Dave's Mormon Inquiry

It Takes Courage for a Mormon to Dissent

That's a quotation from Wallace Stegner, found in historian James L. Clayton's 10-page review of Wallace Stegner's writings on Mormons, "From Pioneers to Provincials: Mormonism as seen by Wallace Stegner," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Vol. 1 No. 4 (1966): 105-114. Stegner's family moved from Saskatchewan to Salt Lake City when he was a young boy, and he lived there until graduating with an English degree from the University of Utah. Later, he returned to teach English at the U for three more years in the mid-1930s. The two books in which he discussed Mormonism at length are Mormon Country (1942) and The Gathering of Zion: The Story of the Mormon Trail (1964). Stegner loves the LDS pioneers who crossed the plains, but, Clayton notes, "When Stegner moves away from descriptions or the original pioneers and their hardships ... he becomes much more critical."

The Atonement as Moral Influence

Here's the next article from the Dialogue archive, Eugene England's essay "That They Might Not Suffer: The Gift of the Atonement," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Vol. 1 No. 2 (1966): 141-55. After discussing key LDS scriptures that discuss the atonement and reviewing the primary theories of atonement that have emerged within Christian theology over the course of two millennia (the ransom theory, the satisfaction theory, the moral influence theory), England gives his opinion that the LDS concept of atonement is "close to Abelard's [moral influence theory], with the important addition of an understanding of why the atonement is absolutely necessary." This is something of a minority position within LDS thought: most LDS commentators align the LDS view of the atonement nearer the satisfaction theory, a substitutionary theory of the atonement. [There is no "official" LDS endorsement of a detailed theory of the atonement; LDS scriptural discussions permit broad readings.]

Meeting Tillich Halfway

I am continuing to read the archive at Dialogue, this week Louis Midgley's article “Religion and Ultimate Concern: An Encounter with Paul Tillich's Theology," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Vol. 1 No. 2 (1966): 63-79. [The table of contents for the issue allows downloads of pdf files for every article.] Midgley applauds Tillich's attempt to highlight the religious dimension of culture and institutions through his concept of "ultimate concern," which Midgley terms a "genuinely useful concept." Properly, God should be our ultimate concern, but too often individuals, as well as institutions and states, are ultimately concerned with other goals (which constitutes a form of idolatry or false religion).

The Quest for Religious Authority

I just renewed my Dialogue subscription and decided I should work a little harder to, you know, actually read it when it comes. Then I got ambitious and decided I should start at the beginning. Below is a quotation from page 77-78 of Mario S. De Pillis, “The Quest for Religious Authority and the Rise of Mormonism," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Vol. 1 No. 1 (1966): 68–88 (bold font and formatting added). The entire issue is available at the Dialogue archive.