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Volume 12, No. 2

Summer 1979

The Summer 1979 Issue examines race, priesthood, and scripture in Mormon history and thought. Lester E. Bush, Jr. introduces the discussion, followed by testimonies of Samuel D. Chambers, an ex-slave and early Black Mormon. Newell G. Bringhurst traces Elijah Abel’s shifting status as a Black priesthood holder, and William D. Russell discusses the RLDS Church’s evolving relationship with Black Americans. J. Nicholls Eastmond, Jr. and M. Neff Smart share personal reflections on revelation and challenges in Africa. Emma Lou Thayne contributes poetry, and Sterling M. McMurrin reflects on the Church's 1963 Civil Rights statement. George D. Smith, Jr. revisits the "Negro Doctrine," and J. Reuben Clark, Jr. discusses the authority of Church leaders’ writings as scripture. Susan Taylor Hansen examines women’s legal status, while Gerald Bradford offers thoughts on Freud and Jung. A survey of Mormon literature and a bibliography of General Authorities complete the issue.

  • Topics
  • race, politics, literature

Contents

Articles/Essays

Introduction



Friday, June 9, 1978. A day not to be forgotten. Like the bombing of Pearl Harbor, or the assassination of President Kennedy, most Mormons will remember exactly where they were and what they were doing…



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Elijah Abel and the Changing Status of Blacks Within Mormonism



Dialogue 12.2 (Summer 1979): 22–36
Elijah Abel, a black man ordained to the priesthood, was restricted in his church participation starting in 1843, even though he was well respected by both members and leaders. Newell G. Bringhurst discusses why the priesthood and temple ban might have occured. One of the reasons was when the pioneers were crossing the plains, a man by the name of William McCary, who had Native American and African American ancestry, caused a lot of grief and trouble for both saints and the leaders of the Church.



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A Priestly Role for a Prophetic Church: The RLDS Church and Black Americans



Dialogue 12.2 (Summer 1979): 37–50
In recent years many RLDS Church members have been proud of the fact that the church has been ordaining blacks into the priesthood since early in its history. Sometimes they have made unfavorable comparisons between RLDS policy and that of their cousins in Utah who denied holy orders to black men and women until last year when half of the restriction was lifted.



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Letters to the Editor

Notes

When Are the Writings or Sermons of Church Leaders Entitled to the Claim of Scripture?



When are the writings and Sermons of Church Leaders entitled to the claim of being scripture? 

I assume the scripture behind this question is the declaration of the Lord in a revelation given through Joseph primarily to Orson Hyde, Luke S. Johnson, Lyman E. Johnson, and William E. M’Lellin, who were to engage in missionary work. After addressing a word first to Orson Hyde, the Lord continued:



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Women Under the Law



Dialogue 12.2 (Summer 1979): 82–91
Any constitutional amendment unavoidably casts a shadow of uncertaintyover its future interpretation and implementation. The Fourteenth Amendment, for example, has far exceeded the originally perceived purpose—elevating thestatus of blacks—and has come to serve as a tool of justice for many oppressedpersons and groups.



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Response to Freud and Jung



The two figures cleverly depicted on the cover of the Autumn, 1978 cover of Dialogue are unquestionably among the most important individuals in the field of psychoanalysis. Both were trained in the medical profession and both considered their research and theoretical work to be scientifically grounded.



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Personal Voices

The Challenge of Africa



The city was Lagos, Nigeria, in the early 1970s. The place was the upstairs cinder-block apartment of Sabath Umoh, branch president of the Lagos “Mormon” church. On the card table pulpit was a black, hard-cover…



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Poetry

Bedouin Lullaby



Here at my breast, my dark-eyed child, 
Taste of your worth and sleep a while. 
Under the tent of the black goat’s wool 
Safe from the cold and the wind, be full. 



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Response

Response to Freud and Jung



The two figures cleverly depicted on the cover of the Autumn, 1978 cover of Dialogue are unquestionably among the most important individuals in the field of psychoanalysis. Both were trained in the medical profession and both considered their research and theoretical work to be scientifically grounded.



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Reviews