It has been said before and it bears repeating: Mormonism is as much a culture as it is a theology - possibly more so.
Most Evangelicals simply don't get this, so they end up treating Mormons like Evangelicals - who tend to value theology OVER culture. Likewise, Mormons treat Evangelicals like Mormons and attempt to leverage and elevate Evangelical culture over its theology. As a result, they both just end up talking past each other rather than TO each other.
I have seen it more times than I care to count and it's happening on Social Media and elsewhere, right now, even as I type.
So a couple of quick thoughts... you went to Seminary, of course you have an addiction to books. I did too and they overflow the basement!
Martin Luther nailed the 95 Thesis to the door of the Castle Church at Wittenberg on October 31, 1517 (mostly remembered because Wes King put it in a song of his).
This really is an interesting comparison and now that you say it, I do see some of this as well. I'm probably a little different since I'm both a history geek and a theology geek, and really enjoy both subjects. But yes, this is a fascinating point you're making. Thanks Kyle.
Interesting concept here. I think there may be some truth to it. Since Evangelicals don’t have a common church organization, there isn’t a shared church history to look back to and learn from, at least in the same way. Early Christian Jewish converts (like Stephen in Acts 7) leaned heavily on shared history as a teaching method, and of course the gospels are built upon the historical story of Christ. What do you think about Catholics, for example, who are non-LDS Christians with a shared church story? It seems like Catholic scholarship does tend to heavily reference foundational historical figures, including Augustine, Popes, founders of monastic orders, and even more recent pivotal events like Vatican II. In my mind it is Evangelicals, rather than the LDS, who are the outliers in their treatment of church history, but I could be wrong.
You are also right about theology. Theology doesn’t really exist as an academic discipline for us in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I suspect it is because modern revelation has given us a bit more epistemic humility. It has become clear that there is just so much we *don’t* know, that it would be better to just wait and see rather than try to reason out the details by interpolating and extrapolating too much from the little we have, with all the possible errors of human fallibility in practicing reason. But that’s just my take.
Thank you for writing this and pointing out very interesting, real, and under-discussed differences between our faiths. I would also love to hear your perspective on what we have in common.
It has been said before and it bears repeating: Mormonism is as much a culture as it is a theology - possibly more so.
Most Evangelicals simply don't get this, so they end up treating Mormons like Evangelicals - who tend to value theology OVER culture. Likewise, Mormons treat Evangelicals like Mormons and attempt to leverage and elevate Evangelical culture over its theology. As a result, they both just end up talking past each other rather than TO each other.
I have seen it more times than I care to count and it's happening on Social Media and elsewhere, right now, even as I type.
Good article, Kyle. Thank you for it.
So a couple of quick thoughts... you went to Seminary, of course you have an addiction to books. I did too and they overflow the basement!
Martin Luther nailed the 95 Thesis to the door of the Castle Church at Wittenberg on October 31, 1517 (mostly remembered because Wes King put it in a song of his).
This really is an interesting comparison and now that you say it, I do see some of this as well. I'm probably a little different since I'm both a history geek and a theology geek, and really enjoy both subjects. But yes, this is a fascinating point you're making. Thanks Kyle.
Interesting concept here. I think there may be some truth to it. Since Evangelicals don’t have a common church organization, there isn’t a shared church history to look back to and learn from, at least in the same way. Early Christian Jewish converts (like Stephen in Acts 7) leaned heavily on shared history as a teaching method, and of course the gospels are built upon the historical story of Christ. What do you think about Catholics, for example, who are non-LDS Christians with a shared church story? It seems like Catholic scholarship does tend to heavily reference foundational historical figures, including Augustine, Popes, founders of monastic orders, and even more recent pivotal events like Vatican II. In my mind it is Evangelicals, rather than the LDS, who are the outliers in their treatment of church history, but I could be wrong.
You are also right about theology. Theology doesn’t really exist as an academic discipline for us in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I suspect it is because modern revelation has given us a bit more epistemic humility. It has become clear that there is just so much we *don’t* know, that it would be better to just wait and see rather than try to reason out the details by interpolating and extrapolating too much from the little we have, with all the possible errors of human fallibility in practicing reason. But that’s just my take.
Thank you for writing this and pointing out very interesting, real, and under-discussed differences between our faiths. I would also love to hear your perspective on what we have in common.