Mormons at the University of Chicago Divinity School: A Personal Reminiscence

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The Mormon people have traditionally maintained a healthy respect for higher education. It was in the spirit of that tradition that toward the end of the nineteenth century Church leaders began to encourage certain promising young men and women to leave Utah in order to obtain advanced degrees and then bring the advantages of their learning back to the Mormon community. In the 1930s, leaders in the Church educational program were impressed with the great need for Mormon teachers of religion to be thoroughly trained in Biblical and other religious studies. Russel B. Swensen was among a group of young Mormon scholars who were, in effect, called to attend the Divinity School of the University of Chicago for the purpose of pursuing graduate degrees in the field of religious education. While similar encouragement had been given to earlier students, never had it been quite this official. Here Professor Swensen suggests that the faith of the leaders was not misplaced. 

It was in the year 1930, after an unusual “calling” from the Church, that I made a momentous personal decision: to enter the Divinity School of the University of Chicago and work toward the Ph.D. degree in Biblical Studies. I had been teaching seminary for four years, but now, impressed with the need for greater understanding of the background of the Scriptures and convinced that I could make my best contribution to the Church only after studying under the finest Biblical scholars in the country, I became one of several Church educators who decided to take what, for a Mormon, would be a most unusual step. What follows are my personal reminiscences concerning why we went to the Chicago Divinity School, what we did there and the ultimate value of this experience. 

I am aware, of course, that to many Mormons today, as in the 1930’s, the term “divinity school” carries rather unfortunate connotations. It often suggests a place concerned primarily with theological disputation and with educating ministers who preach with a “holy whine” but with little genuine spirituality. Actually, however, religious education has been one of the most influential institutions in the history of western civilization. It flourished in the monastic and cathedral schools and universities of the Middle Ages. It was especially vital in Protestant and Catholic divinity schools after the Reformation. In America, the most respected intellectual, religious and public-spirited leaders among the New England Puritans were ministers educated at Yale and Harvard. In the great German universities of the last two centuries the theologian, Bible scholar, and church historian have been the peers of their secular academic colleagues. 

The Prophet Joseph Smith had an enthusiastic interest in Biblical studies and languages. He and other church leaders often expressed the need for a better translation of the Bible than the King James Version. The Prophet even stated his preference for the Martin Luther Version. This interest led him to hire Rabbi Joshua Seixas of Hudson, Ohio, to teach Hebrew to the School of the Prophets in Kirtland, although the pressure of many perplexing problems prevented the school from making much progress in Hebrew. Orson Pratt was by far the best student, an omen of his future intellectual achievements. 

But during the nineteenth century, the Church produced few real scholars in the field of Biblical studies, as interest seemed to lag. One of the first modern L. D. S. students to revive interest in Biblical languages was William H. Chamberlain (1870-1921). A graduate in science from the University of Utah, Chamberlain developed a profound interest in advanced studies in religion and philosophy. In 1902 and 1903 he attended summer sessions at the University of Chicago Divinity School where he took classes in Greek and Hebrew, the life and teachings of Jesus, and philosophy. He was appointed Professor of Ancient Languages and Philosophy at Brigham Young University where he taught from 1910 to 1916. A man of deep religious convictions and outstanding intellectual ability, he made considerable progress by individual study in the subjects he had begun at Chicago. An inspiring teacher, he helped many students whose faith was disturbed by the impact of scientific and philosophical thought to achieve a more mature religious and intellectual perspective. His influence was reflected in the lives of many of B. Y. U/s most eminent and respected leaders: Carl F. Eyring, Hugh M. Woodward, Thomas L. Martin, William J. Snow, Wilford Poulson, B. F. Larsen, and Vasco M. Tanner. 

The first L. D. S. scholar to obtain the doctorate in divinity school education was Sidney B. Sperry. After securing a B. S. degree in chemistry from the University of Utah in 1917 and serving in World War I, Sperry became a seminary teacher. Feeling limited and dissatisfied with the elementary sources available to him and his own lack of graduate religious education, he determined to become professionally trained. After considerable investigation he decided that the Divinity School of the University of Chicago was most outstanding, and he sought counsel from the general authorities. Their response was almost unanimously negative, but he was determined and made plans to attend the Chicago school anyway. He left his small family in Utah and enrolled in the autumn of 1925. He chose Old Testament languages and literature as his major field and obtained the M. A. degree in 1926. After another year’s study he was appointed Director of the L. D. S. Institute of Religion at the University of Idaho at Moscow. After completing his dissertation, he was awarded the Ph. D. degree from the University of Chicago in 1931. Securing a year’s leave of absence, he spent the year 1931-32 in Palestine where he studied at the American School of Oriental Research and the Hebrew University at Jerusalem. Here he became acquainted with some of the leading Jewish, European, and American scholars in Semitic and Biblical studies. He began to teach at B. Y. U. in 1932 where he taught until his retirement in 1970. He was a highly effective and popular teacher, and a prolific author of many scholarly books, church manuals, and articles dealing with Biblical and modern scriptural studies. He instituted a successful department of Semitic studies at B. Y. U. and four of his former students have obtained the Ph.D. degree in this field.

An educational leader who stimulated advanced intellectual training and religious education was Dr. Adam S. Bennion, L. D. S. Commissioner of Edu cation from 1920 to 1928. He held a Ph.D. degree in literature and was fully abreast of modern intellectual trends. He was also aware of the limited background of the seminary teachers in Biblical studies. To help alleviate this problem he placed scholarly books dealing with historical and literary analysis of the Bible in all seminary libraries. I was employed by Dr. Bennion in the summer of 1926 to teach seminary, and taught until June, 1930. I found the above mentioned books on Biblical studies extremely fascinating and challenging by their use of the historical approach to the books of the Bible. The year and a half in which I worked under Dr. Bennion’s enthusiastic and inspiring leadership had a profound effect upon my thinking and goals in education. 

Commissioner Bennion, in 1927, secured the cooperation of Elder John A. Widtsoe of the Council of the Twelve and President Franklin S. Harris of the Brigham Young University to have a six-week educational institute for all seminary teachers at the Alpine Summer School at Aspen Grove. The purpose of this project was to enrich and integrate the intellectual and theological thinking of these teachers of which I was one. The major contribution to this seminar program was made by Elder Widtsoe. A graduate of Harvard with a Ph.D. from the University of Gottingen, Germany, he had been president of Utah State University and the University of Utah. With an academic background in science and his extensive studies in religion and Mormon thought, he fully understood the issues and problems of what has been called “the conflict between science and religion.” With his masterful exposition of the goals, methods, and truths of both scientific and religious thought, he broadened the base upon which one should evaluate these two great aspects of experience and inquiry. Many of those present in the seminar of 1927 have since affirmed that his teaching plus his personification of great faith and rationality profoundly affected their own religious and intellectual thinking. Dr. Bennion was also highly effective in his eloquent exposition of the idea that faith and intellectuality were mutually compatible. The influence of these men stimulated many of us with a desire to enter graduate schools, and within three years three of us entered a divinity school. 

A further step toward Mormon involvement in divinity school education was taken by Heber C. Snell, a former student of William H. Chamberlain. Snell attended the Pacific School of Religion at Berkeley, California in 1926-27. His primary interest was Biblical literature and languages. In the summer of 1928 he gave an informative and scholarly course on the literature of the Old Testament at the B. Y. U. summer school. As a student in the class I was particularly impressed by his historical approach to the subject and his deep appreciation of the religious message of the Old Testament. 

Dr. Joseph F. Merrill succeeded Dr. Bennion as Church Commissioner of Education in 1928. He proved to be a vigorous advocate of graduate education for seminary teachers. A distinguished scholar with a Ph.D. in physics from Johns Hopkins University, he had been dean of the College of Mines and Engineering at the University of Utah from 1897 to 1928. He was noted for his rigorous scholarship and advocacy of uniformly high standards for both faculty and students in his college. He zealously tried to pursue the same policy during his years as commissioner, 1928-1933. Highly impressed by Sperry’s enthusiasm and achievements at the University of Chicago, he had him teach all seminary teachers at the B. Y. U. summer school of 1929. Sperry’s mastery of Old Testament studies, his friendly personality and his ability as a teacher were most stimulating to me, as well as to most of the other young teachers who were planning to devote their lives to Church education. 

Sperry’s scholarship and his own high standards of academic performance prompted Commissioner Merrill to take a momentous step. In the spring of 1930, he selected George S. Tanner, Daryl Chase and myself to attend the University of Chicago Divinity School. Each of us had previously expressed his intention of pursuing graduate studies, but this invitation came as a com plete surprise. We were granted a stipend of half salary for one year and we were told that re-employment in the Church school system would depend upon our faith and continued loyalty to the Church. 

About the same time, through the initiative of Sidney Sperry, arrangements were made by Dr. Merrill to have some of the most eminent scholars of the University of Chicago Divinity School teach the seminary teachers in B. Y. U. summer school sessions. Dr. Edgar J. Goodspeed, the distinguished New Testament scholar, was the first to come in the summer of 1930. His vital and friendly personality, enthusiasm for his subject, and his stimulating lectures made his classes an outstanding success. T. Edgar Lyon said that Goodspeed was a major influence in his decision to go to the Divinity School at Chicago in 1932. Other professors who taught in 1931-33 were Dr. William C. Graham, an Old Testament scholar, Dr. John T. McNeill, a medieval church historian, and William C. Bower, a specialist in religious education. Like Dr. Goodspeed, they were competent and popular teachers. I met all of them later in Chicago and was impressed by their high praise for the B. Y. U. and for the vitality and high quality of the Mormon religion. Dr. Graham once told Daryl Chase and me that he believed Joseph Smith was inspired of God.

The three of us began our divinity studies in the summer of 1930. Although we were unacquainted before, the sharing of exciting and novel experiences as “freshman” divinity students became the basis of a lifelong friendship. We found the intellectual traditions of the University both interesting and stimulating. It was a relatively young university and some of the professors had been associated with it in its earliest period. The University had its origin in the Morgan Park Theological Seminary, the most important Baptist seminary in the Midwest. William R. Harper, a former Old Testament scholar at Morgan Park was the first president. He laid down some interesting guidelines for the University and the Divinity School that still persist. His major emphasis was complete academic freedom, rigorous and productive research, and the avoidance of religious controversy. It was a time when the fundamentalist modernist controversy was raging, but in my four years at the Divinity School I do not remember hearing any church or rival scholars harshly or unfairly criticized. Because of this emphasis on research the Divinity School was noted more for its scholarly publications than for its devotional or promotional religious activities. Some of its scholars, in addition to Dr. Goodspeed, had acquired national and international reputations. These included such men as Martin Sprengling and A. T. Olmstead in Semitic studies, J. M. P. Smith in Old Testament, S. J. Case in early Christian history, and Dean Shailer Mathews in Christian theology. 

We found the divinity school faculty, with hardly an exception, to be great teachers. Their lectures and seminars were remarkably stimulating, especially those of Dean Shailer Mathews. A large man with an impressive personality and a genius for witty aphorisms, he seemed to be proud of being an unordained dean of a divinity school, and often made jibes at ministerial formality and ecclesiastical rhetoric. 

The students of the Divinity School were a miscellaneous group. Many were middle-aged ministers and teachers of church colleges seeking advanced train ing and higher degrees. Some of the ministers were former missionaries from the Far East; a few were army chaplains. Some were from wealthy parishes of big cities, while others were from small country parishes. Many of the younger students, mostly unmarried, were recent college graduates seeking the Ph.D. degree in various disciplines to qualify for teaching positions in the divinity schools of their respective denominations. A few were blacks, including Charles D. Hubert and Benjamin Mays. Subsequently these two became, respectively, presidents of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Mays became the teacher of Martin Luther King and in 1968 gave the final eulogy at the funeral of his famous student. These two were among the most impressive men I met in the Divinity School. There were also some Jewish rabbis, orthodox and reformed. One of the former, Morris Gross, became a warm friend of the Mormon students. Regionally, most of the students we knew were from the Midwest, but a surprisingly large number came from Canada and the southern states. Most of the Protestant churches were represented, but denominational membership was not easy to ascertain for it was a divinity school tradition not to probe into the private beliefs and religious convictions of fellow students. Practically all the students were “modernists” in their religious and Biblical views. 

At no time were we Mormons subjected to blunt inquiries as to our faith and theology. The younger students were much like our returned-missionary friends in college. They were very friendly and outgoing. They elected George Tanner as director of intramural athletics and myself as captain of the divinity basketball team, which won the championship of the divinity league. In 1933, a Reverend Nutting, leader of a Protestant evangelical missionary effort to “convert” the Mormons to Christianity, came to the Divinity School to stir up trouble for Mormon students. He cornered me in the lounge of the divinity dormitory and began a vigorous attack upon the Church. I had hardly begun to refute him, when several young Baptist and Presbyterian ministers surprised me as well as him by joining with me in the defense of the Church. 

Our friendly relationships in the dormitory and the classes brought an experience which completely surprised me. A young Baptist minister in the dormitory was a part-time pastor of a large Baptist Church in Chicago. Quite a number of the students held similar posts to meet educational expenses. He invited me to speak on the essentials of Mormonism at his church services. It was a large and receptive audience and there were many questions afterwards. A few weeks later I was invited to address a Presbyterian youth organization on the same topic. Chase and Tanner had similar experiences, and all of us were treated only with the greatest respect as we tried to tell the Mormon story. 

It was the custom of many professors to invite students to their homes for an evening social at least once a quarter. Every noon from Tuesday through Friday there were religious services in the beautiful gothic Bond Chapel adjacent to Swift Hall, the divinity school building. Here we heard many speakers from the divinity faculty as well as other noted scholars, ministers, and rabbis. One of the most unique speakers was Coach Alonzo Stagg, who told of his association with President Harper when both were at Yale. Because of his inspiring ability as a teacher, Harper had persuaded the entire Yale football team to take Hebrew, which they did, it was said, with great enthusiasm. 

Each department had its own club, composed of faculty and students, whose meetings were often addressed by eminent visiting scholars and specialists. At one noteworthy meeting in the autumn of 1930, the president of the New Testament club introduced Dr. Edgar J. Goodspeed as the speaker and added that he had just returned from Utah where he had been trying “to convert the Mormons.” A titter of laughter broke out. Dr. Goodspeed’s face was red with indignation when he arose and with considerable warmth he asserted he had met some of the finest people and had one of the most enjoyable experiences of his life in his summer at Brigham Young University. He also spoke of his great admiration for the Mormon religion, of its great vitality, its fervent zeal for Christian service, and the dynamics of its lay leadership system which brought such a high proportion of men into religious leadership and activity. We Mormon students naturally found great interest in participating in these clubs, and at one meeting of the Church History Club Daryl Chase was invited to speak on the essentials of Mormonism. He enjoyed a friendly and receptive audience and many favorable comments after the meeting showed admiration for the Church and for Chase’s exposition. 

Chase and Tanner chose American Church history for their major and I selected New Testament studies. We had many classes together because the Divinity School had general requirements for all doctoral candidates: basic courses in New Testament literature, Old Testament literature, Ancient Church history, Medieval Church history, American Church history, Christian theology, and two in pastoral education. These courses extended the time required for the doctorate, but they were most interesting and valuable for the broader perspective and insight they gave us into the various fields of religious study. 

The basic method applied in these courses was a thorough analysis of the historical situation in which the various aspects of Biblical, theological, and church developments occurred. There was also considerable use of the principles and methods of psychology and sociology in studying human behavior and institutions that were relevant to the above studies. Each book of the New Testament was analyzed by itself as an unique expression of an inspired writer seeking to apply the teachings of Jesus and the apostles to meet the challenges and problems of the early Christian communities. We were also taught that each book displayed peculiarities of thought and distinctive religious emphasis in attempting to meet the problems and challenges of the early Christian communities. 

These courses also served to correct some previous misconceptions which we had held. Valuable insight into early Christian history, for example, was gained by studying it in relation to Pharisaic Judaism. We learned to appreciate and admire the high quality and vitality of its religious life and its motivating social controls. Through the classes in theology and church history and our association with the divinity students we also gained a more appreciative perspective of the beliefs, the great leaders and history of the various Christian denominations. 

Probably one of our most vital experiences at Chicago was the close association and many intimate discussions which we three Mormons had together. Not only did we share these general education courses together, but we also had Mormon topics for our master’s theses: Chase on Sidney Rig don, Tanner on “The Religious Environment in Which Mormonism Arose,” and I on the “Influence of New Testament on Latter-day Saint Eschatology.” We discussed and debated many topics which arose in our classes as well as many aspects of early L. D. S. history. Our discussions became vigorous Mormon seminars in which we were able to evaluate our own ideas more critically and to correlate with them much of the new information and points of view to which we were exposed. 

We also kept in touch with and were active in the L. D. S. ward in South Chicago. All of us held church teaching positions and enjoyed our associations with the Church members. We were treated kindly and hospitably by them. 

Upon completion of his master’s studies in 1931, George Tanner was appointed Director of the Latter-day Saint Institute of Religion at the University of Idaho. He was highly successful in this assignment, and inspired many students with his ability to combine deep religious faith with genuine academic scholarship. One of his most promising students was Leonard J. Arrington, now one of Mormonism’s most distinguished historians as well as the historian of the Church. 

During the September vacation of 1931 Daryl Chase and I returned to Utah, where we shared the interesting experience of a long interview with President Brigham H. Roberts, a member of the First Council of Seventy and noteworthy Church historian. It was just two years before his death, but he was astonishingly vigorous, alert, and incisive in his conversation. He was most friendly and candid toward us and made some interesting reflections about his career as an historian and the problems he had to face in his own research and writing. Speaking with frankness and considerable ironical wit, he deplored the fact that most Mormons were largely ignorant of L. D. S. history and had so many naive misconceptions about it. With a droll smile and a tone of mock hyperbole he stated that many would be deeply disturbed if they knew its actual history. He thought there might be some difficult problems for us if we chose to write on Mormon topics for our doctoral dissertations. This advice caused Chase to write his dissertation on “The Early Shakers;” my topic, finished in 1934, was “The Rise of the Sects as an Aspect of Religious Experience,” an analysis of sociological factors which were instrumental in the rise of the great heretical movements in the Christian Church of the second century A.D. 

Upon our return for the autumn quarter in 1931, we found that two additional Mormon students had come to study at the Divinity School: T. Edgar Lyon, a seminary teacher, and Carl J. Furr, a graduate student in Romance linguistics from Utah State and the University of Oregon. Lyon chose American Church history for his specialty and wrote his master’s thesis on “Orson Pratt, Early Mormon Leader.” After receiving the M.A. degree in 1932, he returned to Utah. 

In the next few years several more Mormon students came to the University of Chicago Divinity School. Heber C. Snell commenced New Testament studies in 1932. He obtained his doctorate in 1940, and his thesis, “The Historical Background of the Teachings of Jesus,” was written under the supervision of Dr. S. J. Case. Vernon Larsen became enthusiastic about divinity studies after taking classes under Sidney Sperry at B. Y. U. He entered the Chicago school in the autumn of 1933 and began studying the Old Testament and Hebrew. However, he changed majors and specialized under W. C. Bower and Ernest Chave in religious education. He returned to Utah before he finished his doctoral dissertation and became an educational adviser in the office of Franklin L. West, who had become Church Commissioner of Education in 1937. Larsen finished his thesis, “The Development of a Religious Inventory or Specific Study in Higher Education/’ in 1942. It was essentially an analysis of the types and degree of religious conflicts of students in the Utah schools of higher education. 

Wesley P. Lloyd, a seminary teacher, and Therald N. Jensen, a recent law school graduate from the University of Utah, arrived in Chicago in 1934 to begin divinity studies. Lloyd had already received a master’s degree at B. Y. U. in sociology. Working as a departmental fellow under Dr. William C. Bower he obtained his doctorate in 1937 with a thesis entitled “The Rise and Development of Lay Leadership Among the Latter-day Saints.” Jensen, from Price, Utah, discovered that a law practice in the early thirties at the height of the depression was a difficult enterprise. Inspired by his former teacher from Snow College, Heber C. Snell, he decided to go to the Chicago Divinity School to get a broader background in cultural studies. He chose world religions as a major subject, but also took advanced courses in the law school, and in philosophy. His doctoral dissertation, written under the direction of Eustace Haydon, was “The Mormon Theory of Church and State.” 

Anthony S. Cannon, a seminary teacher, was motivated by Sperry’s lectures in 1929 and by those of the four University of Chicago professors at the B. Y. U. summer schools. After obtaining a master’s degree in sociology.at B. Y. U. in 1934, he was encouraged by John A. Widtsoe, then Commissioner of Education for the Church, to attend the Chicago Divinity School. He began his studies there in the summer term of 1935 and chose to work in the Department of Christian Theology, where he was a fellow in 1936-37. He earned the Ph.D. degree in 1938 with a thesis entitled “A Study of Sociological, Psychological, and Religious Interpretation of Christian Vocation.” 

After the 1930s no more L. D. S. students entered the Chicago Divinity School to obtain the Ph.D. degree. Despite its positive results, the “Chicago Movement” stopped almost as suddenly as it had begun. Various factors may account for this. One was the withdrawal of the strong support of Joseph F. Merrill, who was called to preside over the L. D. S. European Mission in 1933. At the same time, many general authorities of the Church were fearful that the sociological, historical, and literary approach to Bible studies plus the liberal spirit of the Divinity School would undermine the faith and loyalty of L. D. S. students who went there to study. The searing impact of World War II and the fact that the type of young men who might have desired a divinity education now went into military service may also have been a deterring influence. Another consideration was that men with a divinity school doctorate would not be trained in secular subjects and the fact that the Church had no divinity schools would greatly reduce their opportunity for employment. Furthermore, the increasingly activity-oriented programs of the L. D. S. Institutes of Religion required their teachers to have more versatility in promoting and organizing religious activities for the L. D. S. students than intensive academic training. 

It would be difficult to make an accurate assessment of the full impact of the “Chicago Movement” on the Church, or to determine the degree to which it fulfilled the expectations of Adam S. Bennion, John A. Widtsoe, Joseph F. Merrill and other church leaders who hoped for a broadening of perspective through such educational experiences. Some insight, however, might be gained by looking at what happened to the L. D. S. divinity alumni and by noting some of their own evaluations. 

First, it is significant that in spite of cautions given by such men as B. H. Roberts, all five of the master’s theses written by the “Chicago Men” (Sperry, Chase, Tanner, Swensen, and Lyon), concerned Mormon or Mormon-related topics. The Ph.D. theses by Lloyd, Furr, Jensen, and Larsen also dealt with Mormon subjects. The hope of Adam S. Bennion, John A. Widtsoe and Joseph F. Merrill had been partially fulfilled as these men used the tools of genuine scholarship to further understand the Mormon experience. 

The subsequent careers of the Chicago divinity students have been quite diverse. All except Sperry, Tanner, Lyon and Snell eventually left religious education for secular academic and professional positions. Two men, Carl J. Furr and Therald N. Jensen, took up careers entirely outside the field of education. George S. Tanner became director of the Institute of Religion at Moscow, Idaho, later a teacher at the Institute at Logan, Utah, and finally director of the L. D. S. Information Bureau in Honolulu, Hawaii, from which he recently retired. Daryl Chase taught in the L. D. S. educational system from 1932 to 1944. He then became Dean of Students at Utah State and later Director of the College of Southern Utah. From 1954 to 1968 he served with distinction as President of Utah State University. He became the author of several articles and an excellent history of the Christian Church, Christianity Through the Centuries, published by the L. D. S. Department of Education. T. Edgar Lyon remained in the L. D. S. educational system, except for a period when he was mission president of the Netherlands. He spent many years at the Institute of Religion at the University of Utah and has written many articles and manuals for the Church. He now serves as Director of Nauvoo Restoration, Incorporated. Wesley P. Lloyd became Dean of Students at B. Y. U. in 1937 and later was appointed Dean of the Graduate School. Since 1969 he has been graduate dean at United States International University, San Diego, California. Continuously active in the Church, he has served as a bishop, a member of the YMMIA General Board, and on three high councils. Anthony S. Cannon taught in the Institutes from 1938 to 1941, then became a member of the F.B.I. In 1947 he joined the faculty of the U. of U. as a professor of sociology, remaining there until his retirement in 1966. He still teaches part time for the seminary system. Heber C. Snell was a teacher in the Institutes of Religion until his retirement, and at the age of 89 he is still vigorously enthusiastic about his Chicago experience. As for myself, I taught in the College of Religion at B. Y. U. from 1934 to 1947, when I entered the Department of History. I was chairman of that department from 1949 to 1954. I have written three manuals on New Testament studies for the Sunday School, and over thirty articles for Church magazines. I still gratefully acknowledge the brilliant scholarship and warm friendliness of the Chicago professors, and I am convinced that the excellent training received from them in the critical analysis of religious history and literature has been one of the most positive factors in whatever contribution I have been able to make to Mormon education. 

Recently I wrote to all the Mormon educators who received their training in the Chicago Divinity School. I asked how they now felt about their experiences of 30 or 40 years ago, and what importance they attached to it. The replies were generally enthusiastic. Wrote George Tanner, “The four quarters I spent at the University of Chicago are easily the highlight of my intellectual life,” and he emphasized especially that “we learned that non-Mormon scholars were honest, sincere and interested in our welfare.” Wesley Lloyd declared that, “The Ph.D. degree program was a rugged, basic and thrilling academic experience in which I found increasing evidence that intensity of feeling is no substitute for a reasoned faith in the Gospel. A mind that is free may tend to lose its fears but not its faith to live by. Looking back a few decades, I sensed that the Chicago days had given me a foundation for more objective thinking that could help to bring a measure of reliable judgment to my later work.” Anthony S. Cannon wrote that “one did not look for an ultimate theology there—but learned much that helps one to look carefully at data, to separate theory and hypothesis from facts and eternal truths, and to cling to the satisfying realities of being a participant observer of the Mormon way of life—and the meaning of the Church of Jesus Christ to its members, investigators, and to the world. Such training is ideal in preparing a faithful Latter-day Saint to be able to teach and counsel with growing youth in a modern, changing world.” A most searching analysis of the whole movement was provided by T. Edgar Lyon: “It appears to me,” he wrote, “that the securing of graduate degrees . . . represents a landmark in an educational outreach which the Church had never known before, and which has profoundly influenced the teaching in the seminaries and institutes since that day. The importation to the B. Y. U. summer school for the teachers of religion of Doctors Goodspeed, Graham, McNeill, and Bower . . . is reflected in the lessons and textbooks written for use in the Church schools and auxiliaries since that time. It was a time of an intellectual and spiritual awakening which was the entering wedge that put the Church educational system in contact with the ongoing mainstream of Christian scriptural and historical research. This outlook has aided in the metamorphosis of the L. D. S. Church from a sectionally oriented to a worldwide Church in less than forty years.”