John M. Armstrong

JOHN M. ARMSTRONG is a Ph.D. candidate in philosophy at the University of Arizona, Tucson, specializing in ancient Greek ethical and political theory. An earlier version of "Divine Reason" was presented at the Sunstone Symposium, Salt Lake City, August 1994. He thanks Peter Appleby, Carol Armstrong, Amy Bentley, Dennis Potter, Kirk Sanders, Bryan Waterman, Michael Austin, Dale Cooke, Ralph Hancock, Cory Juhl, Robert Koons, Al Martinich, Robert Millet, and Steve Scalet for their suggestions and criticisms.

Divine Reason

Articles/Essays – Volume 30, No. 1

Mormonism seems to have adopted a position on the relation between reason and revelation. The two concepts frequently appear alongside each other in publications and talks by church apostles, officials of Brigham Young University, and others on topics concerning education, academic freedom, and the like. In most of these appearances, reason and revelation are intended to mark a division between two modes of learning. The position is for the most part uniform: one can learn things by reason or by revelation, but when the content of a revelation conflicts with what is supported only by reason, reason must give way to revelation.