[MOD: This review was submitted by a non-AML List member at Jeff Needle's recommendation, who had seen it on another email list.]

This is a fascinating book for several reasons. First of all, you might ask: who the heck is John D. Charles? He has an M.A. in English from BYU and teaches ESL in Latin America. He's not a GA and not a BYU prof - he's just an "ordinary guy" like you or I. But he has obviously been paying attention during endowment sessions and has some insights which I personally found very useful. I don't know what the temple prep class curriculum is like, but I'd recommend this book as a text. In fact, I've got 5 more on order as gifts - it's that kind of book, that makes a good stocking stuffer, especially for those who haven't gone through the temple yet, but even for old-timers who think they know the whole score. You certainly finish the book with a new, increased reverence for the temple. He stays away from "Nibleyesque" parallels to ancient times except where it's warranted, and then he says all he has to, very simply and succinctly.

Two areas he handles with aplomb especially impressed me: why is there a similarity between the endowment ceremony and certain Masonic ceremonies, and there a significance to that similarity? Also, the fact that the endowment is liturgical (or what he calls a drama) in nature. It's not just symbolic in its components like the signs and tokens and clothing, but the whole experience itself is a symbol of both the restoration of the Gospel and the promise of future exaltation.

Estimated reading level: Grade X. Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5.

Here's an excerpt: [beginnings of pages are indicated within square brackets]

[30] gospel ordinances, e.g., baptism and the sacrament, follow a set script which has not changed (or has changed only very slightly) since ancient times. By contrast, the ceremony in which the endowment is presented (but not the endowment itself) has been modified several times just since it was revealed to Joseph Smith. This seems to be because this ceremony apparently is tailored by the Lord to the needs of particular cultures and times.

In the first modern revelation referring explicitly to the temple endowment, the Lord indicated that while the endowment might, in one sense, be continuous with ordinances revealed anciently (for example, to Adam, Seth, Noah, and the other patriarchs mentioned in Facsimile 2, figure 3, in the Book of Abraham), the ceremony revealed to Joseph Smith had been designed to meet the particular needs of Latter-day Saints:

And verily I say unto you, let this house be built unto my name, that I may reveal mine ordinances therein unto my people;

For I deign to reveal unto my church things which have been kept hid from the foundation of the world, things that pertain to the dispensation of the fullness [31] of times. (Doctrine and Covenants 124:40-41; emphasis added)

Presumably, then, the ceremony revealed to Joseph had certain unique elements not to be found in the endowment ceremony from any previous dispensation. (See Heber C. Kimball to parley P. Pratt, June 17, 1842, LDS Church Archives)

UNIQUE ELEMENTS FOR MODERN TIMES

By the same token, the endowment ceremony currently performed in temples has unique elements not to be found in Joseph Smith's endowment, or even in the endowment performed ten years ago. With the passage of time, the saints' needs and cultural understanding apparently have changed, and under the direction of the living prophets and apostles the endowment has changed with them. One of the most significant and innovative changes is that the ceremonial drama, which used to be presented by live actors, is now presented on film in almost all the temples. Other changes have followed.

Some of the most recent change to the endowment, for instance (made in 1990), reflect our increased emphasis on the equal and our deepening respect for Christian churches with whom we formerly had rather hostile relations. Other changes have made the ceremony briefer and simpler, and thus more accessible. Records that early endowment sessions performed in the Nauvoo Temple lasted over five hours, as compared to current sessions which last about an hour and a half, . . .

LEARN TO UNDERSTAND SYMBOLS THAT BOTH REVEAL AND CONCEAL

Symbolism was a mainstay of the teachings of jesus. Matthew claims that Jesus never taught the multitudes without the use of symbols or figures. He wrote,

All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without parable spake he not unto them:

That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. (Matthew 13:34-35)

Matthew also says that Jesus used figure deliberately to obscure his teaching, so dial the multitude would not understand than, 'It is given unto you," Jesus explained to his disciples, "to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them [the multitude] it is not given" (Matthew 13:11) . . .

[37] ON-GOING PREPARATIONS FOR THE BLESSINGS

While the parables no doubt had this obscuring effect, it should be noted that the nature of figures is to both reveal and conceal. In other words, a figurative presentation not only obscures at one level, the truth being presented, but simultaneously, at another level, it serves to help us understand the truth in a new way. The symbols used in the endowment serve the same purpose: they may serve to conceal the truth at one level, but they simultaneously reveal it to us in a new light at another level.

When Jesus describes missionary work in terms of a sower casting seed, for instance, be not only obscures, for some listeners, the fact that be is talking about missionary work but he also helps us missionary work in a new way. The symbols used in the endowment serve the same purpose: they may serve to conceal the truth at one level, but they simultaneously reveal it to us in anew light at anothor level.

LEARN TO RECOGNIZE BOTH "SIGNIFIERS" AND "SIGNIFIEDS"

In linguistic jargon, A symbol has two parts: a signifier and a signified. The signifier is what we generally speak of as the symbol "itself" - the colored material that flies on a flagpole, or the broken bread on a sacrament tray: The signified is what we generally speak of as the meaning of the symbol - the country that the flag stands for, or the body of Christ represented by the bread.

The signifier is concrete; the signified is abstract This is the power of using a symbol: a angle concrete object is used to invoke a whole nebula of meaning. A flag stands not just for a country, but for that country's people, its history, its various aspirations and values, the dead who have fallen in defense of those values, the spirit of patriotism that preserves their memory, and so on. The bro- [38]ken bread stands not only for Christ's body, but for his atonement, his mercy, his compassion, his suffering, his mission, forgiveness, reconciliation, our willingness to keep his commandments, our discipleship, our communion with God and each other, and so on.

In short, symbols rarely have a single meaning. Signifiers and signifieds do not fall into neat one-on-one relationships. This means that almost every scriptural image used as a signifier in the endowment refers to not just one meaning, but to a complex web of meanings. It is this fact which makes the endowment such a rich experience - an experience in which the laert participant can continue to learn throughout his lifetime.

This book will merely begin to help you see the relationship between the endowment's signifiers and signifieds. The endowment will open up for you as you begin to grasp more of each symbol's various meanings and begin to see the complex interactions between those meanings, as well as their interaction with the meanings of other symbols. The most meaningful insights occur when you begin to see how events and aspects of your own life function as signifieds to the endowments signifiers, i.e., how the endowment provides a symbolic representation of your daily life.

-- 
Marc A. Schindler
Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada -- Gateway to the Boreal Parkland