Bushman Fireside

[Jeff Lebowski]

Richard L. Bushman has an older home in central Provo where he spends three months each summer. He gave a fireside tonight in his ward and a friend invited me to attend. Here is a summary of a few points that I found interesting.

Disclaimer: These are my recollections of what he said and may be prone to error.

- He started out by discussing the relationship of JS to Jesus Christ and the atonement. He said that JS suffered from anxiety and depression. He said it was significant that many of the revelations start off with "Thy sins are forgiven thee." There were some interesting tangents to this, but I will probably mess up the details.

- He discussed the various accounts of the first vision. He said that the discrepencies are significant and that they bother a lot of people but they don't bother him. He compared them to the four versions of the gospels. But a bigger issue is the intended audience. The early versions focus more on forgiveness of sin (see item 1) and were written at a time when JS commonly witheld many details of visions. The common version was written as part of a history of the church and thus has an emphasis on the "you are called to start a new church" angle.

- He said that JS tended to immediately publish revelations given to his mind by the spirit, but generally held back on visions or details of visions. Even the visit from Christ in the Kirtland temple was not discussed for many years, even though he immediately recorded the experience via a scribe.

- He said that he strongly approves of the rehabilitation of Emma in the church (sorry, Adam). He said that she had a unique position to watch JS rise from a young nobody all the way up to a martyred prophet. He finds it significant that she never waivered on her testimony. He said that he believes she was "burned out" after JS died and was also under financial duress. She did not trust BY. All of these factors came to play in her decision not to go west with the church. Interestingly, he recommended the recent Emma movie.

- Discussed how polygamy was a major trial for Emma and she accepted it for a few weeks and then changed her mind. She just couldn't buy into it. Also commented that JS-style polygamy differed from BY-style polygamy in that it was more focused on sealings that on setting up permanent domestic relationships. He said that about six people were told that they were children (non-Emma) of JS. All were informed after 1890 or so and details are sketchy. There is a DNA project underway to identify non-Emma descendants. Thus far they have ruled out any male descendants and are checking on the possibility of female descendants.

- Said that JS had a hot temper and wore his heart on his sleeve, but was quick to forgive.

- Bushman went to grad school at Harvard and he said that it seemed that everyone else in his student ward was in Harvard Business School so he felt insecure about his choice to pursue history. He used to wander the campus at night agonizing over his career and wondering if he was making the right decision. At one point he eased his anxiety by deciding that he would someday use his education to right a good bio of JS. He later felt that it wouldn't be necessary but friends and colleagues finally influenced him to finally give it a shot.

Anyway, that's all I recall at the moment. Coincidentally, I learned the Bushman and I are related (probably 3rd or 4th cousins). He signed my copy of RSR.

All in all, it was a great fireside. At the end, Bushman bore a powerful testimony. Not emotional, but strong, sincere, and unequivocal. I came away enlightened, touched, and impressed.

(How would you like to have this guy in your gospel doctrine and priesthood lessons? Poor guy probably gets asked to comment on everything.)

[UtahDan]

That is really cool. Being in the east you never get to do things like that. I do have Terryl Givens right down the road at the University of Richmond, but I have never heard about a fireside. Thanks for sharing.

[Gidget]

That sounds awesome, Surfah has RSR and I have been meaning to read it, now I want to even more . . .

[RockyBalboa]

That's cool stuff.

RSR is still one of my favorite books I've read in the past few years.

[MikeWaters]

I think I should note that SU is not a beautiful woman.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by Adam

On this recommendation I will go watch the Emma movie.

I guess I'm saying that I think there are at least three catagories of church historical figures:

1. Those that always remained faithful: John Taylor, Brigham Young, Willard Richards, Wilford Woodruff, Eliza R. Snow

2. Those who apostatized but who came back faithful in the end: A) Short term wavering: PPPratt in Kirtland, WWPhelps in Missouri, Orson Pratt in Nauvoo. B) Long term apostacy: Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris.

3. Those who apostatized and who never came back and who fought against the Church: David Whitmer, John C. Bennett, William Law, Emma Smith, James Strang, Hyrum Page

Now I don't really think that those three broad catagories are debatable. And I'm not saying that I think we can pass eternal judgment on anyone an any of those groupings--I fully expect a merciful God to be merciful to all his children to a degree greater than we now know (DC 29--"not all my judgments are given unto you"). So please don't go and call me judgmental and a hater.

But history is what it is. Emma clearly belongs in group three. During Joseph's life she never accepted Joseph's crowning revelation DC 132. During Joseph's life she rejected the temple ordinances he participated in and performed for others. Her refusal to sustain the Prophet, who happened to be her husband, forced Joseph to implement God's commands deceitfully in the shadows. This significantly hurt the Church. After Joseph's death, she rejected Brigham Young and spoke out against him repeatedly. After her son grew, she encouraged and supported him in his bid to start a rival Church.

I don't think it is debatable that she was a great support to Joseph. He loved her deeply. She suffered much for the gospel's sake. I don't question these truths at all.

But in the end, I don't think it is debatable that Emma became a hindrance to Joseph's work (as Joseph defined his work) in Nauvoo. I don't think it is debatable that she became a hindrance to people following God's chosen successor to Joseph, Brigham Young. I don't think it is debatable that she helped form an apostate alternative to the Church her husband/Prophet had founded.

Now I'm not going to spend millions of dollars to reinforce this view among the members of the Church--that seems ugly and unnecessary. But I wouldn't have voted to spend the millions of dollars that have been spent over the last decade trying to rehab her in the eyes of the Church either.

I won't name my daughter after Emma, but if you want to do so, fine by me. I just wonder when we will try to rehabilitate William Law and Hyrum Page and David Whitmer. This is of course not going to happen, the difference from Emma being that they weren't beautiful women and Joseph wasn't married to them. Being a beautiful woman has its benefits (and drawbacks in other ways), even in historical judgment.

Hey, I am not calling you anything. The topic just reminded me of our earlier discussion. I understand and respect your viewpoint.

I have a tough time condemning anyone who rejected polygamy. Especially Emma, given the circumstances.

[Tex]

Originally Posted by Adam

3. Those who apostatized and who never came back and who fought against the Church: David Whitmer, John C. Bennett, William Law, Emma Smith, James Strang, Hyrum Page

I think there are worlds of difference between the apostasies of Whitmer, Bennett, and Smith. Not all apostates are created equal, enough to make even this general grouping far too broad.

[ute4ever]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski

- He started out by discussing the relationship of JS to Jesus Christ and the atonement. He said that JS suffered from anxiety and depression. He said it was significant that many of the revelations start off with "Thy sins are forgiven thee." There were some interesting tangents to this, but I will probably mess up the details.

I can only imagine. Think of the anxiety of trying to do as the Lord instructs, yet knowing your enemies are around every corner plotting your destruction. JS probably often felt like he was walking into a trap, and felt abandoned by the Lord. Think of how wrenching his experience in Liberty Jail was for him, just to name one. And moreover, many of his enemies were in the church. He probably felt as though so much of the good that he was trying to do was being destroyed, and God was sitting back and watching it happen. JS probably often felt like things were failing because he was an unworthy instrument. His levels of anxiety and depression were probably higher than any of us have experienced.

If you read the six volumes of History of the Church, those are essentially JS's personal journals, and I've noted how often his daily entries were along the lines of "stayed home all day, wasn't feeling well." It was probably more emotional than physical. Even he who communed with Jehovah needed frequent breaks from being slandered, accused, rediculed and tortured.

[Goatnapper'96]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski

- He said that he strongly approves of the rehabilitation of Emma in the church (sorry, Adam). He said that she had a unique position to watch JS rise from a young nobody all the way up to a martyred prophet. He finds it significant that she never waivered on her testimony. He said that he believes she was "burned out" after JS died and was also under financial duress. She did not trust BY. All of these factors came to play in her decision not to go west with the church. Interestingly, he recommended the recent Emma movie.

I don't buy his claim that Emma never waivered on her testimony. Or he and I define testimony differently.

Emma never taught her kids the gospel her husband restored. I can buy that she was burned out and all the apologetic justification, but we sure as hell give her a great deal more latitude in dealing with the difficulties of the time than we give the cream greedy Sister Marsh. There also is an effort to lionize her more than Mary Fielding Smith who endured a lot closer to the actual end.

If my thong recommended lady g bottoms is sported by Denise Richards playing Fanny Alger, I am so there for the Emma movie.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by Goatnapper'96

I don't buy his claim that Emma never waivered on her testimony. Or he and I define testimony differently.

To be fair, he may not have worded it exactly that way. This is my second-hand summary.