Terryl L. Givens is well known among LDS readers for two acclaimed volumes, By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture that Launched a New World Religion and The Viper on the Hearth: Mormons, Myths, and the Construction of Heresy. Despite minor problems I found in the first title, and having never read the second book, I was glad to have this recent work. I discovered it quite by accident, on a recent visit to the San Diego Public Library. Among the new acquisitions was a book titled The Buddhist Experience in America. As is my custom, I turned the book over to read the blurb on the back, and learned that the publisher was releasing a series titled The American Religious Experience. Among the entries was the current title.

In a very good introduction, Givens offers an overview that he calls "What is a Mormon"? In it he surveys the Mormon experience, emphasizing, of course, the good and preparing the reader for what is in the forthcoming chapters.

Nicely written and sufficiently breezy, I wondered if some would find the following statement a bit surprising:

...studies reveal Mormons to be more open than most Americans to inter-racial association (inter-racial marriage, integrated schooling, and racially mixed neighborhoods), and "among the more 'liberal' of the various denominations in attitudes toward racial justice." (p. xviii)

He cites Armand Mauss's work All Abraham's Children in support of his view. Anecdotal evidence circulated over the years seems to contradict this; perhaps the issue is more complex than we had imagined.

Chapter 1 is titled "A Homegrown Religion: Mormonism in America and America in Mormonism." Here Givens offers a broad overview of Mormon history, from the First Vision accounts (yes, he acknowledges that there were several), up to current concerns about the place of the Church in society. He discusses "The Mormon Problem, " the issue of polygamy, Utah's quest for statehood, and other important events in Mormonism's past.

Chapter 2, "'These War-like Fanatics': Anti-Mormonism in American History," documents the trials of the Saints as they traveled from one place to another, looking for a home. He opens the chapter with an interesting observation:

Early Mormonism's relationship to America, as we have seen, was a fractious one at best. But persecution can carry with it an aura of self-righteousness, and historians are rightly skeptical of any group making too much of its victimized status. Because persecution also provokes powerful group loyalty and cohesion, and can be a sign to believers that the forces of Satan are alarmed ("we expect the rage of all hell to be aimed at us to overthrow us," said Brigham Young), emphasizing opposition to Mormonism throughout American history serves both social and ideological purposes as well. Nevertheless, no historian would deny that among religious groups in nineteenth-century America, none experienced such persistent, vehement, and widespread opposition, or incurred such extensive hostility from the federal government. In the twentieth century and beyond, the record is more debatable. (p. 59)

I thought this was a good cautionary note, especially to Mormon readers. Yes, acknowledge that persecution existed, but one can take on "an aura of self-righteousness" when claiming some special favor from God in view of the persecution. I appreciated this warning very much.

Throughout the chapter, he raises issues that likely produced both religious and secular opposition to the new faith. The publication of the Book of Mormon, the claim to prophetic powers, the clannishness and exclusivity of the early Saints, all contributed to the problem. In one particularly enlightening note, Givens explains one aspect of the challenge of Mormonism to existing Christendoms:

The god he [Joseph Smith] preached was accessible, communicative, as bodily and vocally real as the God of Moses; scripture was not a timeless revelation whose origins were shrouded in the mists of history, but an ongoing reality in whose enunciation, transcription, canonization, and publication Joseph and his colleagues had hands-on participation. Priesthood was not a nebulous potential residing in all believers or derived from faith in the Bible, but an actual authorization committed to men through resurrected apostles who visited Joseph Smith and placed physical hands upon his head to effect a tangible connection between his authority to minister and the ministry of Jesus Christ in Palestine. Physical plates with real heft confirmed by a dozen witnesses, seerstones and oracular spectacles, temples of stone rather than flesh, a Zion that could be located on a map, and a gathering that entailed wagons and later handcarts rather than a figurative unity of belief -- in these and other ways Mormonism collapsed the historical, psychological, and ontological distance that became integral to so much of the Christian tradition. As such, Mormonism invited accusations of both banality and blasphemy. (p. 62-3)

I think this gives the reader a clearer idea of what it must have been like to experience the events surrounding the Restoration. As ubiquitous as the missionaries and the Book of Mormon have become in our time, to Joseph's contemporaries, this new religion was a deeply shocking, and somewhat offending, phenomenon.

Chapter 3 proclaims that the Mormons are "Christian with a Difference: Orthodoxy and Heresy in LDS Thought." In this chapter Givens discusses some of the unique points of theology in Mormonism, including the very nature of God, the Word of Wisdom, the place of Gethsemane in the atonement, etc. He also makes an attempt to clarify the place of works in Mormon soteriology. His take is sophisticated, and may go beyond what has been said by other LDS writers. Here's an example:

The role of works in human salvation is that they embody the enacted will of the freely choosing individual. Reward is not a function of what is earned, but of what one chooses to accept as a consequence of God's grace...Works are simply the evidence, in this regard, of a choice to accept that gift. Salvation in the absence of works that reflect human choice would not be grace but coercion...

...commandments and divine directives are not mere tests of obedience or arbitrary decrees, but a template for godliness and a pattern for the divine nature...

Mormons learn that freely rendered obedience to law, godliness, and eternal happiness are all part of the same fabric of divinity. Eternal happiness is the natural consequence of abiding by those laws, prescribed for us, but an act of unwarranted and unfathomable kindness on God's part makes our embrace of those laws both possible and efficacious. (p. 114-5)

In writing about the Word of Wisdom, Givens offers some information that may surprise some readers who have not studied the issue deeply:

Received in 1833, the principle was framed as coming neither by way of "commandment [n]or constraint, but by revelation and the word of wisdom" (DC 89:2). And apparently, few members or even leaders of the church did feel constrained by the revelation, since the prohibited substances continued continued to find fairly general use among them all. Brigham Young gave new emphasis to the revelation in 1851, but more than ten years later, he was more concerned about the economic than religious implications of noncompliance. Noting the vast sums going outside the Territory to import tobacco, he insisted that the crop could be produced in southern Utah so as to avoid "paying outsiders from sixty to eighty thousand dollars annually." With the advent of America's prohibition movement, church attention focused more sharply on alcohol consumption, and the Word of Wisdom became a requirement for temple admission -- the ultimate measure of good standing in the church. (p. 122-3)

It's a fascinating chapter describing Mormon distinctives in an open and honest way.

Chapter 4, "Making Scripture: The Mormon Canon," is fairly self-explanatory. In it he describes efforts to "prove" the Book of Mormon to be true, invoking both faithful and critical views in his reflections. In one carefully worded paragraph, Givens says:

"Archaeology has not proven a friend to Book of Mormon believers, though a remarkable discovery in Yemen has been touted by Mormons as "dramatic new evidence" of Book of Mormon historicity. (p. 145)

He is deliberate in taking a middle road in his view of scholarly and archaeological support for Book of Mormon historicity, a somewhat milder approach than in his previously published By the Hand of Mormon. I don't think this represents a change in his own views but rather a softening of his statements given the probable audience for this book. I may be wrong. If so, I will welcome correction.

He goes on to document some of the ways in which Book of Mormon apologists have attempted to buttress their claims, but again speaks with some caution:

Such examples as these and others may buttress the confidence of the faithful, but do not yet appear to constitute a critical mass of evidence sufficient to interest more than a handful of scholars in ancient studies. (p. 148)

He goes on to discuss briefly the Joseph Smith Translation and the Pearl of Great Price.

Chapter 5 is mainly a discussion of structure and worship. Titled "Temple, Church, and Family: LDS Worship and Organization," it is a rather unremarkable chapter describing what life as a Mormon is like He shows some nice humor here, speaking of Sunday meetings "that tax almost anyone's post-Puritan capacity for endurance" (p. 171). Temple attendance, welfare work, and other aspects of Mormon life are likewise discussed.

In Chapter 6, Givens addresses a meaty issue. Titled "'All Things Are Spiritual': The Church, Politics, and Society," the author looks at some of the hot issues of our day through a Mormon lens. He begins by defining "iron-rod Mormons" and "liahona Mormons," setting the stage for a wide variety of opinions and behaviors on the part of members. He examines the touchy issues of birth control and abortion. I was interested in this comment:

It is not clear what bearing, if any, Mormon doctrine of premortal existence has on their official abortion position. Belief in the eternal existence of human souls, before and after birth, does not extend to any belief as to when that preexisting spirit enters its earthly tabernacle. But certain it is that Mormons remain among the staunchest of opponents to the practice of abortion. (p. 194)

It's an issue I'd never thought about -- just when does the preexisting spirit enter the body? I can't imagine there hasn't been discussion about this; I've just never read any of it.

He moves on to homosexuality, generally supportive of the Church's views, steering away from any controversial statements. He notes the importance of distinguishing between homosexuality as an orientation and homosexual behavior.

The comes the issue of race. He states without question that Joseph Smith ordained a black man, Elijah Abel. He then talks about Brigham Young changing course and excluding any person with a single drop of African blood from the priesthood. Givens uses a phrase -- "the mythology of racial distinctions" (p. 198) -- that tints the discussion in a way that prepares the reader for the following statement:

Because Brigham Young never supported his policy statement with doctrinal elaboration or any claim to special revelation, the practice met with increasing resistance and discomfort on the part of many members and leaders in the twentieth century. (p. 198)

If the priesthood ban was not, in fact, based on any "special revelation," nor was it based on doctrine, then the lifting of the ban seemed inevitable. It would, of course, happen during the tenure of Spencer W. Kimball.

His discussion of feminism describes the role of women in early Mormonism as compared to that role today. There isn't much new here, but there was, I thought a startling omission. After discussing the Relief Society, the magazines they published, etc., as all managed and directed by women, he neglects to mention that control of all of these has since reverted to the male priesthood. I considered this important information and should have been included.

Finally, the Mormon approach to the environment and attitudes toward war and peace are described. Givens believes, as have leaders in the past, that Latter-day Saints ought to be the most fervent environmentalists. However, as he documents, Utah legislators regularly rank at the bottom of lists compiled by environmentalists.

Chapter 7 is titled "'If There is Anything Lovely or Praiseworthy': Intellectual and Cultural Life of the Latter-day Saints." It examines Mormon involvement in the arts and literature, and is very nicely done. If nothing else, Givens merits a gold star for the following words:

The independent Association for Mormon Letters (that conducts conferences and competitions), and journals like *Exponent II*, *Dialogue*, and *Sunstone*, all of which publish fiction and poetry, provide a forum for a small but thriving literary subculture. (p. 238-9)

Anyone who mentions AML in their book is fine in my view!

In the context of literature, he addresses faithful (Deseret Book, etc.) vs. critical (Signature Books, etc.) endeavors, and following the above statement, he cautions: "What remains to be seen is whether the two cultures of Mormon literature will remain relatively polarized." I sincerely hope not.

The final chapter, "Schisms, Secularism, and a Global Church," examines the various Restoration groups that emerged from Joseph Smith's work. Of course, the Community of Christ (RLDS) is discussed, along with notables such as James Strang. Page 251 has an interesting map of the U.S., showing where claimants to Joseph's position settled. There is a brief consideration of modern polygamy, and a drama-filled section titled "Twenty-First Century Tensions." After discussion the role of Leonard Arrington and his scholarly efforts, Givens observes:

...the church over the years has been reluctant to grant full access to its massive archival collections, heightening suspicion and ill will on the part of some non-Mormon historians without and some dissident LDS historians within the church. As a result, the field is sometimes polarized between those perceived to be doing "faithful history" that is blemish free and inaccurate, and dissidents and disaffected Mormon scholars seen to be undermining the faith. (p. 255)

This is, I think, a pretty good way of describing the dichotomy that has emerged in Mormon historical and doctrinal writing.

Appendix A contains short biographies of Church Presidents and other noteworthies. Appendix B contains the Articles of Faith. Appendix C recites the various ecumenical creeds and the extent to which they differ from LDS theology. Appendix D charts membership growth throughout the years. Closing the book is a timeline of Church history, an extensive glossary of Mormon vocabulary, an annotated bibliography and an index.

This is an impressive work, but is unlikely to be embraced by either end of the Mormon spectrum. It introduces members to some aspects of their past -- Brigham Young had tobacco grown in Utah? -- that may come as a surprise. Dissidents and others will object that Givens did not treat the story with sufficient cynicism. So for whom was this book written? I see the audience for this book as similar to other books in the series. As mentioned earlier, I learned about this book from the back cover of another volume in the series, The Buddhist Experience in America. These volumes address religious and metaphysical movements that have impacted the lives of Americans in a clear and comprehensive way. Certainly Mormonism fits into that category.

This isn't a book to give to a new interest, someone wanting a brief introduction to Mormonism. It is, however, a fine volume when read by anyone wanting a comprehensive and sometimes-critical look at the Mormon Restoration movement. It deserves a wide readership.

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Jeff Needle
September 20, 2005