{"id":4231,"date":"2007-11-19T19:05:38","date_gmt":"2007-11-19T23:05:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=4231"},"modified":"2007-11-11T19:10:10","modified_gmt":"2007-11-11T23:10:10","slug":"book-review-people-of-paradox-a-history-of-mormon-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2007\/11\/book-review-people-of-paradox-a-history-of-mormon-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: People of Paradox: A History of Mormon Culture <\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

People of Paradox<\/em> is unusual: Givens sets out four major paradoxes in Mormon thought and then shows how various aspects of Mormon culture (the life of the mind, architecture, visual art, dance, film, etc.), at various moments in history, negotiate those dilemmas. I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help but enjoy a book that seeks to wend its own way by eschewing traditional approaches to history. Yet the warp and weft don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mesh perfectly.<\/p>\n

\tBut first, the paradoxes: this introductory section does an exemplary job of elucidating the major conflicts in Mormon thought. In fact, had Givens expanded on these themes and made them the sole focal point of the book, we would have an excellent overview of Mormon intellectual history and an articulation of the tensions in Mormon culture that would have been the standard guide for the perplexed for the next generation. His deft ability to elucidate these tensions\u00e2\u20ac\u201deven simply to recognize them as tensions\u00e2\u20ac\u201dhas the potential even in its current form to be enormously helpful for those who are just jumping into Mormon thought and find the waters tumultuous. The first paradox Givens recognizes is the often fascinating negotiation between extreme authoritarianism and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153radical freedom\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in the Church. Second is the tension between the constant search for more truth and the certainty that is expected of church members. Coming third (in a chapter wittily titled \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Everlasting Burnings and Cinder Blocks\u00e2\u20ac\u009d) is the odd juxtaposition between the sacred and the banal. And, finally, Givens discusses the interaction between the ideas of election and exile. Again, this section of the book is highly recommended\u00e2\u20ac\u201despecially to newbies in Mormon Studies and those struggling with their own faith\u00e2\u20ac\u201dfor its ability to identify and articulate these paradoxes in Mormon thought and life.<\/p>\n

\tBefore delving into Givens\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 application of the paradoxes to Mormon culture, let me make three observations. First, dividing the cultural sections into two time periods (1830-1890 and 1890-present) struck me as an unfortunate disruption. I think it would have been far better to stick with one cultural manifestation and see it through; as it is written, I felt that I lost the strand of thought on, say, architecture, since five chapters intervened before I again reached that topic. <\/p>\n

Secondly, Givens doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t spend much time either defining culture or justifying his choices of topics to cover under that umbrella. For the first decision, I am grateful: I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t imagine anything more stultifying than dozens of pages on exactly what constitutes \u00e2\u20ac\u0153culture.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d But for the latter, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m puzzled. He dismisses \u00e2\u20ac\u0153material culture\u00e2\u20ac\u009d early on and I think that this is unfortunate. In the first place, it means not considering the venue where women are most likely to have contributed to Mormon culture. As Laurel Thatcher Ulrich has shown, quilts and similar artifacts are important repositories of female culture. But my complaint here is more than the standard feminist rant: the case can easily be made that material culture, specifically handicrafts, have been one of the defining elements of Mormon identity from pioneer times clear through to the present. To disregard them seems to inappropriately limit the discussion. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that I could make the case that decoupage or vinyl-lettered plaques reveal or respond to the paradox of certainty and seeking, but that might suggest something about the paradox\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s applicability to many Saints, particularly women. Handicrafts probably don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t evince Givens\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 theory of paradoxes but, if so, this would have been all the more reason to consider them. Surely Givens was right when he noted in the preface that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a study claiming to address the sweeping subject of a religious culture is bound to offend almost everyone by dint of something left out, something overpraised, or something undervalued.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n

Finally, I was befuddled by the way in which Givens embraced popular culture in some areas (such as an extended discussion of Saturday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Warrior) while virtually ignoring it in others. I can completely understand why would not want to engage Especially for Mormons or The Work and The Glory series, but, at the same time, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not sure that one can accurately portray Mormon culture\u00e2\u20ac\u201despecially operating under a definition of Mormon culture that includes Saturday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Warrior–without exploring them. Consequently, a paradox of Mormon culture is raised by the book itself: the conflict between the elite and mass Mormon culture\u00e2\u20ac\u201delite condescension on the one hand, impressive sales on the other. And, paradoxically, some of the finest examples of Givens\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 four tensions come not from \u00e2\u20ac\u02dchigh art\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 but from his analysis of recent LDS films such as God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Army and New York Doll. It may well be that the paradoxes are more prevalent in Mormon popular culture than in high culture, but since Givens didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t delve into popular literature or thought to any great extent, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not sure.<\/p>\n

\tIn the remainder of the book, Givens traces LDS history through the prism of a single aspect of culture, one chapter at a time. These sections are full of fascinating trivia (Did you know that the angel Moroni on the Salt Lake Temple was created by a non-Mormon sculptor?) and anything-but-trivial observations (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The use of church funds for artists to practice drawing nude models in fin-de-siecle Paris in preparation for adorning the sacred inner precincts of a Mormon temple is surely one of the great ironies of Mormon religious history\u00e2\u20ac\u009d). They are well worth reading as brief histories of the various categories under discussion. But what they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do, in my opinion, is successfully illustrate that the four paradoxes are represented in all areas of Mormon culture. It may be that I expected to be hit over the head with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153visual arts in the twentieth century clearly manifested the conflict between election and exile by . . .\u00e2\u20ac\u009d while perhaps what Givens was doing was much more subtle. At the same time, I walked away from the book with the impression that the historical data from the various avenues of Mormon culture did not support the idea of four major paradoxes that permeated Mormon culture. To some extent, this was balanced by Givens\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 trenchant insights (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Mormons insist on the need for a gospel restoration, but then feel the sting of being excluded from the fold of Christendom that they have just dismissed as irredeemably apostate\u00e2\u20ac\u009d) and delightful writing. Another strength of the book is its positioning of Mormonism (particularly nineteenth century Mormonism) in the larger American context: a reader cannot truly appreciate the role of, say, dancing in LDS culture unless she knows with what vehemence the neighbors were preaching against it. Similarly, thinking about Mormon pageants in the context of passion plays is innovative and ultimately elucidating.<\/p>\n

\tIf I sound somewhat conflicted in my evaluation to this book, your perception is keen. There were moments when I sensed him stepping onto a soapbox as cultural critic, particularly in the chapter on modern architecture (after explaining that LDS chapels merge into basketball courts he concludes that this \u00e2\u20ac\u0153conspire[s] to threaten the sacred experience\u00e2\u20ac\u009d), instead of speaking as a historian, as he does throughout most of the book. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m mostly disappointed by my sense that the four paradoxes were not, ultimately, shown to permeate every aspect of Mormon culture, as well as my sense that the presentation of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Mormon culture\u00e2\u20ac\u009d overemphasized some areas and left out others. At the same time, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t dismiss the impressive addition of historical thinking and reflection that constitute this book. Paradox, indeed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People of Paradox is unusual: Givens sets out four major paradoxes in Mormon thought and then shows how various aspects of Mormon culture (the life of the mind, architecture, visual art, dance, film, etc.), at various moments in history, negotiate those dilemmas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4231","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\/4231","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\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4231\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}