Spring 1972
The Spring 1972 issue begins with a collection including Hoyt W. Brewster Jr., Denise St. Sauveur, G. Homer Durham, Henry Eyring, Richard H. Cracroft, Mary L. Bradford, and Leonard J. Arrington who offer varied perspectives on Joseph Fielding Smith, portraying him as a beloved prophet, a kind scholar, a faithful historian, and someone who left a personal impact on many.The second section, edited by James B. Allen, examines the challenges, constancy, and change within Mormonism during the 20th century. Richard O. Cowan provides an introduction discussing the century's historical challenges. Essays explore key figures such as J. Reuben Clark Jr., revisiting his political isolationism, and Reed Smoot, analyzing his role in the Church and progressive legislation between 1903 and 1933. Armand L. Mauss discusses the political and social outlooks of modern urban Mormons, highlighting their approach to moderation. The third section addresses global challenges faced by the Church. Joseph M. Dixon explores the experience of Mormons in Nazi Germany, F. LaMond Tullis debunks myths about Mormons in Latin America, and Paul V. Hyer examines the Church's potential role in revolution and social change in Asia. Together, these works illustrate the evolving role of the Church and its members in an increasingly complex world.
Joseph Fielding Smith is a name that has been known to the Latter-day Saints for well over sixty years. His leadership and counsel have been manifest in the leading councils of the Church since his…
When I encountered missionaries from the Church two years ago, they questioned me as to the need for prophets, both ancient and modern. At that time I was a student in a Catholic College preparing…
Many published works of Church history and doctrine testify to the scholarship and direct literary style of the late, tenth President of the Church, President Joseph Fielding Smith. Those who were privileged to use the…
As many people have remarked, President Joseph Fielding Smith was a man without guile. He presented every question exactly as he saw it and accepted the consequences of his position whether they were pleasant or…
I was about twelve when I first met President and Sister Smith. They had come to visit the Thirty-Third Ward, Bonneville Stake, and the family of my pal, Doug Myers, my bishop’s son and President…
Throughout my life images of Joseph Fielding Smith come and go, connected somehow with that of my grandfather who, stern before I was born, gradually mellowed until he ended up raising a grandchild with a…
“To record as truth that which is false, and to palm off as facts that which is fiction degrades [the writer], insults his readers, and outrages his profession.”—Joseph Fielding Smith Joseph Fielding Smith began his service in the…
This year (1972), the Mormon Church is 142 years old, which means that 71 years of its history, or fully half its life, has taken place in the twentieth century. Its written history, on the…
Modern Mormonism takes just pride in having produced many men and women of distinction in politics, education, science and the arts. One of these was J. Reuben Clark, Jr., international lawyer, career diplomat, and from…
If J. Reuben Clark, Jr., will be remembered largely for his involvement in international affairs, another Mormon leader, Reed Smoot, is notable for his contribution both to international relations and domestic American affairs. In 1902,…
Perhaps the most difficult kind of analysis that scholars may presume to make is that of presenting attitudes of people toward various ideas. Any poll can be affected by weakness in the sampling technique, by…
The experience of the Church in non-American countries has not always been easy. In Germany in the 1930’s, for example, the Hitler regime viewed the Mormon Church as an American institution and therefore open to…
For the most part, Mormons have been a socially homogeneous people. True, the initial Anglo-American stock was reinforced from time to time by immigrants from Western Europe, but these converts were quickly absorbed into the Church’s social and cultural mainstream. Although successful missions were established among the Indians and especially among the Polynesians, it was nevertheless the English-speaking white Americans who gave the Church its leadership and set the tone of its culture.
Asia is a land of revolution, a land where a complex of revolutions are inter related in such a way that one phase is not understood independent of the others, nor of the traditions from which they stem. These revolutionary trends are creating rapid changes throughout Asian society, one of which is a search for a new stability, and this greatly influences the development of Mormonism in Asia, including the kinds of people it attracts and its relative success or failure in sustaining activity and building a strong organization.
On April 15, 1972 the Mormon History Association held a notable convention at Independence, Missouri. Some 130 members and friends of the Association visited historic Mormon sites and heard discourses from scholars representing both the…
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sees both God and man in a temporal, that i§^ historical,’ context, but it has developed no authoritative, systematic statement of the philosophical implications of historical relationships. It has no official philosophy of history. What follows, therefore, are simply reflections on some problems which relate to the religious affirmations of the L.D.S. people and a tentative approach to my personal philosophy of history.
Dear Sirs: What ever shadow of doubt may have been cast on one’s loyalty to the Mormon Church through association with Dialogue (especially during the early years) has certainly been dispelled by some recent events.…
The world of Mormon-directed periodicals continues to thrive as new journals appear and old (those that began within the last few years) journals struggle for continued existence
Latter-day Saints have long had an interest in pre-Columbian ocean travel. Americanist scholars, with a few notable exceptions such as Gordon Ekholm, J. Charles Kelley and a few others, have in the past either rejected…
In a preface to Lore of Faith & Folly, William A. Wilson observes that while few states possess Utah’s abundance of folklore, few have been more reluctant to collect and study their traditions. With the…
Rarely is a report on an archaeological excavation so handsomely designed and mounted, but equally rare is a site whose history is as remarkable as that of the Mormon Temple at Nauvoo, Illinois. Built in…
I drove to the city to see “The Godfather.” I worried about it because it had an “R” rating. By way of comparison, “The Graduate” is now rated only “PG,” despite those lurid bed scenes with Mrs. Robinson, and the frequent taking of the Lord’s name in vain. So because “The Godfather” was rated “R,” I expected the worst. Half way to Idaho Falls, I nearly turned back. But now I can report to you that “The Godfather” is not deserving of its “R” rating. It’s relatively clean.
