Reading Elder Holland’s Dissertation

Last updated on: April 6, 2009 at 7:24 pm by smallaxe

Reading Elder Holland’s Dissertation 2009-04-06T19:24:49-05:00 smallaxe

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.

I knew that Elder Holland graduated from Yale with a PhD in American Studies, but it never occurred to me until General Conference (while I was watching him speak), that it might be available online via ProQuest (UMI’s Microfilm initiative). Most university libraries, by the way, have subscriptions that will let you download the dissertation for free.

Sure enough, when I searched for his name, his 1973 dissertation was in the database, and in less than 30 seconds the entire 300 page document was on my computer. I haven’t had a chance to really read through it (and given my current reading list, I’m not sure when I will); however, I at least wanted to put up the abstract and get other’s thoughts on it.

“Mark Twain’s Religious Sense: The Viable Years–1835-1883”

Kenneth Burke has written that the poet naturally tends to write about that which most deeply engrosses him, and that nothing more deeply engrosses him than his burdens. Religion was Mark Twain’s burden: he thought about it and talked about it and wrote about it all his life. He frequently called this adversary Presbyterianism but Twain cared little for the nuances of sectarian delination. He could defame Christian, Jew, and Moslem in the same breath, and while that did not necessarily make him the ‘savage’ Bernard DeVoto suggests, it surely precluded any Howellsean-like distress over the distinction between a Universalist and a Unitarian.

But if Twain did not have a mind tuned to fine theological distinctions, he did nevertheless have a soul gripped by the Puritan fathers. In Walt Whitman’s phrase that ‘interior consciousness’ which in the religious sense was as tinged with ‘animal heat’ in Sam Clemens as it was in any revivalist who ever leaped upon a stump. Sin, punishment, conscience, duty, the fear of God, death–these were the staples in his moral pantry. In fact there is considerable evidence that Twain seriously considered the ministry several times in his life, usually when he was out of work and desperate. But, as he told his brother, he could not supply himself with ‘the necessary stock in trade–i.e. religion.’ So he accepted his ‘call’ to humorous literature wherein he might ‘excite the laughter of God’s creatures.’

When discussing Twain’s religious position, most of his biographers have focused on his last decades, those ‘damned human race’ years which were so full of financial strife and personal tragedy. It is contended in this study that the earlier years, stretching from Hannibal to Hartford, are not only crucial to any real understanding of the later skepticism but also much more revealing to students of American cultural history. Paul Tillich’s proposition that religion is the substance of culture, and culture the form of religion was never more axiomatic than it was for Samuel Clemens.

The Clemens odyssey from 1835 to 1883 reveals scenes of a remarkably varied religious experience. He knew Millerites, Mormons, and more Beechers than he cared to. He attended seances and camp meetings and church socials at every turn. Above all he prided himself on running with ‘the fast nags of the cloth,’ whatever their denomination. Most importantly these years include the time of his most concentrated efforts toward becoming a professing Christian. The incentive for the quest was the hand of Olivia Langdon but the pilgrimage was real and it led him to the spiritual zenith of his life.

Having won the girl he was to love with all his heart, the need for less substantial gods decreased. Gradually there were more and more statements against the orthodoxy of his age until, in “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, the boy who is father to the man chooses to flee the shams and strictures of Protestant America’s civilization. Years later Clemens confessed that 1883–the year he finished “Huckleberry Finn”–marked the point in his spiritual descent before which pessimism was impractical and after which optimism was impossible. This study concludes there: at the end of whatever viability his religious faith may have had and at the beginning of all that impiety ahead.

Okay, I’m not an Americanist, and I haven’t read past page 20, but it seems to be decent scholarship. FWIW, not all dissertations are (spend some time on ProQuest and you’ll see what I mean, if you already don’t). Beyond that I have to admit that I’m pleasantly surprised that someone in the Twelve has produced a substantial document in a genre similar to the one I find myself working in–an academically acceptable dissertation in the humanities (if we can in fact call this a ‘genre’). Holland even quotes Tillich!

Alright, before I reveal more about my own presuppositions concerning Church leadership than I’d like to, I’ll stop here.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

April 5, 2009

What, if anything, do GAs read?

Next Post

April 8, 2009 That Same Sociality

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 2013 Scriptures Administrative Apologetics Atonement Bible Book of Mormon Book Review BYU Doctrine Extra-Biblical Literature Family Feminism Guests History LDS Church History Leadership Marginalia Metaphysics Mormon Culture Mormon Studies Personal Issues Political Philosophy Politics Scripture Sexuality Speculation Spotlights Studying Religion Ten Tidbits The Tenure Track Theology Tips on Applying Series Tips on Being an Independent Scholar Uncategorized

Select a Month June 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 July 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz