Nephi’s Vision as Tragedy

February 4, 2012 By 5 Comments

After viewing the vision of the Tree of Life, as Nephi calls it, the angel shows him a vision that seems to reach far beyond his initial petition.  Nephi reports that he sees multitudes of people, but it is the angel who divides up the masses into two distinction categories: “thy seed” and “the seed of thy brethren.”  (1 Ne. 12:1).  After Nephi sees the fourth generation pass away, the angel once again invokes this distinction: “Behold thy seed and also the seed of thy brethren.”  Nephi sees both groups engaged in warfare. (1Ne 12:14-15).  Nephi sees that the seed of his brethren “overpowered” his seed.  At this point, Nephi’s seed disappears from world history.

Nephi’s reaction to this one scene is absent from the record. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Book of Mormon Tagged With: , , 5 Comments

Nephi, Scrooge, and Knowing the Future

January 28, 2012 By 12 Comments

There I was, sitting in my usual seat in Sunday school, watching the instructor faithfully proceed through the lesson plan and observing, as I always do, the various comments made by fellow ward members.  The topic was Nephi’s Vision and the Great Apostasy.

I was bothered by the apathy to know and appreciate Christian history by a few of my fellow congregants, and even though I flirted with the idea of expending my social capital in the ward by vocally lamenting the problems with what others had shared, I continued to sit in quiet meditation.  My thoughts turned elsewhere.

Why was Nephi getting this vision?  He asked to see the vision his father saw.  The spiritual tour guide did in fact show him his father’s vision.  Yet, his vision did not stop there.  The Spirit, or the the angel, continued to show Nephi futures beyond his immediate concerns, and apparently beyond what Lehi saw.   Nephi is shown not only interpretations of his father’s dream, but the Incarnation, the mortal ministry of the Savior, but more importantly the ultimate destruction of his people by those descended from his wicked brothers. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Book of Mormon, Theology 12 Comments

Reflecting on Two Years of Gospel Principles 2010 – 2011

December 16, 2011 By 75 Comments

As early as July 2009, news of a revised and updated version of the classic 1978 Gospel Principles manual hit the Mormon blogs, causing no small commotion.  There were questions about how much it was really revised (it wasn’t revised much).  Some observed that Bruce R. McConkie citations were eliminated (in reality only about 4 citations were removed but the material remained, and frankly never needed a citation to back it up anyway as it was rather standard and uncontroversial).  Some were excited about “getting back to basics” (as if we hadn’t been studying “the basics” since introducing the Teachings of the Presidents of the Church series in 1998).

But aside from all of that, the most interesting phenomena I observed was an extremely large amount of hope that this new and improved Gospel Principles manual was going to solve one of the most deeply problematic issues facing church membership today: the quality of Gospel instruction in Church meetings.   News of the arrival of the new manual became an opportunity (or outlet) for Mormon bloggers to reflect on the fruits of Correlation and the failures of Church Sunday School classes to challenge, engage, and inspire.

After the dust had settled, it seemed to me that the general consensus was that the anonymous and faceless generic Church manual was the culprit. “The Manual”—that relic of correlation was the cause of all of our problems. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Personal Issues 75 Comments

Theologians Against Theology

October 17, 2011 By 22 Comments

Since confession is all the rage I have decided to confess my private thoughts.  I do so only in hopes that perhaps others who feel the same way but are reluctant to voice their perspective join the discussion.  Adam Miller has recently posted again on the subject of theology.  I admit I do not understand.  But rather than simply confess my inability to comprehend I thought it would be more fruitful to provide a line by line commentary, detailing where I’ve gone wrong.

First of all, a general observation on metaphor.  The metaphor is that a theologian is like an alcoholic, and the only good theologian is a recovering one.  This sounds to me to play upon the common theme among some that theology is bad and it is not something we should do and if we do engage in theology, our moral obligation is to tell others not to do what we have so reluctantly done.  This meme is attractive to Latter-day Saints because for years we have built into our narrative a battle between theology and revelation, with revelation as the clear victor.  In Nibleyesque fashion, philosophy and theology are what happen when revelation ceases.  I question this line of reasoning.  I don’t believe it holds up very well under scrutiny.  So immediately I recognize this meme and wonder why it continues. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Theology, Uncategorized 22 Comments

Richard Turley and William Slaughter’s How We Got the Book of Mormon

August 31, 2011 By 8 Comments

“Although we cite scholarly sources we intend this book for general readers and have followed widely accepted editing practices aimed at ease of reading.”  “Readers can verify the facts in our book by consulting the sources cited in the notes, which we have deliberately tucked in the back so as not to interrupt our narratives.”[1]

So begin Richard E. Turley and William M. Slaughter in the Preface of their book How We Got the Book of Mormon.  The reassuring tone of the Preface reveals the authors’ perceptions that the general reader is, perhaps, wary of books with citations and references.  Turley, in a recent interview states “We feel that general readers can benefit from excellent work done by scholars in recent years, but many general readers won’t approach works written by scholars for scholars.”[2]  The reassuring Preface doubles as a challenge.  The authors throw down the gauntlet to the adventurous reader and encourage her to “verify facts,” thus raising the bar for books produced for a general audience.  Every reader will be better off for having read the book. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Book of Mormon 8 Comments

After the Lesson: “God Is No Respecter of Persons”

August 21, 2011 By 11 Comments

Most scholars accept that the author of the Gospel of Luke is also the author of the Book of Acts.  In this post, I will refer to the author of the Gospel of Luke and Book of Acts as Luke.  All scriptures are from the New Revised Standard Version.

Some time ago I was sitting in Sunday School and the lesson (New Testament Lesson 30) covered Acts 10.   As I read Acts, something about the Lukan account of Peter bothered me.  Luke has Peter relate to Cornelius and those that were with him the details of his ‘trance’ and subsequent understanding of its meaning.

But Peter said, ‘By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean.’ The voice said to him again, a second time, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’ (Acts 10:14-15).

You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean. (Acts 10:28).

Did not Jesus already provide this kind of instruction to the apostles?  For example, Mark and Matthew have Jesus tell the apostles: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bible, Scripture, Studying Religion, Uncategorized 11 Comments

Spiritual Birth: Challenges for Philosophers

July 6, 2011 By 34 Comments

Earlier this year we explored some of the historical challenges for telling the story of “spirit birth” in Mormon theological history.  In this post, we will turn our attention to the philosophical challenges raised by “spirit birth.”  Again, here we are less concerned with tracing the teaching to Joseph Smith as we are examining the implications of spirit birth given our tradition.  Some of the most detailed treatment of the topic is given by Parley P. Pratt and Orson Pratt.  However, developing a coherent theology of spiritual birth is something Mormon theologians have not been interested in doing.  Blake Ostler, for example, says little about this doctrine in his multi-volume series Exploring Mormon Thought, other than to conclude it probably does not originate with Joseph Smith.  Indeed, others may feel little is to be gained from developing a theology of spirit birth.  However, for those who are interested in developing a coherent theology of spirit birth several challenges exist.

1.  Early Mormon thinkers believed that our spirits are fashioned from spiritual element or spiritual matter.  Thus, God has complete control when he configures each of our spirits.  Parley P. Pratt and Orson Pratt understood intelligence as an attribute of spiritual element.  Thus, given this metaphysics, God is the one who determines the intelligence of our spirits, and therefore the question arises as to how fair it is to judge us according to our intelligence when this is predetermined by God when he creates us.  Parley P. Pratt recognized this dilemma and argued that God does not create this intelligence.  The level of intelligence, rather, is a function of the particular element used to form our spirits, and element differs in its level of intelligence.  Pratt should be credited with acknowledging this dilemma even if his solution doesn’t quite solve the problem.  One can presume that God still has control over the particular element used in the organization of our spirits.  Isn’t there some consequence in how God creates our spirits?  Is there any significant difference between God creating our spirits from preexisting spiritual element and God creating our spirits out of nothing?  Doesn’t this lead to a kind of determinism? [Read more...]

Filed Under: Doctrine, History, Metaphysics, Mormon Studies, Scripture, Speculation, Theology Tagged With: , , , , 34 Comments

Givens on Atonement, Agency, and the War in Heaven

June 4, 2011 By 9 Comments

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Terryl L. Givens, professor of literature and religion at the University of Richmond, published two articles in Meridian Magazine early this year, taking up the perennially problematic topic of divine justice.[1] Givens ends part one with this promise:

I believe what will provide greater clarity on [the problem of suffering], as well as greater clarity about LDS conceptions of the war in heaven, the purpose of mortal life, and the nature of the atonement, is a more coherent account of the meaning and role of moral agency. So in what follows, I want to make some very tentative efforts in that regard.

This is a serious claim. In this post, I would like engage Givens’ ideas, explore whether the article delivers on its claim, and offer a tentative critique of my own.

One of Givens’ central arguments is that human agency cannot exist unless every choice is linked to its natural consequence. For example, if an ice cream parlor offers several choices of ice cream, but everyone is served the same flavor no matter what they order, Givens might point out that in reality there was no choice. Merely providing choice is not the essential ingredient of freedom—it is guaranteeing that choices have predictable consequences. Otherwise, we end up with, in Givens’ words, a sham, “a mere pantomime of decision-making.” From here, Givens discusses the true nature of Satan’s alternative plan—a plan not brought about by coercion—but brought about by the seductive delinking of choice from consequence. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Atonement, Book of Mormon, Doctrine, Scripture, Theology Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , 9 Comments

The Unfolding of Revelation: Reflections on the Joseph Smith Papers

March 28, 2011 By 2 Comments

As readers are probably aware, owing to the several reports, an unprecedented event took place recently. On March 23, the Church Historian’s Press invited several bloggers to meet in person and via video conference with Robin Jensen, Richard E. Turley, Jr, and Riley Lorimer—the three editors of the newly released and long awaited next installment of The Joseph Smith Papers: Revelations and Translations, Volume Two: Published Revelations.

By a series of fortunate events, I found myself with the unique opportunity to attend. At the appointed time I logged into the video conference software on my laptop, where I was instantly greeted by a view of the Cumorah Room on the fourth floor of the Church History Library, the editors, local attendees, and fellow “virtual” participants. The default setting of the video conference software displayed the webcams of participants in what reminded me of the opening blue box credits of The Brady Bunch, except populated, thankfully, with friendly faces from the blogging world—each one anticipating news of the new volume and many coming with questions. [Read more...]

Filed Under: History, Mormon Studies 2 Comments

Spiritual Birth: Challenges for Historians

January 12, 2011 By 17 Comments

I appreciate the comments received in response to the Bushman and Paulsen post and found fascinating the diversity of views. I wanted to explore the reasons for preferring one aspect over another apart from historical or textual arguments, but I realize that perhaps it is impossible to bracket those issues from our emotional investment. Perhaps for some, they are one and the same.

In this post, I’d like to state some tentative conclusions on the development of “spirit birth” based upon the state of the literature as I see it today (aware that related studies are forthcoming that, for obvious reasons, I’m unable to take into account at this moment). This is a departure from my usual posts where I prefer to trace the journey of an idea over time (even the move from using the phrase “spiritual birth” to using the phrase “spirit birth” has a history worth exploring)1. Departing from that approach, I thought I would respond to the last set of comments by setting forth five tentative observations that might serve as a catalyst for new inquiries. I’ve subtitled the post “Challenges for Historians” on purpose, in an attempt to separate historical issues from philosophical ones. Perhaps “Challenges for Philosophers” will be taken up in a later post.

1. This seems to be a case where one doctrine (primeval spirit birth) has the effect of displacing another doctrine (becoming sons and daughters of God by covenant). While B. H. Roberts sought to reconcile Mormon discourse on the uncreated nature and begotten nature of man, it was not without repercussions.2 There is a tension in Mormon discourse between being sons of God and becoming sons of God. It is important, however, to credit Roberts with being aware of this problem (unique among his contemporaries). [Read more...]

Filed Under: Doctrine, History, Metaphysics, Mormon Studies, Scripture, Theology Tagged With: , , , 17 Comments