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Mormon America: The Power and the Promise
- Two book reviews -
The Mormon Story
from: Christianity Today Magazine
November/December 1999
Tania Rands Lyon and John Lyon
This book is long overdue. Once the most persecuted faith in the United States, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the LDS or Mormon church) has emerged as one of the fastest growing and most influential religious groups in the country. It enjoys political representation beyond its 2 percent of the U.S. population (5 percent of the U.S. Senate is Mormon, for example) and now holds assets estimated in the tens of billions of dollars. It is truly an international church; indeed, membership abroad recently surpassed that inside the United States. If growth rates continue as sociologist Rodney Stark has predicted, Mormonism will soon be the newest major world religion since Islam.
In spite of this remarkable status, very little has been written for a general audience on the subject. Mormonism certainly invites sensationalist coverage with its history of colorful prophets, polygamy, theocracy, and temple rites closed to all but committed insiders. Unfortunately, much of what has been published on the LDS church veers to ward defensive apology from believers or acerbic invective from opponents. Other surveys are either tendentious and out of date (America's Saints: The Rise of Mormon Power, by Robert Gottlieb and Peter Wiley, 1986) or geared to a scholarly audience (Mormonism: The Story of a New Religious Tradition, by Jan Shipps, 1985).
Mormon America: The Power and the Promise, by Richard N. and Joan K. Ostling, has broader appeal, although its loose journalistic style of documentation may frustrate the reader accustomed to more careful footnoting of claims. Here at last we have a well-researched and eminently readable overview of Mormonism that is penetrating but also respectful (and therefore able to make sense of why the church inspires such growth and loyalty in its members). Mormon America covers a wide array of topics, from well-known issues like polygamy, racism, and peculiar lifestyle habits to less publicized issues like politics, finances, and theology. Throughout, the authors seek to understand and explain the Mormons by contextualizing them in both mainstream America and contemporary Christianity.
This is no insignificant task in light of an issue that permeates both this book and its predecessors. Stated most simply, there is an "us and them" mentality found in the LDS church, exemplified in an anecdote the Ostlings share about the distinguished historian Leonard Arrington, author of Great Basin Kingdom. When Arrington, a devout Mormon, was called as the first (and only) official church historian not drawn from the ranks of the church's highest ecclesiastical leadership, he discovered his own book on the shelves of the historian's office, filed under the category "anti" ("anti-Mormon literature"): "The book apparently had not provided enough supernatural explanations, so a librarian decided 'if it wasn't pro-Mormon it must be anti.' " As the Ostlings observe, "the thin-skinned and image-conscious Mormons can still display some immature, isolationist, and defensive reactions to outsiders [and even to insiders, such as Arrington], perhaps because there is no substantive debate and no 'loyal opposition' within their kingdom."
This "us and them" mentality is a holdover from the nineteenth century, when the Latter-day Saints constituted a decidedly unwelcome minority in America. But it is surprising to encounter such a stance from an institution that at the end of the twentieth century has surpassed the 10-million membership mark worldwide: "As Jan Shipps observes, Mormonism can no longer employ special pleading for itself as a protected minority. What occurs inside Mormonism is no longer merely an internal matter, and what Mormonism does is becoming vitally important to the larger culture." The Ostlings go to great lengths to circumvent the church's defensiveness and front of silence; their financial estimates, for example, cannot be wholly conclusive since the church will not publicly reveal its assets and revenues. But their tone strives to avoid the "us and them" mentality of both church apologists and antagonists by presenting a spectrum of viewpoints that includes faithful believers, nonpartisan scholars, and dissenters.
Wisely, given their general audience, the authors begin with some of the more exciting aspects of Mormon history and the church's distinctive cultural characteristics before working their way into the theological issues that set Mormonism apart from the rest of Christianity. Indeed they reiterate Rodney Stark's view that those who convert to the LDS church are more often attracted to its social cohesion and highly developed sense of community than to its doctrinal claims. The Ostlings argue that theology is no longer the primary motivator of religious America, and they organize the book accordingly.
Their coverage of early Mormon history is thematic rather than strictly chronological but nonetheless engages the major events and issues and succeeds in making a very complex history accessible. They deal especially well with some of the tangled political tensions between Mormons and their neighbors during the early decades of the movement.
They also go beyond historical narrative to discuss the nuances of writing history within Mormonism. In an intriguing (and disturbing) chapter, the Ostlings discuss the tension between "faithful history" and accurate history within Mormonism. As they point out, "There is a very real sense in which the church's history is its theology. . . . And just as creedal churches have official statements of faith, the Mormon Church tends to have official versions of sacred history." Understandably then, to offer an alternative version of history, no matter how well-documented, is to assail religious truth at its core.
This chapter lists several examples of historians censured by the church for publishing unflattering or potentially faith-damaging details of Mormon history. It also portrays the strict control that the church maintains over its presentation of history. Examples range from the omission of Brigham Young's polygamous wives in a churchwide manual of his teachings to extremely limited access to the church's historical archives. The Ostlings seem more willing to take sides on this subject; here, in contrast to other chapters, they do not conclude on a positive note that emphasizes the potential of a certain aspect of Mormonism. Instead, they leave the reader with the sense that a painful issue remains unresolved.
Much of their book deals with historical data. They devote two entire chapters to the sensitive issue of polygamy, addressing both its historical practice by the Mormon elite, and its current practice by those labeled as "Mormon Fundamentalists." In a very well-researched and well-presented section, the authors cover the contradictions within the turn-of-the-century church as some leaders continued to take plural wives even after the 1890 Manifesto banning polygamy (a revelation issued by then-prophet Wilford Woodruff). Today, thousands of polygamous families scattered throughout Utah, Colorado, and Arizona use this historical disjuncture between official policy and unofficial practice to justify their defiance of the church, which vehemently condemns polygamy and excommunicates those who practice it.
The Ostlings also take up the issue of discrimination against blacks in the LDS church. Rather than leading the reader through a well-worn recitation of the history of the racist policy (members with African ancestry were denied the lay priesthood, open to men of all other races, and were excluded from temple worship), the Ostlings begin by describing the moment of the ban's lifting in 1978 and the impact it had on church members. This revelation holds a place in Mormon consciousness somewhat akin to the Kennedy assassination in mainstream American culture--it was a watershed moment. (On a personal note, one of the authors of this review, who was eight years old when the electrifying announcement reached her family, can remember with great clarity both where she was standing and her mother's tears of relief.)
The chapter that discusses race relations is also refreshingly current. It is by no means comprehensive, however, for the Ostlings virtually ignore the complicated story of Native Americans and Mormonism. The Book of Mormon relates the story of a people living on the American continent, purported to be ancestors of today's Native Americans. The Book of Mormon is dedicated to these "Lamanite" descendants, and LDS interest in their prophesied significance led to the influential but highly controversial Indian Placement Program, which took Native American children off their reservations and fostered them out to white Mormon families.
The Ostlings also devote a chapter to church organization, hierarchy, and mechanisms for transfer of power. They compare the power of a Mormon church president, deemed a "prophet, seer and revelator" by his followers, favorably to that of the Catholic pope and describe some of the characteristics of current president Gordon B. Hinckley's term: a remarkable acceleration in the building of temples and meetinghouses as well as more expansive public relations (in recent years Hinckley has appeared on 60 Minutes and Larry King Live). They also describe how power and decision-making is structured hierarchically.
This is one case in which the Ostlings present the church in a neatly wrapped package according to handbooks on church governance; the result is that they tend to gloss over the realities of church organization and power in practice. They write that "everything flows from the top down" and that decisions within each ward (a local congregation comparable to a parish) are "all very controlled--all very top-down." Even members of the most rigidly centralized corporation will recognize that diverse people can hardly function as smoothly as the Ostlings describe in their presentation of a well-oiled, highly efficient corporation-like organization. The reality of a lay clergy with no formal ministerial training, the differing levels of commitment from members at various stages in their relationship to God and church, and a mixture of colorful personalities can lead to anything but top-down efficiency. The reality experienced on the local level is much more organic and messy.
For many readers, the most interesting parts of the book will be the several chapters devoted to Mormon practices: food storage, emergency preparedness, dietary restrictions, tithing, sacred undergarments, chastity, temple rites, lay ministry and lay priesthood, church services, and full-time missionary work. The authors successfully bring out some of the complex history of each of these; for example, they demonstrate how the Word of Wisdom, a Joseph Smith revelation on dietary constraints, gradually moved from advice to commandment over the course of several decades.
The chapters on theology and Scripture in Mormonism function as a guide to what makes Mormon beliefs so controversial to other Christians. There are a few problems with the Ostlings' account; for example, they seem to give greater canonical weight to documents like Joseph Smith's King Follett discourse (reprinted in the book's appendix) and Smith's translation of parts of the King James Bible than they are actually accorded by the LDS church. But the doctrinal chapters also include a marvelous tour of some of the more interesting Mormon thinking on such fundamentals as the nature of sin, grace, and the Atonement. The authors discuss in detail the distinctive aspects of Mormon doctrine, most notably an idea from the King Follett Discourse summarized later in the phrase "As man now is, God once was, as God now is, man may become." Their attention to the highly distinctive, however, leads them away from what typical Mormons believe and are taught in church. Thus, for example, although many Mormons would affirm that they can eventually become like God (the missionary lessons teach this), few are aware of or pursue the theological implications of a once-mortal god.
The authors also address some of the vexed questions of Mormon scriptural historicity and authenticity, giving full voice to critics. Nonetheless, they end the chapter on doctrine with some appreciation: in LDS theology, they write, "lies a philosophical potential of genuine creative subtlety that Mormon thinkers, drawing on their own doctrinal history, are developing into a theological heritage of considerable depth and complexity."
In spite of occasional minor factual errors1, Mormon America offers a reliable and compelling account of this flourishing religion for insiders and outsiders alike. It brings out what is unique to Mormonism and gives reasonably fair coverage of the religion's strengths and weaknesses. It is sensitive about topics and beliefs that Mormons hold sacred. And it explores very thoroughly some of the conflicts arising from the LDS power structure and the continuing legacy of nineteenth-century Mormon's insider/outsider mentality.
Because it is willing to address difficult issues, this book could not have been written by a Mormon who valued his or her status in the church. Devout Mormons will find certain parts uncomfortable, but they will nonetheless be rewarded with a wealth of interesting information not to be had from other sources. Non-LDS readers will encounter the controversies within Mormondom but will also gain in sights into the powerful attraction this religion holds for its millions of lifelong members and converts. The authors conclude Mormon America with a quote from the current prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley. Referring to the church's growth, he states: "This is a story of success." The same could be said for the Ostlings' book.
Tania Rands Lyon is a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at Princeton University and has published articles on Mormonism in the former Soviet Union. John Lyon teaches German language and literature at Colby College. Both are practicing Mormons.
Saturday, November 13, 1999
Richard Ostling signs "Mormon America: The Power and the Promise" at The King's English Book Shop in Salt Lake City on Monday. (Steve Griffin/The Salt Lake Tribune)
BY BOB MIMS
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has more than doubled its membership to nearly 11 million worldwide during the past two decades, marking the 169-year-old Utah-based faith as an emerging global religion entering the 21st century.
Mormons see a divine hand in the metamorphoses from regional sect to international church that today lists more than half its members overseas. However, Providence has had a lot of help from more earthly absolutes wealth, political heft and savvy public relations, says Richard Ostling, co-author with wife Joan of Mormon America: The Power and the Promise (Harper San Francisco, 1999).
"In the last third of the current century, the Mormon diaspora began in earnest. The Mormon is no longer merely a resident of the Intermountain West. He might be your neighbor, the one most likely to help in a time of crisis, not at all strange," Ostling, a former Time and current Associated Press religion reporter writes in the book's introduction.
However, it was in digging beyond such glowing imagery that Mormon America apparently furled LDS leaders' brows. In detailing Mormon fortunes, power and history, the Ostlings earned a clear, if muted, rebuke from Temple Square.
"We acknowledge the Ostlings' effort to present a comprehensive overview . . . to provide a contemporary view of an ever-expanding worldwide religion," church spokesman Dale Bills said. "[But] like many books that take a secular approach to a spiritual subject, this work sometimes gives scant attention to what Latter-day Saints regard as the essentials of their faith, while over-rating matters of lesser consequences."
While offering no specific areas of concern, LDS leaders traditionally are loathe to discuss finances. Mormon America devotes an entire chapter to the subject, estimating the church's assets at near $30 billion, with more than $5 billion in annual tithing.
If the LDS Church were a U.S. corporation, the Ostlings write, it would land in the middle of the Fortune 500. As a religious entity, the church's economic resources dwarf denominations of similar size. The Seventh-day Adventists, with comparable global membership, reports total revenues around $1.6 million; The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, with similar American membership, comes in at $1.7 billion.
"Mormons don't realize how unusual it is to have investment capital of $5 billion to $6 billion," said Ostling, promoting his book in Utah this week. "The typical American religion has assets in just three areas: church buildings, pension plans and cash-and-carry money in the front door and out the back for expenses."
The Ostlings estimate the LDS Church held $6 billion in stock, bond and church-controlled business investments in 1997. Agricultural and commercial real estate holdings accounted for another $5 billion.
"I don't know of any religion that is so invested in stocks, bonds, cattle ranching, etc.," Ostling said, noting that that financial foundation has helped President Gordon B. Hinckley launch a massive building program aimed at having 100 operating temples worldwide entering the new millennium.
Besides winning of souls, the LDS Church also has flexed its considerable political muscle in the battle for American morals. For example, in Hawaii, Alaska and most recently California, Mormons have figured prominently in well-financed campaigns against same-sex marriage.
Then there is Congress. Following the 1998 elections, a record 16 Mormons were in Washington 11 in the House and five in the Senate. Two of them, Utah's Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett, were at the forefront of the unsuccessful effort to oust President Clinton.
To its wealth and its political voice, the church adds a public relations operation that Ostling sees as the catalyst for Mormonism's explosive expansion since 1980, when membership was just 4.6 million.
"Gordon Hinckley is the godfather of Mormon publicity," Ostling writes, noting the now 89-year-old "prophet, seer and revelator" of the church birthed what is the faith's media-relations department in 1935.
"His whole life has been devoted to mainstreaming the Mormon community and its image," the author said. "He's one of the shrewdest tacticians among American religious leaders today."
The church's biggest public-relations challenge remains, Ostling said. In 2002, Utah 70 percent Mormon will host the Winter Olympic Games. In all, 3,500 athletes and coaches, 10,000 journalists and hundreds of thousands of visitors will visit, joined by millions more viewing on television.
Not coincidentally, the Games also provide perfect timing for release of Mormon America, said Elbert Peck, editor of the respected independent Mormon periodical Sunstone.
"It's clearly to make money off the Olympics. Thousands of journalists are coming and they will definitely buy the book, plus the thousands of others who walk through the airport," he said. "It's good timing."
Ostling acknowledges Mormon America is a natural outgrowth of his 1997 Time cover piece on LDS finances, "Mormons, Inc." and a desire to provide "a carefully researched survey on the Mormon phenomenon" that could serve as a comprehensive, one-volume reference.
In that vein, it succeeds, Peck said. However, he laments that the book fails to show "the larger picture of life in the church. He deals with the kind of questions journalists ask. They follow the money, but they don't really portray what is happening within Mormonism, and why people stay and believe it is true."
While Peck argues that Mormon America "is not a mean-spirited book," he allows that it contains much that Latter-day Saints would find uncomfortable, if not offensive.
For example, the book not only details temple rituals that Mormons hold sacred and secret, but suggests there are Masonic roots for those rites; discusses questions about Joseph Smith's divine claims for his Book of Mormon; and summarizes the church's troubled polygamous past, including charges that LDS leaders secretly approved plural marriages long after outlawing the practice in 1890.
The authors' dependence, in part, on such Mormon dissidents as historian D. Michael Quinn and Sandra and Jerald Tanner, authors of several works critical of LDS doctrine, apparently stirred church leaders' ire.
As church spokesman Bills put it: "Given the book authors' overreliance on sources antagonistic to the church, we anticipate many will be disappointed with it."
Ostling countered that he and his wife strived for balance and accuracy, and achieved it.
"In its entirety, the book depends on LDS sources," he said. "What we did was try to portray the issues from the inside, what Mormon researchers, historians and dissidents and ordinary believers feel and experience and the questions they have asked."
Ostling, who describes himself as a "conventional Protestant," denies having any personal religious agenda, though he allows "devout members of the LDS Church might take exception to things in the book."
If Mormon America does not enjoy its subject's approval, it is receiving praise outside the faith.
"The Ostlings have impeccable evangelical credentials and have written a fair-minded overview of Mormonism," declared Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary. "This is a breakthrough, coming from a community that has often demonized and been demonized by Mormonism."
Mouw, also a professor of Christian Philosophy at the Pasadena, Calif., campus, further credits Mormon America as "signaling a new level of respectful disagreement between Mormons and traditional Christians."
The book receives a more measured endorsement from Jan Shipps, a respected non-Mormon chronicler of the LDS Church.
"It is important to have a responsible journalist reporting on Mormonism [and Ostling] is a responsible journalist and he understands how to do religion reporting," she said. "However, it also is important to recognize that this is reportage and not analysis."
Mormon America is a welcome addition to books about the faith, Shipps says, but it falls short of answering deeper questions about "what it means to be Mormon."
But then again, that is a task no one is likely to complete to universal satisfaction, she said.
"When you have a movement this complex, important and developing the way it is, the be-all, end-all study of a tradition probably is not going to happen in any definitive way," said Shipps. "There are too many understandings of Mormonism, you have to come at it from all directions."
Page Modified December 6, 1999