it was with great pleasure, therefore, that amy and i were able to attend a lecture by he and his wife on the intellectual state of mormonism...
we attended with our good friends the rowley's...the whole trip was made possible as terry smith watched our children. terry has been truly selfless to our family during our entire california adventure...
anyway, we drove to uncle russell's home in la canada on chevy chase drive. the irony that russ and christie live on this particular street was not lost on me as a child and still isn't...
the drive out with the rowley's was a lot of fun as we talked and enjoyed their company. there were a few awkward moments during the drive out where i betrayed my overt and effusive love for richard bushman and his work.
over the last year or so i read his book.
i listened to his interviews here (halfway down the page) with rapt attention.
i read his diary of the publication and public receipt of the book--a few passages from which brought tears.
the lecture was great.
the inciting event for richard's second lecture to the miller/eccles group (the name of the lecture series held in russ's house) was his appointment at claremont graduate university
i took notes for some reason (something i rarely ever do these days anywhere)...here are a few thoughts that came from the evenings events.
claudia bushman:
she (claudia) has tried to create the female space in mormonism through her mormon themed writings and research...
sarah kimball attended the school of the prophets as a teenager.
she (claudia) will be teaching a course on lucy mack smith's biography at claremont graduate university this year.
lucy mack smith said, "my God, my God. why have you forsaken this family?"
richard bushman:
almost from the inception of mormonism it was notorious...
the 20th century saw notable people accept mormonism's people as admirable for their conquering of the west...
however, the religion has been scoffed at...a common sentiment is that mormons are great, but joseph's claims are empty (i have incidentally found that this is my approach to seventh day adventists here on campus...)
as a result of romney's campaign, there has been a flurry of attempts to get to the core of mormonism. he (richard) mentioned the pew forum (discussed here and here...)
we have the truth. how can we present it..? presentation (talmage), debate (FAIR), and conversation (truman madsen)...
(amy sighed and leaned into me at this point as truman was her stake president at BYU she loved every minute of it)
he (bushman) favors the conversation method and sited daniel peterson's 'mulsim and a mormon' presentations, bob millet's meetings with evangelicals over a decade including a 'calvinist and a mormon' presentation.
he (bushman) hopes that the element that will come out of his time at claremont is respect...
in addition to gaining respect, will come the opportunity to think better about our own ideas and beliefs and what our unique tradition offers others...
(and my favorite line of the night in speaking about church teaching modalities including church meetings) he (bushman) said, "i personally think we need less answering and more questioning."
the photo above represents my crowning achievement of the evening. it took me nearly 30 minutes of inching closer to richard and taking part in heady conversations that i was vaguely able to further and acknowledge. however, a moment opened up wherein i thanked bushman in word and a 'two handed' handshake and petitioned him to sign my copy of RSR with my parents christmas message at the front. he good-naturedly obliged and the night was complete.
amy and i returned to our family and our daily tasks that seem less mundane because of the ideas we experienced...
this was a disjointed and flowery post, but that is much what the night was like. it was great to see russ, christie, christian, eva, brian and missy. christian looked very dapper in his new glasses. christie was hard at work as always and russ was in his element...
thanks for reading.
12 comments:
The points I appreciated most by R. Bushman were about our efforts with society. He spoke about our missionary efforts, which have been so focused on baptism and conversion--not a bad thing, but without the foundational work accurate education about our history, it has been difficult in society's UNDERSTANDING of us.
He talked about the education of society--which is mainly through history and the media. The Church has made efforts to influence both. In times past, the Church focused heavily on influencing media personnel and having media representatives. But he brought up the point that journalists go to "experts"--scholars, historians, etc.--to get their "facts." His point--well taken--is that we need more scholars and scholarly, respectable work for them to go to.
Thus, his position as the chair of Mormon studies at Claremont and their department of theological studies.
He spoke of the need for a conversational approach to the education of society as well as in missionary work. Conversational approach meaning I don't just tell you about my church and how great its teaching are, but we have a dialog about it where I learn about you and your beliefs, ideas, and questions and you learn about me and mine. If our efforts can be more focused on the accurate, succinct education of our friends, neighbors, the areas that they actually CARE about, etc (as Elder Ballard focused on in General Conference), education will help understanding which can lead to respect and, possibly, conversion.
We spoke about this approach on the way home, realizing the need for... well... fully-functional, intelligent, etc. etc. converts. More focus on scholarly respect and mutual understanding with other parts of society could go a long way.
I taught the lesson on Joseph Smith in priesthood last week. Dr. Bushman's book was in the back of my mind as I read President Kimball's testimony of his predecessor and the need to have a pure youth to receive the first vision. I thought of the cultural milieu Joseph was born into and how that still influenced him and his understanding of eternal principles. And, I came away with a greater appreciation for the man and his work--both the prophet and Dr. Bushman. I wish we could have been there with you.
paul.
good work. i like this post a lot. i miss having the bushman's show up at a random sacrament meeting and deliver an amazing sermon of sorts.
petey: thanks. it would have been pretty cool to have him as your stake patriarch. he and his wife are quite the couple, and at 78 he continues strong...planning for life events like he was 50.
would he visit you sacrament meeting in the patriarch capacity? or would your bishop just know he has great things to say and bring him up?
i was never sure under what assignment he would speaking. but he was planned and on the program, but they didn't really announce him as patriarch bushman. he would just be on the stand and we knew we'd be getting something good. he's a very engaging speaker.
i'm pretty sure he showed up as the patriarch.
stevey:
i'm pretty sure, you're wrong.
while i enjoyed what richard had to say, his wife's lecture style was more engaging...
she would make a statement and then say, "three comments." she would then proceed to call on three raised hands in turn. it pushed you to try to make a contribution and also allowed you to gauge where other people's minds were wandering. her presentation moved along at a nice pace and was really though provoking.
her class will definitely be a good one...
Yes, I really enjoyed Claudia's thoughts as well. I would love, love to take her classes and be a part of the discovering discussions in her classroom. She truly goes beyond the print in a meaningful, applicable way.
Women like her are an example to me. In her 70s and making such a contribution to the community, church, women, etc. etc. I hope my facilities keep up their operations to allow me such freedom to do exciting things in my "old" age. With a good quality of life, the golden age can be full of further education, service, missions, volunteer work, and *most importantly* GRANDKIDS!!!!
i want brown shirts like the shirts your family has. wait. do i have a brown shirt? or is it green.
Stevie... you are a Tracy Frandsen Frandsen, and thus have a brown shirt. You'll need it in California, you know?? Perhaps someone can hook you up.
Michael loves his, and always wants to wear his "family tree shirt."
Stephen: Call your mother for the brown shirt.
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