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
“The Queer Philosophies of Men Mingled with Scripture,” and Other Matters

“The Queer Philosophies of Men Mingled with Scripture,” and Other Matters

Last updated on: June 3, 2022 at 3:01 pm by Dan Peterson

“The Queer Philosophies of Men Mingled with Scripture,” and Other Matters 2022-06-03T15:01:57-06:00 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.

On the Garonne River at Dusk
(Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)

***

Three new articles appeared this afternoon (Utah time) in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship:

“Interpreting Interpreter: Believing All the Words,” by Kyler Rasmussen

This post is a summary of the article ““Believe All the Words”: A Key to Spiritual Outpouring” by Mark Campbell in Volume 51 of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship.

An introduction to the Interpreting Interpreter series is available at https://interpreterfoundation.org/interpreting-interpreter-on-abstracting-thought/.

The Takeaway: Campbell identifies nine examples of a pattern in the Book of Mormon that suggests that belief in “all the words” given by God or his prophets prepares the way for further revelation. In terms of scripture, this intertextual pattern appears to be unique to the Book of Mormon, and is reinforced by the words of both ancient and modern prophets.

“The Queer Philosophies of Men Mingled with Scripture,” by Daniel Ortner

Review of Blaire Ostler, Queer Mormon Theology: An Introduction (Newburgh, IN: By Common Consent Press, 2021). 152 pages. $10.95 (paperback).

Abstract: Blaire Ostler attempts to show how “Mormon theology is inherently queer” and may be expanded to be fully “inclusive” of LGBTQ+ members. Unfortunately, Ostler conflates God’s love with indulgence for behavior that he has described as sinful. She offers a pantheistic/panentheistic conception of deity that collapses any differences between men and woman in sharp contrast to the Latter-day Saint understanding that men and women are complementary and require one another for exaltation and eternal life. Many of this book’s arguments are sophistry and the philosophies of men mingled with scripture. None of it is compatible with revealed truth contained in The Family: A Proclamation to the World and consistently taught by prophets, seers, and revelators.

““Believe All the Words”: A Key to Spiritual Outpouring,” by Mark Campbell

Abstract: In the Book of Mormon, many people received a remarkable spiritual outpouring following a declaration or demonstration of full belief in what they had already received or were about to receive. This paper examines nine examples of this that exhibit strong similarities in both language and substance. These examples demonstrate that the key to receiving a spiritual outpouring is to “believe all the words” of God that one has already received or is about to receive, after which great blessings will follow. However, such full belief must be thoughtful and inspired, not merely credulous. The findings of this paper provide another example of the rich narrative and doctrinal patterns in the Book of Mormon.

***

If I’m not mistaken, this Facebook post from late April was the inimitable Jim Bennett’s first substantial take on the FX/Hulu miniseries Under the Banner of Heaven (in which, unfortunately, the accomplished actor Andrew Garfield is seriously implicated). My sharing it here — which I do with Jim Bennett’s kind permission no doubt demonstrates the wrathful obsession with the miniseries with which I’ve been charged. As does the reference in my immediately previous blog entry to a recent discussion of it by Bruce Webster, Mike Parker, and Kris Frederickson on the Interpreter Radio Show. And as does the passing reference in that same post to the Pyrenees mountain range, which is plainly a subliminal memory of Elder Detective Jubilation T. Cornpone Pyre (or whatever Mr. Garfield’s character is called). Anyway, here is Jim Bennett’s first installment:

Sorry, folks. “Under the Banner of Heaven” is unwatchably bad.

Right from the outset, we have problems. The first thing we see are Garfield’s daughters wearing Little House on the Prairie dresses, suggesting a level of familial fundamentalism that is foreign to mainstream Mormons. Immediately, it’s clear that we’re going to see a lot of lazy stereotypes that don’t match the lived experience of those on the inside. Yes, there is a throwaway line that these are “costumes,” but it’s hard to believe that the obvious association with modern polygamist couture is unintentional. When we see the Laffertys at a picnic later in the episode, the young girls and even adult women are similarly attired, reinforcing the deliberate choice to paint Mormons as weirder than we actually are.

In fact, all the Mormon cultural references are weird and jarring, even the small ones. When Garfield says that he’s going to take the lead on the investigation and speak to the suspect “Mormon to Mormon,” he says it with the confidence of someone who assumes this is a normal thing for a Mormon to say. As an active Mormon for 53+ years, I can confidently say that it really isn’t, although I can’t quite put my finger on why. Yes, Garfield speaks his tin-eared dialogue with grace and conviction, but when he’s forced to deliver clunkers like “the Church vigorously discourages beards,” it’s not really his fault that none of it rings true. And when he bursts into the interrogation room quoting the Doctrine and Covenants from memory and barking questions about covenants and altars and temple recommends, it finally shifts from awkward to laughable.

Then we get a flashback where Brenda Lafferty talks about how much our Savior hates Democrats and how she can’t go to the ungodly cities of New York and Chicago and how Jesus wants her at BYU in Salt Lake City, despite the fact that BYU isn’t in Salt Lake City. At this point, the Simpsons episode where Bart gets married in Utah got more things right than this show does. There’s absolutely no way Church members are going to see themselves in this increasingly ludicrous narrative.

And it just doesn’t let up. “Heavenly Father knows you can’t turn an upside down cake to save your life,” Garfield tells his wife. Who talks like that? In or out of the Church? The Attack of the Clones monologue about the evils of sand sounds almost Shakespearean in comparison. In the next flashback, Brenda meets her future in-laws [who] immediately tell her that “gossip is the devil’s playground” and she responds by saying “President Kimball said ‘stand ye in holy places,’ and BYU is a far better fit for those who want to live gospel standards.” It’s as if they lifted all the dialogue from New Era MormonAds.

The problems here, then, have little or nothing to do with the Church. It isn’t just that these characters aren’t authentic Mormons; they’re not authentic human beings. It’s impossible to care about what happens to these stilted cardboard cutouts. No human being has ever asked another human being “Do you all abide by the Word of Wisdom at BYU?” In fact, no human being has used the word “abide” in casual conversation since 1896. Given that Brenda Lafferty was a very real person, it’s sad that her death is being used as agitprop in a weirdly disturbing melodrama that is entirely disconnected from reality.

We get a bizarre lemonade party Book of Mormon reading, and then Brenda causes a scandal for leaving the womenfolk at the lemonade stand to do unwomanly manual labor. Did someone decide that the best way to research Mormon social gatherings was to watch an Amish barn raising? And why couldn’t they be bothered to get simple details right? When Ammon Lafferty announces that he’s going to serve a senior mission for two years, every member of the Church who served a mission in the 1980s knows that senior missions back then were only 18 months long. Not that it matters in terms of the plot, but it matters if they’re trying to convince me that my church is inherently violent and terrible. Why should I take them seriously when they couldn’t be bothered to do even the most casual research to figure out how my church actually works?

The first Joseph Smith flashback makes no sense at all. It shows a prepubescent Joseph wooing a prepubuscent Emma with tales of his vision of God, strongly implying that he’s making it up to impress her. But Joseph didn’t meet Emma until he was 19, five years after the first vision was supposed to have taken place. That’s not a meaningless detail like the length of a senior mission. It’s a significant misrepresentation that demonstrates how fast and loose they’re willing to play with the historical record. This series has exhausted all claims to credibility in its first episode.

I’m in no hurry to watch the rest.

Fortunately, as we’ve already seen, he did watch it.

I, alas, haven’t watched it. Not necessarily out of principle — though that would be a good and sufficient reason by itself — nor even (altogether) out of a lack of interest, but because I haven’t been in North America much lately and haven’t had much time when I have been. Also (and rather curiously, given my alleged obsession with the miniseries), I haven’t actually posted any of my own thoughts about it. I suffer from a weird reluctance to comment on things about which I have no actual knowledge.

Posted from the Garonne River, heading toward the Atlantic from Bordeaux, France

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Queer Mormon Theology

sexuality

Under the Banner of Heaven

Previous Post

June 2, 2022

In the footsteps of Roland and Charlemagne

Next Post

June 4, 2022 Paying our respects to St. André and St. Émilion and to other Saints

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

What kind of bird did Noah send out second from the ark?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Owl Eagle Dove Pidgeon