My 2019 FAIRMormon Conference presentation is up now, here. There’s a lot in the footnotes as well.
The takeaway is this: Many LDS have unsustainably fundamentalist assumptions about the nature of revelation, prophets, and scripture. The conflict these cause sometimes leads to a loss of faith, instead of recognizing and reexamining the assumptions.
Creation of the Sun, Sistine Chapel
I draw on a variety of things to argue against these assumptions, to argue that revelation is composite, that is, always contains divine and human aspects, and we should expect those. It’s ok, though, because it’s a progressive, iterative process. As time goes on, the human progresses towards the divine until the categories overlap completely. But we’re not there yet and won’t be for a long time.
So I take Acts 15:28 as my paradigm for understanding Church leadership. “It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us.”
Paradoxically, it is by recognizing and understanding the presence of the human that my faith in the divine is preserved.
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September 26, 2019 at 7:17 pm
I thoroughly enjoyed reading that. Thank you for your detailed scholarship and insight.
September 30, 2019 at 10:09 am
You’ve helped me redefine Revelation in a much more positive and less rigid way: the mind and intent of God, expressed through human language, culture and experience.
October 1, 2019 at 11:39 am
Great talk. I’m glad it’s online. Thanks for taking the time to include all the hyperlinks and footnotes too.
October 6, 2019 at 7:50 pm
This is well presented and a nice addition to your earlier presentations in this general area of though. I have found your insight on these points really well thought through and I appreciate all the effort and hours that you have put forth to provide some very useful perspectives.