Book Review: Mormon Christianity: What Other Christians Can Learn from the Latter-day Saints

Mormon Christianity: What Other Christians Can Learn from the Latter-day Saints. By Stephen H. Webb. Oxford University Press, 2013. 203 pages (with appendices). $27.95

Stephen Webb, a Roman Catholic philosopher and theologian, attempts to introduce non-Mormons to Mormon metaphysics and theology with a “rosy” outlook onto his subject (42). Although Mormon Christianity is published by Oxford University Press, its tone and Webb’s frank admission that he is a practicing Catholic may help Mormon Christianity to gain wide distribution from Christian bookstores, as well as Deseret Book (the LDS Church owned bookstore-which does carry the book). Webb’s means of understanding Mormonism are derived from his argument that Mormonism is a positive, Christian amalgamation of Catholicism and Protestantism. He employs each religious tradition to explain Mormonism to a non-specialized audience (15).

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Mormon Studies Weekly Roundup

Hey gang, let’s recap what happened this week in Mormonism and Mormon History. Vamos!

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Where is Mormonism in the study of post-World War II Religion and Politics?

This past semester, I wrote a brief historiography of American religion and Evangelicalism in my American Religious History course. For the assignment, I read several books released in the past 5 years regarding this sub-field of American religious history (I addressed one of my favorites here). While writing the paper, my mind kept returning to a sermons of Ezra Taft Benson’s in 1962.

Benson’s sermon, excerpted below, highlights the possibilities of studying church leader’s political views and potential ramifications in shaping their believer’s politics.[1] For a bit of context, Benson gave these remarks after visiting the Soviet Union, and one year from the Bay of Pigs Invasion. The political and economic overtones not have been out of place in Evangelical sermons in the South at the same time (at least in my reading of post-WWII Evangelicalism and politics).

• We must never forget exactly what communism really is. Communism is far more than an economic system. It is a total philosophy of life–atheistic and completely opposed to all that we hold dear. 
• We believe in a moral code. Communism denies innate right or wrong. As W. Cleon Skousen has said in his timely book, The Naked Communist, the communist “has convinced himself that nothing is evil which answers the call of expediency.” This is a most damnable doctrine.
• We believe in religion as a mode of life resulting from our faith in God. Communism contends that all religion must be overthrown because it inhibits the spirit of world revolution. Earl Browder, a long-time leader of the Communist Party in the U. S. A., said, “. . . we Communists do not distinguish between good and bad religions, because we think they are all bad.”
• I visited the Soviet Union last fall; I saw no evidence that the communist leaders have altered their goal of world conquest”by economic if not by military means.” [But]It takes a month’s wages to buy a pair of shoes and two months or more to buy a suit of clothes.  
• What can you and I do to help meet this grave challenge from a godless, atheistic, cruelly materialistic system–to preserve our God-given free way of life? This is a choice land …Blessed by the Almighty, our forebears have made and kept it so. It will continue to be a land of freedom and liberty as long as we are able and willing to advance in the light of sound and enduring principles of right. Let us stand eternal watch against the accumulation of too much power in government. Finally, let us all rededicate our lives and our nation to do the will of God. 

Researchers may be able to answer important questions stemming from this sermon and others. To what degree was Benson in line with other conservative religious leaders at the time? Did Mormons have a peculiar form of political conservatism, tied to their canonical statements on the Constitution? Who were the movers and shakers in Mormon anti-Communism outside of Benson, McKay, and Cleon Skousen? How did they work together to shape the Church’s public political positions? How important was financial prosperity a key to Christian anti-communism? These questions could easily be extended to other religiously motivated political movements after the Second World War. These questions could also help historians of Mormonism move their projects further into the twentieth century.

The study of Mormonism seems particularly apt for studying Christian anti-Communism, beyond its embodiment in Ezra Taft Benson, David O. McKay, W. Cleon Skousen, and others. Such a study could elucidate particular strains of Mormon conservatism mingled with its theology; it could also show how Mormon yearnings to be both “Christian” and “American” may have led them to ally politically with Evangelicals–bringing Mormonism into broader historiographies and conversations.

Joseph Smith Papers Release: Documents Volume 2 (July 1831-January 1833)

Last week, the Joseph Smith Papers Project released their newest volume: Documents Volume 2 (July 1831-January 1833). (You can find a report from the launch party for the first Documents volume here.) There are more than 40(!) copies of revelations included in the new volume, as well as several letters between Joseph and Emma Hale Smith, meeting minutes and licenses for church leaders (more on that later).  The documents in this collection offer special insight to the developing administration of the Church, as well as Joseph Smith coming into his own as a Church administrator. Researchers will find the first written copies of the preface to the Book of Commandments (Doctrine and Covenants 1), the revelation now canonized as (Doctrine and Covenants 76), and the revelations that became the basis for the delineation of the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods (Doctrine and Covenants 84).

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Brigham Young, Karl Maeser, and Mormon Idealization at BYU

This post may be construed as too idealizing of BYU, especially during “Rivalry Week” with the University of Utah. It is not meant to idealize, but rather to try and interpret what is idealized by the LDS Church broadly and BYU specifically.

In my first few weeks at the University of Virginia, I am beginning to both love and roll my eyes at the constant mention of Thomas Jefferson in student conversations, on posters on campus, or at any opportunity in class to bring him up. This affection for Mr. Jefferson reminded me of two statues on the campus of BYU, and what the likenesses of the two men portrayed mean in relation to BYU’s Honor Code, and what that means for Church culture generally.

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Kathleen Flake: Richard L. Bushman Professor of Mormon Studies

The University of Virginia announced this week that Kathleen Flake will be the inaugural Richard L. Bushman Chair for Mormon Studies in UVA’s Religious Studies Department (that’s a lot of capital letters!).

Professor Flake’s academic credentials are impressive. She received her undergraduate degree in English at BYU and her J.D. from the University of Utah Law School. She received her M.A. from Catholic University of American in Religious Studies, and her Ph.D.  from the University of Chicago.  Professor Flake has spent the past thirteen years at Vanderbilt teaching American Religious History. Her first book, The Politics of Religious Identity: the Seating of Senator Reed Smoot, Mormon Apostle, is well regarded in non-Mormon and Mormon circles alike. The American Historical Review proclaimed of Flake, “no more sophisticated mind has turned its attention to the history of the Latter-day Saints.”[i]

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Mormon Studies Weekly Roundup (MSWR)

Be sure to follow the comment sections from this week’s posts. The comments offer further discussion into this week’s posts, and engage the topics more fully.

DATES TO REMEMBER

Remember that the Mormon History Association’s Call for Papers due date is October 1st.  If you are looking to join a panel, feel free to comment on the link in the last sentence or post in one of the Mormon History Association sites mentioned on that link.

Jared Farmer is speaking at the Salt Lake City Library on Utah environmental history and culture.

Todd Compton is also speaking this Thursday, at Benchmark Books. He will be speaking on his new Jacob Hamblin biography.

The final plug for lectures in today’s post goes to Kris Wright’s upcoming lecture on September 12. You won’t want to miss her look at Mormon material culture, women, and ritual.

STAY TUNED FOR MORE

Jared T presented at the Historical Conference for the Museum of Mormon History in Provo yesterday. Be sure to stay tuned to his blog for a possible overview or notes on the conference. Also, if you haven’t been to the museum and you’re within a reasonable driving distance to Provo, it is definitely worth your time!

In other news from MHA, if you are a subscriber, you can now access many conference presentations in audio form through the MHA website. The 2013 sessions are close to being available to subscribers.

PODCASTS

NPR’s On Point discusses a new book, Ecstatic Nation, which touches briefly on Mormons and popular sovereignty.

NOTES AND NEWS

FMH’a drive to fund the Tracy McKay scholarship drive is open. Read more about the worthy cause here.

BYU  Religious Education recently hired a mother with young children.

You won’t want to miss Keepapitchinin’s posts on Saim Abd al-Samid, a Turkish convert to Mormonism, who was secretly baptized in 1901 (be sure to catch both posts).

Enjoy the links. Let me know if I missed an article you would have liked to see profiled in the MSWR!

Call for Papers and Social Media Reminder: MHA

There are now only 34 days before proposals for the 2014 Mormon History Association Conference are due. The call for papers is below, with a few sections bolded with particularly important points. In addition to those bolded sections, please use the comments section to find potential panel partners for MHA. You should also follow the Mormon History Association (and The Juvenile Instructor!) on Twitter on Facebook.

Twitter: MHA and Juvenile Instructor

Facebook sites: MHA, MHA Student Page and Juvenile Instructor

Now for the call for papers!

The Immigration of Cosmopolitan Thought

The 49^th annual conference of the Mormon History Association will be held in San Antonio, Texas, on June 5-8, 2014 at the Crown Plaza Riverwalk Hotel.  Our theme emphasizes the interplay between Mormonism and broad national and international currents and forces.  San Antonio, a cosmopolitan, historically Catholic borderlands city with a vibrant but contested multicultural history and a relatively small but expanding Mormon presence, is a good place to explore the immigration and impact of cosmopolitan viewpoints and ideas.   We encourage papers that connect all branches of the Restoration to diverse theoretical, intellectual and cultural perspectives, as well as papers that examine the interplay between Mormonism and other religions.  Texas, a state with a reputation for confidant swagger and independent thought, is also a bastion of conservative moral conviction.  We encourage papers that explore how Mormons have negotiated an identity and thrived in vast settings with firmly entrenched worldviews where they have comprised small, sometimes maligned minorities.   As a state that straddles the boundary between the American South and the American West and shares a border with Mexico, Texas is an ideal setting for papers that probe the Mormon past in those regions as well as in Central and South America.  Finally, with the Alamo standing in its heart, San Antonio is a good place for conference papers that consider the interplay between history and memory.  Sharply contested interpretations of what happened at the Alamo in 1836 remind us of the importance of framing key events in Mormon history from a variety of perspectives.

MHA invites proposals for complete panel sessions and other presentations.  The Program Committee will give preference to complete two- or three-paper session proposals.  Individual paper proposals will also be considered, as well as formats like round-table discussions, readers, theaters, and film screenings.  Please send a title and abstract for each paper (300 words maximum) outlining the scope, key arguments or hypotheses and sources of the paper along with a brief 1-2 page CV for each speaker.  Panel proposals should also include a brief abstract outlining the panel’s theme and giving it a title, along with suggestions for a chair and commentator.  Previously published papers will not be considered.  Student presenters who wish to apply for financial assistance are invited to include estimated travel expenses with their proposals.

The deadline for all proposals is October 1, 2013.  Proposals should be sent by email to brian_cannon@byu.edu.  Notification of acceptance or rejection will be made by January 1, 2014.  For additional information on the conference, please consult the MHA website at http://www.mormonhistoryassociation.org/.

Guest Post: Ken Alford on the Mormon Civil War Vets and the GAR

Today’s guest post is from Ken Alford, an Associate Professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University. After serving almost 30 years on active duty in the United States Army, he retired as a Colonel in 2008. While on active duty, Ken served in numerous personnel, automation, acquisition, and education assignments, including the Pentagon, eight years teaching at the United States Military Academy at West Point, and four years as Professor and Department Chair at the National Defense University in Washington, DC. His most recent book, Civil War Saints, was published in 2012. Ken and his wife, Sherilee, have four children and ten grandchildren.

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Guest Post: Greg Prince on Hans Mattson & Inoculation of Church History

[The Juvenile Instructor is pleased to have Greg Prince guest post on  what has been termed “inoculating” in Mormon History. He received doctorate degrees (DDS, PhD) at UCLA in 1973 and 1975, and spent his career in biomedical research. He has authored two books on Mormonism, Power from on High: The Development of Mormon Priesthood and David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism.]

In the early 1950s teachers in the Church Educational System met in Provo to write curricula for the Seminaries.  The committee assigned to address church history quickly became divided into two factions.  The “alpha” members of the two factions, both of whom became General Authorities a decade later, argued for opposing philosophies of how to portray our history.  One later observed:

“We were writing a Church history unit, and he didn’t want anybody to know that coffee was part of the overland trek.  I said, “What if the kid finds out five years after Seminary?  What are you going to do?  You’ve got a bigger problem then than if you just tell him the first time.  And you can tell them why, that the Word of Wisdom didn’t really get sanctioned until 1918.  So quit worrying about it.”  “I know, but we’ve got to protect their faith.”

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