Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
Revelation, human or divine?

Revelation, human or divine?

Last updated on: March 19, 2019 at 10:18 pm by Dan Peterson

Revelation, human or divine? 2019-03-19T22:18:03-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A cover illustration, from Amazon.com
This is probably my favorite image of President Spencer W. Kimball

The other day, I called attention to a discouraging piece from Dr. Jeff Lindsay, the Interpreter Foundation’s man in China:

“Friendly Fire from BYU: Opening Old Book of Abraham Wounds Without the First Aid”

He has now followed up on that short essay with a more upbeat one:

“My Uninspired ‘Translation’ of the Missing Scroll/Script from the Hauglid-Jensen Presentation”

***

http://blog.fairmormon.org/2016/01/12/what-did-president-kimball-think-about-pressure-regarding-the-pre-1978-priesthood-ban/

This isn’t, of course, merely a historical issue. There are those who believe, or who claim to believe, that the 1978 revelation on priesthood was received, in large or small part, because pressure from dissidents forced President Kimball to take the matter to the Lord. And they conclude from that historical notion that dissident pressure today will ultimately lead to a revelation (or, as some frankly put it, a “revelation”) authorizing __________ . (Fill in the blank with gay marriage in the temples or the ordination of women or repudiation of historical Mormon polygamy or admission that the Book of Mormon is fictional or whatever the favored cause happens to be.)

The invaluable Greg Smith published this item back in 2016 on the FairMormon blog. In it, he marshals evidence to show that, whatever other merits the claim regarding President Kimball’s revelation might have, President Kimball himself would have disagreed with it.

***

A decisive coal-burning theological refutation?

Some years ago I made a long study of just what objections had been raised against Mormonism in the past. From the beginning it was always the same. Nobody was really worried about polygamy, which was in fact a welcome stick to beat the Mormons with; the ferocious denunciations from press and pulpit, the incitement of mobs, and the stampeding of legislatures always rested on one thing alone—the incredible fact that in an age of modern enlightenment, universal education, and scientific supremacy there should be found coexisting with Christian civilization a community of primitives so ignorant, so deluded, and depraved as to believe in revelations from heaven and the operation of charismatic gifts.

“Sophic and Mantic,” Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 10:360-61

Two illustrations:

“It is impossible,” wrote the radical German Protestant theologian Rudolf Bultmann (d. 1976), “to use the electric light and the wireless and to avail ourselves of modern medical and surgical discoveries, and at the same time to believe in the New Testament world of daemons and spirits. We may think we can manage it in our own lives, but to expect others to do so is to make the Christian faith unintelligible and unacceptable to the modern world.

One is also reminded of the British philosopher John Stuart Mill’s brief discussion, in his classic 1859 essay On Liberty, of what he called “the remarkable phenomenon of Mormonism.” “Much might be said,” he wrote, “on the unexpected and instructive fact, that an alleged new revelation, and a religion founded on it . . . is believed by hundreds of thousands, and has been made the foundation of a society, in the age of newspapers, railways, and the electric telegraph.”

Uncategorized

1978

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

modern revelation

Mormonism

revelation

Previous Post

March 19, 2019

Thinking about mosques today

Next Post

March 19, 2019 New Testament Notes 128-129

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Where did Elisha perform many miracles?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Bethel Samaria Jericho Shunem