Spiritual Birth: Challenges for Historians

January 12, 2011 By aquinas 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

Roberts and Descartes

January 10, 2011 By aquinas 19 Comments

The problem of how to label Mormon philosophical and theological views is a perennial one, but an issue that must be treated. Mormon scholars have debated the propriety of using terms like infinite, finite, monotheism, henotheism, polytheism, modalism, binitarianism, etc. The list goes on.

Scholarly communities advance and pool together their knowledge by using shared and common terms. Essentially we talk with one another using a common language. Disputes over labeling Mormonism are inevitable and will persist for the unforeseeable future. At worst, the very terms we use to talk with each other have built-in interpretations and often can skew more precise discourse. How accurate or useful is Cartesian in describing the dualism of B.H. Roberts or in Mormon thought generally? Are there dangers of confusion? What qualifications might be necessary?

In the realm of Mormon metaphysics, Sterling McMurrin makes the following observation:

Mormonism teaches a strict numerical dualism of the spirit and the body; through they are both material, they are two different entities. But the dualism is in number degree only and not in the fundamental quality or character of reality, a fact which distinguishes the Mormon position from the typical mind-body dualism that has typified Protestant thought, for instance, since Descartes. . . . It is important to recognize that the mind-body problem, the question of the nature of the soul or spirit and the body and the relation between them, has been a major metaphysical issue in occidental religious thought since the earliest Christian centuries. The Mormon treatment of this problem, which is radically unorthodox when judged by either Catholic or Protestant thought, nevertheless conforms to the general pattern of Christian theology, that the soul or spirit is immortal though the body is subject to death.1

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Doctrine, History, Metaphysics, Mormon Studies, Theology Tagged With: , , , , , , 19 Comments

God, Self and Spiritual Birth: Two Perspectives

January 1, 2011 By aquinas 22 Comments

An issue that arises in the study of the Mormon thought is the origin of the teaching that our spirits are begotten by God in a literal sense in the premortal world. In this post, I wish to bracket the issue of whether this view can be properly attributed to Joseph Smith.  Instead, I’d like to explore our emotive responses to the various perspectives regarding our relationship with God. While arguments based on history or exegesis play an important role in these discussions, it is equally important to acknowledge that these ideas resonate with us at a deeply personal level in different ways.

Recently, I compared two responses, one from David L. Paulsen and the other from Richard Lyman Bushman. These are transcripts from audio so I encourage readers to listen to the original, if possible.  Both individuals, I believe, articulate well why a particular aspect holds significance for them. Rather than offer a conclusion, I will let each statement speak for itself.  What aspect of personal origins in Mormon thought resonates with you personally?

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Doctrine, Metaphysics, Mormon Studies, Theology 22 Comments

The Formation of the Gods

June 18, 2009 By TT 16 Comments

I have suggested before in more oblique ways that the humanist account of the stable subject is at odds with Mormon doctrine of divinization, and in this way Mormonism has more in common with the psychoanalytic account of the formation of the subject and the Foucaultian/Althusserian account of subjectivation. I’d like to explore in brief more of this argument.
[Read more...]

Filed Under: Doctrine, Metaphysics, Theology 16 Comments
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