Anthropological observation about Mormons

[Archaea]

Any particular construction of the Mormon religious world view is contingent and partial, susceptible to reformulation at any time borne of subsequent revelation. Thus Mormons can adapt to even radical reformulation at any time of their theological constructs with relative ease. Witness in Mormon history the relatively smooth transition out of 19th century polygamy and from racist policies of priesthood ordination in the present century. There will, therefore, likely never be in Mormon theological crises like those which traditional Christianity experienced with the eclipse of Aquinian and Calvinist theologies. It is even possible, because of their belief in continuing revelation, for Mormons to live in religious universe that is ironic, dialectical, paradoxical, and even contradictory. For example, Mormons have no difficulty in holding simultaneously to the beliefs in special creation and the geologic age of the earth, in Mendelian genetics and the gender of specific identity of pre-mortal spirits, in democracy and theocracy, in charismatic and bureaucratic authority, in communal and individual salvation, and in spiritual and material imperatives, to name a few. On a more purely theological basis, Mormons hardly ever concern themselves with the question of whether faith or works is more essential to salvation, whether God?s foreknowledge limits man?s agency, or of the dynamic interplay between justice and mercy, unless the discussion relates directly to a person?s actions or attitudes vis-à-vis God. In other words, there is hardly anything purely abstract about Mormon religious thought. By the same token, almost every aspect of Mormonism is capable of theological abstraction. Witness, for example, the spiritual justification for basketball courts in Mormon meeting houses, for the interdiction against consuming tobacco, alcohol, coffee, and tea, and for participating in family outings, quilting bees, community service projects, and congregational dances and dinners and so on.

Thoughts?