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
England, anybody?

England, anybody?

Last updated on: January 9, 2023 at 1:52 pm by Dan Peterson

0 Comments

England, anybody? 2023-01-09T13:52:05-07:00 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.

The first Latter-day Saint baptisms in the United Kingdom were performed in the River Ribble, near Preston, Lancashire.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

With a group of friends (mostly neighbors and former neighbors), we are putting together a private bus tour for this summer to church history and general historical sites in England and just a bit of Scotland. (Some of the sites will probably play a role in our new “Six Days in August” film project, and it’s likely that at least one of our principal filmmakers from Witnesses and Undaunted and the “Insights” short-video series, and perhaps all three, will be in our party.) Our goal is to have a total of twenty-six people in the group, which currently leaves us space for about ten additional participants. We will be touring from 6-17 June 2023, beginning in Edinburgh and ending in London. I will not be the guide or lecturer on the trip, though my natural loquaciousness and overweening sense of self-importance will probably prevent me from remaining altogether silent. Airfare is high right now and the cost of the trip is not insubstantial, but we would welcome others joining us. Our Latter-day Saint tour guide in England is wonderful and very knowledgeable — my wife and I have known him for years now — and we hope to include a session at the Preston England Temple. We are leaving the basic touring of Edinburgh and London to individuals or couples to do as add-ons. We will have only one day, 17 June, programmed in London. That will allow you flexibility to add days as you want. If you are interested, we will need to know within the next couple of days. If you have any real interest please email my wife at [email protected] and she will give you the details. (She’ll be on airplanes much of today, so please don’t worry if there’s a little bit of delay before she responds.)

P.S. — In an almost certainly futile attempt to head off the predictable attacks, permit me to state clearly that my wife and I will be paying our own way on this trip. Entirely. Neither the totality of the tour nor any portion thereof will be picked up for us by donors to the Interpreter Foundation, by the tithe payers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or by the Church itself or any entity connected therewith, nor by enslaved workers in Communist labor camps.

Antara b. Shaddad in a medieval manuscript illumination
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

England is the land of two of my ancestral lines; Scotland is the home of another. And that’s true of many American Latter-day Saints. Which puts me in mind not only of England but of ancestors.

Some time ago, driving back from a lecture, I listened to a selection from Sir Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations on KBYU-FM. Afterwards, the host of the program related an anecdote about Elgar. It has stayed in my mind ever since:

Although he certainly ranks among the greatest of English composers, Sir Edward (1857-1934) was apparently quite shy and deeply modest.

So when, at some point late in the life of Queen Victoria (d. 1901), the monarch invited Elgar to some sort of event at Buckingham Palace, he waited until the last possible moment to respond. And then he declined, saying that he felt that the distinguished aristocrats gathered at the event would not wish it to be ruined by the presence of a mere piano tuner’s son and his wife.

Perhaps it’s because I’m American and perhaps it’s because we’re living in a distinctly egalitarian age, but I find such a response — at least in the way he expressed it; not necessarily his disinterest in attending some sort of formal royal “cocktail party,” since I don’t enjoy such events either — quite mystifying.

Sir Edward Elgar should not have felt himself outclassed in the presence of a mere bunch of aristocrats who had inherited money and titles from ancestors centuries before — ancestors who, in many cases, were essentially buccaneers, extortionists, and gang leaders. Instead of Elgar, a man whose music is still played and admired internationally, Lord Nondescript, Lady Lacktalent, and Sir Reginald Bland should have been the people feeling outclassed. They are, by and large, forgotten except as dusty entries in Burke’s Peerage. And justly so.

Sir Edward’s story reminded of a tale out of pre-Islamic Arabia. One of my favorites. Perhaps I’ve told it here before, but, well, it’s my blog and I’m going to tell the story again.

One of the great poets of the Arabic tradition is Antarah b. Shaddad, or Antar (AD 525-608). (As I type, I’m overwatched by an image of him done by an Egyptian-artist friend.) He was the son, it is said, of a Bedouin chieftain and an Ethiopian slave. True, she had been a princess in her native land, but now she was a slave, and her son was half black. He didn’t have the status of a freeborn Arab in that society.

There came a time when his father’s tribe was engaged in a fierce battle with a rival tribe, and the rivals were gaining the upper hand. Antarah was standing on a ridge overlooking the fight and, as he had been charged to do, minding the camels of the warriors. The work, as both he and they saw it, of a menial.

Finally, one of his half brothers managed to climb up the ridge and begged Antarah to join the fight. It has to be understood that the half brothers had long been among those who had mocked Antarah for his half-slave origin. But, of course, now that the situation was desperate they needed his help. “Sorry,” Antarah responded. “I’m a slave and a slave’s son. I’m not worthy to fight alongside you.” “Okay!” came the reply. “You’re free now! Please! Join us!”

Antarah waded into the fight and, as you might expect — it’s why the story is told still today — routed the enemy. Eventually, his exploits in battle won him the epithet of “the Bedouin Achilles.”

But the story I’m really after is this one:

Some years later, another Arabian aristocrat, encountering Antarah, mocked him as a person lacking a distinguished lineage. By this time, though, Antarah had achieved renown both as a warrior and as a poet. And his response to the man mocking him is classic:

“You,” he told him, “represent the end of your noble line. I represent the beginning of mine.”

When the Sadducees and Pharisees came to John the Baptist, secure in the nobility of their descent, he told them “Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham” (Matthew 3:9).

Book of Mormon Witnesses

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Undaunted: Witnesses of the Book of Mormon

Witnesses

Witnesses film

Witnesses of the Book of Mormon

Previous Post

January 7, 2023

It Came from Outer Space, Maybe, or Perhaps from the Black Lagoon

Next Post

January 9, 2023 "At that time I was no longer in my body."

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"Sutherland's lecture sounds interesting. He seems to restate the Washington consensus that trade brings peace ..."

B. Wilson

Learning more about a region of ..."

"In a meeting today, I learned another important reason why accurate (or at least as ..."

the PROBLEM

From Serbia’s “White City,” Belgrade

"I've been watching a lot of video interviews of NDErs and researchers. I think in ..."

brotheroflogan

Accounts of Premortality?

"PL: "Let's hope he doesn't have your address..."I have to frankly confess that a few ..."

DanielPeterson

From Serbia’s “White City,” Belgrade

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

Who interpreted dreams for a Persian king about goats and rams?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Daniel Obadiah Hosea Joel