{"id":20909,"date":"2012-06-14T07:50:04","date_gmt":"2012-06-14T12:50:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=20909"},"modified":"2012-06-13T23:58:57","modified_gmt":"2012-06-14T04:58:57","slug":"bootstrapping-mormon-studies-part-ii-unfolding-the-expansive-message","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2012\/06\/bootstrapping-mormon-studies-part-ii-unfolding-the-expansive-message\/","title":{"rendered":"Bootstrapping Mormon Studies, Part II: Unfolding the Expansive Message"},"content":{"rendered":"

The gospel is a recipe for world peace. The basis for a just, harmonious, and prosperous society is implicit in the gospel as we discuss and practice it today. It is implicit, but it is a long way from becoming explicit. I made this claim in Part I<\/a> of this series. In this post I will say more about what I mean by \u201cimplicit\u201d and \u201cexplicit,\u201d as a way of filling out the expansive content and promise of Mormonism, and the expansive context in which I want to think about its fruition, including its intellectual culture.<\/p>\n

If all of us loved God with all our heart, might, mind and strength, and our neighbors as ourselves, we\u2019d be doing pretty well. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. I think it’s fair to say that everything God wants to teach us is implicit in these two commandments. Without a little more detail, though, we would probably do a pretty bad job of living up to them. Luckily, Jesus keeps teaching.<\/p>\n

After the Book of Enos, Jarom writes<\/a>, \u201cwhat could I write more than my fathers have written? For have not they revealed the plan of salvation?\u201d In a sense, the message was complete with the writings of Nephi, Jacob, and Enos. Yet we still are very glad to have the rest of the Book of Mormon, most of which comes after this.<\/p>\n

Again, when Christ visits the Nephites at the temple in Bountiful, he says<\/a>, \u201cwhoso believeth in me, and is baptized, the same shall be saved; and they are they who shall inherit the kingdom of God. And whoso believeth not in me, and is not baptized, shall be damned.\u201d After restating essentially the same points a few different ways, in verse 40 he warns, \u201cAnd whoso shall declare more or less than this, and establish it for my doctrine, the same cometh of evil.\u201d <\/p>\n

In a sense, then, Jesus has told us everything he wants us to know in these few lines. Of course, there is a lot implicit in it. Repentance means turning from wrong ways to live to the right way, and there are many wrong ways, and many elements to the right way. Baptism is to be done a certain way, by a certain authority, and is the gateway into the Church, which has a certain structure, and into a life of righteous living. To fulfill this commandment to repent and be baptized, we need to know and do a lot of other things. Christ’s message needs to be unfolded (or explicated) both in thought and in action to be faithfully expressed. <\/p>\n

Fortunately, Christ sticks around to teach about the method of baptism, the priesthood, the proper organization for his Church, and the path of righteousness, and he has called prophets throughout history to continue elaborating and unfolding his message in ways that address our particular needs, questions, and circumstances. He also sends the Holy Spirit to remind us, to help us understand, and to help us see how to apply what we know correctly from day to day. He also gives us minds and judgment and expects us to use them in fulfilling his commandments. We are to do much good of our own free will. He who waits to be commanded in all things is a slothful and not a wise servant. In this post, I argue that there is quite a bit of the gospel message left for us to work out and receive, through our own judgment, through the guidance of the Spirit, and through revelation, and gesture toward some of the forms it should take.<\/p>\n

One key element of righteousness to which Christ calls us is to love one\u2019s neighbor as oneself. In order to be applied in any actual context it requires a significant amount of interpretation and explication, though. What does my neighbor in fact need? How much of what he needs am I in a position to provide? How can I go about providing it? <\/p>\n

For, say, a physician, the way she shows love for her neighbor may involve an enormous amount of specialized knowledge and equipment, but equally importantly specialized principles for how to approach patients in a way that shows the love and respect they deserve. The medical profession has formulated principles of privacy, informed consent, the spheres of both patient autonomy and practitioner discretion and responsibility, and the like, to guide them in that particular context. To practice the principle of care here, it must be explicated or unfolded in terms of these more specialized principles, physiologically, technologically, legally, and institutionally. Until it is explicated in this way, it remains implicit, and we can only perceive hints as to its full meaning and character. <\/p>\n

This is one interesting sense in which all truth is a part of Mormonism. That is to say, all truth has a role in articulating what it means to fulfill the promise of the gospel to guide and enlighten our lives. To fully embody the promise of the gospel requires the incorporation of all truth. That it requires many lifetimes to acquire and apply all truth is no objection to this; it is rather an affirmation of the Mormon view of eternity, which allows unbounded individual progress, and of sociality, which allows us to participate in something far beyond what any one of us is capable of.<\/p>\n

All ethical principles need to be fleshed out in a similar way to be applied well in any particular context. Parents develop principles and sensitivities for appropriate expectations, rewards and punishments, authority, autonomy, responsibility, and so forth, to apply in raising their children. Corporations develop policies for how to deal with customers and employees. Societies develop laws and formulate social programs. All of these represent the translation of general values and ethical principles into much more specific and detailed principles and practices to fit a particular context. This can be done well or badly, and in a variety of ways, depending on what general, or high-level values and principles one holds.<\/p>\n

In this sense, fulfilling the promise of the gospel requires embodiment, and not just the possession of a body, but concrete and active living, in a particular time and place. Institutions, their design, policies, and practices, are a crucial aspect of the gospel\u2019s embodiment in human lives.<\/p>\n

While the Church and its membership have done much creative work to unfold and embody the principles of the gospel, there is much, much, yet to be done. If the gospel is a recipe for world peace, we have a lot more cooking and concocting to do!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The gospel is a recipe for world peace. The basis for a just, harmonious, and prosperous society is implicit in the gospel as we discuss and practice it today. It is implicit, but it is a long way from becoming explicit. I made this claim in Part I of this series. In this post I will say more about what I mean by \u201cimplicit\u201d and \u201cexplicit,\u201d as a way of filling out the expansive content and promise of Mormonism, and the expansive context in which I want to think about its fruition, including its intellectual culture. If all of us loved God with all our heart, might, mind and strength, and our neighbors as ourselves, we\u2019d be doing pretty well. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. I think it’s fair to say that everything God wants to teach us is implicit in these two commandments. Without a little more detail, though, we would probably do a pretty bad job of living up to them. Luckily, Jesus keeps teaching. After the Book of Enos, Jarom writes, \u201cwhat could I write more than my fathers have written? For have not they revealed the plan of salvation?\u201d In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-corn"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20909"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20915,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20909\/revisions\/20915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}