History and Faith: Reflections of a Mormon Historian by Richard Douglas Poll

Author:Richard Douglas Poll [Poll, Richard Douglas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Non-Fiction
ISBN: 9780941214759
Amazon: 0941214753
Goodreads: 1883229
Publisher: Signature Books
Published: 1989-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

the only survivor of a great battle; he was killed for bringing the bad news.

To recapitulate: Discriminating between myths and documents is important only to historians unless something important to a larger community depends on it. Then the perils of

disillusionment arise, and the charges of debunking.

It need not necessarily be so. We had an interesting and encouraging illustration a few years ago of how a document with important implications for institutional traditions and values can be handled. (The fact that the document later turned out to be fraudulent does not, in my opinion, alter the main point.) In 1981 Mark W. Hofmann "found" what purported to be Thomas Bullock's copy of a blessing Joseph Smith, Jr., gave to Joseph Smith III, setting him apart for leadership in the church. Both the Utah Mormons and the Reorganized Latter Day Saints had a stake in this discovery. Its initial impact was to confirm the RLDS position while producing perplexity in the Utah church. How should we handle this in view of what we have been taught?

I happened to be present at the press conference in Salt Lake City where the transfer of the document from our people to the RLDS representatives took place. One of the reporters asked what effect it would have. The spokesmen for both churches said in substance, "It will make very little difference."

That, in fact, is the way it worked out. We Latter-day Saints benefited from the service which one of our younger scholars, D. Michael Quinn, had already rendered in a well-documented article showing that at one time or another, Joseph Smith had considered several alternative ways of handling the succession. The Joseph Smith III blessing document fitted very comfortably into that context of alternatives.6(23) The issue was handled well because the worth of neither church depended on that document, nor did the testimonies of their members.

How well—how righteously—life is lived does not depend on either myths or documents about the past. The myth-making process contributes to the pursuit of righteousness to the extent that it provides ideal models and motivating traditions which are consistent with truth. The historians with their documents contribute to the pursuit of righteousness to the extent that they check the myth-making capability to generate and perpetuate untruths and half-truths and even to sanctify unrighteousness.

Only God knows the past "as it actually happened." Whether we are myth-makers or myth-shakers, we see history "through a glass darkly." Properly understood, both myths and documents can assist our quest for that understanding of yesterday which can be helpful in coping with today and making choices for tomorrow.

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