{"id":6493,"date":"2012-12-31T20:26:17","date_gmt":"2013-01-01T01:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?p=6493"},"modified":"2012-12-31T20:26:17","modified_gmt":"2013-01-01T01:26:17","slug":"mormon-enthusiasm-for-the-self-made-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/12\/mormon-enthusiasm-for-the-self-made-man.html","title":{"rendered":"Mormon Enthusiasm for the Self-Made Man"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I\u00a0received\u00a0a free review copy of\u00a0<\/em>The God Who Weeps: How Mormonism<\/a> Makes Sense of Life<\/a> as part of the Patheos Book Club<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019m glad to have read\u00a0The God Who Weeps<\/em>, since, even in the midst of all the Romney controversy, there\u2019s been very little discussion of Mormon theology<\/a>. \u00a0Reporters prefer to cover the Temple rituals because they\u2019re secret, and therefore\u00a0must<\/em> be interesting. \u00a0The Book of Mormon<\/em> musical prompted some error-checking, but not very many details about what would have been the\u00a0correct<\/em> lyrics to \u201cI Believe<\/a>.\u201d \u00a0And most people don\u2019t have access to Michael Haycock, who writes an interesting blog on Mormonism<\/a> (the most recent post has graphs<\/a>!) and popped by to answer questions about LDS priesthood a while ago<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Givens\u2019 book does more to flesh out Mormon doctrine<\/a> than anything else I\u2019ve stumbled across, but I wish it spent more time on the how<\/em> as well as the what<\/em> of Mormon theology. \u00a0Some of the arguments remind me of my least favorite apologetic from C.S. Lewis \u2014 that the existence of a desire proves that something exists to satisfy that desire<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The authors make a similar pitch for the soul as eternal, with no beginning as well as no end. \u00a0They argue that all knowledge is memory, so we must have experience prior to our incarnation. \u00a0They answer Lewis\u2019s question by supposing we have already experienced the thing we desire, prior to birth, and our yearning is the result of our memory of this sated desire. \u00a0This argument has come up elsewhere in philosophy and cognitive science. \u00a0It would have been nice to see some of the common objections raised and answered. \u00a0The God Who Weeps<\/em> frequently cites literature and poetry, but could have stood to draw a little more on empirical studies.<\/p>\n

Frequently, it feels like\u00a0The God Who Weeps<\/em> is making an\u00a0aesthetic\u00a0argument. \u00a0The Mormon God is presented as more compassionate, the Mormon salvation story as more\u00a0optimistic\u00a0than standard Christian dogma. \u00a0But what really drew my attention was the book\u2019s focus on human agency. \u00a0In this story of the Fall, Adam and Eve are not transgressors but partners. \u00a0The authors frame Eve\u2019s choice not as an act of disobedience but as a dilemma between competing goods. \u00a0(\u201cAdam and Eve became more, not less, like God insofar as they came to see the\u00a0same\u00a0<\/em>moral distinctions He did\u201d).<\/p>\n

But perhaps, in Mormon thinking, the act of disobedience was not such a wound in the word because the relationship between humans and God is a little more tenuous. \u00a0Part of the\u00a0aesthetic pitch for a soul that precedes birth is as follows:<\/p>\n

In our present, earthly form, we are clearly the product of forces outside our control\u2026 and yet, we know we are free. \u00a0How can this be, unless there is something at the heart of our identity that was not<\/em> shaped by our environment, not<\/em> inherited from our parents, and\u00a0not<\/em> even created by God?<\/p>\n

\u2026Our lives are more like a canvas on which we paint than a script we need to learn\u2013though the illusion of the latter appeals to us by its lower risk. \u00a0It is easier to learn a part than to create a work of art. \u00a0The mystery is, how can I be free to shape my own desires, how can I be responsible to the inclination of my heart, for my tendency to love light or darkness, if God created my spirit out of nothing, calling me into existence by His sovereign power, only at the moment of my birth and conception.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The authors celebrate Adam and Eve gaining experiential knowledge of good and evil, because it lessened their dependence on God. \u00a0The authors seem to be looking toward a fraternal relationship between humans and God (their God chooses to\u00a0act<\/em> as a Father, but isn\u2019t intended as Creator). \u00a0To me, this is a strange freedom to long for. \u00a0Constraints make identity. \u00a0I am born dependent, and the love I owe my parents shapes how I can grow. \u00a0That\u2019s excellent! \u00a0Undirected and untrammelled growth is the philosophy of cancer.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to be free of some constraints (like conscience) any more than I would resent my hearing because it is passive. \u00a0I don\u2019t choose to hear, I receive impressions of the world around me constantly and without conscious choice. \u00a0 Choosing to learn a script<\/a> is a meaningful and excellent choice. \u00a0I\u2019d rather be good than unique (not that it\u2019s necessarily a dichotomy, or that I\u2019m that adept at either).<\/p>\n

Later in the book, it\u2019s not clear to me that the Givens have succeeded in enriching human dignity by expanding human independence. \u00a0As part of their argument for the uncreated soul, the authors come off as nearly as gnostic as I am on a bad day:<\/p>\n

If an origin among the stars is difficult to believe, an existence thought to commence with our mortal birth has its own absurdities to contend with. \u00a0Many beginnings may be inauspicious, but they should at least bear the seeds of future glories\u2026 But what are we to say about human beings? \u00a0That a paltry creature, an anonymous urchin, may grow into a Shakespeare, a Newton, a Mother Teresa is miracle enough. \u00a0Shall we also claim the destiny of an eternal being for a babe that springs into existence by mere happenstance?<\/p>\n

There is an almost intolerable lack of sober reflection, foresight, and design behind most human conception. \u00a0Life begins by chance,by accident, by violence, or by carelessness. \u00a0The young, the frivolous, the unworthy, and the thoughtless can engender a child. \u00a0And yet the product engendered is one we recognize as something majestic, touched with dignity, and endowed with immortality.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Perhaps the dignity of a child is perplexing because sex is not an act of creation in this view. \u00a0The immortal soul is just slipping into a meatsuit, ready to take on its own independent pursuits. \u00a0Reading through the whole book, it does seem like the authors think that these uncreated souls, in or out of human flesh, have some sort of\u00a0telos<\/em>. \u00a0What I can\u2019t figure out is where that obligation\/binding comes from.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u00a0received\u00a0a free review copy of\u00a0The God Who Weeps: How Mormonism Makes Sense of Life as part of the Patheos Book Club. I\u2019m glad to have read\u00a0The God Who Weeps, since, even in the midst of all the Romney controversy, there\u2019s been very little discussion of Mormon theology. \u00a0Reporters prefer to cover the Temple rituals because […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":6494,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[39,90],"class_list":["post-6493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviewsrecommendations","tag-freedom-means-choosing-a-master","tag-mormons"],"yoast_head":"\nMormon Enthusiasm for the Self-Made Man<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I\u00a0received\u00a0a free review copy of\u00a0The God Who Weeps: How Mormonism Makes Sense of Life as part of the Patheos Book Club. I'm glad to have read\u00a0The God Who\" \/>\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\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/12\/mormon-enthusiasm-for-the-self-made-man.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mormon Enthusiasm for the Self-Made Man\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I\u00a0received\u00a0a free review copy of\u00a0The God Who Weeps: How Mormonism Makes Sense of Life as part of the Patheos Book Club. I'm glad to have read\u00a0The God Who\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/12\/mormon-enthusiasm-for-the-self-made-man.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Unequally Yoked\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-01-01T01:26:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/84\/2012\/12\/god-who-weeps.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"956\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Leah Libresco\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Leah Libresco\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/12\/mormon-enthusiasm-for-the-self-made-man.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/12\/mormon-enthusiasm-for-the-self-made-man.html\",\"name\":\"Mormon Enthusiasm for the Self-Made Man\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-01-01T01:26:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-01T01:26:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464\"},\"description\":\"I\u00a0received\u00a0a free review copy of\u00a0The God Who Weeps: How Mormonism Makes Sense of Life as part of the Patheos Book Club. I'm glad to have read\u00a0The God Who\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/12\/mormon-enthusiasm-for-the-self-made-man.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/12\/mormon-enthusiasm-for-the-self-made-man.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/12\/mormon-enthusiasm-for-the-self-made-man.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mormon Enthusiasm for the Self-Made Man\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/\",\"name\":\"Unequally Yoked\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464\",\"name\":\"Leah Libresco\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"caption\":\"Leah Libresco\"},\"description\":\"Leah is the author of Arriving at Amen and Building the Benedict Option. Her further writing can be found at leahlibresco.com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/author\/leahlibresco\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mormon Enthusiasm for the Self-Made Man","description":"I\u00a0received\u00a0a free review copy of\u00a0The God Who Weeps: How Mormonism Makes Sense of Life as part of the Patheos Book Club. I'm glad to have read\u00a0The God Who","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\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/12\/mormon-enthusiasm-for-the-self-made-man.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mormon Enthusiasm for the Self-Made Man","og_description":"I\u00a0received\u00a0a free review copy of\u00a0The God Who Weeps: How Mormonism Makes Sense of Life as part of the Patheos Book Club. I'm glad to have read\u00a0The God Who","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/12\/mormon-enthusiasm-for-the-self-made-man.html","og_site_name":"Unequally Yoked","article_published_time":"2013-01-01T01:26:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":"956","height":"1480","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/84\/2012\/12\/god-who-weeps.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Leah Libresco","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Leah Libresco","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/12\/mormon-enthusiasm-for-the-self-made-man.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/12\/mormon-enthusiasm-for-the-self-made-man.html","name":"Mormon Enthusiasm for the Self-Made Man","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-01-01T01:26:17+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-01T01:26:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464"},"description":"I\u00a0received\u00a0a free review copy of\u00a0The God Who Weeps: How Mormonism Makes Sense of Life as part of the Patheos Book Club. I'm glad to have read\u00a0The God Who","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/12\/mormon-enthusiasm-for-the-self-made-man.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/12\/mormon-enthusiasm-for-the-self-made-man.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/12\/mormon-enthusiasm-for-the-self-made-man.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mormon Enthusiasm for the Self-Made Man"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/","name":"Unequally Yoked","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464","name":"Leah Libresco","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r","caption":"Leah Libresco"},"description":"Leah is the author of Arriving at Amen and Building the Benedict Option. Her further writing can be found at leahlibresco.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/author\/leahlibresco"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}