158 DIALOGUE: A JOURNAL OF MORMON THOUGHT dred Saints work. We grieve with the fam- ily who found their little daughter in the creek "both little hands clinging on to the long grass on the side of the creek, but she was drowned" (p. 48). We share the righteous anger of Fort Limhi missionaries who "drew up a list of Indians" that had just slain three Mormons, and "excom- municated the baptized ones on the list" (p. 81). We identify with the faith of the Kindred Saints, their determination to drive ahead into the future, their desire to leave the world in better condition. Kindred Saints is clearly out of the mainstream of Church history; it will not meet the expectations of those looking for prominent events in the Mormon past. But Hartley's insistent detail manages to make these unknown saints feel kindred to us. Mormons thinking of writing a family his- tory will find in Kindred Saints an admir- able model. Swarming Progeny of the Restoration Divergent Paths of the Restoration: A History of the Latter Day Saint Movement, 3rd ed., revised and enlarged, by Steven L. Shields (Bountiful, Utah: Restoration Research, 1982), 282 pp., $12.95. Reviewed by William Dean Russell, Chairperson, Division of Social Science, Graceland College, Lamoni, Iowa. DID YOU KNOW THAT James Brighouse has been, among others, Adam, Enoch, Mi- chael, George Washington, and Joseph Smith? Did you know that Max E. Powers was in attendance at the grand council in heaven before the world was created, and that David Bruce Longo and the Holy Ghost are one and the same? Have you investigated Moses Gudmundsen's princi- ple of wife sacrifice? Were you aware that Annalee Skarin has been "translated"? Do you have any idea how many Mormon men have seen themselves reflected in the pages of scripture when they read about the one "mighty and strong"? And did you know that the Perfected Church of Jesus Christ of Immaculate Latter Day Saints, has "abolished menstruation," allows the practice of plural marriage, and claims that all children in this group are immacu- lately conceived? This is but a small sampling of the fascinating personalities and groups that Mormonism has spawned, which you can read about in this book, a collection of in- formation on 138 Restoration churches, twenty-seven "independents," six pub- lishers, and five anti-Mormon organiza- tions. It also contains three appendices (a brief summary of eight Restoration churches, the Twelfth Message of Otto Fetting, and a list of fifty churches known to be functioning in 1982), a useful sixteen- page bibliography, and an index. The author, raised LDS and now RLDS, has tackled a difficult assignment. Let's face it, it's hard to keep track of them all, in many cases, difficult to know from the information given, whether a particular expression of dissent constituted a sepa- rate organization or just a different view within the parent body. Indeed, what does the author mean by "divergent paths"? If his task was to catalog all "divergent paths" including dissenters who began no new organization, the task would be im- possible as long as independent thinkers exist in the church. In the longest part of the book, Section 1 ("Churches and Orga- nizations"), "divergent paths" apparently means separate organizations. But we are not given a clear picture of the criteria for inclusion. Section 2 ("Independents") is more problematic. Twenty-seven individuals are treated, but it is not clear what distin- guishes them from the rest of the millions who have adhered to the Mormon move- ment. Apparently they did not create a
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158 DIALOGUE: A JOURNAL OF MORMON THOUGHT
dred Saints work. We grieve with the fam-ily who found their little daughter in thecreek "both little hands clinging on to thelong grass on the side of the creek, but shewas drowned" (p. 48). We share therighteous anger of Fort Limhi missionarieswho "drew up a list of Indians" that hadjust slain three Mormons, and "excom-municated the baptized ones on the list"(p. 81). We identify with the faith of theKindred Saints, their determination to
drive ahead into the future, their desire toleave the world in better condition.
Kindred Saints is clearly out of themainstream of Church history; it will notmeet the expectations of those looking forprominent events in the Mormon past. ButHartley's insistent detail manages to makethese unknown saints feel kindred to us.Mormons thinking of writing a family his-tory will find in Kindred Saints an admir-able model.
Swarming Progeny of the RestorationDivergent Paths of the Restoration: A
History of the Latter Day Saint Movement,3rd ed., revised and enlarged, by StevenL. Shields (Bountiful, Utah: RestorationResearch, 1982), 282 pp., $12.95.
Reviewed by William Dean Russell,Chairperson, Division of Social Science,Graceland College, Lamoni, Iowa.
DID YOU KNOW THAT James Brighouse hasbeen, among others, Adam, Enoch, Mi-chael, George Washington, and JosephSmith? Did you know that Max E. Powerswas in attendance at the grand council inheaven before the world was created, andthat David Bruce Longo and the HolyGhost are one and the same? Have youinvestigated Moses Gudmundsen's princi-ple of wife sacrifice? Were you aware thatAnnalee Skarin has been "translated"? Doyou have any idea how many Mormonmen have seen themselves reflected in thepages of scripture when they read aboutthe one "mighty and strong"? And did youknow that the Perfected Church of JesusChrist of Immaculate Latter Day Saints,has "abolished menstruation," allows thepractice of plural marriage, and claimsthat all children in this group are immacu-lately conceived?
This is but a small sampling of thefascinating personalities and groups thatMormonism has spawned, which you canread about in this book, a collection of in-
formation on 138 Restoration churches,twenty-seven "independents," six pub-lishers, and five anti-Mormon organiza-tions. It also contains three appendices(a brief summary of eight Restorationchurches, the Twelfth Message of OttoFetting, and a list of fifty churches knownto be functioning in 1982), a useful sixteen-page bibliography, and an index.
The author, raised LDS and nowRLDS, has tackled a difficult assignment.Let's face it, it's hard to keep track of themall, in many cases, difficult to know fromthe information given, whether a particularexpression of dissent constituted a sepa-rate organization or just a different viewwithin the parent body. Indeed, what doesthe author mean by "divergent paths"? Ifhis task was to catalog all "divergentpaths" including dissenters who began nonew organization, the task would be im-possible as long as independent thinkersexist in the church. In the longest part ofthe book, Section 1 ("Churches and Orga-nizations"), "divergent paths" apparentlymeans separate organizations. But we arenot given a clear picture of the criteria forinclusion.
Section 2 ("Independents") is moreproblematic. Twenty-seven individuals aretreated, but it is not clear what distin-guishes them from the rest of the millionswho have adhered to the Mormon move-ment. Apparently they did not create a
REVIEWS 159
church or an organization or they wouldhave been included in Section 1. Some leftthe faction they were associated with, butothers did not. It appears that they wereincluded merely because they publishedsomething on their own. On the limitedinformation the author supplies, it appearsthat some of these publications were anti-Mormon, some were divergent Mormonviews, and some appear to have been ortho-dox within their own factions. For exam-ple, several LDS and RLDS individualsare listed simply because they publishedsomething independently, but there is noevidence that what they published was inany way unorthodox. Are these "divergentviews"? Why not include the founders ofDIALOGUE, Sunstone, Exponent II, orCourage?
Frequently the reader is given no clueas to the nature of the publication. Some-times we are simply told about a publica-tion but given no information as to whatfaction the writer belong to, if any. Hereparticularly it would have been helpful ifShields had given us some internal analysisof the publication to attempt to locate itwithin the spectrum of Mormon beliefs.
The author provides introductory re-marks about each organization, which isusually followed by a section on doctrineand a section on the group's publications.Frequently the doctrine section simply re-prints a basic statement of faith that hasappeared sometime in the organization'shistory. The LDS statement is the Articlesof Faith. The RLDS doctrinal representa-tive is the "new creed" published by Her-ald House in 1970, entitled Exploring theFaith, which is probably at variance withthe thought of many rank-and-file RLDSmembers and leaders. Shields does notattempt to determine whether the reprinteddocument really reflects the faith of theorganization in question, now or in thepast.
Although the book claims to illuminatehistory and theology, its greatest weaknessis its lack of historical or theological analy-sis. David C. Martin's introduction inaccu-
rately asserts that the schismatic tendencyin Mormonism is as yet "unexplored andunexplained" (p. 15), thus ignoringLeonard Arrington's "Centrifugal Tenden-cies in Mormon History," in Truman Mad-sen and Charles D. Tate, Jr., eds., To theGlory of God (Salt Lake City: DeseretBook Company, 1972), which contains athoughtful analysis about why some keyMormons defected. Some appear to havebeen bothered by the prophet's foibles(Ezra Booth), some were enticed by thesecular kingdom (John C. Bennett), somewere repulsed by the secular kingdom(John Hyde), some were attracted tospiritualism (Amasa Lyman), some placedexcessive emphasis on mental health andfaith healing (Brigham Bicknell Young),and some were caught up in rationalism(Theodore W. Curtis). But Steven Shieldsoffers no hypothesis to explain the many"divergent paths."
The subtitle — "A History of the Lat-ter Day Saint Movement" — is quite anexaggeration. The book is neither a historyof the broader movement nor of the in-dividual factions. It is a collection oflimited information about each group orindividual. As to the larger history, thereis a two-page "Beginnings of the LatterDay Saint Movement" in which we aretaken from the vision in the grove to Nau-voo in one-half of a page.
Other exaggerations or overstatementsoccur. The dust jacket informs us: "Neverin the history of civilization has a religiousmovement provided such fertile ground forschismatic tendency as has Mormonism."Has the author investigated all the Baptistsects? We are also told, "Probably no reli-gious movement in the history of theUnited States has received as much atten-tion as has the Latter Day Saint Move-ment" (p. 244), and that the Roman Em-peror Constantine declared himself pope(pp. 42-43).
There are no notes, although occa-sionally a source is listed in the text. Butit is not always clear how far the referenceextends, and long quotes are not indented.
160 DIALOGUE: A JOURNAL OF MORMON THOUGHT
In many cases a note would be highly de-sirable, for example, Isaac Sheen's state-ment that William Smith "offered me hiswife on the same terms that he claimed apartnership with other men's wives"(p.54).
The author uses sources too uncriti-cally. For example, he quotes RLDS mis-sionary John Bradley: "The ReorganizedChurch continues to take very seriously itsZionic stewardship of religiously social re-form. This is essential to our mission ofindividual redemption" (p. 72). Thatstatement probably reflects the view ofBradley far more than the church as awhole.
William Marks is included in the orga-nizations section, which suggests that Marksled a separate organization after BrighamYoung had him excommunicated. But theauthor writes, "Some sources indicate thatMarks attempted a church organization ofhis own, while others have him wanderingfrom church to church seeking his placeamong them" (p. 76). We are given nosources, analysis, or conclusion that wouldjustify Marks's inclusion.
Important questions are frequently leftunanswered. For example, there is a quota-tion from James Strang's Book of the Lawof the Lord on offering sacrifices on thealtar, but we are not told whether theStrangites actually performed the sacrifices
the book commands (p. 43). Pauline Han-cock's group, it is reported, abandoned theBook of Mormon in 1973 because they haddiscovered evidence "which seemed to in-dicate Joseph Smith, Jr. was a fraud"(p. 155). The author does not tell uswhether Pauline Hancock was still alivewhen this significant change occurred, northe nature of the evidence that led to thechange in position.
Occasionally the author's personalopinions come through, as when he praisesthe work of David C. Martin and Jeraldand Sandra Tanner. He also seems to un-critically assume that alleged contact withsupernatural beings actually occurred, afaith assumption which the historian —lacking methods of verification — cannotmake. Joseph Smith is instructed by Godand Jesus Christ, and empowered by theangel Moroni. An angel ordains Strang asSmith's successor. The Lord calls BrotherBickerton with a "marvelous vision." Amessenger repeatedly contacts WA. Draves.Eugene Walton is directed by the Spirit,etc.
While such flaws suggest the book isa rather amateurish collection of informa-tion, it will interest students curious aboutthe many schisms that Mormonism hasproduced. That is no doubt the author'smain purpose, and in that the book ismoderately successful.
IN APPRECIATIONIn January 1983 the new DIALOGUE editorial team mailed the first
issue edited in Salt Lake City (Summer 1982.) Six more issues havefollowed this year. With the publication of this issue (Winter 1983)DIALOGUE is now on the front end of the seasonal schedule. This couldnot have happened without the unusual dedication and hard work ofour office staff and a large group of volunteers who have reviewedmanuscripts, edited, proofread, typed, answered telephones, and raisedmoney.
A capable and hardworking executive committee has helped tosteer us through this sometimes hectic year. Our editorial board andadvisory committee have also shared their ideas with us and counseledus well. The typesetter and printer have done excellent work and keptup with our demanding schedule. We invite our readers to look overthe names inside the front cover of this issue to appreciate some of thepeople who have contributed to the well-being of DIALOGUE. With you,we offer our hearty thanks to each of them.
To you, our subscribers, we also give our thanks for your support.You have sent us excellent manuscripts, contributed financially, writtenus letters of support, and faithfully renewed your subscriptions. Wehope you will continue to find reward in the pages of DIALOGUE formany years to come.
