Colonization, Conformity, and Contribution, Part I<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Many posts at FPR of late have had to do with Kent Jackson's description of LDS scholarship. At issue is to what extent Latter-day Saints can (or should)\" \/>\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\/faithpromotingrumor\/2007\/02\/colonization-conformity-and-contribution-part-i\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Colonization, Conformity, and Contribution, Part I\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Many posts at FPR of late have had to do with Kent Jackson's description of LDS scholarship. 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{"id":353,"date":"2007-02-28T13:40:13","date_gmt":"2007-02-28T18:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/faithpromotingrumor.wordpress.com\/2007\/02\/28\/colonization-conformity-and-contribution-part-i\/"},"modified":"2007-02-28T13:40:13","modified_gmt":"2007-02-28T18:40:13","slug":"colonization-conformity-and-contribution-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/2007\/02\/colonization-conformity-and-contribution-part-i\/","title":{"rendered":"Colonization, Conformity, and Contribution, Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

This issue has been recently exemplified in a prominent, front-page Daily Universe (BYU\u2019s student-run newspaper) article entitled \u201cMysteries of Ancient Egyptian Papyri Revealed<\/a>\u201d (Feb 15, 2007), complete with imposing but poorly produced graphic. The article first describes how BYU\/Maxwell Institute uses multispectral imaging to read otherwise illegible texts written on papyri and other materials. It then goes on to describe some of the contents of these texts and notes that many students are participating in the work.<\/p>\n

Imagine my horror when the article was emailed to a major ANE mailing list with the following paragraphs included:
\n
\n[Name removed], a senior from Decatur, Ind., majoring in ancient near
\neastern studies, is one of the students involved with this project
\nand on the Oxyrhynchus collection. [Name removed] said he has learned a
\nlot about the gospel from his studies.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a funny way it has strengthened my testimony of the gospel and
\nthe Book of Mormon especially,\u201d [he] said. \u201cThere are over 5,600
\nmanuscripts of the New Testament, not to mention all the apocryphal
\nwritings we are working on now, and none of them contain the New
\nTestament as we have it today. This shows me personally of the
\nimmense importance of the Book of Mormon. Without it, we would be
\nlost and confused.\u201d<\/p>\n

Put yourself in the place of a non-LDS classical scholar. What do you now think of BYU? Do you want BYU to go anywhere near that material, or anything like it, ever again? Are you going to trust what comes therefrom? Are you going to admit BYU students into your Graduate program? (Sorry, LXXLuthor.) Heck, I\u2019m not sure if I<\/em> would, even if I were LDS.<\/p>\n

Bushman has written that when Eastern journalists started coming out to Utah and writing about Utah to their Eastern audiences, it had two effects: it introduced the outside world to the peculiarities of this landlocked island, and (perhaps more interestingly) it showed Utahns<\/em> how they were perceived in the outside world. He called this second effect \u201ccolonization\u201d of the mind. It appears that, in the context of this article and no doubt many others like it, we no longer need the Eastern journalists, we can do it ourselves, thank you very much.<\/p>\n

Now, I realize that this was intended for an LDS audience, but I\u2019m guessing that the only way it made it out of BYU is that someone emailed the article to the prof. in charge of the mailing list, which is standard procedure. Even still, it raises some serious questions about what we\u2019re doing, and more importantly, teaching, at BYU. It\u2019s one thing when our inquiry (\u201cscholarship\u201d) is inwardly focused, but it\u2019s a whole n\u2019other thing altogether when we\u2019re publishing non-LDS materials intended for wider audiences.<\/p>\n

Another problem raised by this article is that of BYU\u2019s focus on undergraduate education. Are our undergrads well enough equipped to be as involved as the article makes them appear to be? (Sorry again, LXXLuthor). Isn\u2019t this the type of research that is usually done by Grad students? (I\u2019m not as equipped to answer this with respect to this particular instance, so jump in, NT types!)<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t hard to tell that with thinking such as this BYU is alienating even its non-LDS friends. A similar episode occurred in the 2005 bicentennial conference on Joseph Smith at the Library of Congress, when BYU religion prof. Roger Keller responded to non-LDS prof. Douglas Davies\u2019 paper and asserted that revelation would ensure the Church would grow unlike any other church before it. This response provoked Jan Shipps\u2019 quip that one wonders if LDS scholars \u201cknow how to operate in the professional world.\u201d (Deseret Morning News, 21 Jun 2005).<\/p>\n

I suspect that BYU has seen this issue, or is at least concerned with it. If you haven\u2019t already noticed, clicking on the link<\/a> to this recent and once-prominent article gives the following message: \u201cThe resource you are looking for is not available. We regret this inconvenience.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"