James E. Talmage, the Articles of Faith, and Progression between Kingdoms: New Light

A young and pugnacious James E. Talmage, per the picture in the BYU Geology Dept.

The idea of progression between kingdoms in the afterlife has long been debated, with Church leaders taking differing positions. One interesting and well-known point in this debate is textual differences between the first and later editions of Talmage’s The Articles of Faith.¹See Dialogue 15:1 (Spring 1982) “Is there Progression Among the Eternal Kingdoms?” p. 181ff However, no one has ever explained why Talmage apparently changed his mind.

In the first edition of AoF (1899), Talmage affirms the possibility of progression between kingdoms.

It is reasonable to believe, in the absence of direct revelation by which alone absolute knowledge of the matter could be acquired, that, in accordance with God’s plan of eternal progression, advancement from grade to grade within any kingdom, and from kingdom to kingdom, will be provided for. But if the recipients of a lower glory be enabled to advance, surely the intelligences of higher rank will not be stopped in their progress; and thus we may conclude, that degrees and grades will ever characterize the kingdoms of our God.

However,  in 1917, some text was removed and some added.

It is reasonable to believe, in the absence of direct revelation by which alone absolute knowledge of the matter could be acquired, that, in accordance with God’s plan of eternal progression, advancement from grade to grade within any kingdom, and from kingdom to kingdom, within each of the specified kingdoms will be provided for. But if the recipients of a lower glory be enabled to advance, surely the intelligences of higher rank will not be stopped in their progress; and thus we may conclude, that degrees and grades will ever characterize the kingdoms of our God.

And then in 1924,  more text was removed and added.

It is reasonable to believe, in the absence of direct revelation by which alone absolute knowledge of the matter could be acquired, that, in accordance with God’s plan of eternal progression, advancement from grade to grade  within each of the specified kingdoms will be provided for. But if the recipients of a lower glory be enabled to advance, surely the intelligences of higher rank will not be stopped in their progress; and thus ;though as to possible progress from one kingdom to another the scriptures make no positive affirmation. Eternal advancement along different lines is conceivable.We may conclude, that degrees and grades will ever characterize the kingdoms of our God.

By 1924, AoF did not affirm progression between kingdoms.

…what changed?

As it turns out, Talmage’s ecclesiastical status changed. Max Zimmer tells the story.

Max Zimmer in 1933, at the Basel Mission Conference; image from Church History biographical database

Born in 1889 in Colmar,²I served both north (Strasbourg) and south of Colmar (Mulhouse). It’s small but spectacularly beautiful and heavily visited by tourists. near the French/German border, Zimmer joined the Church at age 22; that same year Talmage became an Apostle.  Zimmer helped translate various LDS books into German, and also traveled with Talmage during his time as the European mission president, translating for him.

Below, I reproduce text from a letter Zimmer wrote 1949, which I recently found in some archives. (Emphasis is original)

In 1919 the Swiss-German Mission published the first German edition of 3000 copies of Talmage’s Articles of Faith which I helped to translate. In that edition it said that in accordance with the law of eternal progress there is a possibility or even a probability to go from one glory to another, even from the telestial to the celestial world.

This edition being sold out within the next few years it was decided to print a second one and I was appointed to prepare the manuscript based on the twelfth English edition of 1924, revised and partly rewritten by the author. Much to my surprise I found that he apparently had changed his opinion now confining advancement to within each of the three kingdoms (p. 409).

Shortly before that time Dr. Talmage had been called to preside over the European Mission and while he toured Germany, Switzerland and Austria I had to accompany him to several large cities where we held public meetings and I had to translate for him. So naturally, while traveling with him, I took the liberty of asking him why he had changed his opinion on this subject. He smiled and said (in substance:) “I did not change my opinion; I always thought advancement from one glory to another to be impossible; but, you see, when I had prepared the manuscript for the first english edition— wherein I stated my belief in this impossibility— I had to submit the manuscript to a committee of the Twelve, and the majority of that committee was of a different opinion and they asked me to change it, which of course, I did. Later, in 1924, when I revised and rewrote the book for the twelfth edition, I was a member of the Quorum and had not to submit my manuscript to a committee and so I changed it back to the original version of some 24 years ago!”

So in 1899, as a respected non-Apostle, Talmage accommodated the majority view of the review committee of the Quorum of the Twelve ³who and how many were on that committee, we do not know and asserted progression between kingdoms. But having been called as an Apostle in 1911, and serving for 13 years when he revised, he reverted the text to reflect his own view.

Prophets and Apostles often have different opinions, and interpret scripture differently based on their knowledge, experience, and training.  We should not expect absolute unity of knowledge based merely on their office. And of course, direct revelation on this topic has not yet been given.

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