He was an enormous formative influence on me.
When I was about fourteen or fifteen, some members of my home ward in San Gabriel, California, thinking that I might enjoy BYU Education Week. So they invited me to come with them when it was being held in either (I can’t remember exactly) Covina or West Covina. On the roster were such lights as Hugh Nibley, Truman Madsen, Daniel Ludlow, and — believe it or not — Bruce R. McConkie.
Truman gave four nightly lectures. Two were on “Existentialism” and “Logical Positivism.” I don’t recall the other two titles. I sat spellbound. I had never before had any real inkling of the potential depth and intellectual fascination of the Restored Gospel. I had only recently become really interested in the claims of the Church, having grown up with a non-member father and a marginally active mother and few if any Latter-day Saint friends. (Another influence was a recent reading of Nephi Anderson’s novel Added Upon.)
Anyway, had it not been for that invitation to Education Week, I might not, a few years later, have even bothered applying to Brigham Young University. And the rest, as they say, is history. My entire career of vicious character assassination, mercenary lying, shameless pseudo-scholarship, and mean-spirited rage might never have happened.
And I’m grateful to say that Truman and his wife Ann ultimately became friends. Great people.
There is an interesting website devoted to the life and work of Truman Madsen, whom I really, really miss:
Please explore it a bit.
Posted from Monterey, California
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