{"id":45091,"date":"2017-12-01T10:24:54","date_gmt":"2017-12-01T17:24:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=45091"},"modified":"2017-12-01T10:28:34","modified_gmt":"2017-12-01T17:28:34","slug":"encore-presentation-fundamental-story-restoration-church-taught-false","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/12\/encore-presentation-fundamental-story-restoration-church-taught-false.html","title":{"rendered":"Encore Presentation: “Is the fundamental story of the Restoration, as the Church has taught it, false?”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The — The Manhattan New York Temple, across the street from Lincoln Center in New York City (LDS.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I posted this blog entry back on 31 July. \u00a0However, since this claim about Richard Bushman and the alleged \u201cfalsehood\u201d of \u201cthe dominant narrative\u201d of Mormon history<\/a> came up again last night in a conversation that I noticed, I think I should probably post it again:<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
There is\u00a0 a short YouTube video<\/a>\u00a0making the rounds \u2014 I don\u2019t know whether or not it was recorded with his permission \u2014 in which Richard Bushman, whom I consider a friend, is shown saying that \u201cthe dominant narrative\u201d of Mormon history is \u201cfalse\u201d:<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">Some critics take this to mean that, in Dr. Bushman\u2019s mature judgment, after a highly respected career spent not only in Mormon history specifically but in American history more generally, and after years of service as a bishop and stake president and patriarch, he\u2019s concluded that the fundamental story of the Restoration as it has been taught in Sunday school and seminary classes for generations is untrue. \u00a0Perhaps even a lie.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">Here\u2019s a transcript of the videotaped exchange above, provided by one such critic:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #003300;\">Audience member: To me, a lot of the incongruity that exists now, that is giving rise to a lot of crises of faith, seems to be caused, in my view, by the disparity between the dominant narrative, or what I would call the orthodox narrative, what we learn as missionaries, what we teach investigators, what we learn in Sunday school, and then as you get older you kind of start to experience Mormonism in different ways, and those ways become very important to you and dear to you, but sometimes they may not jive with some elements of the orthodox narrative, and so what I\u2019m wondering is, in your view, do you see room within Mormonism for several different or multiple narratives of a religious experience or do you think that in order for the church to remain strong they would have to hold to that dominant narrative?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #003300;\">Bushman: I think for the church to remain strong it has to reconstruct its narrative. The dominant narrative is not true, IT CAN\u2019T BE SUSTAINED, so the church has to absorb all this new information or it will be on very shaky grounds, and that\u2019s what its trying to do, and it\u2019ll be a strain for a lot of people, older people especially, but I think it has to change\u2026.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">Now, I haven\u2019t checked the transcript, but I\u2019m going to assume that it\u2019s accurate enough. \u00a0(Of course, Brother Bushman didn\u2019t actually speak the words\u00a0<em>it can\u2019t be sustained<\/em>\u00a0in all capital letters. \u00a0That\u2019s a helpful contribution from the critic.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">It\u2019s important to point out, though, that, as\u00a0<a style=\"color: #003300;\" href=\"http:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/2016\/04\/01\/a-reply-from-a-former-ces-employee\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Jim Bennett<\/a>\u00a0has helpfully observed elsewhere, \u201cWatching the video, the context of Bushman\u2019s statement is that the way people have talked about the First Vision is incorrect \u2014 that the first words that were spoken to Joseph were an assurance that his sins were forgiven. \u00a0So in other words, Bushman\u00a0still fully accepts the First Vision, but thinks the \u2018dominant narrative\u2019 about it is incorrect. This is a far, far cry from claiming that he rejects the entirety of the Church\u2019s take on history, but ripping that snippet out of context gives that impression.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">Brother Bushman and I are on the same page here. \u00a0In support of that, I cite\u00a0<a style=\"color: #003300;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/07\/richard-bushman-reaffirms-his-testimony-of-angels-plates-translations-revelations.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">something that Richard Bushman himself said<\/a>\u00a0in response to an earlier iteration of the critics\u2019 claims:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #003300;\">In the middle of the week last week I began to receive thank you notes from people who had read a statement of mine about the Church\u2019s historical narrative requiring reconstruction. I had no idea what was going on until Dan Peterson wrote about a \u201ckerfuffle\u201d\u2014the word of choice for the occasion\u2014on the blogs. At church on Sunday, D. Fletcher asked me, did you know you were the subject of a kerfuffle. A friend who had been mission president in Brazil sent me a link to a blog in Portugese. Eventually I learned it all began with the transcript of a comment I made at a fireside at Mark England\u2019s house a little over a month ago and posted by John Dehlin.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #003300;\">Sampling a few of the comments on Dan Peterson\u2019s blog I discovered that some people thought I had thrown in the towel and finally admitted the Church\u2019s story of its divine origins did not hold up. Others read my words differently; I was only saying that there were many errors in the standard narrative that required correction.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #003300;\">The reactions should not have surprised me. People have had different takes on Rough Stone Rolling ever since it came out. Some found the information about Joseph Smith so damning his prophethood was thrown into question. Others were grateful to find a prophet who had human flaws, giving them hope they themselves could qualify for inspiration despite their human weaknesses. The same facts; opposite reactions.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #003300;\">The different responses mystify me. I have no idea why some people are thrown for a loop when they learn church history did not occur as they had been taught in Sunday School, while others roll with the punches. Some feel angry and betrayed; others are pleased to have a more realistic account. One theorist has postulated an \u201cemotional over-ride\u201d that affects how we respond to information. But the admission that we ourselves are subjective human beings whose rational mechanisms are not entirely trustworthy does not diminish our sense that we are right and our counterparts mistaken.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #003300;\">As it is, I still come down on the side of the believers in inspiration and divine happenings\u2014in angels, plates, translations, revelations\u2014while others viewing the same facts are convinced they disqualify Joseph Smith entirely. A lot of pain, anger, and alienation come out of these disputes. I wish we could find ways to be more generous and understanding with one another.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">I agree completely with Dr. Bushman\u2019s comment \u00a0above.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">I firmly believe, as he does, \u201cin inspiration and divine happenings\u2014in angels, plates, translations, revelations.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">That, in fact, is precisely what I understand to be the fundamental story of the Restoration, as the Church has taught it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">I also acknowledge that some, confronted with details (and, perhaps even more so, with interpretations) of Church history with which they weren\u2019t previously acquainted, have experienced pain, anger, and alienation. \u00a0I regret that, and I\u2019ve\u00a0devoted many, many hours to trying to help with such cases \u2014 both on an individual basis and on a larger scale \u2014 and to inoculate against such pain and loss in the future. \u00a0I continue to do so.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">I have, moreover, long maintained that telling our full story, warts and all, is the best defense against such disillusionment and anguish. \u00a0I absolutely believe in honest and accurate historiography, and I absolutely believe that the claims of the Restoration can and will withstand the most serious scrutiny. \u00a0Indeed, Professor Bushman and I have had conversations on precisely that subject.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">I see nothing in what Professor Bushman has said with which I disagree.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">Posted from Park City, Utah<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 \u00a0 I posted this blog entry back on 31 July. \u00a0However, since this claim about Richard Bushman and the alleged \u201cfalsehood\u201d of \u201cthe dominant narrative\u201d of Mormon history came up again last night in a conversation that I noticed, I think I should probably post it again: \u00a0 There is\u00a0a short YouTube video\u00a0making the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Encore Presentation: "Is the fundamental story of the Restoration, as the Church has taught it, false?"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    I posted this blog entry back on 31 July. \u00a0However, since this claim about Richard Bushman and the alleged "falsehood" of "the dominant\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/12\/encore-presentation-fundamental-story-restoration-church-taught-false.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Encore Presentation: "Is the fundamental story of the Restoration, as the Church has taught it, false?"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"    I posted this blog entry back on 31 July. \u00a0However, since this claim about Richard Bushman and the alleged "falsehood" of "the dominant\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/12\/encore-presentation-fundamental-story-restoration-church-taught-false.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-12-01T17:24:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-12-01T17:28:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2016\/04\/manhattan-temple-lds-246601-gallery.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/12\/encore-presentation-fundamental-story-restoration-church-taught-false.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/12\/encore-presentation-fundamental-story-restoration-church-taught-false.html\",\"name\":\"Encore Presentation: \\\"Is the fundamental story of the Restoration, as the Church has taught it, false?\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-01T17:24:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-12-01T17:28:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\"    I posted this blog entry back on 31 July. \u00a0However, since this claim about Richard Bushman and the alleged \\\"falsehood\\\" of \\\"the dominant\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/12\/encore-presentation-fundamental-story-restoration-church-taught-false.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/12\/encore-presentation-fundamental-story-restoration-church-taught-false.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/12\/encore-presentation-fundamental-story-restoration-church-taught-false.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Encore Presentation: “Is the fundamental story of the Restoration, as the Church has taught it, false?”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Encore Presentation: \"Is the fundamental story of the Restoration, as the Church has taught it, false?\"","description":"    I posted this blog entry back on 31 July. \u00a0However, since this claim about Richard Bushman and the alleged \"falsehood\" of \"the dominant","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/12\/encore-presentation-fundamental-story-restoration-church-taught-false.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Encore Presentation: \"Is the fundamental story of the Restoration, as the Church has taught it, false?\"","og_description":"    I posted this blog entry back on 31 July. \u00a0However, since this claim about Richard Bushman and the alleged \"falsehood\" of \"the dominant","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/12\/encore-presentation-fundamental-story-restoration-church-taught-false.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2017-12-01T17:24:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-12-01T17:28:34+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2016\/04\/manhattan-temple-lds-246601-gallery.jpg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/12\/encore-presentation-fundamental-story-restoration-church-taught-false.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/12\/encore-presentation-fundamental-story-restoration-church-taught-false.html","name":"Encore Presentation: \"Is the fundamental story of the Restoration, as the Church has taught it, false?\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-12-01T17:24:54+00:00","dateModified":"2017-12-01T17:28:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":"    I posted this blog entry back on 31 July. \u00a0However, since this claim about Richard Bushman and the alleged \"falsehood\" of \"the dominant","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/12\/encore-presentation-fundamental-story-restoration-church-taught-false.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/12\/encore-presentation-fundamental-story-restoration-church-taught-false.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/12\/encore-presentation-fundamental-story-restoration-church-taught-false.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Encore Presentation: “Is the fundamental story of the Restoration, as the Church has taught it, false?”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45091\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}