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
History and Religion
Church Leaders as White Supremacists? Defective Chiasms?

Church Leaders as White Supremacists? Defective Chiasms?

Last updated on: December 1, 2023 at 12:24 pm by Dan Peterson

0 Comments

Church Leaders as White Supremacists? Defective Chiasms? 2023-12-01T12:24:53-07:00 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.

“Alma Baptizes in the Waters of Mormon” by Minerva Teichert (1888-1976)
Wikimedia Commons public domain image

Two new articles appeared today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation:

“Asymmetry in Chiasms, With a Note About Deuteronomy 8 and Alma 36,” written by Stephen Kent Ehat

Abstract: Some students of the Book of Mormon have claimed that chapter 36 of the book of Alma is structured as a chiasm. Some of the proposals depart from perfect symmetry, presenting elements of the suggested chiasm seemingly out of sequence. This has often been pointed to as a weakness in the proposed chiasm or as a problem arising from translation or editorial work, or even as evidence that no real chiasm exists over the text of the chapter. Perhaps, however, asymmetry may be a deliberate feature of ancient chiasmus. Understanding the presence and role of occasional asymmetry or skews, as they are called, may help us better appreciate the rhetorical tools employed in crafting chiastic texts anciently. In particular, we can see that the structure of Alma 36 may well be a beautifully crafted chiasmus featuring what may be an intentional skew similar to those that scholars have identified elsewhere in scripture. One such other chiastic text with a skew in it appears to be Deuteronomy 8. Indeed, one skew proposed in Alma 36, together with conceptual and other structural characteristics of the text, including the proposed chiasm of the text, perhaps suggests that some of the message and structure of Deuteronomy 8 may have served as a model for part of the message and structure of Alma 36.

“Interpreting Interpreter: Imperfect Symmetry,” written by Kyler Rasmussen

This post is a summary of the article “Asymmetry in Chiasms, With a Note About Deuteronomy 8 and Alma 36” by Stephen Kent Ehat in Volume 59 of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship. All of the Interpreting Interpreter articles may be seen at https://interpreterfoundation.org/category/summaries/. An introduction to the Interpreting Interpreter series is available at https://interpreterfoundation.org/interpreting-interpreter-on-abstracting-thought/.

The Takeaway: Ehat argues that the imperfections in the symmetry of chiasms, or skews, do not necessarily invalidate a proposed structure, but may have been included on purpose to highlight portions of the text or to avoid imitating divine perfection. He applies this to the skews of Alma 36, suggesting that they may serve a literary purpose and that they align with skews seen in biblical chiasms.

“An angel appears to Alma the Younger and the sons of Mosiah”
(Minerva Teichert, ca 1950-51; LDS.org)

I failed to supply a link to the article on which I drew for yesterday’s blog entry, so here it is: Walker Wright and Don Bradley, “‘None That Doeth Good’: Early Evidence of the First Vision in JST Psalm 14.” I commend it to your attention.

Today, I’ve turned to a review essay that appears in the same volume of BYU Studies: Michael Goodman and Daniel Frost, ” Constancy amid Change: Latter-day Saint Discourse on Gender and Sexuality,” BYU Studies Quarterly 61/3 (2022): 191-217. The article considers the arguments and claims of Taylor G. Petrey, Tabernacles of Clay: Sexuality and Gender in Modern Mormonism (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2020). Michael Goodman is an associate professor in the Department of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University, where Daniel Frost is an assistant teaching professor who also serves as Director of Public Scholarship in the School of Family Life.

This passage seems to me quite significant apart from the overall thesis of the review essay, which is, of course, also very important. With one exception, I’ve omitted the footnotes:

A search of general conference addresses from 1851 to 2020 for the words “race,” “races,” “racial,” “racism,” “black,” “Negro,” “Caucasian,” and “skin” (almost 2,200 references) failed to produce a single direct reference to maintaining white or any other racial purity. There were problematic race-based statements in general conference that showed the speaker did not believe in the equality of different races. However, none of the general conference statements explicitly advocated for maintaining white or any other kind of racial purity.

Knowing of the several explicitly racist statements by early Church leaders, some of which are listed in Tabernacles of Clay, we expected to find many such statements in the more than two thousand references in general conference since 1851. We were surprised at the result. Again, there were a few statements that would be justifiably considered racist by most people today. However, by a margin of well over 20 to 1, the majority of statements from general conference regarding race affirmed the dignity and worth of all people and called upon Church members to do better in their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors toward all races.* Some of these statements explicitly condemned the belief in white racial superiority. One example is David O. McKay, who condemned those in the world who were “arrogating to themselves racial superiority.”

It might be tempting to believe that the teachings of the latter half of the twentieth century created this largely nonracist teaching record. But that is not what the actual search found. Statements about racial equality and human dignity were spread throughout the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries. It is also true that the few problematic statements were predominately from the nineteenth century. This comprehensive search of every talk in general conference shows the complex nature of racial understanding even in the early days of the Church. Would it be accurate to state that Church leaders held no racist beliefs because the overwhelming majority of their statements about race in general conference were remarkably egalitarian? No—we have sufficient counterexamples to disprove that view. Would it be accurate to claim that Church leaders believed and regularly taught white supremacy and the need to maintain white racial purity since the historical record shows that a few did? No—such a claim is not supported by the overall record.

(*footnote) Examples often spoke of the oneness of man, that God is the father of all of us, that all are alike (often quoting or paraphrasing 2 Nephi 26:33), that all are called to be saved, that all have equal rights, that all humankind’s spiritual nature is that of God’s children, and so forth. Several of these statements came from individuals for which we also have record of more racist statements, including Brigham Young (May 1871), Charles Penrose (April 1880), George Q. Cannon (April 1879, October 1880), and Orson F. Whitney (April 1928).

Posted from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

History and Religion

Relationships and Religion

Previous Post

November 30, 2023

Psalms 14 and 24, the First Vision, and the Temple

Next Post

December 2, 2023 A modern prophet on bigotry and misogyny

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"Yes. My feed says content unavailable….Hmmm"

Ideeho

Notes toward planning my funeral

"I just finished watching episode 40. Grab a handkerchief for this one. I have watched ..."

Larry Arnett

Notes toward planning my funeral

"Becoming Brigham: Episode 40Thank you Dan and Company for bringing us closer to understanding the ..."

Theodore Brandley

Notes toward planning my funeral

"The offending post is still there on my feed. You're referring to the "Celebration" etc ..."

Phil Leaning

Notes toward planning my funeral

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

I sent an army of singers before my army, and God set ambushes against our enemies. Who am I?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Asa Jehoshaphat David Hezekiah