00a_cover.qxp 5/20/2005 2:39 PM Page 2 MORMON EXPERIENCE SCHOLARSHIP ISSUES & ART “TO WHOM SUNSTONESUNSTONE SHALL WE GO?” D. Michael Quinn examines Historical Patterns of Restoration Believers with Serious Doubts (p.26) In what ways has President Hinckley wrestled with faith and doubt? Gary James Bergera shares excerpts from the prophet’s own words (p.38) SONATA: A WOMAN’S SONG OF WAR, 2005 England Essay contest winner by Lisa Torcasso Downing (p.46) HUGH WINDER NIBLEY 1910–2005 TOPLESS IN ELKO, Brown fiction contest winner by Lisa R. Harris (p.50) Blake T. Ostler on why reading the Book of Mormon in light of current science does not preclude faith in its historicity (p.63) May 2005—$5.95 00b_inside cover.qxp 5/20/2005 2:40 PM Page 1 UPCOMING SUNSTONE SYMPOSIUMS MAKE PLANS TO ATTEND! 2005 Salt Lake SUNSTONE symposium 05JULY 27– 30 SALT LAKE Joseph Smith: SHERATON CITY 200 Years CENTRE HOTEL OCTOBER OCTOBER 15 29 SUNSTONE SUNSTONE NORTHWEST SOUTHWEST seattle dallas 01_toc.qxp 5/23/2005 10:06 AM Page 1 MORMON EXPERIENCE, SCHOLARSHIP, ISSUES, & ART MAY 2005 Issue 137 FEATURES HUGH WINDER NIBLEY 10 Kevin L. Barney. IN MEMORIAM 14 . REMEMBERING HUGH NIBLEY 14 Omar Kader. .To Treasure the Sacred 15 Robert A. Rees . .Leading the Procession 17 Kevin Christensen. .A Continuing Impression 17 Charles Randall Paul . .Hearing Nibley 18 . FUNERAL TRIBUTES 26 D. Michael Quinn . “TO WHOM SHALL WE GO?” Historical Patterns of Restoration SUNSTONE (ISSN 0363-1370) is published by The Sunstone Education Foundation, Inc., a non-profit corporation with no Believers with Serious Doubts official ties to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 38 Gary James Bergera. “THE CHALLENGES OF THOSE DAYS” Articles represent the opinions of the writers only. President Gordon B. Hinckley SUNSTONE is indexed in Religion Index One: Periodicals, the Index to Book Reviews in Religion, Religion Indexes: RIO/RIT/IBBR and the Will to Believe 1975–on CD-ROM, and the ATLA Religion Database, published by 46 Lisa Torcasso Downing. SONATA: A WOMAN’S SONG OF WAR the American Theological Library Association, 250 S. Wacker Dr., 16th Flr., Chicago, IL 60606 2005 Eugene England Memorial (e-mail: [email protected], WWW: http://atla.com/). Personal Essay Contest First Place Winner Submissions may be on IBM-PC compatible computer discs 50 Lisa R. Harris. TOPLESS IN ELKO (MS Word or WordPerfect format), or by e-mail attachment. Submissions should not exceed 8,000 words and must be 2002 Brookie & D. K. Brown accompanied by a signed letter giving permission for the Fiction Contest Sunstone Winner manuscript to be filed in the Sunstone Collection at the University of Utah Marriott Library (all literary rights are retained by authors). Manuscripts will not be returned; authors will be POETRY notified concerning acceptance within ninety days. 37 Jacqueline Jules . SWEET DREAMS SUNSTONE is interested in feature- and column-length articles relevant to Mormonism from a variety of perspectives, news 57 R. S. Carlson . PLANTER stories about Mormons and the LDS Church, and short reflections and commentary. Poetry submissions should have one poem per page, with the poet’s name and address on each page; a self- COLUMNS addressed, stamped envelope should accompany each 7 Dan Wotherspoon . FROM THE EDITOR: All We Have submission. Short poems—haiku, limericks, couplets, and one- liners—are very welcome. Short stories are selected only through CORNUCOPIA the annual Brookie and D. K. Brown Memorial Fiction Contest 21 Carol Lynn Pearson . MORMON MUSINGS: (next submission deadline: 30 June 2005; $5 fee per story). Walk in the Pink Moccasins Letters for publication should be identified. SUNSTONE does not acknowledge receipt of letters to the editor. Letters addressed 22 NetMo . CYBERSAINTS: Diftor Heh Smusma, T’hy’la to specific authors will be forwarded, unopened, to them. “Live long and prosper, dude” SUNSTONE will not provide subscriber addresses to mail list solicitors without permission. 23 Todd Robert Petersen . IN THE BELLY OF THE WHALE: Send all correspondence and manuscripts to: “With Some Spirituality” SUNSTONE 58 Jana Bouk Remy . MOONSTONE: The Goddess Returns: 343 N. Third West My Journey with Inanna Salt Lake City, UT 84103-1215 (801) 355-5926 60 D. Jeff Burton. BRAVING THE BORDERLANDS. :Divorce fax: (801) 355-4043 email: [email protected] 63 Blake T. Ostler . YEA, YEA, NAY, NAY: DNA Strands website: www.sunstoneonline.com in the Book of Mormon United States subscriptions to SUNSTONE are $36 for 6 issues, 67 D. Michael Quinn . The Ancient Book of Mormon as Tribal Narrative $65 for 12 issues, and $90 for 18 issues. International subscriptions are $48 for 6 issues; $89 for 12 issues; $126 for 18 80 Hugh B. Brown. AN OLIVE LEAF: A Desire to Investigate issues. All payments must be in U.S. funds drawn on a U.S. bank. All international subscriptions will be sent via surface mail. Bona fide student and missionary subscriptions are $10 less than UPDATE the above rates. A $10 service charge will be deducted from 72 . April General Conference report; Mormons and refund amount on cancelations. Catholics; Jews ask again that LDS stop proxy work Printed by A “Green” Shop for Holocaust victims; Events examine Joseph Smith at bicentennial of his birth; and much more! Copyright © 2005, The Sunstone Education Foundation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Cover Photograph: Brent Orton 02-06_letters.qxp 5/23/2005 10:07 AM Page 2 SUNSTONE YEA, YEA NAY, NAY implications of recent DNA findings without Founded in 1974 COURAGEOUS REVIEWER SCOTT KENNEY 1974–1978 concluding that we currently have the whole ALLEN D. ROBERTS 1978–1980 ’M WRITING THIS LETTER TO SEND picture of genetic markers. It is possible to PEGGY FLETCHER 1978–1986 DANIEL H. RECTOR 1986–1991 I praise and appreciation for Tania Lyon’s puzzle about Book of Mormon geography LINDA JEAN STEPHENSON 1991–1992 ELBERT EUGENE PECK 1986–2001 insightful and well-written review of Martha without concluding that the inability to find Editor Beck’s book, Leaving the Saints (SUNSTONE, an exact alignment between what the book DAN WOTHERSPOON Publisher March 2005). I find it the most intelligent, suggests and what we presently know about WILLIAM STANFORD honest, and unbiased review written on the the geography of the Americas proves that Associate Editor CAROL B. QUIST book to date. the book is fiction. And it is possible to weigh Managing Editor I have read Beck’s book, and as a convert issues of composition (e.g., the use of the ALLEN HILL to the Church, I found the book disturbing King James Version language and scriptures) Section Editors PHYLLIS BAKER, fiction contest but fascinating. Being an open-minded per- without concluding that Joseph Smith was SCOT DENHALTER, Cybersaints ALAN AND VICKIE EASTMAN, Righteous Dominion son, I tried to piece together her story the simply plagiarizing. HUGO OLAIZ, News/Update best I could. However, because I do not have Some Book of Mormon scholars who, us- DIXIE PARTRIDGE, poetry BOYD PETERSEN, Mormonism and politics Rands’s educational background in sociology, ing other scientific tools, especially those of MARY ELLEN ROBERTSON, women’s studies MICHAEL SCHOENFELD, Sunstone Gallery much of what she brought out in her review linguistic, narrative, and textual analysis, are DARRON SMITH, The Long-Promised Day? proved extremely valuable in making my convinced that certain elements of the Book ALISON TAKENAKA, Margin Notes BRAD AND CHERIE WOODWORTH, book reviews own assessment of the book’s validity. of Mormon could not have come from Editorial Assistants I want to applaud Rands for the coura- Joseph Smith’s information environment. JOHN-CHARLES DUFFY ERIC JONES, HUGO OLAIZ geous approach she takes in responding to And, just as these scholars cannot satisfy nat- Contributing Columnists the book. As much as I struggle with sup- uralist critics on such matters as Book of MICHAEL AUSTIN, D. JEFF BURTON MICHAEL NIELSEN, JANA RIESS porting the type of “memoir” that Beck has Mormon geography and DNA analysis, they Photographer and Recording Engineer STEVE MAYFIELD written by purchasing the book, I did buy it feel that naturalist critics have not paid suffi- Cartoonists and read it. I feel Tania Lyon’s personal and cient attention nor respect to issues they con- JEANETTE ATWOOD, MACADE sociological critique of the book is excep- sider germane to Book of Mormon historicity. Much-Appreciated Volunteers ADRIANE ANDERSEN, SUSAN ANDERSEN tional. These scholars (not all of whom can be DEVERY ANDERSON, PHYLLIS BAKER, DEBRA DICKAMORE DON GUSTAVSON, BARBARA HAUGSOEN, LEANN HILLAM LISA OLSEN neatly classified as “apologists”) believe that BEVERLY HOPPE, STEVE MAYFIELD, KATHY WILSON Redding, California naturalist critics have not provided convinc- ing evidence that Joseph Smith wrote or DIFFERENT STANDARDS could have written the Book of Mormon. As Hugh Nibley has stated, “And of course THE SUNSTONE EDUCATION READ WITH INTEREST DAN VOGEL’S everyone, including ourselves, has avoided FOUNDATION I “Is a ‘Paradigm Shift’ in Book of Mormon the big question: How did he do it? Local The mission of The Sunstone Education Foundation is to sponsor open forums of Mormon thought and experience. Studies Possible?” (SUNSTONE, March 2005). mobs chased him down country roads and Under the motto, “Faith Seeking Understanding,” we ex- amine and express the rich spiritual, intellectual, social, Like most other Book of Mormon commen- broke into his house at night. But nobody and artistic qualities of Mormon history and contempo- rary life. We encourage humanitarian service, honest in- tators, Vogel seems to view the question of was able to explain where he got the book.” quiry, and responsible interchange of ideas that is the book’s historicity in black and white And they still haven’t.