September 2, 2012 by P. J. Toscano
The Mormon Restoration has reinvented itself several times since 1820. I am aware, directly and indirectly, of the following seven layered reconfigurations of Mormonism each of which continues to influence, to one degree or another, the LDS community. The dates I have given for each denote my estimate of the period of greatest influence of each of these major Mormon cultural permutations:
1. Ancient Mormonism (1820-1844): “Ancient Mormonism” is my term for the theological contributions of the revelations and teachings of Joseph Smith and to the interpretive gloss he placed upon the Old and New Testaments. I was converted to Ancient Mormonism and prefer it still, even though I do not accept as inspired all Joseph Smith’s actions and choices, especially with respect to the practice of polygamy. I do not look back on these 24 years as a “golden age.” I do see them, however, as a period of unparalleled scriptural output. Nearly 80% of the Mormon cannon became available by 1834, an additional small amount became available by 1839; between 1839 and 1844 Joseph Smith delivered his great hermeneutical discourses on the nature of God and priesthood and formulated the temple endowment as the mechanism for investing men and women with priesthood fullness. Nothing like this prodigious output ever occurred again. In my estimation the heart of Mormonism lies in the heterodox revelations of this period.
2. Pioneer Mormonism (1844 -1906): I never had much enthusiasm for this brand of Mormonism although I appreciate the sacrifice of those who made the trek west and colonized the Great Basin Kingdom. However, I was never mesmerized by six-gun and barbed-wire tales of the American West probably because my antecedents were Sicilians who first entered the country through Ellis Island in the early 20th century. I was never a fan of Brigham Young. For awhile I accepted the notion that a theocratic kingdom stretching from Calgary Alberta Canada down to Colonia Juarez Mexico and kicking westward beyond Las Vegas Nevada to San Bernardino California was a workable solution for the gathering of the Saints as a prelude to enactments of law to counter human frailty and folly. However, I soon rejected the idea of law as a remedy for human nature because it depended almost entirely upon an authoritarianism inconsistent with the teachings of Jesus.
3. Accommodation Mormonism (1906 -1945): I had mixed feelings about post-manifesto Mormonism. I recognized that the practice of polygamy (multiple marriages for both men and women) was impractical and unsustainable. I also recognized that reducing polygamy to polygyny (one man married to many women) was even worse because polygyny instantiates patriarchy and the male view of women, equating the value of one male to the value of many females. I was glad to see this practice terminated. But I was not happy to see, in this period, the beginnings of the rejection of Mormon heterodoxy as the LDS Church struggled to gain greater and greater acceptance within American culture.
4. Conservative Mormonism (1945-1965): I could never accept the influence on Mormonism of Ezra Taft Benson, the John Birch Society, and the pro-McCarthy elements that turned the Latter-day Saints from their left-leaning communitarian roots toward an intolerant obsession with purity and American/Mormon exceptionalism that is the hallmark of the secular and religious right.
5. Correlated Mormonism (1965-1985): Initially, I was enthusiastic about this brand of Mormonism because it promised to “bring again Zion,” which I erroneously understood to mean a return to Ancient Mormon teachings, which seem to me to be the only reason for becoming or remaining a Mormon. I soon realized that this promise, alas, was but a pretense for increasing the authoritarian control of LDS leaders over every department of the Church and every significant facet of the lives of its members.
6. Corporate Mormonism (1985 to the present): Initially inspired by the fiscal pragmatism of N. Eldon Tanner, this expression of Mormonism reached its apex under the hand of Gordon B. Hinckley. Corporate Mormonism is the religion of money, power, politics, and ambition that occupies most of the waking thoughts of LDS Church leaders and draws them ineluctably from their spiritual ministry into a temporal administry—for this brand of Mormonism I cannot find words strong enough to express my contempt. And finally:
7. The New Mormonism (beginning circa 2002): Of all the earlier Mormonisms that have hatched out and still influence and engage the Saints, this most recent brand is the most detestable and dangerous. It is potent because it is simple. It is simple because it ignores both Mormon theology and Mormon history. It is intelligent but unread; opinionated but uninformed. It prefers anecdote to analysis, quips to argument, action to contemplation. It buys acceptance by selling off Mormon authenticity. It appeals alike to leaders and members, old and young, males and females, active and less-active, conservative and liberal. This is the Mormonism displayed by Mitt and Ann Romney, by Harry Reid, by Orrin Hatch, by Gayle Ruzicka, and by other celebrated Mormon faithful. It is the Mormonism of BYU, of the Stakes and Wards. It is the Mormonism of the Bloggernacle and of general conference. It is the crab-grass of the Restoration. It has taken over in a decade. It’s as if pods were replacing church members. But there is no invasion of body snatchers. There is only a marked disassociation and an accelerated flight from Ancient Mormonism’s quest for holiness to the New Mormonism’s quest for success—yes, worldly success—that hollow, joyless, feckless, swiftly passing, rancid tasting corruption that has caused the declination and doom of every true religion ever revealed to humankind.
The success obsession, which has always lurked in the margins of Mormonism, is now its reason for being: success in the home, success in finance, success in politics, success in sports, success in church, success in every department of life. This obsessive preoccupation with achievement, accomplishment, and exceptionalism is the root of evil, of competition, conflict, exploitation and violence. It thrives best in a culture that is shallow, sentimental, and self-centered—a culture very like that of the New Mormonism.
I am glad to read in The Mormon Worker so many intelligent and brave expressions of resistance to the toxic aspirations of this newest permutation of Mormon culture and look forward to reading more. I only wish these expressions could be channeled directly into the heads of the Latter-day Saints. But I sin in my wish.