saw as the predominant character of Christianity) is a consequence of a specific choice some people made (Moses the last resort of the urge to be master somewhere and over 5:13). (One wonders if one could choose to avoid this state something, if only oneg own body. You don’t have to agree with afterwards--a problem for another paper.) Nietzscheg conclusions to learn from his analysis (and there’s The relative contributions of the spirit and the body tono reason, given the Mormon view of the history of Christian- human sinfulness is a complex theological problem that I hopeity, why we cannot take Nietzsche as an acute analyst of the to address another time. Clearly, the body cannot be singled fruits of apostasy).7 Civilization naturally rests on some chan- out as the prime culprit. In fact, Mormon theology can be read neling of biological appetites, but when Mormons think of the in a way that sees our bodies and their appetites as good and spirit as beating the body into submission, as we often do, we beautiful-- it is choices and abuses that corrupt them.5 Hence the spirit, as the agency of choice, might be a more likelyperpetuate a long tradition of flawed thinking and practice about the body. Instead, we need to find new--or better yet, candidate for the source of sin. old--and more healthy ways of thinking about the relation of

PAGE 48 MARCH 1993 S U N S T O N E body and spirit. Three scriptural images present The Mormon theological three different ways of dealing imagination has bardy begun to with this gap; we may be able to explore how to think about the learn something from them mix of body and spirit. But let us about the relation of spirit and imagine for a moment--what if body. we thought the task of Earth life was not to make the body behave, TOWER, TEMPLE, IDOL: but to teach the spirit modera- Images of the Gap between tion? Many of the foibles of mor- Human Limitation and Desires tals are not anchored in the bodyg appetites, but in our capacity for imagination and aspiration, ri- THE Tower of Babel is the valry and pride. When the Lord story of desire run berserk, of a says to Moroni, "I give unto [my longing for the infinite that dis- children] weakness that they may torts the finite realm. The story, be humble" (Ether 12:27), this of course, concerns an attempt might be imaginatively interpre- to reconcile heaven and earth. ted as saying, "I give unto my We read in Genesis 11 that a children bodies that their de- group of people in the plains of sires not be infinite." Maybe the Shinar apparently decided that real lesson of mortality is not to HAT IF WE THOUGHT THE TASK OF EARTH LIFE templesMwhich throughout the master the flesh, but to mellowW WAS NOT TO MAKE THE BODY BEHAVE, BUT TO ancient world were called the the spirit. Maybe we come into binding points of heaven and the world with an eternityg ex-TEACH THE SPIRIT MODERATION? earth---were not enough.8 "After perience of boundlessness. The all," the builders must have rea- task here is to become comfort- soned, "anyone can see that tem- able in an imperfect body, to ples do not really reach the sky encounter checks on infinite desires. "Why am I no longerand hence are at best a mere metaphor of the union of earth infinite?" is a question behind maW resentments, ambitions,and sky." So they decided to actually reach heaven by building longings, and dominations. The body is the school of finitude.a tower. With care and calculation, they thoroughly baked The real evils are less those of the flesh than of run-awaybricks so that they would not crumble beneath the weight of ambition. Meanness, snideness, cruelty, spouse or child abuse, the tower, and started to build skyward. Up and up they went. torture, inquisitions, and genocides are not evils that arise fromThe project was interrupted by a confusion of tongues sent by the body, but from the desire for power, the urge to rule and a God worried about their ambition. Perhaps the confusion, reign. People can be more dangerous when they try to be gods however, was less a curse motivated by God’s fear of his on Earth than when their bodies are insufficiently harnessed.potentially uncontrollable offspring than his intervention to We try to be lords, only to end up lording over our fellows. The stop a quest doomed to be lost in infinitude. If they had not twentieth century shows clearly that rationally organized pro-been interrupted, how far would they have gone before they cedure can be a million-fold more dangerous than run-away found the sky? With resources and energy enough, the tower passion. A cool Hitler is ultimately more dangerous than a hotwould today be swiping through the asteroid belt, still unable Elvis. to get to heaven. Their quest would have assumed the infinite Clearly not all these problems--as acutely diagnosed in theproportions of its object: they never would have found what pages of the Book of Mormon as they are by Nietzschemcan they were looking for; they would have sought endlessly. For be attributed to the spirit. I do not aim to celebrate the body heaven is always beyond, somewhere else. The more bricks and blame the spirit--you don’t cure an unhealthy dualism byone applies, the less attainable heaven becomes. inverting it. The point is that we mortals get lost more often in The tower was motivated by what is essentially a religious chasing after the infinite than in dwelling in finitude and thatquest: to get to heaven. The aim was legitimate, the method our bodies have much to teach us about sanity, modesty, and mad. The tower builders wanted to construct a bridge from moderation. Lust exceeds in imagination anything the bodymortality to immortality on which one could physically ascend. could endure in practice. Admittedly, we can dream, long, andThe whole project was an attempt to erase the tension between imagine in ways we can never act, fulfill, or create: this makesheaven and earth. This tension, in contrast, was acknowledged us human. There is a sort of built-in "disproportion" betweenby the temple. The temple had no pretensions of selling tickets the vastness of human desires and the limitations of mortality.to the sky-train; its devotees, if we follow Hugh Nibley’s claim This disproportion makes us human; it fuels action and cre-that temples anciently were first and foremost observatories, ativity and dreaming; but it can also lead to strange results.gazed at the heavens in wonder. The stars were enigmas and

MARCH 1993 PAGE 49 S U N S T 0 N E omens to be read, never to be but serves as a term for acquisi- attained. The temple derived its tiveness. It is ironic that the de- energy and power precisely sire to have is called from the tension that the tower "materialism." While the term sought to overcome. The pres- accurately describes the conse- ence of heaven in the temple quences of this desire (the accu- was metaphorical, open, and mulation of a sheer bulk of unfulfilled. A temple-goer saw material things), it does not de- the stars, longed for the trea- scribe its origins. Materialism is a sures in the heavens, and felt the quest much like the Tower of relative nothingness of Babel--running toward some- humanity’s present state (Moses thing that you may already have, 1:10). The union of heaven and but don’t recognize. It results, earth was a dream, a contempla- paradoxically, from a lack of ap- tion, a hope that one could preciation of material things, bridge that gap; those dreams and works as a temporary salve did not deny but came face to to a spiritual wound. face with the negativity and per- Our bodies are really not all manent unfulfillment of human that demanding, in general, for longing. The tower builders basic maintenance. It is surpris- thus denied the gap in a quest ing (as Thoreau demonstrated in for the infinite; the temple-goers Walden) how little it takes--of embraced it in all its paradoxes. food, labor, and money--to The temple converted the elu- keep our bodies healthy and our siveness of the heavens to an en- minds lively. To be sure, as ani- ergy of devotion that recognized mals we have built-in nesting in- human limits; the tower strove stincts and a preference for to erase the abyss via a massive security, but these are almost al- public works project. ways defined socially. We listen The case of idolatry manages the gap between longing andto what society says are suitable clothes, "gracious homes," object in the exact opposite way. While Babel’s architects sawfashionable cars, and so on, rather than to our bodily needs heaven as beyond, idolaters believed it to be immediately(which would likely give much more modest answers in gen- present. If the tower-builders suffered from too much tran- eral). Consider Donald Trump’s ninety-foot living room that he scendence, idolaters suffered from too much immanence. Thehad in the late 1980s. As he admitted, he couldn’t possibly tower makes a parody of longing, idolatry of fulfillment. In theneed it--but he liked being the only person in New York City idol all divinity is to be found, here and now; there is nothingto have one. What, then, brings him enjoyment? He takes left to strive for, for heaven has taken up residence on earth.pleasure not from the room, but from the realm of social Idolatry brings heaven down to earth; the tower brings earthcomparison. Just as a few more bricks to Babel shows that up to heaven. In both cases, the marriage of spirit and matter,heaven is not there yet, so as soon as someone else gets a infinite and finite, is adulterated: the tower gives earth thehundred-foot living room, Trump’s pleasure will evaporate. infinite proportions of the heavens (the building); idolatryOnly pleasures that lose nothing when removed from the gives heaven the finite proportions of earth (a piece of wood orpublic eye are genuine. clay that is a divinity). In both cases, one partner in the This is to say that "materialism" is not really concerned with marriage takes over and dominates the other. matter--with goods or things in themselves~but with signs, The temple, in contrast, is a place of marriage: it is thestatus, comparison, prestige. It is not properly materialist but binding point of heaven and earth, and also the place wherethe most metaphysical of quests. We want fancy charge cards the union of man and woman is sanctified. Both give, bothand tailored suits not so much for what we can do with them take; together they are one, but they can be one only because but for what they mean or for what they will buy us in the they are different. So also spirit and matter are at once forevermarketplace of other’s opinions~which buttresses our waver- different and forever interdependent. ing opinions of ourselves. Advertising shows that symbolic associations, more than practical uses, sell products. Adver- MATERIALISM tisements give us lifestyle, prestige, honor, gleam, and sparkle more often than they do usable or modest products.9 ~MATERIALISM’’" " is a complex and confusing word. In If we had more confidence in what our bodies~as op- everyday speech, "materialism" refers not to a philosophicalposed to others--tell us what we need, we would likely have doctrine about the fundamental composition of the cosmos, a saner relationship to the material world. We would want

MARCH 1993 PAGE 50 S U N S T O N E houses that pleasantly meet our ings of the market. The cherry needs rather than ones that tree’s exchange value only ab- allow us to admire ourselves stractly relates to what kinds of through the eyes of others. I just immediate uses or enjoyments it bought a used car, and I find can yield; it is determined by the myself often studying its ap- current supply of and demand pearance, discovering its angles for cherry trees in the market. and overall shape. I like how it Marx’s critique of capitalism, for looksmbut I can never see how instance, was partly that use- it looks when I am driving it. value was being gobbled up by Only others can. I would be exchange value, that concrete hard pressed to sort out the mix- uses were disappearing before ture of my personal feelings for the tyrannical and illusionary the car and my sense of its sym- workings of the market. In Lehi’s bolic meaning in the more gen- terms, one’s treasures come to eral automotive universe. be defined not by the taste or Materialism can be a spiritual sweetness of the fruit but by the quest gone haywire, a quest for current state of 9Pinion in the a better world, in the skies or in great building across the way. the eyes of others, where one Once while in Washington, will never find it. How can we D.C., I crossed the Potomac to redirect the theological esteem NLY PLEASURES THAT LOSE NOTHING WHEN RE- nearby Alexandria, trying (un- for matter and element in Mor- O MOVED FROM THE PUBLIC EYE ARE GENUINE. successfully) to find the child- mon thought into sane attitudes hood house I had lived in toward things? twenty-five years earlier. Driving We are talking about matters through Old Town, ! was im- of economics here, and a great treatise on the sources of value pressed by the lovely shops, the appealing array of colors, the (the centerpiece of economic theory) is Lehi’s dream of the Treeexotic restaurants, the charming colonial architecture, and the of Life (1 Nephi 8). This story contrasts two competing sources beautiful people walking about. How could anyone, I thought, of human motivation: public esteem and private satisfaction.be sourpuss enough to deny the loveliness of the place? The Lehi sees a tree, more beautiful than all others with fruitbeauty and attraction of it is real. But that beauty occurs within sweeter than all others. That the fruit in itself is delicious anda larger geography. Semiotics, the general study of signs and that one must endure major stress to acquire it are taken for their relations, has taught us that all symbols take meaning grantedmLehi has no problem with a fervent desire for thewith reference to the entire system of which they are a part, sweetest, finest, and most beautiful of all things. Those who eatand Alexandria cannot but help derive some of its appeal from the tree’s fruit know its satisfactions in an immediate, bodilyits contrast with other places, such as southeast Washington, way. But across the way is a tall, "great and spacious" buildingD.C. Beauty needs squalor and takes strength (negatively) filled with fashionable souls who point mocking fingers at thefrom it, at least in this fallen world. tasters. Does Lehi blithely assume that taste buds are stronger Could it not be that our private pleas~ures are the symptoms evidence than the opinions of others? No--he warns that of inequality? That matters of personal consumption are fun- whoever pays heed to the mockers leaves the tree. The choice damentally linked to the social and spiritual welfare of the posed is stark: what to use as a guide for action? Your own human family as a whole? It is not comfortable to recognize experience or the approval of others? More often than not, we that some of our pleasures may be predicated on others’ place more trust in the wisdom of the world--which is visible,discomforts, that one man’s meat is another man’s starvation. public, and secure as convention can make it~than our ownMy point is not to condemn lovely things or to denounce our quiet satisfactions (if we even know what they are). We desireappreciation of them. Indeed, beauty may be the most eternal things desired by others. Or, as with Donald Trump, enjoy- of all--in a celestial world, the good and the true could be ment is dependent on the esteem we reap, while the immediatetaken for granted, but beauty never could. The problem is not joy (or sorrow) our bodies feel gets ignored. with beauty or with finery but with the social system in which "Use-value" versus "exchange-value" is a classic contrast inthey are asymmetrically circulated. Beautiful things should not economic theory. Use-value is defined by the relationshipbe swept away in some vast, totalitarian Puritan purge, but between a person (or society) and a commodity. Thus I may should abound and be open to all. use a cherry tree for shade, for fruit, for wood, for a tree-house, Material things are intensely moral because of the unequal for decoration. The variety of uses depends on the inherent social and economic system in which they circulate. The whole properties of the commodity and my needs and practices. world lies in sin in that some have more and others have less Exchange-value, in contrast, is defined by the abstract work- (D&C 49:20). Some pleasures~of basketball court-sized liv-

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ing rooms or Imelda Marcos’s having found a dwelling; misery infinite regress of shoes, never is when desires wander about broken in to the unique use- like dispossessed spirits, seeking value of her own feet--consist rest and finding none. only in the intoxicating air of It may sound paradoxical to feeling oneself at the top. Park- suggest that a cure for material- ing lots outside California wards isrn is a genuine appreciation, or neighborhoods along the love, and gratitude for worldly Wasatch Bench sometimes be- goods. Too often materialism is a come theaters of competitive flight from the world of plain- blessedness. Material goods can ness, the world of ordinary joys. be spiritual bads, if they are only We incredibly rich and largely used to reenforce the sensation spoiled North Americans need to of your own holiness. Goods (in turn to finite and material things, the tangible sense) are related to rather than flee from them, for the good (in the moral sense). this may be the character of our Should Christians follow some continuing and eternal exis- kind of categorical imperative in tence. Does not God say that his our pleasures? This would mean greatness and glory are due more that we would enjoy what in to his ongoing work in the mess principle only could be enjoyed UR PRIVATE PLEASURES ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF and muck of finitude than his by everyone. What would a so- detached glory above-it-all? ciety look like in which no en- O INEQUALITY. BEAUTIFUL THINGS SHOULD NOT BE (Moses 1:39.) Does not true god- joyment or pleasure was SWEPT AWAY IN SOME VAST TOTALITARIAN PURITAN liness consist partly in the tam- predicated on another not being ing of one~ longings for the lofty able to have it? Who can hear PURGE, BUT SHOULD ABOUND AND BE OPEN TO ALL. and infinite long enough to do such doctrine in this world? what one can to bring about the There is a difference between salvation and exaltation of par- taking pleasure in the fact of ex- ticular people? Is not this world clusivity (Donald Trump) and taking pleasures from whichof material things and embodied spirits designed as an educa- others are excluded. The first we can decide to avoid, but to tion in the things of eternity? Maybe an attitude adjustment of avoid the second would require us to quarantine ourselves the rich would be one step in the right direction toward the from the global economymperhaps an impossible task. more serious issue: how to care for tee poor of the earth.1°

CONCLUSION NOTES I HAVE explored attitudes toward the body and toward possessionsmtwo sorts of material things--and argued that 1. Joseph Smith developed the interplay of "element" and "glory" in the King Follett discourse: see Bruce W. Jorgensen, "Element and Glory: Reflections while Mormon thinking can encourage much positive thought and Speculations on the Mormon Verbal Imagination," Proceedings of the Sympo- toward the material world, we generally neglect the lessons sia of the Association for Mormon Letters, 1978-79 (1980): 65-78. that matter has to teach us (a main point of being on Earth, 2. For example, Russell M. Nelson, "The Magnificence of Man," Ensign 18 (January 1988): 64-69. after all, according to Mormon cosmology). The lust to possess 3. Peter Brown, The Body and Society (Los Angeles: University of California, is not a case of the body~ appetites running out of control, but 1987). something else--a twisted spiritual adventure run rampant. 4. Thanks to Barbara Day Lockhart for this insight, and to her, Jay Bybee, We have to learn from matter: lessons of dwelling, horniness, Peggy Fletcher Stack, and Tom Griffith for useful comments. 5. For just one example, see John A. Widtsoe, A Rational Theology (Salt Lake modesty, plainness, the joys of the everyday uncanniness that City: Deseret Book, 1937). is all around us. A farm, said Emerson, is a mute gospel. 6. Marion G. Romney, "Fundamental Welfare Services," Ensign (May Almost everyone can luxuriate in the animal joy of simply 1979):94-97. 7. As James Faulconer argues in his review of The First Coming: How the being alive, savor the colorful glories of the crabapple trees in Kingdom of God Became Christianity by Thomas Sheehan in SUNSTONE 11 (May spring, the greenness of the grass, the blue sky though the 1987): 26. magnolia trees, the ever-changing expressions of children. 8. Richard J. Clifford, The Cosmic Mountain (Cambridge: Harvard University There is enough and to spare, and nobody is excluded from Press, 1972), and Hugh W. Nibley, Nibley on the Timely and the Timeless (Provo: BYU Press, 1978), 111. partaking. Many of these sorts of joys are already distributed 9. Raymond Williams, "Advertising: The Magic System," Problems in Materi- democratically. All the earth is a temple, as are our bodies: we alism and Culture (London: Verso, 1980). needn’t build towers to find heaven or shrines to capture it 10. For stimulating suggestions, see essays by Garth Jones, James Lucas, and when it visits. Happiness is the condition of one’s desires Warner Woodworth.

MARCH 1993 PAGE 52 sun on their hair and a sure defiance in their THIS SIDE OF THE TRACTS eyes. I was stunned. They had grumbled from time to time about how boring church was and how most of their friends got to go Carol Lynn Pearson swimming on Sunday. But running away to the hills so they wouldn’t have to go? We always went to church, like we always ate "I DON’T WANT TO BE dinner. It was not up for question. Rage and frustration rocked me as I fi- A MORMON ANYMORE!" nally found my voice. "I cannot believe... how dare you... ?" I sputtered, unable even to complete a sentence. "Get... back.., in ... this ... room.., right.., now!" John’s legs made their way back through the window. Then Aaron’s. "Sit down!" They sat on the floor and I stood over them, wanting all the height I could get. "So this is it? You’re dropping out of the Church? You’re never going back?" John shook his head. "Never," said Aaron. Had I been watching this scene in some- one else’s family, I would have had to stifle a smile. But this was my family, and I found myself seized with terror. "Falling away" is not what I had in mind for my children. Certainly not at this age. John was only twelve and Aaron was eleven. They were too young to fall away. "Are you going to make us go?" asked John sadly. I heaved a huge sigh and leaned up against the door. I could make them go. I could threaten them or bribe them or cry in front of them until they felt so guilty that they’d get into their white shirts and dark pants and Sunday shoes and go. How do I keep my children involved long enough to see the "No," I said after a long pause. "I’m not going to make you go. But you’re not going good in the Church for themselves? Or at least long enough up into the hills either. If you don’t want to to make a rational choice? go to church this morning, you can just sit right where you are while we’re gone. No IT WAS SUNDAY morning and I had going outside. No television. We’ll talk about be.... "I froze. "Well, what is this?" this later." just finished getting ready for church. Strains John, halfway out the window in torn "Okay," they mumbled. from My Turn on Earth, a musical I had jeans and an old grey sweatshirt, looked at written, wafted through the house. " . . . It me sheepishly. Behind him I could see AS the deacons, twelve to fourteen ends with death, it begins with birth, and it’s Aaron’s legs on the roof. years old, walked up and down the aisles in my turn, my turn, my turn on earth." I "Where are you going?" I demanded. their white shirts and ties, passing the sacra- walked down the hall and opened Aaron’s "Up in the hills." John’s voice was soft but ment, I felt a war within me. John should be door to urge him on. clear. with them. John should want to be with "Aaron? We’ve got fifteen minutes to "Why?" them. I could make him be there next week. "So we won’t have to go to church." He Should I? The War in Heaven was fought CAROL LYNN PEARSON lives in Walnut Creek, lifted his other leg through the open window California, and is the author and performer of over the right to free agency. I could sort of and hunched down to look at me. Aaron’s remember voting for it for me, but I certainly her one-woman play, Mother Wove the Morn- face moved into the frame and spoke. ing, now available on video. An earlier version of didn’t remember voting for it for my chil- "We hate going to church. We’re not going dren. They got it anyway, though, and they this essay was first written as a chapter for One to go anymore. We hate being Mormons." on the Seesaw: The Ups and Downs of a were exercising it. A joke title someone had "Yeah," added John. "Church is lame." thought up for a book was "Free Agency and Single Parent Family, but rejected by the pub- Speechless, I stared for a moment at my lisher as being "too Mormon." How to Enforce It." I liked that. two boys framed in the window, the morning The Rice boy held the silver sacrament

MARCH 1993 PAGE 53 serious sinners. There was a lot blowing me, then took my hand. I had stood beside tray in front of me, and I took the small piece my mother Emeline as she sang "Come, of bread. He would never sneak out the around that used to be fastened down, and I window and run up in the hills to avoid was left alone to grab and hold and nail Come, Ye Saints" with great resolve and grat- having to go to church. Every Sunday the down or throw away. I knew intuitively that itude. She had been a missionary for the Rice family filled the front row, and I would it was not iust a bright summer day that was Church on two separate occasions and had watch them and other stalwart, happy, two- tempting the boys to skip church. It was a always prayed, as the family knelt together parent, seemingly-perfect families in the crumbling of the family identity. Their father beside our chairs at supper, that her family ward and envy them. With two parents wasn’t a Mormon anymore. Why should and their families would heed the counsel of united it’s almost possible to block all the they be? the prophet and give their all to building the doors and the windows so that no child I wasn’t listening to the sacrament meet- kingdom. The last Christmas she was with us sneaks onto a deviant path. Almost. ing talk by the visiting high councilman, a before she died of cancer when I was fifteen, Early on, we were the perfect Mormon tribute to the pioneers in commemoration of she put in our stockings a letter she had family, too, holding family home evening Pioneer Day. I was writing my own talk. written, telling us she was proud of us and and singing "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam" What was I going to say to the boys when I urging us to continue in our devotion to the and "We Thank Thee, Oh, God, For a got home? I couldn’t speak with unwavering truth, to the family, to the Church. I had Prophet," and paying our tithing before any confidence like some Mormon parents memorized most of the letter. other financial obligation, and teaching the could. What my boys didn’t know--what Her mother, Sarah, who had walked children that coffee and tea and alcohol most people didn’t know--was that I had across the plains beside a covered wagon would never be found in our cupboards, and eyed the window and thought about climb- when she was eight, had sung that same going to the temple regularly, and fulfilling ing out myself. hymn again and again. I knew that as a girl all the assignments given us by the bishop. Sister Keddington arose and smiled and in Idaho she had sent her Christmas money But then the children’s father climbed out lifted her baton for the beginning of "Come, with that of everyone else in the family to be the window, and that changed everything. Come, Ye Saints." Before we had finished the used in building the Salt Lake Temple. She Even after the divorce, the window stayed first verse, I felt tears on my cheeks and had wanted new mittens, but had willingly open and looked inviting and winds blew in wondered if the bishop or Sister Keddington sent the money and mended the holes in the and things that had been fastened down sud- or the high councilman would notice. If they old ones. "Though hard to you this journey denly were up in the air. The children knew did, they wouldn’t think too much about it. may appear, Grace shall be as your day." that their father drank wine with his dinner A divorced woman has the right to cry, is And Sarah’s mother, Mary, had maybe sometimes and that he didn’t go to church expected to cry. They would never guess the even been one of the first singers of the anymore or believe everything the Church tears came from a different well. hymn. The song had been written by Wil- taught. They were just digesting the informa- "Gird up your loins; fresh courage take. liam Clayton in the late 1840s as he lay alone tion that this man they adored was a homo- Our God will never us forsake." Emily no- in a leaky tent after receiving word of the sexual, someone on the Church’s list of most ticed that my voice broke and looked over at death of his infant son back in Nauvoo, Illinois. It was passed from wagon train to wagon train, bringing the pioneers comfort and hope. "Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard? ’Tis not so; all is right 2 Just a phrase, just a line of the melody could link me instantly with my people, with Sarah and Mary and all those other ancestors who had seen and followed some bright new light: George, who had given up a prestigious po- sition as a lacemaker in Nottingham; Thomas, who had marched in the Mormon Battalion to San Diego, boiling his rawhide shirt to survive; Warren, who had sailed around Cape Horn to San Francisco with Samuel Brannan and then had accepted Brig- ham Young’s call to found a city that became Mesa, Arizona. All these people, my people, had sung "Come, Come, Ye Saints" and had meant it. "Oh, how we’ll make this chorus swell--All is well! All is well!" I heard them singing it along with me now from the back of the chapel. I saw them watching me, their poster- ity, their hope, their seed for whom they had sacrificed so much. They knew I would con- "Why should I pay 59.95 for a temple cross-stitch tinue the family heritage, continue to build the kingdom, to be a good Latter-day Saint, to pattern when I can photocopy it for 25 cents?" teach my children the restored gospel, to

PAGE 54 MARCH 1993 send them out as missionaries. They were lemma with John and Aaron. Then I asked had become our standard term of endear- happy to see me there, where I belonged. Annie, who wasn’t born into the Church, ment. But where were my boys? I could see why she stayed. And why did she want her "Thanks, Sister Mauss." Thomas Morris staring at me darkly from kids to stay? under the great eyebrows in the family photo Annie looked out the car window at the I GRABBED the girls when Sunday album. "Carol Lynn," he said sternly, "where recognizably Mormon chapel with its plain School was over and hurried through the are your boys?" spires and practical design. We had on other foyer to the big wooden doors before any- Well, they were home sitting on the floor occasions lamented the cookie-cutter archi- body could ask me where John and Aaron of Aaron’s room because they didn’t want to tecture that made all Mormon buildings look were. But Brother Jones stopped me on the be Mormons anymore. alike and joked that we ourselves were run- steps. But I was there. I had not climbed out the ning from the same cookie cutter. "We missed your boys today." window. That was something. So many of She shared her conversion story and con- I turned and tried for a smile. "Yes. They my good friends had left the Church for one cluded, "After I got baptized I thought I’d ¯ .. couldn’t make it." I could not lie and say reason or another, the women usually over died and gone to heaven. Everything was they were sick. But I couldn’t tell the truth the same issue that troubled me so deeply: wonderful. Everyone was wonderful. I was and say they had fallen away. If I said that, we the "woman" question. Oh, how many hours with God’s best people, industrious, honest, would be on the agenda of the next bishop’s I had spent in tears over that! I loved the happy. They were.., different. There was a meeting, with all the leaders in the ward Church and that love was braided with pain. different spirit there, and I loved it. charged to assist in the reactivation of the Being a woman of feminist consciousness in "And gradually... I saw that it was not Pearson boys. There would be friendly calls a thoroughly patriarchal institution brought perfect, that they were not perfect, and the from the youth leaders and "kidnappings" the most wrenching conflict. Did I want that scales fell from my eyes and I saw the warts, for ice cream. Other boys would be mobi- for my girls, who were sitting here beside and sometimes I have said to myself, ’What lized to tempt the erring ones back. I would me, dutifully holding the hymnal? Did I am I doing here?’ " be viewed as a failure if I allowed my boys to want my boys to be complicitors in a system "And what do you answer?" leave the fold and we’d never hear the end of that seemed to prize maleness over female- "I answer," Annie said thoughtfully, "that it. Why couldn’t they just leave us alone? ness? And what of the-other issues that I’m here because, warts and all, it’s still an But I knew why. It was more than just waved their hands for my attention? What of excellent system, that the leaders have our statistics, more than just doing their duty. the large number of homosexual people and happiness as their goal, because you don’t They cared. They all cared about my boys. their families who sat in our chapels or used find better people, because life on your own And not just about their eternal souls. They to and were hugely misunderstood? What of can be too scary, and because I know that this cared about them here and now, and they the black people who only recently were is where God wants me to be." wanted to help keep their feet on good and being invited into full fellowship? What of I hit the steering wheel in frustration. "Of growing paths and avoid some of the pitfalls the egocentric provincialism that drew such course! The pluses far outweigh the minuses! that can be so dangerous. Growing up is a heavy line dividing "them" and "us" and its But how do I keep my children involved long tough and the world is a mess. We’d be a lot temptation toward arrogance? What of the enough to see that for themselves? Or at least better off, I had to admit, if every boy had exasperating bureaucracy that sometimes long enough to make a rational choice? How Brother Jones to watch out for him. seemed insensitive to the needs of the indi- do I keep them from climbing out the win- And so I wasn’t angry as I hurried down vidual? What of all the other issues that dow?" the steps before he could ask any more ques- swirled around in my head and sometimes Annie smiled and put a hand on my arm. tions. Just embarrassed. And confused. And made me stand in the foyer greeting the good "When you find out, Sister Pearson, let me exhausted. people of my ward that I loved so much and know." The Mormon mode of formal address "Tell them we hope they can make it next feeling that my heart would break because maybe, after all, I xvasn’t really, really one of them? Maybe I should just let John and Aaron climb out the window. Maybe I should go with them and tell Thomas Morris I had found new frontiers. ~ACRAMENT meeting dismissed and everyone moved toward the various classes that composed Sunday School. I grabbed my friend Annie in the foyer and whispered, "I have to talk to you. Come out to my car. Now." Annie looked at my intense face and followed me out to the parking lot. Annie had been my confidant and friend ever since we had been visiting teaching companions together and understood all my questions and struggles about the Church, and even shared some of them. I was near to tears. I explained my di- "Are we ready if Jesus comes tonight?"

MARCH 1993 PAGE 55 week," he called after me. wonderful... the strong, strong promises of eternal pro- It was nice at age seven playing Raggedy WHEN I opened the door of Aaron’s gression for all of us were still intact... Andy in the church play and knowing it was Seeing my children standing with all the room, the boys were sitting on the floor important because all of us had talents that other children at the front of the chapel and playing "Monopoly" My talk wasn’t quite were given by God and it was our obligation singing brightly, "I Am a Child of God" . . . ready yet, so I didn’t give it. to develop them and share them... collecting their pennies for the sick children "Brother Jones said to tell you they missed At eight putting on a little white dress and in the Primary Medical Center... memoriz- you," was all I said. being immersed in a font of water by the ing their parts on the Christmas program and Aaron glanced up. "Good. They can miss strong hands of one who had God’s authority finding bathrobes to be the three wise men me again next Sunday." to baptize me exactly like John the Baptist . . dreading the monthly "fast Sunday" had baptized Jesus... when they’d have to skip two meals and give IF ever I wanted a pure religious experi- At ten giving my first talk in sacrament the money to the poor.., seeing Emily get ence, which I did that night, I put on the meeting, telling the story of Grandmother off the bus from a week at Girl’s Camp still orchestral arrangement of Mormon hymns Sarah leaving her dolls in Nottingham, Eng- shining from standing around the campfire I’d had for years. One side, having a scratch, land, to come to America and cross the with a hundred girls and leaders, arms reminded me too much of mortality, but the plains to Utah and how all of us must be around each other, singing "The Lord’s other side was heaven. And I curled up in the prepared to sacrifice for a greater good, and Prayer" and then putting crackers in sleeping reclining chair in my bedroom under the red having Bishop Bodily hold out his calloused bags . . . Aaron remembering a challenge in wool blanket we got in Scotland. farmer’s hand to me and tell me I was a real a talk given at church for everyone to live Why was I feeling so frightened? All par- fine speaker... twenty-four hours as if Jesus were right there ents run the risk that their children will leave At thirteen sitting quietly under the warm beside you and suggesting that we try it .... the family reIigion. Each of my ancestors hands of Brother Eldredge for my "patriar- How could we not be Mormons? That’s who who were converts had left a religion, maybe chal blessing" as his warm voice inspired me we were, like it or not, and if we didn’t like had broken a parent’s heart. I believed to be prayerful and to guard my virtue care- the kind of Mormons we were we needed to strongly that one should grow where one fully and to speak words of encouragement become the kind of Mormons we would like. was planted. But if the ground was not good to uplift those who are discouraged and to be We’ve gone through such a lot to get here, for growing, then one had to transplant one- a ministering angel here upon the earth, and such a lot! The Church had been good for me. self. Sarah and Warren and Thomas had to trust in God even in times when darkness Even the conflicts had been good for me, transplanted themselves and had been appears and to know that through faith I making me think and feel and become happy with the new ground. Lots of people I would see the light and find the encourage- stronger and opening up plenty of work that knew had found a new life on Mormon ment to go on... needed to be done. ground that was unquestionably better than Knowing at fifteen that my mother was their lives on the old ground. I had been just as real as she had ever been, but now she I DIDN’T really give my talk until the born on this ground. Had it been good for was in the spirit world and on her way to the following Saturday, when the children’s fa- me? celestial kingdom because she had been such ther came out, and Gerald gave most of it for lVly own history as a Mormon moved a good woman, and I had to do my best to me. Strange where one’s best help comes before my closed eyes. Memories covered live a good life so someday I would be there, from sometimes. me, warm as the red wool blanket. It had too, because families can be forever... "I hear you’ve been giving Carol Lynn been lovely to grow up knowing I was one of Standing in the Smith fieldhouse at BYU some problems about going to church," he God’s chosen people, knowing I was unique as one of thousands of incoming freshmen to said to the boys after all of us were gathered and well loved and well taken care of, pro- sing "The Spint of God Like a Fire is in the family room. tected from the world by a living prophet Burning" and knowing that in spite of all the "We don’t want to go anymore," said whose guidance was as firm as the moun- challenges of combining intellect and faith, Aaron, staring up at his father grimly "It’s tains around us, knowing that the heavens and despite too much attention to hair lame. I don’t want to be a Mormon." were again open, that angels had visited the length and skin length, I would sit in classes "Lots of people don’t go to church," earth just like they had in the Bible, and that for five years with students and professors added John, "and they’re still nice people. I God had spoken to Joseph Smith and would who wanted to make the world ready for don’t want to go. It’s boring." speak to me whenever I truly asked, though Christ’s return... "Boring?" asked Gerald. "That’s not a probably not so dramatically Even when, Arriving as a young woman in Athens good enough reason." years later, I decided God chose various peo- with all my luggage stolen, alone and with "And I don’t believe half the stuff I hear." ples for various things, that no leader on no friend in the world but a young Greek "That’s not a good enough reason either." earth was infallible, and that God had spo- man who had tried to seduce me for three "Well, you don’t go. Why do we have to?" ken to lots of people besides Joseph Smith, it days on the train, knowing that I could go "I did when I was your age. When you’re was nice to feel special. to the U.S. Air Force base and find the out and on your own you’ll make your own It was nice as a very small girl listening to Mormon "branch" there and have instant decisions on going to church and thinking Aunt: Cree tell how she knew the spirit world family, instant friends... whatever you want to about religion. But you was as close as walking through the door to Kneeling across the altar from Gerald in need a place to start, and this is a good place the next room and that she knew her own the Salt Lake Temple and exchanging vows for you to be right now. Learn all you can. mother was there, strong and happy, because of love and fidelity for time and all eternity, And the bottom line is that your mother she herself had been allowed a glimpse the and then when part of the vow went awry, needs you to go. That’s what the family does last time she went to the temple and it was knowing that much of it remained and that and that’s the end of it. Carol Lynn needs

PAGE. 56 MARCH 1993 more support right now than she’s getting Zion feel very much like a return to the "pure younger sister. The values he grew up with from all of us." in heart." After first attending her new are be intact, and several people have told I knew this little speech required some single’s ward, she called me in ecstasy with a me Aaron has said that when he has children sacrifice from Gerald, and I was grateful. He report on finding two dozen brand new they’re going to be raised in the Church. was torn with his own pain, the terrible pain beautiful friends. But she can laugh at our Whatever becomes of any of my four of being a Mormon at heart and at root, but cultural absurdities and is in no danger, I children, I am not going to disown them like one that did not fit. think, of becoming an empty-headed fol- Tevye did. I will respect their decisions. But lower. if I could write the scenario for each of them, AND so after one week of having fallen Katy at sixteen is perfectly comfortable I would keep them in the Church. away, the boys were reclaimed. They went to with being a Mormon and has been known church the next Sunday, and the next, and to haul out an inactive friend up the street EMILY and John and Aaron and Katy most Sundays after that when they weren’t and get him to church. But she is a thinker are fifth generation in a remarkable spiritual sick. and points out to me ongoing inequities, movement. I want them to continue it, to such as at our last ward conference raising appreciate the rich, rich heritage they hold, TODAY three-quarters of my children our hands to sustain the Young Men’s presi- to honor the teachings that point them to- are active in the Church, and I love them all dencies, but not raising our hands to sustain ward godhood, to remember Sarah and Mary the same. the Young Women’s presidencies. and Emeline and George and Warren and John is serving a mission in Argentina. Aaron at present is not attending church Thomas, to stay with the family, the small When he left home to go to college at the and does not consider himself a Mormon. He family and the larger family, to grow where ultra-liberal California Institute for the Arts, tells me he is not comfortable with organized they were planted. he stopped going to church, as "~ expected he religion and wants to develop an indepen- And if the ground needs attention, to dig would. A year later he amazed me in a tele- dent spirituality. He has long, blond hair and in, and if the overgrowth cuts out the sun, to phone conversation by saying, "Mom, I’ve is a rock guitarist and has his own sound trim it back. And never, never to put pio- decided I want to get back into the Church." studio and takes good care of his mother and neering in the past tense. ,~, "John! What does this mean?" "I had to see if I could be John without being a Mormon. And I see that I can do that." "And what makes you feel you want to be John and be a Mormon?" LOOKING AT HER, I COULD "That’s who I am. That was my upbring- These frail, sacred, and. profane people ing. I feel more comfortable there. And I feel shield the piano-chewed soprano; that the Church is an instrument of great looking at her, I could power." scream, swoon, redefine my entire life "So this decision feels right in your as insipid series, unexplained temptations, heart?" a mishmash mosaic like speed "Yep. I dropped out because it didn’t feel typing drunk, tired, fingers right in my head, but I’ve decided there’s locked like frozen twigs. something about religion that ought to be a thing of the heart with the head just standing (looking at my wife again) I think: by giving a little advice now and then." I am not Agamemnon, John’s letters from the missionfield are no need to murder me., dear-- warming. He loves the work and tells me the raise an axe, stop the rhythmic pulsing gospel is true and the Church is the closest of my weak-willed half value heart, thing we’re ever going to find to Narnia. Still, a purple bit of flesh he is aware of the dangers of a system that engineered from primitive molecules. has the missionaries screaming "baptize" in Looking at her, I could the mornings, and has decided, "my goal is be played all the way through once, to love the people, to get them to feel the looking at her, I could Spirit, to raise them to a higher place, and reform my commercial acculturation, seal them there with baptism." smash the thrones of despotism, Emily is experiencing some profound read an underground newspaper, growth and joy in her life, in which the decry the charitable virtues Church is playing a central part. She has of my gender, class-- been instrumental in the recent conversion throw my nameplate to the vast populace, of a high school friend. The Church with its long for the consummation splendid support system has been hugely of voice and action, peace and feeling, important in helping Emily heal from some love and instinct. emotional distress centering around our un- Looking at her usual family circumstance. And two years in I could. the pits of L.A. has made a move back to --5EAN BRENDAN BROWN

MARCH 1993 PAGE 57 donment of the practice. REVIEWS Hardy’s chapter on the 1890 Manifesto is similar to previous discussions by Kenneth Godfrey, Henry J. Wolfinger, E. Leo Lyman, Thomas G. Alexander, and this reviewer. Its PLURAL MARRIAGE AND THE most significant contribution is Hardy’s anal- ysis of how the Manifesto evolved to the MORMON TWILIGHT ZONE status of revelation. That discussion is as important as his careful explanation of the illegality of every allegedly safe haven for SOLEMN COVENANT: THE Mormon polygamy--in Mexico, Canada, MORMON POLYGAMOUS PASSAGE and on the high seas. by B. Carmon Hardy Two of Solemn Covenant’s essays will cer- Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992 tainly polarize the reactions of various read- ers. The concluding chapter, "Monogamous 445 pages, $34.95 Triumph," describes what most contempo- rary Mormons see as the best of all possible worlds. Hardy cites surveys that reveal 80 percent of LDS church members today would refuse to obey even a direct, personal com- mand from a living prophet for them to enter polygamy! However, the chapter rings mel- Reviewed by D. Michael Quinn ancholy for Mormonism’s modem Fundamentalists and others who look back THIS BOOK IS a wonderful addition to the book has many strengths. wistfully on Utah’s old-time religion. the library of anyone interested in American Solemn Covenant is a classic analysis of the Carmon Hardy’s appendix, "Lying for the social history or in Mormon history. It is relationship between Mormon polygamy and Lord," is sure to disturb most readers. This essential for the study of Mormon polygamy. American society’s values during the last half essay is the longest discussion in print for There is a personal dimension in my re- of the nineteenth century. The chapter "Civi- what I described in 1985 as Mormonism’s sponse to Solemn Covenant. The first para- lization Threatened" explains the deep social, "theocratic ethics." In my view, the words graph of the book acknowledges Victor W. cultural, and psychological sources for the "lying" and "situational ethics" do not apply Jorgensen as Carmon Hardy’s co-researcher. I intense anti-polygamy crusade in America. to Mormonism’s theocratic context and nine- first met Jorgensen twenty years ago in a Hardy’s mastery of the relevant literary teenth-century world view. However, few graduate seminar at the University of Utah. sources in Victorian America and Victorian modem readers see reality through early He had prepared a long paper on post-Man- England is staggering. He juxtaposes this Mormonism’s prism, and they will resonate ifesto polygamy, and his work was more than broad social analysis with an intensive look with Hardy’s perspective. Even on its own, casually interesting to me. I had already at the Mormon inability (then and now) to Hardy’s "Lying for the Lord" is a notable spent five years researching post-1890 polyg- understand that polygamous society deeply contribution to Mormon studies. amy along the same lines. Later I met Car- threatened Victorian Americans. As I’ve written elsewhere, history isn’t the mon Hardy. The chapter "Blessings of the Abrahamic same as the past. Beyond the human limits of Hardy, Jorgensen, and I continued to tra- Household" argues persuasively that Mor- historians who try to make sense of the past, verse the same historical terrain without ever mon polygamous theology bore a danger- the unrecorded event is history’s Twilight comparing notes, research designs, or antici- ously symbiotic relationship with American Zone. That event may be a conversation or an pations for publication. Solemn Covenant’s society. "The Saints spoke directly to ques- action that appears in no contemporary doc- American context, case history approach, tions absorbing many others at the time-- ument, nor even in a reminiscence. Because distribution tables for marriages, and appen- sexuality, health, and home," but posited of its continual illegality, much of the Mor- dix of polygamists make it the kind of book polygamy as the solution to these ills. Mor- mon polygamous experience disappeared I expected to write. Hardy and Jorgensen mon polygamy was not simply counter-cul- into that Twilight Zone of unrecorded events have every reason to be proud of this study; tural, it was the highest form of marriage and conversations. However, crucial docu- relationship. ments about the Mormon past do exist, but The Latter-day Saints did not recognize are currently unavailable for historians to D. MICHAEL QUINN recently edited The the disaster if non-Mormons believed Mor- analyze. These historical documents have New Mormon History: Revisionist Essays on mon defenses of polygamy. If polygamy was disappeared into vaults at LDS headquarters the Past (Signature Books) and is the author of the real answer to society’s ills, then or are in the private possession of individu- "LDS Church Authority and New Plural "Gentiles" had every reason to fear that Mor- als-an artificial Twilight Zone for histori- Marriages, 1890-1904" (Dialogue 18 Spring mon polygamy was the marriage relationship ans. 198.5) and "Plural Marriage and Mormon to end all other marriage relationships. If, as But whether the absence of evidence is Fundamentalism" in forthcoming Funda- Wilford Woodruff frequently preached, po- real or artificial, historians have two alterna- mentalism and Society, edited by Martin lygamy could not be surrendered without tives: either say nothing about the event, or Marry and R. Scott Appleby (University of destroying Mormonism, then anti-Mormons make plausible recreations of the past based Chicago Press). had every reason to press for a public aban- on circumstantial evidence that does exist.

MARCH 1993 PAGE 58 Hardy chooses the latter. For example, he of which I’m aware, the first wife said she adored about a principle they both re- suggests and evaluates multiple scenarios for could not be happy if she thought the new vered. Apostle Abraham H. Cannon’s polygamous plural wife was unhappy. The self-doubt, an- ¯ Joseph E Smith, frequently on the edge of marriage(s) several years after the 1890 Man- guish, love, familial devotion, and religious expressing strong emotions (often tears or ifesto. This is important in the historical ef- faith of these remarkable Mormon women anger), now faced with upholding poli- fort to attempt a reconstruction of the past. simply are not explored in this book. Those cies he disagreed with, and alternately Some may prefer that Hardy and other histo- personal dimensions of women’s experiences being accused of compromise or duplic- rians speak only of incontrovertible events in are essential dimensions of post-Manifesto ity. the past. Still others would like everyone to polygamy. ¯ Francis M. Lyman, haunted his entire life maintain a respectful silence about any The book presents even more imperson- by his father’s apostasy and rebellion "sensitive" matter in the Mormon past, no ally the general authorities involved in post- against one Church president, now being matter how much evidence exists. Solemn Manifesto polygamy. One sentence told by the majority of his quorum that he Covenant ventures tentatively into post-Man- characterizations are always distortions of was out of harmony for trying to enforce ifesto polygamy’s Twilight Zone, as well as any person. However, here are my sugges- the official statements of three other confidently into sensitive developments that tions for what is lacking in Hardy’s descrip- Church presidents about the Manifesto. have clear verification. tions of these LDS leaders. ¯ Heber J. Grant, confused by the contrast ¯ Wilford Woodruff as a guileless personal- I have only two objections about Hardy’s between the Church’s official position and ity caught in the impossible situation of his knowledge of the private acts by mem- forays into the past. First, on several occa- trying to save the temples he valued most bers of the Presidency and the Twelve, sions, he undercuts his analysis by saying in the Church by giving up the polyga- and torn between his desire to sustain the someone "allegedly" or "supposedly" made a mous living that he had preached for official position and his need to marry statement, when in fact a diarist recorded the years was impossible to surrender. again to have sons who would outlive him words on the day they were spoken. The top ¯ Brigham Young Jr., living constantly in and carry on his name. of page 177 has an example of an unneces- the shadow of his famous father, painfully ¯ John W. Taylor, who married polyga- sarily tentative use of a quote. insecure, and feeling a fundamental dis- mously a week after the issuance of the On the other hand, Hardy sometimes as- agreement with a Church president he Manifesto and again a decade later, yet serts without qualification certain statements by one person that were only alleged decades after the fact by others. The top of page 178 I POST-SACRAMENT ANALYSISI confidently affirms a reported statement from a third-hand source. Another instance is a quote alleged by a non-participant on the basis of written evidence which Hardy did not examine. Unlike the words of one person recorded the same day by a listener, state- ments claimed decades after the fact by non- participants are more needful of such qualifications as "supposedly" or "allegedly." My second objection, and Solemn Covenant’s principal weakness, is that it does not communicate sufficiently the human di- mensions involved in the Manifesto and the subterranean continuation of polygamy. Until this year, my own historical publica- tions have neglected women, so I’ll mention them first in this regard. Hardy frequently cites women by name, and even describes the circumstances of many post-Manifesto wives. However, the book does not commu- nicate to me the intensity of their personal experiences. I’m reminded of Wallace Stegner’s awe for Mormon pioneer women whom he presented so well in his The Gath- ering of Zion: The Story of the Mormon Trail. For example, several of the legal wives in Hardy’s appendix were unable to bear chil- dren and consented to a post-Manifesto po- lygamous marriage. In some cases, a childless first wife was the one who repeat- edly asked Church authorities to grant a "You, Allen, see how you’re holding the tray too high? post-Manifesto wife to her husband. In a case You’re almost hitting Sister Kolon’s chin!"

MARCH 1993 PAGE 59 who performed few polygamous marriages himself, and who felt his closest SYMPATHETIC BUT HONEST friend Matthias E Cowley was too ardent an advocate of post-Manifesto polygamy. As much as it is possible to feel affection THINGS IN HEAVEN AND EARTH: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF for distant historical persons, I respect and WILFORD WOODRUFF, A MORMON PROPHET love these men. Although they were some- By Thomas G. Alexander times at cross-purposes, all of these leaders were devoted and righteous men in a transi- Signature Books, 1991, $28.95,484 pages tional era that strained each of them to their limits. Among the prominent actors in the drama of post-Manifesto polygamy, I feel the great- est love for Apostle Matthias E Cowley Of the Church authorities involved in continued polygamy after ].890, Elder Cowley received the most criticism during his lifetime. The stigma outlived him and bothered several of his Children until the day they died. Yet while Reviewed by Kenneth L. Cannon II he lived, even his severest critics in the Twelve continued to call him "Mattie." This gentle man was loved by all who knew him. THOMAS ALEXANDER’S recent biog- ander introduces the reader to a relatively What I know of his experience I gleaned raphy of Wilford Woodruff is an intriguing well-educated, hard-working Connecticut from diaries and official minutes, but neither addition to the growing canon of important youth surrounded by religious revivals. Solemn Covenant nor any other study does works on the history of the LDS church its Woodruff’s own naturally spiritual nature led justice to Matthias E Cowl(y’s complexities as members. Utilizing his own painstaking and him "to become a Christian primitivist, a I perceive them. Also, more than other lead- voluminous primary research conducted millennialist, and a seeker" not formally as- ers in turn-of-the-century Mormonism, over decades, as well as recent historical sociated with a particular denomination. Al- Elder Cowley’s personality and life experi- scholarship of others, he provides both a exander tells us of Robert Mason, a ences are accessible for historical reconstruc- perceptive and sympathetic portrait of fascinating prophet with whom young Wil- tion. Like several of his apostolic associates, Woodruff and one of the most comprehen- ford became acquainted. This "Simsbury he kept a detailed, personally revealing diary sive histories of nineteenth-century Mor- Prophet" told Woodruff about a revelation he throughout his life. Then in his seventies, monism. In short, this is the best kind of had received that convinced him he would Elder Cowley used those original documents biography: it not only provides a compelling never find the true church. Mason prophe- to write thousands of pages of an autobio- view of an important historical character, sied, however, that Woodruff would find the graphical and even more reflective "revised through his experience it also provides new truth. This experience helped young Wil- journal." This sets him apart from his other insights into the history of the movement in ford, who had a strong sense of his own associates in the Mormon hierarchy. I once which he played a significant role. mortality because he was unusually accident- handled both the original and revised jour- The title of the book is well chosen. Alex- prone, to focus on things spiritual. Woodruff nals before two of his children donated the ander presents Wilford Woodruff as a man recognized the profound influence Mason manuscripts to the First Presidency Hope- who, although obsessed with "things in had on his life, and one of the first vicarious fully; one day a descendant of Matthias E heaven," also had one foot firmly set on baptisms for the dead that he conducted in Cowley will resurrect these sequestered doc- earthly soil. Woodruff’s formal education was Nauvoo was for Mason. Later, shortly after uments to help recreate his remarkable life unusual for his time. His natural curiosity the completion of the St. George Temple, and times. prompted him to pursue educational oppor- Woodruff completed Mason’s other temple As extraordinary as Solemn Covenant is, B. tunities beyond his formal schooling, mak- work and "adopted" Mason. Cartoon Hardy has not fully communicated ing him one of the most educated of early Fully utilizing Woodruff’s extensive dia- the personalities of Church leaders who Church leaders. He forced himself to develop ries, Alexander sets forth in detail Woodruff’s called each other such nicknames as Mattie, practical leadership skills that helped him remarkably successful missions and chroni- Abram, E M., Hebe, and Johnny. And there lead the Church through one of its most cles the occasional disputes with other, less are also hundreds of names, dates, places, difficult times. Alexander develops well the committed Church leaders. His success and circumstances missing from Hardy’s tex- dual themes of the spiritual and the practical among the United Brethren in Great Britain tual discussion and from his appendix of in Woodruff’s life. is unique in Mormon history. Woodruff post-Manifesto plural marriages. One day, I The first two chapters are devoted to the began preaching to members of this group at will make such a separate contribution. Nev- background and early life of Woodruff. Alex- the Benbow farm in March 1840. Thirty-six ertheless, this book is the most thorough days later he left the area after having bap- examination of the subject published in the tized 158 people. century since the Manifesto. 5olemn Covenant KENNETH L. CANNON II, a lawyer living in Through Alexander’s narrative, the reader experiences the early ordinances, the "inten- is erudite, lucid, provocative, informative, Salt Lake City, is the author of "After the and a must-read for anyone interested in the Manifesto: Mormon Polygamy 1890-1906" sive charismatic experience," and the aca- Mormon past. ~ (SUNSTONE 8".1 ~’2). demic studies conducted in the Kirtland

MARCH 1993 PAGE 60 Temple, although Woodruff missed the ini- tial dedication of the temple. The murders of A CRASH LIKE A SHOT Joseph and Hyrum Smith are seen through Woodruff’s eyes as well as the difficult transi- tion that soon followed. The inner workings THINGS HAPPEN: POEMS OF SURVIVAL of the Church hierarchy are followed first- by Emma Lou Thayne hand throughout the administrations of Brig- Signature Books, 1991, 80 Pages, Cloth $18.95 ham Young and John Taylor. Woodruff’s further visions and revelations and his ser- vice in the St. George Temple are fully de- scribed. Alexander carefully chronicles Woodruff’s temporal life. He describes in detail Woodruff’s participation in the Deseret Agri- cultural and Manufacturing Society, the Poly- sophical Society, and several other, less well known early Utah groups. He follows Wood- ruff through museums and libraries. He ana- lyzes Woodruff’s experiments with plants and the practical steps Woodruff took to further Utah’s pioneer economy by introducing cer- Reviewed by Dennis Clark tain strains of plants and animals to the terri- tory. Alexander describes Woodruff’s business A PEOPLE’S TASTE in poetry reveals its pursuits as a merchant and farmer, and dis- they are--for the artists that produce the values as fully as do its tastes in music or works we value, for the culture that nurtures cusses openly and sympathetically his faL~:ily painting, sculpture or drama. Mormons life, noting both his successes and failures. the artists, for the audience that treasures haven’t earned Emma Lou Thayne’s poetry them. Thayne is a poet we should treasure in Alexander closely examines Wilford yet. If they had, this book would be selling the only way poetry can be treasured: by giv- Woodruff’s tenure as Church president, one like Carol Lynn Pearson’s books and be of the most difficult periods for the Church. ing it away. We should be reading these poems quoted in sacrament meeting more often aloud, to ourselves and to each other, all the Woodruff led the Church through radical than Edgar A. Guest, since it arises from the changes that ushered the Church into the time, sharing the richness of her experience. encounter, at times harrowing, at others har- And it is a wealth of experience. Thayne twentieth century. The Church’s woes caused vesting, by turns horrible, hortatory, ecstatic, by the Edrnunds-Tucker Act and the related groups the poems in three sections: "Come to of an honest Mormon soul with the inade- Pass"; "The Map of the World"; and "Things official abandonment of polygamy, the major quacy of language. modifications in Church views and practices, Happen." She captures the ecstatic quality of We don’t often talk about the arts as a experience in poems like "Morning is My and the accomplishment of statehood are survival mechanism, but that is exactly what treated as well or better than they are treated Time," from the first section: in other works. Alexander’s writing style is lucid and MORNING IS MY TIME readable with little flourish. Some might find portions of the book too detailed, but the Morning is my time for making love. Away, anonymous cumulative effect is one which makes the I stalk from sleep adrift in dreams that tell book hard to put down. There are several me who I am. Unprotected by the surfaces I typographical errors and one or two mis- placed endnotes, but these are so few and far polish in a day, deflectors set in careful between that only the most careful reader place to fend off thoughts, unconscious as the clouds will ever find them. of beauty in their conformation, I cover Alexander’s view of Woodruff is sympa- with a mystic wand the impertinent intrusions so thetic but honest. Although his conclusion born of joy that they would curl about my edges that Woodruff was the third most important and claim a hand, a cheek, a burrowing, and race me, nineteenth-century Latter-day Saint (behind only Joseph. Smith and Brigham Young) is unprotected, home. But after sleep, when morning subject to dispute, there is little doubt that catches them let down and you beside me mysterious as this work is one of the two or three best and what has so delivered us well kept and ringing most important biographies of nineteenth- with the music our nights have so supplied, I wonder century Church leaders both because of the how my surfaces would yield to yours, or if, in breadth of Wilford Woodruff’s role in Mor- holding, there would be no surfaces at all. mon history and because of the scholarly and careful manner in which Thomas Alexander researched and presented the work. ~o DENNIS CLARK is a librarian at the Orem Public Library and co-editor of Harvest: Contemporary Mormon Poems.

MARCH 1993 PAGE 61 The sense of the world here, that it com- rampant. The wand is treated grammatically prises a mysterious beauty barely kept from as one of the deflectors, not as a protection of overwhelming the reader, from flushing one the half-sleep. This is a time when no protec- away in a rush of joy, permeates the poems in tion is needed, when the possibility exists this book. Even the third section, "Things that "in holding, there would be no surfaces Happen," which details the pain of an accident at all." This last sentence is a wonderful con- that sparked these poems of survival, is a trast to those polished deflectors, but it ren- collection of poems on healing, not disaster. ders the second and third stanzas LDS BOOKS BOUGHT & SOLD This sense of joy arises from an optimism problematical. We pay top dollar for out-of-print, used, and rare fundamental to Thayne’s life, and to the Mor- That may seem like an overly technical LDS books. Thousands of LDS books (new & monism she lovingly embodies in her poems. analysis, the kind of dissection that yields used) for sale. Out-of-print book search available. Her sense that the joy is incarnate in her, in only murder, never knowledge. To me, how- Call, write, or visit our shop. Open Mon.-Fri., 10 each of us, that the ecstatic can only be kept ever, the question at the heart of the poem is AM-6 PM. BENCHMARK BOOKS, 331 RIO GRANDE, that of the .third stanza, the question of the SUITE 300, PO BOX 9027, SALT LAKE CITY, UT from racing her, "unprotected, home" (surely 84109-0027, 801/532-3100 100 one of the most positive images of death in relation of wand and intrusions to both the poetry), by the surfaces she polishes into morning languor and the polishing day. That deflectors--this sense of the poem clearly is not what is primary to the poem: the expresses how we each use the mundane to ecstasy is primary. But is the poem a suffi- cient construct to amplify the ecstasy, to pass For Those Who Wonder-Managing Religious shelter us from the divine, how housework Questions and Doubts by D. Jeff Burton, foreword preempts the mansions of glory. And it cul- it on whole? Perhaps it is. I do not like the poem less by Lowell L. Bennion. Entirely revised second minates not in the ecstatic state of the tradi- edition. Available at all LDS bookstores. ISBN 0- tional Christian mystic, burning, sweetness for having spent so much time on it. And I 9623160-4-0; about $7. 091 and light infusing oneself, but in the yearn- certainly don’t want a greater rigor in the logic of Thayne’s language. The problem I Progression: The Afterlife by D. Jeff Burton. ing for another body, in the hope that "in Brand new. Tongue-in-cheek exploration of Mor- holding, there would be no surfaces at all": a sense in these poems, and it is a dissonance mon afterlife and its disturbing impact on today’s carnal union that heals the divided spirits. in the poems, not a failure of Thayne’s art, is men and women. 80 pages. ISBN 0-9632160-5-9; But this poem also exemplifies the most that they often rely on bald statement, rather send $6 to: IVE Press, 2974 S. 900 EAST, BOUNTI- interesting problems with Thayne’s poetry. It than the sensuous elements of language-- FUL, UT 84010. 091 is a poetry of strong feeling that expresses sound, rhythm, repetition--to carry the itself in structures of logic that sometimes poem. An example, from "Tourist": fail. For example, in the second line, gram- I want to hold onto the idea of Russia’s matically, the core sentence, "I stalk," is mod- SINGLE SAINTS ified by two adverbial phrases, the equivalent of bougainvillaea or acacia or lilacs. Looking for friendship/romance? SingleSaints is prepositional "from sleep" and the verbal the nationwide publication for single, divorced, "adrift in dreams that tell me who I am." I Till I am actually there. and widowed LDS. Fun. Easy. Confidential. We think the second phrase is intended to mod- also feature "photo profiles" for singles. Four is- ify "sleep"---but it doesn’t. The resulting Maybe I am simply up against Thayne’s sues: $15, or free info. Send LSASE to: PO BOX sense is "I stalk.., adrift in dreams," a sense personality here¯ Perhaps this is just the way 211, LYLE, WA 98635. 091 inconsistent with the tenor of the poem. It her language works. But I yearn after an even brings up images of a night stalker, anony- more sensuous expression of this idea, some mous, not one being told "who I am." startling image, or figure of speech, to give me The next basic sentence, "Unprotected the experience whole, not the assertion of it. ¯ . . I cover.., the impertinent intrusions," I overstate my case. The more I read the SUNSTONE BACK ISSUES would seem to refer to the speaker’s drifting, poems, the more often I return to read them we will pay market value or give generous trade again. Mine is a lover’s quarrel with Thayne: in symposium session tapes or subscription is- half-waking state in the first stanza (with sues for back issues of SUNSTONE. We are inter- perhaps unconscious phallicism in the "mys- if the poems weren’t so steeped in her love for ested in copies of the first issue through volume tic wand"). In that case, "unconscious as the the world, could I care so strongly abo__uL 5:4 (July-August 1980). Write or call SUNSTONE: clouds of beauty in their conformation" them? ~ 331 S. RIO GRANDE, SUITE 206, SALT LAKE CITY, would seem to modify the subject, "I," rather ur 84101,801/355-5926. than the "thoughts . . . the impertinent intrusions" that seduce with that race toward home. But the following sentence denies that this one applies to the half-waking state. The next sentence begins "but after sleep, when morning catches them let down .... " The conjunction "but" signals a contrary Our Sundays may well be the zaniest, state, and the pronoun "them" refers either to Our leaders by far the brainiest. the "deflectors" or to the "intrusions"--in We’ve consolidation either case, this introductory adverb indi- With real innovation-- cates that the condition does not apply. The Our meetings are all simultaneous! deflectors are not up; the intrusions are not --KAREN ROSENBAUM

PAGE 62 MARCH 1993 BYU Provost Bruce C. Hafen, sion of disagreement conveys a NEWS speaking on "The Dream Is Ours "cynicism about the divine influ- to Fulfill," gave an expansive ence in a Church based on pro- view of the mission of BYU that phetic leadership." He counseled BYU CONTINUES TO DEBATE "embraces all truth," but which private communication over gives "priority to the truths that public expression that "may sim- ACADEMIC FREEDOM ISSUE lead to Christ, and we cannot ply spray another burst of spiri- allow our most sacred premises tual shrapnel through the ranks THE WAR over faculty rights at though, to the surprise of some to be altered or even minimized of trusting and vulnerable stu- Brigham Young University that campus insiders, by February by secularist assumptions." dents." erupted last year still rages. The 1993 no final version reflecting Hafen said that many spiritual " ’Follow the Brethren’ means question at stake is to what extent later faculty concerns has been casualties are "inflicted when a more than we might imagine," can a faculty member’s expression released. Instead, in March it was thoughtful student senses, even Hafen said. "[U.S. House of Rep- on religious issues be proscribed announced that the final draft through subtle hints, that a BYU resentatives Speaker] Tip O’Neill by the University’s commission to had been accepted by the board teacher she respects is cynical used to say that you find out who promote orthodoxy among its and was now university policy. about the Church." He acknowl- your friends are not by seeing faculty and students. Some faculty still are uncom- edged that educated people may who’s with you when they agree Last September the faculty fortable with the document and have troubles with a Church with you, but who’s with you committee responsible for writing feel that it might have a chilling, issue, but said that the public when they think you might be the philosophical statement on ac- "psychological effect" on research expression of them is not an issue wrong. And the religious core of ademic freedom released its final in Mormon issues. "It might lead of intellectual integrity or educa- a sacred system just might ask its draft. According to many BYU fac- some faculty to be afraid to do tional depth but one of .judg- followers to trust the religious ulty, most of the changes from the research or take positions based ment. Hafen said public expres- imperative even when it does not earlier preliminary draft that was on their data that don’t agree circulated among faculty last sum- with positions of church leader- mer provide more protections .for ship," BYU sociology department individuals. (See "BYU Memo chair J. Lynn England told the Highlights Academic Freedom Salt Lake Tribune last fall. "As Issue," SUNSTONE 16:1.) scholars we need to be free to For example, the final draft point out where [Church leaders] states that any limitations on ac- have made mistakes," he said. ademic freedom must be "nar- At the annual university fac- rowly drawn so as not to impede ulty conference in late August the robust interchange of ideas," SELF ESTEEM OF LDS AND NONLDS WOMEN 1992, BYU President Rex E. Lee ON THE WASATCH FRONT and the guidelines now acknowl- said that the university was "basi- edge the freedom to "discuss and cally sound." Quoting John Mil- 50 advocate controversial and un- ton, Justice Holmes, and John popular ideas." Stuart Mill, Lee said that "truth % (agree or unsure) The statement says that limit- can be best pursued in an atmo- ~, 4o ing faculty speech is "reasonable sphere free from unwarranted in- when the faculty behavior or ex- (dlesgree or unoure) hibition on the development of wo’ pression seriously and adversely expression of thoughts and affects the University mission or ideas." Lee said that because BYU : the Church. Examples would in- also celebrates the religious as- clude expression with students : pects of intellectual life, its fac- t 10 or in public that: ulty "enjoy a greater measure of ¯ "1. contradicts or opposes, academic freedom" than at "any 0 rather than analyzes or discusses, other school." Feel Usless No Good Satisfied Capable Self Worth fundamental Church doctrine or Lee also defended the need to Source:Survey of Women’s Work Experience policy; preserve institutional academic "2. deliberately attacks or de- freedom and applauded the lim- rides the Church or its general itations in the statement. He also leaders; or said that the Church’s 1991 state- "3. violates the Honor Code ment on symposia was issued to because the expression is dishon- all Church members and thus in- est, illegal, unchaste, profane, or cluded BYU faculty. He said the unduly disrespectful of others." statement wisely counseled "be- After review by the faculty tween what is appropriate for and board of trustees, the ten- public discussion and what can page document became part of more usefully be resolved in pri- the university handbook. A1- vate 2

MARCH 1993 PAGE 63 SUNSTONE iCALENDAR

THE BROOKIE AND D. K. BROWN FICTION CONTEST exhibit closes, it will be replaced ten days later with one exploring deadline for short stories (maximum 6,000 words) or short short the development of a Latter-day Saint presence in West Africa. stories (maximum 1,000 words) dealing with I_D5 issues is 1 June Curators have collected artifacts, art, and photographs from the 1993. Contact: The Sunstone Foundation, 331 Rio Grande Street, 1960s and early 1970s to document this relatively organized part of Suite 206, Salt Lake City, UT 84101-1136 (801/355-5926). the Church. During July, visitors will see detailed scale models of BYU-HAWAII LDS WRITERS’ 1993 WORKSHOP on 28 June, historic farm machinery recalling the history of an Idaho home- to 3 July 1993 at Brigham Young University-Hawaii will feature stead. This is one of three special holiday foyer displays planned in lectures and small group workshops by professional writers Jack 1993. The others featured art of the "Last Supper" for the Easter Weyland, Dean Hughes, Louise Ptummer, Dick Harris, Janice Kapp season and will feature the traditional Christmas display of nativity Perry, and others, as well as editors from Deseret Book, Bookcraft. sets. On 1 October, the museum will open a five-month exhibition and the Church magazines. Sessions will cover fiction, ad copy of rare historical art created in early Utah. Featured will be paintings writing, non-fiction, article writing, and song writing. Workshop fee by Dan Weggeland, C. C. A. Christensen, George M. Ottinger, and is $195 ($220 after 28 April). Contact: Chris Crowe, 808/293-3633,other pioneer artists. The West Africa exhibit in the Theater Foyer or John Bennion, 808/293-3601. Gallery will be replaced 21 October with another international AN INFORMATIVE CONFERENCE ON SEXUALITY/HOMO-theme: native art f}om around the world depicting various Latter- SEXUALITY on 24 April 1993 at the University of Utah will feature day Saint temples. The museum will begin judging entries for its Kinsey Institute director Dr. June Reineisch plus ten panels on Third International Art Competition: Living the Gospel in the various subjects. For more information contact The Graduate School World Church, for which entries are due 30 November 1993. of Social Work, 8011581-8913. THE NAUVO0 JOURNAL, published bi-annually by the Early LO~LL BENNION FEST to celebrate his 85th birthday and Mormon Research Institute, is to make available in one source a many and various contributions. Friends are planning a day of variety of information about the Church in the United States and scholarly papers, personal reflections, and community service on Canada from 1830 to 1850. Previous issues have featured: early Saturday~ 7 August, at the University of Utah Student Union Building. Mormon sources 1830-1850; Utah marriage index, 1847-1905; bio- Sponsored by Douglas Alder, Mary Bradford, Eugene England, Emma graphical sketches of the first members of the Church (prior to 26 Lou Thayne, and the Lowell Bennion Community Service Center. September 1830); 1843 petition to the U.S. Congress by members in THE MORMON ALLIANCE’s case reports committee invites Nauvoo; Nauvoo Legion and Mormon Battalion names and ranks; a contacts from individuals who feel they have experienced ecclesias- list of all early branches of the Church; and excerpts from letters and tical or spiritual abuse within the context of the LDS church or who journals. The Institute has identified over 600 early branches of the know about the experiences of others. The Mormon,Alliance wishes Church, identified many of their original members, and has a com- to identify, document, and address such problems. We are not puterized index of over 30,000 names from the period, The Institute interested in Church-bashing. As a committee we are prepared to welcomes additional information or pictures. Contact: Early Mor- listen nonjudgmentally and confidentially, and we hope to promote mon Research Institute, 433 East 300 South, Hyrum, UT 84319. healing and reconciliation. Contact: Lavina Fielding Anderson, 1519 SOUTHWESTERN WOMEN’S RETREAT is now in the plan- Roberta St., Salt Lake City, UT 84115 (801/467-1617); Janice Allred, ning stage for fall 1993. Those interested in attending should con- 221 W. 3700 N., Provo, UT 84064 (801/225-4967); Mormon Alli-tact: Paula Goodfellow, 10045 Hooker Ct. Westminster, CO 80030 ance, 6337 S. Highland Dr. Box 215, Salt Lake City, UT 84121. (303/460-7278) or Lisa Turner, 6259 Roadrunner Loop NE, Rio THE MORMON HISTORY ASSOCIATION will hold its annual Rancho, NM 87124 (505/891-2388). meeting at the Graceland College in Lamoni, IA, on 20-23 May WASATCH REVIEW INTERNATIONAL, a biannual Mormon 1993. Lamoni was founded in the 1870s as an Order of Enoch joint literary journal, has published its first issue. The inau~rat issue stock company managed by the RLDS presiding bishop. In 1881, featured essays by Eugene England, Valerie Holladay, and Douglas Lamoni served as headquarters for the RLDS church for over two Thayer, short sto;ies Wayne orgensen and Harlov; Clark, a n ; el excerpt by’ Michael Fillerup, and poetry by William Powley, Dixie Partridge, Philip White, Timothy I~iu. Bria~t Fogg, Donnell ~unter, Sally Taylor, K. Randall Kimball and Michael Collins, plus book ism," will begin with an afternoon tour of and session in the RLDS reviews. Subscriptions are $10 for two issues, $18 for four. Contact: temple in Independence, MO, on 20 May, followed by a bus trip to Wasatch Review International, P.O. Box 1017. Orem UT 84059 Lamoni where the evening session will explore "Mormonism in All SUNSTONE LECTURES AND CONFERENCES Its Varieties." For program, travel, and housing information, contact: The Mormon History Association, P.O. Box 7010, University Station, 1993 SALT LAKE SYMPOSIUM will be held 11-14 August Provo, UT 84602. 1993 at the Salt Lake Hilton. Send proposals for papers and panel THE MUSEUM OF CHURCH HISTORY AND ART 1993 will discussions to: Greg Campbell. The Sunstone Foundation. 331 Rio offer five new temporary exhibits and three special foyer displays this Grande Street, Suite 206, Salt Lake City, UT 84101-1136 (801/355- year. The exhibit ~elebrating the centennial of the completion of the 5926). Salt Lake Temple opened in 27 March. Currently running through NORTHEAST SUNSTONE SYMPOSIUM will be held 12-13 November 1993 at the Burlington Marriott Hotel. Contact: Don Gustavson, 413 Clearview Avenue, Torrington, CT 06790 (203/496- 7090).

MARCH 1993 PAGE 64 them hesitant to be open in con- faculty better qualified profes- fessing confidential matters sionally, nor one more loyal and knowing it might affect their dedicated to the standards of its jobs. sponsoring institution," he af- While some faculty chafe at firmed. ecclesiastical involvement in Nevertheless, he said, "that their academic jobs, university trust involves standards of be- administrators report that the havior as well as standards of ac- general authorities feel that they ademic excellence." "It is not that are bending over backwards to we do not trust you. But we feel accommodate them, because for that you need reminding of the all other Church employees (in- elements of your contract with cluding the towel boy at the Des- those responsible for this institu- eret Gym!) and at other BYU edu- tion, and that you may be cational institutions, including stronger in observing that trust Ricks College and BYU-Hawaii, because of the commitment faculty are not just required to be which you hav~ made. Every one temple-recommend-holding of us who is here has accepted a worthy but to possess a current sacred and compelling trust. temple recommend. In fact, With that trust, there must be some employees of the Church accountability." Education System and the Wel- While many faculty said that fare Services department are now President Hinckley’s comments required to sign a release allow- helped make the climate more ing all their former bishops to tolerable, the debate continued. discuss with the Church matters At one meeting with faculty, square with their own opinions." sions. that were confessed in confiden- Lee was asked if a faculty mem- The faculty response to Hafen "Through ecclesiastical chan- tiality. ber could be pro-choice regard- and Lee was mixed. Many faculty nels, the Church will periodically In the middle of the heated ing abortion. Lee reportedly said celebrated Hafen’s and Lee’s vi- remind Bishops and Stake Presi- campus debate, Apostle Boyd K. that the question had been sion for the future of the univer- dents that LDS faculty at BYU Packer raised the temperature brought up with the board of sity, but others, especially in the should meet the standards of with his comments at October trustees and the word was that humanities and social sciences, conduct consistent with qualify- general conference: "For those there was no place at BYU for felt that when it came to Mormon ing for temple privileges. Bishops very few whose focus is secular faculty members who were pro- studies it allowed only for one will be invited to communicate and who feel restrained as stu- choice. This report apparently orthodox viewpoint and discour- with their Stake President only if dents or as teachers.., there are disheartened many faculty, for aged faithful but questioning in- there is an excommunication, over 3,500 colleges and universi- while a few pro-choi.ce faculty ac- quiry. disfellowshipment, or failure for ties where they may find the kind tivists have received publicity, In early October the adminis- a reasonable period of time to of freedom they value." campus notoriety, and criticism, tration released the long-awaited meet the standards of conduct Many faculty were angry at there are in fact many faculty draft of policies that will imple- consistent with qualifying for Elder Packer’s remarks and re- who are not activists but who ment the academic freedom doc- temple privileges. In such cases, sented that he called them em- identify themselves as pro-choice ument, which is primarily a phi- Stake Presidents may then con- ployees because the traditional (meaning the individual decides losophy statement. In the cover tact a single confidential source model for a university is a com- concerning an abortion, free of letter to the draft of the Grounds in the Academi~ Vice President’s munity of autonomous col- governmental proscriptions) but and Procedures Document that office. When the circumstances leagues. Some said that they felt not pro-abortion. outlined why and how faculty are deemed to warrant it, the vice that Elder Packer did not trust or One female professor was told may be terminated, Lee noted the president will contact the indi- respect them. that she would have crossed the "long-standing expectation at vidual, who, if appropriate, will The following week during line if she publicly favored abor- BYU and other units in the be invited to resolve the concern his BYU devotional address, Pres- tion rights. She was read an un- Church Educational System that with ecclesiastical leaders within ident Gordon B. Hinckley, first published resolution from the LDS faculty be active members of a reasonable time." counselor in the First Presidency board of trustees that prohibited the Church in good standing. The requested faculty re- and chair of the executive com- faculty from taking stands favor- The University and Board of sponse to the procedures docu- mittee of BYU board of trustees, ing abortion. Trustees have together developed ment was at times intense and attempted to calm the waters. At one point, it was rumored revised guidelines that will im- strong. At one meeting, numer- "You have the trust and confi- that there was a list of six profes- plement this expectation both ous faculty protested the involve- dence of the governing board," sors that the general authorities uniformly and confidentially. ment of their bishops in their he assured the faculty, whom he had identified who should not be These guidelines seek to preserve employment, saying that it com- called colleagues. "I am confi- at BYU. With one exception, all related but separate spheres for promised their relationships dent that never in the history of were younger, untenured faculty. ecclesiastical and university deci- with their bishops and made this institution has there been a While the administration specif-

MARCH 1993 PAGE 65 ically denied that there was an Roberts and her husband, Mor- conference talk). ers. At a recent meeting, college official list, it became known thatmon German professor William Second, Eyring is to solve the deans were informed that faculty there were indeed faculty mem- Davis, are leaving BYU because of problem at BYU. Throughout the who participated in Sunstone bers who had been noted by at the constraints on faculty expres- fall, he met with numerous fac- symposiums would be held ac- least one general authority and sion. ulty members just to listen and countable. Reportedly, one dean discussed with BYU administra- The controversy also has understand. Faculty members asked for the written memo of tors because they were trouble- made it more difficult to hire new were impressed with his willing- the policy and was told that it some for their environmental, faculty. Top-qualified candidates ness to educate himself on the was an oral policy. feminist, and Mormon stands for tenure-track positions in sev- issues before making decisions. Some see this entire episode and writings. eral departments have with- Initially after Eyring’s appoint- as the defining period in the This revelation further drawn their names from consid- ment, many felt there was a kind university’s history, whether it prompted the discussion and eration and have specifically of hiatus in the controversy. will continue to grow in stature finger pointing between cited the academic freedom con- However, as the winter se- in the academic community’s es- "conservative" and "liberal" fac- troversy as the reason. mester came to a close the points teem, whether it will become the ulty (often older vs. younger fac- One example is Astrid of controversy flared more bril- Bob Jones University of Mor- ulty), as well as between faculty Tuminez, a BYU graduate who re- liantly as the April deadline for monism, or whether the LDS and the administration and the cently received her Ph.D. in po- faculty appointments and con- church will decide that support- board of trustees. Of particular litical science from Columbia. tracts forced issues. Several fac- ing an expensive world-class LDS note is the factious English de- She told the Salt Lake T~ibune that ulty members at different points university is just not part of its partment, where challenges of she is concerned about accepting in the tenure approval process mission. Already, some faculty professors’ testimonies and right an invitation to .join the faculty if have been reproved for their in- report that their departments to be at the university have at it means choosing between secu- volvement in Mormon issues. have lost stature in their discipl- times almost reached the status lar and revealed truth. "I don’t Cecelia Konchar Farrg candidacy ine as a result of the debate. In a of being an out-right war. One want to be in a situation where I for a tenured English position is couple of years BYU will be en- debated juncture is the teaching feel paranoid and have to watch threatened by a speech she gave gaged in this question for the of feminist criticism by some out for everything," she said. "If at an abortion-rights rally and for once-a-decade accreditation re- younger faculty. In March, a can- the church meddles too much in her feminist scholarship. Her re- view; and many predict that the didate for an English tenure- the university or takes a dictato- view process specifically chal- university will not sail through track position was interviewed at rial stance on intellectual issues, lenged her campus "citizenship," the process as easily as it did in length about whether he would I would have a problem taking a not her research and publication the 1980s. teach feminism in the classroom. .job there." record. Whatever the outcome, at the According to long-time ob- In the math department, Other faculty members have moment Brigham Young Univer- servers of BYU, all this discussion where it is so hard to find quali- also been directly chastised sity and its Mormon sponsor are has put faculty morale at an all- fied LDS applicants that half of because of articles they have undoubtedly engaged in an time low. There is a wide-spread the faculty are non-Mormon, two published or speeches they have eventful "experiment on a great lack of confidence in the highly qualified LDS candidatesgiven on Mormon topics. premise," to quote President administration’s ability to protect withdrew because of BYU’S intel- One point of controversy is Hinckley, "that a large and com- professors’ independence. Re- lectual climate. A similar sce- faculty participation in Sunstone plex university can be first-class portedl},; even many deans criti- nario occurred in the history de- symposiums, which have be- academically while nurturing an cize Provost Hafen’s handling of partment. come a symbol for heterodox dis- environment of faith in God." ~ the matter and privately say they In an effort to defuse the cri- cussions of Mormonism. Noting don’t trust him to deal honestly sis, last fall the First Presidency the Church’s Statement on sym- with them. called Henry B. Eyring to be posia ("Church Issues Statement Many faculty members have commissioner of education for on ’Symposia,’ " SUNSTONE 15:4), said that they are tired of not the Church Educational System, university officials refuse to pro- being valued, of having their tes- a position that had not been filled hibit professors from participat- timonies questioned by other for several years. Eyring had been ing, perhaps because of fear of faculty, and are seeking positions commissioner once before from reprisal from its accrediting orga- at other universities. Some have 1980 until 1985 when he was nization, but they increasingly noted that BYU is fortunate in called to the Presiding Bishopric. make Sunstone participation a having this controversy at a time Reportedly Eyring has two litmus-test question in new-hire when the faculty job market is all main assignments. First, he is to and tenure interviews. Tenured but dried up, making it difficult improve Church institutes so faculty members who are inter- for individuals to leave. Both the that they will better serve and viewed for various university ap- Salt Lake T~*ibune and the Ne~v attract students who attend other pointments report that part of Yo~k Times have run stories about universities. This is in part to ad- the interview process includes faculty discontent and flight, re- dress the fact that more and more questions on whether they will porting that up to twenty faculty disgruntled member students are participate in Sunstone sympo- had sent out resumes because of not getting into BYU and have to siums. Sunstone participation is the situation. Non-Mormon psy- go elsewhere (the primary topic often juxtaposed against loyalty chology professor Tomi-Ann of Elder Packer’s October general and obedience to Church lead-

MARCH 19c)3 PAGE 66 ¯ A preoccupation with food ers went to extremes. LDS CHURCH DISCIPLINES storage; Elaine and Jim Harmston had ¯ Reading doomsday books or a scripture study group, which ULTRA-CONSERVATIVE other unapproved materials; met in their Manti home, that ¯ Quoting the exact day of the reportedly included prayer cir- SURVIVALISTS coming of Jesus Christ; cles that are prohibited outside of ¯ Performing temple ordinances approved Church-run temples. outside the temple; Their bishop read an open letter LAST NOVEMBER the Salt Lake Second Quorum of the Seventy ¯ Practicing, teaching, or sympa- in Church warning members not Tribtmc reported that the LDS and president of the Utah South thizing with polygamists; to attend the group or they church was undertaking a "house Area, counseled bishops and ¯ Having inspiration, knowl- cleaning" by disciplining and ex- would risk discipline. The stake presidents that the Great edge, or authority outside of es- Harmstons told the Tribune that communicating hundreds of Apostasy had a small beginning tablished Church channels. the letter increased attendance. ultra-conservative survivalists and warned that some members News reports of the profile re- As a result, Church leaders began who are unduly preoccupied are moving out of the main- suited in the inevitable exaggera- with the Last Days, Armageddon, surveillance of their house, and stream of the Church into apos- tions and oversimplifications-- individuals who attended were and the earl>, speeches of Ezra tasy, echoing President Gordon B. Taft Benson. one can be disciplined simply for called in for interviews. The Hinckley’s counsel given at a re- having food storage, and hun- Harmstons said that their stake Church spokesperson Don cent regional representatives dreds have been excommuni- LeFevre could not confirm mass president told them, "You cannot meeting (see "President Hinckley cated for practicing home temple discuss the gospel in your own excommunications, but said that Renounces Praying to Mother in the Brethren are increasingly ceremonies. In response, Church home with anyone except your Heaven," SUNSTONE 15:3). officials said that the list was an own family or you will be excom- concerned with "superpatriots" ElderJeppson identified apos- who are quitting their .jobs and unofficial document and that municated." Eventually, the tatizing groups on the left and the there was no official policy on the Harmstons and several others in moving to Southern Utah. A no- right. On the left: feminists who profile topics. The Church also their group were excommunicated ticeable number of Latter-day advocate Mother in Heaven and said the assertion that a "massive Saints have moved to Manti and and others were disfellowshipped priesthood ordination for house cleaning" of hundreds of other Southern Utah cities with- women; intellectuals who advo- or put on probation. out .jobs because of what they excommunications was "greatly While rumors told of count- cate a naturalistic explanation for exaggerated," but declined to describe as a spiritual call. the Book of Mormon and other less Southern Utah Saints per- In the fall of 1991 the give exact figures. "Where forming temple ceremonies in revelations; and dissenters who Church discipline has occurred, Church’s discouragement from challenge the interpretation of their homes, home-based temple it has been for totally unaccept- rites are not part of the agenda for participating in the conservative the leadership of the Church. able practices," said Bruce L. American Study Group caused the vast majority of the conserva- On the right: priestcrafters Olsen, managing director of the the group’s membership to dra- who sell their gospel understand- tive Mormon survivalists who LDS public affairs department. matically decline and the organi- ing for money; latter-day gnostics view themselves as active, believ- zation to eventually fold. who believe they have a special Nevertheless, it became clear ing, and faithful Mormons. More recently, in the October that some individuals have had It wasn’t only members who spiritual knowledge of the mys- their memberships revoked and 1992 general conference Apostle teries; doomsayers who forecast went to extremes. One unnamed, Boyd K. Packer counseled mem- many, many others had been dis- life-long LDS man in a neighbor- special events; and cultists who ciplined or at least strongly bers not to follow the survivalist practice polygamy or other doc- ing town to the Harmstons told line: "Do not be deceived," he trines not taught by the Church. talked to (the definition of disci- the Tribune that he was called in plined is obviously used differ- warned, by those "who have not Elder Jeppson identified and threatened with excommu- ently by journalists, Church been regularly ordained by the telling signs--"troublesome nication for having too much heads of the Church, who tell of leaders, and members). In the food storage, which he says is to ideologies"--in a profile of event, some members and lead- impending political and eco- members that leaders should help his fellow members during nomic chaos, the end of the watch for in conservatives. Any world, something of the ’sky is member conforming to one or falling.’... They are misleading more items may not be cause members to gather to colonies or for concern, but when many or cults." all apply, especially to a fanati- At the same conference, Apos- cal degree, then Church leaders tle M. Russell Ballard counseled are counseled to intervene. Saints "not to overact" concerning Items in the profile included: signs that the end of the world is ¯ Home schooling; near. Don’t get "caught up in ex- ¯ Leanings toward or member- treme preparations," he said. ship in the John Birch Society; A month later, at a meeting of ¯ Holding study groups; local Church leaders from south- ¯ Following and teaching the ern and central Utah, Elder Mal- words of dead prophets over the colm Jeppson, a member of the living ones;

MARCH 1993 PAGE 67 a crisis: "I was told that one year’s been written by religion profes- IN THE NET worth of food storage is enough sor Reed Benson, son of the cur- and anything more is excess .... rent church president?" I haven’t done anything I haven’t Nevertheless, Bruce L. Olsen been told to do by the prophet." encouraged individuals involved In fact, it is the current in home schooling to "carefully prophet who gets many of these assess the implication of both people in trouble. The earlier withdrawing their children from ultra-conservative apocalyptic public systems and also of what writings of then Apostle Ezra Taft the loss of the influence of Benson, often informed by the Church members could mean for John Birch Society, are the politi- those same public institutions." cal and religious bible for many One superstar of the Mormon of these individuals. Several have conservatives is Vietnam war hero stated publicly and many say pri- and anti-New World Order lecturer vately that they believe the rea- "Bo" Gritz, who converted to Mor- CAROL LYNN PEARSON is trav- NEW BYU Studies editor Jack son President Benson has not monism in 1984. While in Salt elling world-wide with her one- Welch at the Mormon History come to their defense is that he is Lake City this January to speak on woman play, Mother Wove the Association in St. George, Utah, being muzzled by other Church "Secret Combinations" at the York- Morning (which is now available May 1992. leaders. town Survival Xpo 90s exposition, on video). She recently took it to If the excommunications are Gritz told a KSL reporter that he Crete (above photo); this spring few, others have clearly been si- had talked to a lot of Mormon con- she’s in the Carribean. lenced by the "house cleaning" servatives who confirmed that campaign. LD5 Isaiah scholar there was a checklist being used to Avraham Gileadi, whose writings threaten members with expulsion. deal with the imminent Last Gritz, who lives in southern Ne- Days, has stopped speaking and vada and lectures nationwide on writing after being threatened. the sinister global governmental Another man who sells video conspiracy, received almost 28,000 tapes and cassette recordings on votes in Utah in the same Novem- the Last Days said that he ceased ber presidential election that put doing so when he was threatened Ross Perot second to George Bush with excommunication, al- and made Utah the only state though he resented the charge of where Bill Clinton came in third. priestcraft--making money from Gritz fears that the global con- teaching the gospel -- when spiracy is now infiltrating the countless others do it from sales of Church and said that "there’s no real religious freedom in the LDS THE PLANNING COMMITTEE of the Northwest Sunston.e Sympo- Church books. Other conserva- sium, held in Seattle on 23-24- October 1992. From left to right: Steven tives say that there has been a def- church." He attributed the recent Whitlock, Patrick McKenzie, Devery Anderson, Molly McLellan Benn- crackdown to some Church lead- inite pulling back by many conser- ion, Kaisa London, Norma Lee Brooks, Kathleen Bennion Barrett, vatives in response to the Church’s ers who are "zealots, people who Marsha Bennion Giese (Clark Carroll was not in the picture). actions, although many say they are going to extremes in protect- are disappointed in their church. ing the church’s [tax exempt] fi- Proponents of home school- nancial status" with the IRS. Both ing were relieved when the IRS and Church spokespersons Church issued a statement saying told the Tribune that Gritz’s claim it did not oppose home school- that the IRS was running the ing. In a letter to the Tribune, Church was "baloney." Joyce Kinmont, of LDS Home While so-called liberal Mor- Educators’ Association, noted mons who have felt similarly that the director of the Church under seige from the Church Education System spoke to their vacillate between glee and com- conference last June and asked, miseration at the news of the "If the church were opposed to crackdown on conservatives, it home education, would BYU appears that, paradoxically, as Press have published School Can the Church broadens its cultural Wait by Seventh-day Adventist diversity with its growth on THE PLANNING COMMITTEE for the Chicago Sunstone Sympo- sium, held on 16-17 October 1992. From left to right: Ann Stone, Raymond Moore? Would the first other continents, it is at the same dissertation on home education time narrowing on its spectrum Colleen Thomas, Jonathan Thomas, Shiela Duran, K. Carpenter, Kirk Linford, Maraley Rasmussen, Richard Rasmussen (not shown were in the entire country have come the band widths for acceptable Becky Linford and Jeff Meldrum). out of BYU and would it have politics and theology. ~

MARCH 1993 PAGE 68 SUNSTONE article "150 Years of Truth and Consequences About UPDATE Mormon History" (16:1) in which Quinn chronicled the punitive actions taken through history against those who write about contro- versial topics of Mormon history. A believing Mormon, Quinn de- BYU REJECTS LDS PULITZER PRIZE fended his work in a letter to his stake president that was excerpted WINNER AS SPEAKER in the Salt Lake Tribune saying, "As a historian it is my ,obligation to THE CHURCH recently turned down a request by the planning approach evidence as carefully and fairly as I can .... It is no more committee for BYU’S Women’s Conference to invite Laurel Thatcherapostasy for me to analyze these Mormon developments than it is Ulrich to be the conference’s keynote speaker. Ulrich, a life-long treason to examine American slavery, or the ciA’s LSD experiments on devoted LDS woman who returned to college to get her post-graduate unknowing victims, or Watergate, or Irangate." According to the education after rearing her children, was awarded in 1991 both the General Handbook of Instructions, apostasy occurs when a member prestigious Bancroft Award in American history and the Pulitizer "repeatedly acts in clear, open deliberate public opposition to the Prize for history for her book A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha church or its leaders or persists in teaching as church doctrine Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812. She is the third Mormon and information that is not church doctrine after being corrected by their first LDS woman to receive a Pulitzer prize. For her work in women’sbishops or higher authority." history she also was awarded $320,000 from the MacArthur Foun- Quinn says he is not interested in meeting with President Hanks dation-the so-called "genius award." Ulrich is a professor of history because he believes the scenario to be "predetermined actions man- at the University of New Hampshire. Last June she was the com- dated from Church headquarters, yet presented as if they are your mencement speaker at the University of Utah and has spoken at BYU own independent decisions as a local leader." This feeling is rooted several times to smaller audiences, such as to BYU honor students. in Quinn’s 1985 experience when he says several apostles unsuccess- The decision to refuse her speaking this time was officially made by fully tried to have him called into a Church court through an the BYU board of trustees at a meeting when the only two women on uncooperative stake president for his Dialogue article that described the board were out of town--the presidents of the Relief Society and Church-condoned plural marriages after their ban in 1890. "I vowed Young Women’s organizations. Historically, BYU’S annual Women’sI would never again participate in a process which was designed to Conference was planned and sponsored within the university--first punish me for being the messenger of unwanted historical evidence," by the student association’s women’s office, then by the Women’s he wrote in his letter to Hanks. Hanks, however, denies he was told Research Institute, and then by an independent committee--and to investigate Quinn and laments that Quinn will not sit down and speaker approval was the same as for other university functions. In talk with him, but said, "I respect Mike and I rejoice in the fact that past couple of years, however, the Relief Society has joined in be bore his testimony [in his letter refusing a meeting] ." co-sponsoring the event, making it also a Church function and News of Quinn’s situation caused much commentary and discus- requiring Church review and approval of the program, including by sion. L. Jackson Newell, a professor of higher education at the Correlation. After the rejection of Ulrich’s name, members of theUniversity of Utah, told the Tribune that "Michael Quinn is unsur- Relief Society presidency, conference committee members, and other passed among Mormon writers for the integrity and courage of his influential women made contacts with general authorities to find out scholarship. To investigate him for apostasy for what he has written the reason for denial; each man contacted refused to give a reason. is to place every open-minded Mormon in jeopardy for his or her Speculation for the snub mostly centers around the fact that Ulrich, membership. When power is used to crush id.eas then no one is safe who is concerned with feminist issues, helped found and is a regular and everyone should protest." As of yet no action has been taken contributor to the Mormon women’s magazine Exponent II. "Whenagainst Quinn, who left Salt Lake for a prearranged two-month they don’t provide a reason, it shows a lack of respect to those of us research trip to California. who are trying to plan such events," Marie Cornwall, director of BYU’s Women’s Research Institute, told the Salt Lake Tribune. "It seems they CHURCH BELATEDLY RELEASES don’t value women scholars and that goes to the heart of what we FORGOTTEN MCLELLIN PAPERS are." Ulrich, who did not know of her nomination before hand, says she is "not upset or outraged--just a little puzzled. I always enjoy WITH THE release last fall of Richard Turley’s book Victims on the speaking to young people in the church .... LDS church and Mark Hofmann, it became known that the LDS And I think of myself as church discovered papers by early Mormon apostate William E. a good role model." McLellin in its archives in 1986, contemporaneous with the police MICHAEL QUINN INVESTIGATED investigation of the Hofmann bombings. The Church did not inform the investigators of the discovery at the time. McLellin’s papers were FOR APOSTASY relevant because Hofmann claimed he had the documents and was AN APOSTASY investigation has been launched against noted Mor- trying sell them for $185,000 to several investors. Investigators mon historian D. Michael Quinn. Paul A. Hanks, a Salt Lake stake believe Hofmann killed Steven E Christensen and Kathleen Sheets to president, gave Quinn a letter dated 7 February 1993 requesting protect his forgery schemes that included the McLellin collection. Quinn to meet with him and explain his "personal feelings about the The Church had acquired McLellin’s papers in 1908, but no one church" in an apostasy investigation. Quinn, who recently moved to knew it until a search of Church archives was instituted after the Salt Lake from Louisiana, noted that this was the first contact from bombings. Legal experts agree that a timely release of the papers the Church he had received: "No home teachers, no invitations to would not have influenced the ultimate outcome of the case, but attend ward meetings, just a summons to defend myself." Specifically, critics say the Church could not have known that at the time. "I can’t Quinn is being charged with apostasy in connection with his recent believe that nobody came forward with it," Gerry D’Elia told the Salt writings suggesting that Joseph Smith taught that women receive the Lake Tribune. D’Elia was the Salt Lake County attorney who headed priesthood as part of the sacred temple ritual (in Women and Author- the Hofmann investigation and believes the information would have ity: Re-emerging Mormon Feminism, Signature Books), and for the helped investigators unravel the case earlier by establishing

MARCH 1993 PAGE 69 Hofmann’s motives. An article in the anti-Mormon Salt Lake City determine if he is competent to stand trial. He is currently being held Messenger goes at length to show how the Church’s continual state- in the Utah County Jail with bail set at $100,000. ments that it was fully cooperating with the investigation are dis- BYU APPROVES OFFICIAL PACKET proved by this information. Church officials say they never told the investigators that they had found the collection because the papers ON EVOLUTION "did not fall within any of the subpoenas issued to the church." The A TRUCE, of sorts, has been negotiated in the on-going battle at McLellin papers contained four small journals and several manu- Brigham Young University between professors in the biological sci- scripts. They had been purchased by LDS President Joseph E Smith ences who teach evolution and the Religious Education faculty who and stored in the First Presidency’s vau!t--an area reserved for often pt~each against it. In classrooms both sides would cite and sensitive documents and the leading quorum’s minutes and provide students with opposing general authority statements on the correspondence--and unavailable to historians and most employees subject. Now, the university’s board of trustees, which is comprised of the Church historical department. The collection is now cata- of senior general authorities, has approved a packet of statements to logued and open to researchers. be distributed to classes in both colleges. The ten-page packet con- tains a cover letter from the current First Presidency, two First Presidency statements from 1909 and 1925, a 1910 First Presidency Christmas message, and an article on evolution from the Encyclopedia of Mormonism that quotes from the minutes of a 1931 First Presi- dency meeting. (In a rare move, the First Presidency supplied their minutes’ quote for the encyclopedia.) These official statements allow for diversity of opinion and deal more specifically with the spiritual origins of humankind than with evolutionary biology. A university committee compiled the proposed packet and decided to rely on "source over substance" as a compromise that excluded widely circu- lated items such as a letter from LDS church President David O. McKay stating that the Church has no official policy on evolution and other articles by apostles and First Presidency members denouncing the biological theory. Avoiding any hint of censorship, university officials state that teachers are welcome to use additional resources in APOSTLE THREATENED DURING their classes, but now they do not have the same religious authority BYU FIRESIDE as the statements in the Church-sanctioned packet. HOWARD W. HUNTER, president of the Quorum of the Twelve and next in line to be Church president, had just begun a 7 February PARTNERSHIP WITH PRIESTHOOD televised fireside talk in the Marriott Center on the BYU campus when EDITED OUT OF AILEEN CLYDE’S TALK a man, later identified as Cody Robert Judy, yelled, "Stop right there!" AT THE October 1993 general women’s meeting, Sister Arleen Clyde, The university-owned KBYU television station stopped the broadcast second counselor in the general Relief Society presidency, welcomed and flashed "video difficulties" on the screen. Judy held a black object those attending by saying, "I am so pleased to join with you in this to President Hunter’s head, which he said was a detonator for a great congregation of Relief Society women and Young Women and briefcase bomb he was also holding. He demanded the Church leader to read a three-page statement, which President Hunter refused to leaders of our Primary children. It is good to have President Hinckley, do. Almost immediately the 17,000 people in the audience began President Monson, President Hunter, and other priesthood leaders singing "We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet," distracting Judy with us tonight to symbolize the priesthood partnership we so value long enough for students and security officers to overtake him. The in the Church and in our homes." The version published in the briefcase contained only books and papers, but the police detonated Ensign read: "It is good to have President Hinckley, President Mon- it as a precaution. son, President Hunter, and other priesthood leaders with us tonight." Reportedly, the 27-year-old Cody Judy, who grew up in Brigham One person, who had seen the galleys of this address, confirmed that City, Utah, and later moved to California, believed he had received the "partnership" phrase was still there at that point. The Mormon visitations from the resurrected Joseph Smith, Jesus Christ, and Women’s Forum Newsletter reported that in response to private in- ancient apostles detailing what he was to do to gain control of the quiry, Sister Clyde indicated that she had not been made aware of the Church. He told the Associated Press, "I have received the resurrected changes to her address in the Ensign prior to publication, and that her visits of Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ. I’ve been doing everything address had been previously approved by the First Presidency. the Lord has told me to do. That can be found in the scriptures. I can be found in the scriptures." Part of his demand included the imme- CHURCH ARCHIVES CHANGES POLICY diate resignation of President Hunter and the other members of the THE LDS church archives made a change in its "application for Quorum of the Twelve. His father, Robert Judy, told the Salt Lake archives research privileges." According to the new application, "any Tribune, "Cody is just as normal as normal can be--until it comes to publication, reproduction, or other use of archival material that religion. When it comes to religion, he’s a fanatic." exceeds the bounds of fair use requires the prior written permission During the first week of February, Cody reportedly left guns and of the Church Copyrights and Permissions Office." Researchers are ammunition as "gifts for the prophet" inside Temple Square. He was responsible for determining fair use, which legally prohibits overly questioned and released when the police decided he had not broken lengthy quotations or quoting a source in its entirety. Previously, any laws. However, they refused to return the guns to him. individuals were required to sign a document in which they agreed Cody has been ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation to to submit all direct quotations for approval.

PAGE 70 MARCH 1993 Set in Stone, Fixed in Glass Bright Angels and Familiars The Great Mormon Temple Contemporary Mormon Stories and Its Photographers EUGENE ENGLAND, editor NELSON B. WADSWORTH "Mormon fiction has come a long way. The In this coffee-table volume containing 400 writers are funnier, wiser and their voices turn-of-the-century exposures, Set in Stone stronger."-Jerry Johnston, Deseret News celebrates the temple’s 100-year anniver- The diversity of characterization, the rich- sary and the photographers’ triumphs in ness of lives exposed here, the rhetorical documenting its construction. power of the writing, all tell you some- $59.95. 400 pages. Cloth. thing about the ferment bubbling under the surface of Mormonism." --Paul Swenson, Salt Lahe Tribune $19.95. 568 pages. Paper.

Women’s Rights in Old Testament Times Women and Authority ]’AMES R. BAKER Re-emerging Mormon Feminism Old Testament women were as strong- MAXINE HANKS, editor willed as men. Baker considers women in Nineteen essays trace the history of business; slave-husband counterparts to Mormon feminism through nineteenth- concubines; metronymic marriage, in century beginnings, repression, and con- which the wife provided land and temporary re-emergence. Contributors occupation for a less well-situated include Lavina Fielding Anderson, Dorice husband; and inheritance rights of daugh- Williams Elliott, Vella Neff Evans, Sonja ters. Farnsworth, Linda King Newell, Carol $17.95. 200 pages. Paper. Lynn Pearson, Meg Wheatley, Martha Pierce, and Margaret Toscano. $19.95. 500 pages. Paper.

PAGE 71 MARCH 1993 SUN SPOTS A PERSONAL JOSEPH THE FOLLOWING personal ad appeared in the 13 January 1993 Private Eye, a free calendar-of-events Salt Lake tabloid: JOSEPH SMITH DESCENDANT: SWM, 30, independent fundamentalist Mormon. Prophet’s great, great, great grandson seeks happy, playful, loving, open-minded, spirit filled, SWF, independent fundamentalist Mormon to age 30. Goal: Highest celestial glory. All replies confidential/answered. Hurry! Christ’s coming. HOW DO YOU SPELL RELIEF? THE FOLLOWING quote was featured in the 14- February 1993- Valentines Day--Relief Society printed program of the Monument Park single adult ward: In the ever-widening circles of single women and women weary of juggling two iobs~at home and the workplace-- polygamy begins to look better.., not because the men are so great but the women are. --JOHANNA JARVIK in Notable Quotables: From Women to Women, compiled by Elaine Cannon, Bookcraft, 1992, 148.

PRAYER PRIORITY THE New Yorker recently reported this item in its "First Things First Dept." A clip "from the weekly program of the United Methodist Church in Spruce Pine, North Carolina," read, "Will you be loyal to this United Methodist Church and support it by your: PRAYERS.--For the youth retreat this weekend.--For those people who are getting their pictures made for the directory.--For the civil war in Yugoslavia." (Context)

Boldstep,

MEET LDS SINGLES ACROSS THE U.S. Are you divorced? Never marri~l~ i, Widowed? One of a few active singles in your ward?

A LDS DATING CONCEPT

MARCH 1993 PAGE 72 1993 WASHINGTON, D.C. SUNSTONE SYMPOSIUM 12-13 March The American University

006 Mormonism and the Puritan Connection: The Trials of Mrs. Anne Hutchinson and Several Persistent Questions Bearing on Church Courts--Karl C. Sandberg 007 City Wards and Branches in the LDS Church--Steve Wood OO8 Augustine and Language: A Journey to God--Hinckley Jones 009 From Patriarchs to Patriots: A Psychological Profile of the Devout Mormon from 1945-1970 --Maria Denise Nelson 013 The Challenge of Homosexuality: A Paradigm for Developing New LDS Models of Sexual Theology --Rick Fernandez 015 The Changing Shape of the LDS Family--Kandace England, Rebecca Chandler, Allison Sadr, Peter Ashcroft 016 Being an International Church--Mark Davis, Agnes Hale, Kaoru Yamamoto Oba 017 The United Order in the Modern Economy: Communal, Cooperative, or Corporate?~ames W. Lucas 019 The Search for an Iron Rod: Mormon Struggles with Pluralism--David Knowlton 020 Creating Art: The Essence of Human Experience~Kimberlee Staking, Levi Peterson, Helaman Ferguson, Sheila Johns Eliza By the Day--Maureen U. Beecher 021 { With Zina’s Words: Decoding Early Mormon Women’s Discourse--Martha S. Bradley The Meaning of Sacrifice in the Hebrew Bible~David P. Wright 022 { The LDS Sacrament as a Covenant of Discipleship~Kathleen Flake O23 The First Amendment and Academic Freedom--Omar Kader, Eugene England Correlation: The Boring of a Generation--Clay Chandler 024 { Promoting Change in the Church and Surviving--Lou Chandler Of Curious Workmanship: Meditations on Book of Mormon Peculiarities--Edgar C. Snow Jr. 025 { The Book of Mormon’s Anticipation of Itself--Earl M. Wunderli 026 How Do Sunstone, Dialogue, and Exponent II Contribute to the Kingdom of God?--Eugene England, Elbert Peck, Allen Roberts, Sue Paxman Lucubrations on Un-American Religion Being (in part) a Brief Unauthorized History of Persecution in the 027 Mayfield Ward--Neal Chandler Mormon Materialism--Paul H. Smith O28 Sexual Abuse: What Is It and How Do We Deal With It?--Betsy A. Firth, Mark Koltko 029 The Higher Criticism of Harold Bloom--Mario S. DePillis, David Knowlton, Mary Bradford Paying the Greater Cost: The Role of Women and the Adjustment of the LDS Church to a Wage-Labor Economy 030 --Marti Jones The Mormon Church and the Second Sex--Lynn Matthews Anderson 031 Multiculturalism in the Church--Nancy Brockbank, Ntumba Mary Ann Massela, Fred Bowes 032 Mormonism and the Nature of Science: The Relationship Between Science and Religious Assumptions (Paper read by David Tolman)--Robert Paul O33 Spirituality and Cultural Difference---David Knowlton 035 Women and Authority: Re-Emerging Mormon Feminism; An Informal Discussion of the Book --Maxine Hanks, Dorice Williams Elliott, Marian Yeates 037 Of Primary Concern--Rebecca Chandler 038 Pillars of My Faith---John Durham Peters, Dorice Williams Elliott

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