Claremont Mormon Studies j NEWSLETTERi SPRING 2013 t ISSUE NO. 8 Thoughts from the IN THIS ISSUE Hunter Chair Perfecting Mormons & Mormon Studies at BY Patrick Q. Mason Claremont Howard W. Hunter Chair of Mormon Studies iPAGE 2 k he Mormon moment may be University is fond of saying, the Student Contributions over, but Mormon studies is research university is one of T PAGE 3 alive and well. With the election humankind’s greatest inventions— k past us, media and popular attention and graduate school is, at its about Latter-day Saints will wane best, the most refined version of Oral Histories Archived at considerably, but that incomparable Honnold-Mudd PAGE 7 there has never been “When we get it right, invention. a more auspicious When we get k time for the graduate education it right, graduate “Martyrs and Villains” scholarly study of has been and remains education has been PAGE 8 Mormonism. a tremendous force for and remains a k We live in an era the advancement of tremendous force for Reminiscence at of mass media and the advancement of human knowledge.” the Culmination of social technologies human knowledge. Coursework that allow us to Mormon Studies at PAGE 8 “connect” with thousands, even CGU is just one slice of that grand millions, of people at the click of a endeavor; Steve Bradford’s insightful few buttons. We are witnessing a column that follows reminds us revolution in the way that higher of some of the reasons why the education is being delivered, and it endeavor is worthy of not only will be fascinating to see what will our enthusiasm but our support as happen with developments such well. t as MOOC’s (massive open online courses). Blogs have their place, and books and articles will remain our primary intellectual currency. SUBSCRIBE TO THIS NEWSLETTER But even with all those other k intellectual outlets—as valuable Get the Claremont Mormon Studies Newsletter in your email inbox by subscribing as they are—nothing replaces online. Visit the intense, focused, sustained, claremontmormonstudies.org mentored learning that occurs in and provide your name and email address on the home page to be entered into our the graduate school seminar. As news and events system. You will receive the newsletter as a PDF file each semester. the provost of Claremont Graduate Please direct any questions to [email protected]. PAGE 1 HTTP://RELIGION.CGU.EDU t HTTP://WWW.CLAREMONTMORMONSTUDIES.ORG CLAREMONT MORMON STUDIES NEWSLETTER t SPRING 2013 The Sometimes Messy Process of Perfecting Mormons and Mormon Studies at Claremont BY Steve Bradford Chairman, Claremont Mormon Studies Council Of course, there were a few hard things said about Mormonism here as well, particularly as we learned about the fits and starts involved in translating our The Art of Enduring Imperfect Critiques of Mormonism unique American brand of Christianity abroad. For A few months ago I attended a session of a Claremont example, some said that Mormonism would remain an Graduate University religious studies conference—not American religion with international branches, rather sponsored or organized by the Howard W. Hunter than a truly international religion, as long as it continues Foundation or the Mormon Studies Council, but with to gravitate to conservative U.S. political causes and a remarkable number of presentations on Mormonism produce faith-promoting media with American actors. by both Mormon and non-Mormon religious studies It was particularly hard for some faithful Mormons in scholars working on PhDs and MAs. I was accompanied attendance, who had sacrificed much time and treasure by another member of our Claremont Mormon Studies to legally maintain the traditional definition of marriage Council. in California (while enduring significant persecution), to The first presenter in our session was a non-Mormon listen to a faithful foreign LDS church leader and scholar scholar who appeared to fundamentally misunderstand diminish the importance of those efforts and argue that the mechanics of how Mormons wear and utilize the legal definition of marriage is of minor religious garments in their every-day lives and devotions. During concern to many Mormons in other parts of the world. the Q&A, my Council colleague systematically corrected So, after attending these disconcerting and invigorating her misconceptions, as did others in the mostly non- conferences, I realize more than ever that Mormon Mormon audience. Afterwards, he and I wondered why scholarship (like my local Mormon congregation) can this fledgling scholar’s colleagues couldn’t have corrected be a messy thing. Sometimes scholars don’t gather or her misconceptions before she presented them in a comprehend all the facts (especially students who are public setting. While I was mostly pleased by the high still learning their craft). Sometimes they inadvertently degree of interest in Mormon subjects at the conference or even purposefully skew the facts to fit within a (even though some still seemed to misunderstand us), preconceived hypothesis. Like the Mormons they study, my colleague on the Mormon Studies Council was less scholars are imperfect people who make human mistakes enthusiastic after witnessing that misunderstanding first- but usually, if not always, try to do their best in life and in hand. their chosen fields of endeavor. While Nobody’s Perfect, Most Mormons and Scholars of “Unbiased” Secular Scholars Can Sometimes Explain Mormonism Try Really Hard Mormonism Better than Mormons Can A few weeks later, Claremont Mormon Studies Shortly after attending these conferences, I read celebrated a momentous Mormon Studies conference in a series of “field studies” forwarded to the Mormon honor of the faith and scholarship of Armand Mauss. Studies Council by the Howard W. Hunter Chair of The list of renowned Mormon scholars who came to Mormon Studies, Patrick Mason, prepared by members pay homage to this good man and his ground-breaking of Dr. Mason’s “Introduction to Mormonism” class. thinking was amazing—Richard and Claudia Bushman, These non-Mormon student scholars were required to Jan Shipps, Matthew Bowman, Levi Peterson, Patrick attend an entire three-hour block of Sunday meetings Mason and many others (including Dr. Mauss himself). at a local Mormon congregation and report on their And they did not disappoint. Although this was an findings. The reports they filed were completely opposite academic conference, some of the scholarship was truly in understanding to the ill-informed presentation on inspiring, including respectful, appreciative comments on the Mormon garment that my Mormon Studies Council the revelatory nature of oft-maligned Church correlation. colleague and I had endured a few weeks earlier. PAGE 2 HTTP://RELIGION.CGU.EDU t HTTP://WWW.CLAREMONTMORMONSTUDIES.ORG CLAREMONT MORMON STUDIES NEWSLETTER t SPRING 2013 Here are just a few excerpts from these non-Mormon his resurrection is a prime example for Mormons to graduate student-scholars’ remarkable field reports: follow. The religion isn’t over; the canon is open, or rather, 1. “When [the visiting stake president] spoke, he asked reopened by Joseph Smith and his revelations.” the congregation to pray for him, which demonstrated 5. And finally, this excerpt from one student scholar’s both his level of humility in an authoritative position and “scriptural account” of his visit to a Mormon chapel: “And that his title did not inherently place him on a pedestal [the missionaries] did reveal unto me that there would be above and detached from the congregation. Further, many little children…, and that it might happen that they he addressed the congregation as brothers and sisters. would wail and gnash their teeth.… But I suffered the This terminology promotes equality of status among little children, and I was not wroth with them. For, some the community.… [In my faith tradition], priests … weeks ago, …[such a] wretched cacophony [of wailing greet their “children”; they become their fathers and are children] did strike me as an abomination among the therefore ideologically separated from their flock.… If ritual and pomp [of my church’s] liturgy. But in this place [they] cried during a prayer, there would be a church it was not so. Yea, the children here were loud, even unto full of astonished parishioners.… [But in this Mormon screaming bloody murder. But here the children seemed congregation the stake president] cried during a prayer.… part of the purpose, not a hindrance thereof.” [T]his president was part of a community in which emotions are permitted.” Claremont Mormon Studies is Better Positioned than 2. “At every turn, the Mormon community was Mormon-Owned Institutions to Credibly Disseminate inviting, engaging, and welcoming, and I would venture Respectful Mormon Scholarship to the Media and Non- to say that it is this fellowship that appeals most to those Mormon Scholars considering joining the church. As [Matthew] Bowman states…, ‘[the church’s] vision of heaven as a community Don’t these Claremont non-Mormon scholars’ of the like-minded reveals two characteristic features of treatments of Mormon congregations ring true to Mormonism: its understanding of salvation in terms of faithful Mormons like me? Shouldn’t we support the community and its optimism about humanity’s potential publication and dissemination of Claremont Mormon to gain it.’ The members of the LDS church that I met Studies’ unique secular brand of respectful (and often during my visit embody this to an extent that is unlike inspirational) Mormon scholarship to secular media and any other religious populace that I have encountered. academic outlets throughout the world, especially when It is not a distant tenet or impersonal dogma; it is lived we know these outlets won’t give as much credence to every day, and is the beginning and end of their religious similar material produced by our faith-based Church experience.” Headquarters or Brigham Young University? Isn’t the 3.