Dave's Mormon Inquiry

The Mysteries of Godliness

I finally finished David John Buerger's Mysteries of Godliness (Signature, 2d ed. 2002). Subtitled "A History of Modern Temple Worship," this is simply not the sort of book your average Mormon is inclined to read. I myself put it off for about three years. I have enough problems without some muckracking dissenter adding to my temple list, I thought. Surprisingly, I quite enjoyed the book. So I'll provide a sort of edited PG ("particularly gentle") version of the book, "adapted to the capacity of the weak and the weakest of all saints," and let those of you who want the rest of the story of the LDS temple liturgy go read it on your own. If you can't wait or just don't want to shell out for the entire book, you can read Chapter 3 online for free.

Upcoming Books

The annual Signature catalogue came in the mail today, a classy little booklet with my name and "Dave's Mormon Inquiry Weblog" on the address line — that's a first! Upcoming books are Justin's specialty — he's got 30 posted on his sidebar — so I'll just hit a couple of highlights. Next month's Signature release is The Eyes of a Flounder, a book of poems. Someone should buy a copy for Nate. The author lives in Hobble Creek Canyon, home of my favorite Utah golf course. I shot a 35 on the back nine once (sunk a chip for birdie on the last hole). A book to look for next year is Statements of the First Presidency: A Topical Compendium. There's really no reason every FP statement for the past 50 years shouldn't be posted at LDS.org for members to read and study. Why do we need a Signature book to make these pronouncements accessible to the general membership?

Mormon Fiction

Just finished Folk of the Fringe, a collection of five Orson Scott Card stories written a number of years ago. They are set in post-nuclear America, specifically a renascent state of Deseret struggling to re-establish civilization in the intermountain West under the umbrella of Mormon solidarity. It's my first foray into what one might call Mormon fiction. This wasn't Mormon soap opera fare of the type one sees on the shelf at Deseret Book; while some of the characters were LDS and there was a Mormon cultural background, these were not LDS-themed plots. But an LDS reader will read a richer story than one not acquainted with things Mormon. And that's what makes the book worth reading, perhaps.

Quorum of the Anointed

I just finished reading through my advance reading copy ("ARC") of Joseph Smith's Quorum of the Anointed, 1842-1845: A Documentary History (Signature, 2005), edited by Devery S. Anderson and Gary James Bergera. The book doesn't use a standard narrative treatment, but instead presents a chronological arrangement of quotations from all available sources relating statements about the Quorum of the Anointed ("QA"), the select group of about ninety individuals who received the higher LDS ordinances under the direction of Joseph Smith before his death in June 1844. A foreward by Todd Compton and a summary introduction by the editors provide context and a framework to the source material that forms the body of the book. There is also a handy section giving short biographies of all QA members. I'll touch on a few of the highlights.

The Prophet Puzzle, Part 2

[See Part 1] Here is my second post on The Prophet Puzzle: Interpretive Essays on Joseph Smith, my current Book of the Month. I will make brief comments on several of the more challenging essays. The "puzzle," quoting from my Part 1, is to come up with "a more integrated, comprehensive portrait of Joseph Smith than the one-sided narratives that then existed." The essays (most of which were previously published in Dialogue) do a fair job of highlighting some of the less appreciated features of Joseph Smith's life and personality that require consideration in such an integrated biography.

The Prophet Puzzle, Part 1

After finishing Arrington's biography of Brigham Young last month, I moved The Prophet Puzzle: Interpretive Essays on Joseph Smith (Signature, 1999) into my Book of the Month slot (upper left). I bought the book a couple of years ago, but with the recent JS conference and Bushman's upcoming biography, now is the time to read it. While many of the essays were published earlier as articles in Dialogue or the Journal of Mormon History, the book as a whole is still useful for laying out many of the issues a modern (i.e., post-Brodie) JS biographer must confront. I'll use my reading of the essays to put together a list of questions I'll bring to Bushman's JS bio when it comes out later this year.

Gimme Shelter

Just finished Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place (Pantheon, 1991) by Terry Tempest Williams. The narrative revolves around the Great Salt Lake and involves several Mormon scenes, but has as its primary themes the fragility of the various ecosystems that rim the Lake, the struggle of the author's mother as she deals with a cancer diagnosis and treatment, and the challenge of being a spiritual woman in a patriarchal society. I highly recommend the book to anyone who loves nature, who lives within a hundred miles of Great Salt Lake, who is a woman, or who has cancer in the family.

Brigham on Science and Theology

I probably wouldn't post comments on this short section of American Moses, but it is such a nice complement to Clark's recent posts on the nature of spiritual reality over at The Bloggernacle Times that it deserves mention. We often attribute this line of thinking to a sermon or two by Joseph Smith in Nauvoo, but we should not ignore the optimistic and "science-friendly" views of Brigham Young expressed over many years in Utah.

Brigham in England

I'm about halfway through American Moses, my March 2005 Book o' Month. Much of Brigham Young's early story parallels the path of early LDS history (New York to Ohio and Missouri, then Illinois), so in this comment I'll highlight a less familiar episode from that period, Brigham's mission to England in 1840-41.

God and Country, Part 2

[Intro | Part 1] This is Part 2 of my comments on God and Country: Politics in Utah, a new collection of essays considering theoretical and practical issues of church and state in Utah, just published by Signature. I have generally shied away from Utah politics, but the new emphasis on politics in Mormondom, plus the emergence of Utah as a one-party state, makes the subject now a Mormon issue, not just a regional one. Taken as a whole, the essays give cause for both hope and concern. The essays I'll note in the second half of the book treat the practical effects of Mormon dominance on Utah's public institutions.

Mormon Establishment

Four essays toward the middle of God and Country consider the question of whether Utah in the second half of the 20th century presents a case of informal (or de facto) establishment. The four authors are familiar, but the verdict is surprisingly mixed. It's fair to say that Quinn's contribution in Chapter 7 will likely get the most attention, but the other three chapters help balance out Quinn's characteristic overkill and remind the reader that religious political influence may be real but is often only apparent, even in "Mormon Utah."

God and Country

I just snared an advance reading copy ("ARC") of God and Country: Politics in Utah (Signature, March 2005), edited by Jeffery Sells, which I added to my February 2005 Book of the Month slot (upper left). The book is a collection of essays by a diverse group of scholars and civic leaders in law, politics, and religion, giving what amounts to the non-LDS perspective on the role of church and state in Utah. As such, it certainly provides some novel views of life in Utah that even career Utahns have probably never considered, such as "Living a Jewish Life in Utah," by a Jewish Rabbi who is also an adjunct faculty member at BYU. It also provides a contemporary example of a locality where a type of informal religious establishment can be examined and observed, nicely complementing the 18th- and 19th-century American examples that are generally used to frame such a discussion.

American Moses

I posted Arrington's Brigham Young: American Moses (U of Illinois, 1986) as my February 2005 Book of the Month (see upper left). A nice summary of the book is Arrington's Encyclopedia of Mormonism bibliographical essay on Brigham Young, posted online here. "Colonizer, territorial governor, and President of the Church" is how Arrington describes him in the opening line of the essay. In the early years he was a skilled carpenter and a dedicated monogamous husband to his first wife, doing most of the domestic work for several years after she contracted tuberculosis around 1828 (she passed away in September 1832, shortly after the Youngs joined the LDS Church).

The End of Mormon History

Reading the last section of Arrington and Bitton's The Mormon Experience, I was struck by how quickly the epic phase of Mormon history ended in 1890 when active conflict with the US government effectively ended. Their discussion of "The Modern Church" in the last third of the book begins with a chapter on "Creative Adjustment," then three chapters looking at the finances, the institutional structure and growth, and the diverse membership of the Church in the 20th century. The Mormon experience in the 20th century reads a lot more like a standard denominational history than did the colorful and unique 19th-century Mormon experience. Which brings to mind the old Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times." To be a Mormon in the 19th century was interesting. Things are different now.

Mormon Experience, Part 3

The authors devote nearly 240 pages to the first sixty years of LDS history, 1830-1890, then only about 100 pages to the remaining hundred years (including the Epilogue, added for the second edition in 1992). But that's appropriate because in some sense the action in Mormon history ended in 1890. Before 1890 there was city building, migration, revelation, and conflict; after 1890, one has only bureaucratic retrenchment, doctrinal rationalization, and growth. The transition between the two periods is a pivotal moment in LDS history, termed "creative adjustment" by the authors, is covered in the twenty pages of Chapter 13, which I will comment on here.

Mormon Experience, Part 2

[See Part 1] Unlike most works of LDS history, which generally follow a narrative approach in telling the Mormon story, The Mormon Experience adopts something of a thematic approach, quite explicitly in the later sections of the book. But even in the earlier sections, readers unfamiliar with the storyline of LDS history in the early period will be adrift at times. The Kirtland to Far West to Nauvoo sequence, for example, is not easy to follow in Mormon Experience, although the Nauvoo period itself is well discussed. But the strength of this approach is that the authors can actually raise and address historical questions that other accounts never really get to.

Mormon Experience, Part 1

I just made Arrington and Bitton's The Mormon Experience (U of Illinois, 2d ed., 1992) my Book of the Month, which is now nestled in my sidebar just above the Now Reading list. ME is generally regarded as the premier one-volume LDS history, and it deserves a serious cover-to-cover reading rather than the spotty treatment I gave it several years ago during a bike trip in Southern Utah. Furthermore, reviewing ME is a great review in preparation for the new year's Sunday School curriculum, which covers Church History. This post will look at ME's coverage of Joseph's translating and "the Urim and Thummim."

A New and Improved Book of Mormon?

Last year, Grant Hardy edited a Reader's Edition of the Book of Mormon (U of Illinois Press, 2003). I didn't really pay much attention and have never seen a copy. However, I just ran across a FARMS review of the Reader's Edition volume which makes it sound quite interesting. The reviewer doesn't quite call it a new and improved version, only that it makes the book more readable and easier to follow with better footnotes and references. Has anyone else purchased or thumbed through the Reader's Edition?

By the Hand of Mormon

Terryl Givens' By the Hand of Mormon (Oxford Univ. Press, 2002) is an up-to-date summary of scholarly Book of Mormon commentary and criticism. The book emphasizes the last forty years of scholarship and also provides, almost in passing, a short history of the ever-growing Mormon apologetics industry. That in itself is likely to help some readers place long-running debates in a useful institutional context that might help explain why, for example, a discussion about Signature Books or FARMS is likely to be far more contentious than a discussion about Nephite geography or the Isaiah problem. Givens himself does an admirable job of giving fair summaries and footnote citations to both sides of disputed issues, and he shows some sympathy for the admittedly problematic search for middle ground (see a long discussion at p. 165-84).

Quest for Refuge

I've been neglecting book notes and reviews lately--time to get back to basics. I've set up a Mormon Classics list (abbreviated to Mo Classics so the title fits on one line, I'm just picky about that kind of thing) to display the primary Mormon Studies books as I read them or, for those I've read already, as I dig up a copy to review. I'm going to post capsule reviews (like 40 words long) under the thumbnail book cover on the left sidebar. If I have more to say (fairly likely, I suppose) I'll put it in a post. Here's my 31-word review of Marvin Hill's Quest For Refuge (Signature, 1989):

Hill chronicles the failed Mormon quest for a self-governing religious kingdom. Mormon militarism, patriarchal religion, and bloc voting eventually stirred violent opposition that removed Joseph and sent the Mormons into exile.

The book covers "the Joseph period" in Mormon history, highlighting Mormon attempts to secure an increasing measure of self-government for the growing Mormon community. Missouri was a mess, both the first try in Jackson County and the second try in Far West, but Nauvoo thrived for a season, ironically thanks in part to John C. Bennett's successful effort to get the Nauvoo Charter through the Illinois legislature. But the same cycle of opposition and violence soon emerged in Illinois.

Amazingly, Brigham Young repeated the cycle one more time in Utah before senior leaders finally abandoned the quest for political autonomy and joined pluralist America, but that's beyond the coverage of Hill's book. He originally wrote it as his dissertation at Chicago in the sixties, then later updated it into book form with the encouragement of his publisher. I had always thought it dated from the mid-70s--I was rather surprised to see it was published as recently as 1989. This book is Hill's best-known work, a fine memorial for a talented scholar who left the scene before his time.

Losing a Lost Tribe

USA Today has an interesting article on a forthcoming book, Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church (Signature, 2004). Simon Southerton, a mild-mannered Australian plant geneticist whose interest in LDS issues stems from his earlier membership in the Church, is the author. The review has several comments from FARMS scholars, who show themselves to be talented backpedalers (meekly emphasizing the unofficial status of their publications, reviews, and opinions). For more information, here is the publisher's blurb on the book. [Edited 7/27]

Mormon Enigma, Part 4

Click for Part 1. Here I'll cover the second half of the book, roughly 1844-79. After Joseph died, life got progressively uglier in Nauvoo (after a brief respite). For Emma it was even worse--not only had she lost a husband, but her financial affairs were inextricably intertwined with Joseph's estate and with the Church. A real mess, especially since Brigham Young seemed to take the approach that most of Joseph's assets should pass to the Church but all his debts should pass to Emma. Her relations with the emerging leadership (Brigham Young and Heber Kimball) were also complicated by the fact that Emma did not want to become an odd sort of polygamous trophy wife to one of the Brethren, the fate of most of Joseph's "other wives."

By the Hand of Mormon - Introduction

I posted a new Book of the Month, By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture that Launched a New World Religion (Oxford Univ. Press, 2002), by Terryl Givens, a professor of religion and literature. I got the last paperback copy at my local Borders Books last weekend. I plan to post short entries on each chapter--there is plenty in this book to discuss and normal blogging news seems awfully slow lately. Or maybe I'm just getting lazy.

In the Introduction, Givens states his intent to investigate the book "in the context of a larger history of the reception and impact of a scripture that has hitherto received little critical attention" (p. 5). He notes four ways the BoM has been read: (1) as a sacred sign of Joseph's prophetic status; (2) as a factual ancient history of a pre-Columbian civilization colonized by Old World immigrants; (3) as a product of 19th-century cultural influences; and (4) as a new American Bible, either supplementing or mocking the Bible depending on your perspective (p. 6-7). Nice list. Add (5) all of the above and (6) none of the above, and it would make a great blog quiz, wouldn't it?

Mormon Enigma, Part 3

My Book of the Month has been posted for over two months now, but I'm pushing hard to wind up Mormon Enigma soon. Here are comments on the first half, roughly through 1844. I highly recommend the book--it reveals Emma as a smart, resourceful, tough woman, who always managed to bounce back from what seems like a constant succession of setbacks and difficulties. She was a compassionate woman who was a source of support and an example to the women around her (some of whom, to her chagrin, turned out to be Joseph's plural wives, but that's not the focus of this post). Reading Mormon Enigma, I've come to realize what a key role Emma played in Joseph's overall popularity. You had to like one of them--like Bill and Hillary. Or JFK and Jackie. Kurt and Courtney. Peter Parker and Mary Jane?

New Joseph Smith Bio

Just released: Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet (Signature, 2004), by Dan Vogel. It appears to look primarily at Joseph Smith's formative years rather than his entire career. If so, it covers the same ground as Bushman's Beginnings of Mormonism. Bushman himself is working on the definitive JS bio, to be released next year, the 200th anniversary of Joseph's birth.

Mormon Enigma, Part 2 - Zion's Camp

Over at Joseph's Journal (my other project) the HC selections now find Joseph and those with him in the Zion's Camp group hundreds of miles from Kirtland, Ohio (which they left on May 5, 1834) on their journey towards western Missouri, where they will arrive in mid-June. The whole Zion's Camp episode (a private religious army marching halfway across America!) should have been a wake-up call that the Mormons were more than just another Christian splinter group like hundreds of others in antebellum America. The material I'm reading in Mormon Enigma tonight covers this Zion's Camp period. Here are some interesting highlights.

Mormon Enigma, Part 1 - New York

I'm moving through Mormon Enigma, my Book O' Month (title abbreviated just to keep the title on one line). Here are brief notes on Emma's time in New York and Pennsylvania, covering the period through the end of 1830 (p. 1-36).

Bloom on Mormonism

Nate at T&S discussed Harold Bloom's The American Religion (Simon & Schuster, 1992) in an interesting post on Mormon nationalism. I just happen to have Bloom's book on my shelf at the moment and want to do something with it before it starts generating fines at the ridiculous rate of 25 cents per day (which vastly overstates the daily harm I might inflict on the local reading community by keeping the book long enough to get around to re-reading it). Any religious critic who says nice things about the Mormons deserves careful reading. Especially Bloom, who always has interesting things to say.