Louis C. Midgley<\/a><\/span><\/p>\nReview of David F. Holland,\u00a0Moroni: A Brief Theological Introduction<\/em>\u00a0(Provo, UT: The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 2021). 147 pages. $9.95 (paperback).<\/span><\/p>\nAbstract:<\/strong>\u00a0David Holland, the youngest son of Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, is the John Bartlett Professor of New England Church History at Harvard Divinity School. Consistent with his training and focus, Holland has approached Moroni as an historian. Hence, despite the subtitle to this series about books in the Book\u00a0of\u00a0Mormon, Holland has done neither systematic nor dogmatic theology in his contribution.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I think it important to note that, like Islam and Judaism \u2014 and significantly unlike Hellenized mainstream Christianity \u2014 the Latter-day Saint intellectual tradition has been far more intently focused upon historiography than upon what Professor Midgley calls \u201csystematic theology\u201d or \u201cdogmatic theology,\u201d or what I myself might be inclined to term \u201cphilosophical theology.\u201d\u00a0 Thus, critics who fault adherents of the Restoration for having failed to develop a \u201cdeep\u201d theology, as those critics themselves rather arbitrarily define \u201cdepth,\u201d seem to me to be at serious risk of misunderstanding what academically or intellectually inclined Latter-day Saints see themselves as doing, of missing the task that such thinkers have typically set for themselves.\u00a0 It\u2019s rather like complaining that the Los Angeles Dodgers don\u2019t score enough touchdowns or faulting Bernini for devoting insufficient time to composing cantatas.\u00a0 Not, sadly, that I expect such critics to care about getting it right.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Posted from New York City, New York<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 *** \u00a0 Intercontinental flights aren\u2019t the ideal platform for blogging, so I\u2019m afraid that I\u2019m a bit late with these notifications.\u00a0 Still, I hope that you\u2019ll enjoy them.\u00a0 They certainly haven\u2019t gone out of date since yesterday: \u00a0 \u201cRich Vein or Fools Gold?\u201d by Morgan Deane Review of Patrick Q. Mason and J. […]<\/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":[25676,1809,28815,28812,28806,7971,28818,28821,3253,28809,3250,24434,2905,1812,1815,7113,21871,21046,5649,942,3535,22189,788,55,1667,1221,19442,28830,28827,25592,28824,7695,816,3358],"class_list":["post-95013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-brief-theological-introduction","tag-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints","tag-david-f-holland","tag-david-holland","tag-david-pulsipher","tag-harvard","tag-harvard-divinity-school","tag-harvard-university","tag-holland","tag-j-david-pulsipher","tag-jeffrey-holland","tag-jeffrey-r-holland","tag-latter-day-saint","tag-latter-day-saints","tag-lds","tag-lds-church","tag-lou-midgley","tag-louis-c-midgley","tag-louis-midgley","tag-maxwell-institute","tag-midgley","tag-morgan-deane","tag-mormon","tag-mormonism","tag-mormons","tag-moroni","tag-neal-a-maxwell-institute-for-religious-scholarship","tag-nonviolence","tag-pacifism","tag-patrick-mason","tag-proclaim-peace","tag-pulsipher","tag-theology","tag-violence"],"yoast_head":"\n
"Rich Vein or Fools Gold?"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\" *** Intercontinental flights aren't the ideal platform for blogging, so I'm afraid that I'm a bit late with these notifications.\u00a0\" \/>\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\/2022\/05\/rich-vein-or-fools-gold.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""Rich Vein or Fools Gold?"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\" *** Intercontinental flights aren't the ideal platform for blogging, so I'm afraid that I'm a bit late with these notifications.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/05\/rich-vein-or-fools-gold.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-07T19:11:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-05-14T03:22:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2016\/07\/manhattan-temple-lds-248728-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=\"2 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\/2022\/05\/rich-vein-or-fools-gold.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/05\/rich-vein-or-fools-gold.html\",\"name\":\"\\\"Rich Vein or Fools Gold?\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-07T19:11:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-05-14T03:22:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\" *** Intercontinental flights aren't the ideal platform for blogging, so I'm afraid that I'm a bit late with these notifications.\u00a0\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/05\/rich-vein-or-fools-gold.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/05\/rich-vein-or-fools-gold.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/05\/rich-vein-or-fools-gold.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"“Rich Vein or Fools Gold?”\"}]},{\"@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":"\"Rich Vein or Fools Gold?\"","description":" *** Intercontinental flights aren't the ideal platform for blogging, so I'm afraid that I'm a bit late with these notifications.\u00a0","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\/2022\/05\/rich-vein-or-fools-gold.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"Rich Vein or Fools Gold?\"","og_description":" *** Intercontinental flights aren't the ideal platform for blogging, so I'm afraid that I'm a bit late with these notifications.\u00a0","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/05\/rich-vein-or-fools-gold.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2022-05-07T19:11:37+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-05-14T03:22:15+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2016\/07\/manhattan-temple-lds-248728-gallery.jpg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/05\/rich-vein-or-fools-gold.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/05\/rich-vein-or-fools-gold.html","name":"\"Rich Vein or Fools Gold?\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-05-07T19:11:37+00:00","dateModified":"2022-05-14T03:22:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":" *** Intercontinental flights aren't the ideal platform for blogging, so I'm afraid that I'm a bit late with these notifications.\u00a0","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/05\/rich-vein-or-fools-gold.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/05\/rich-vein-or-fools-gold.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/05\/rich-vein-or-fools-gold.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"“Rich Vein or Fools Gold?”"}]},{"@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\/95013","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=95013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95013\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"The](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2016\/07\/manhattan-temple-lds-248728-gallery.jpg\")
<\/a>