fiona givens

The Crucible of Doubt: Reflection on the Quest for Faith is one of the most provocative books Deseret Book has published in years. It appears at a time when most members of the church know someone who struggles with questions about LDS history, teaching, or practice. Many apologetic works counter particular criticisms (there are horses in the Book of Mormon, but not in Ancient America) with detailed rebuttals (this could be a translation problem, or, the archaeological record is yet inconclusive, etc.). By contrast, Terryl and Fiona Givens challenge several underlying assumptions held by many church members in order to invite readers to better grapple with whatever particular issues may arise.While the book covers a number of relevant issues, I'll expand on only three of them here.I. Humility and SearchingOne danger of 'criticism/defense' apologetic approach I mentioned above is that they can all-too-easily give the impression that, if we had enough time, we could definitively answer for any criticism or doubt that reasonable people might conjure. The Givens's repeatedly and refreshingly affirm that in their experience, the Church cannot answer all your questions now or solve all of your problems, including some of the most pressing ones: 'To the would-be believer, not everything makes sense. Not all loose ends are tied up; not every question finds its answer. Latter-day Saint history can be perplexing, some parts of its theology leave even the devout wondering, and not all prayers find answers' (36). ((Elsewhere: “We feel unmoored if our religion fails to answer all our questions, if it does not resolve our anxious fears, if it does not tie up all loose ends. We want a script, and we find we stand before a blank canvas. We expect a road map, and we find we have only a compass” (31), which brings to mind Adam Miller's discussion of reading the gospel map in comparison to the rough terrain of real life in his book Letters to a Young Mormon.)) If this is a disconcerting thought, the authors also confront 'a particularly pernicious myth that has had tragic influence on Mormon thinking. This is the notion that Mormonism has a monopoly on the truth, that other churches and traditions have nothing of value to contribute' (87). They enjoin Latter-day Saints to join 'the larger, transhistorical church' that includes seekers after God in all ages and cultures (99). Two particular chapter provide scriptural and theological justification for drinking from the wells of non-Latter-day Saints and the book as a whole draws on a number of non-LDS lights—Wordsworth, Shakespeare, Julian of Norwich, Virginia Woolf—women and men as model for emulation. (Here at the Maxwell Institute we've been trying to do our part in this outreaching project in our scholarship on ancient and medieval Islamic, Christian, and Jewish texts.)You won't necessarily find answers to all your problems and questions out there, either, but the Givens's believe you will find a communion of saints whose values will make you proud to be a part of it regardless of assured ultimate truths.Anyway, many truths, they argue, can't be articulated by the canons of science or by the prophets alone: 'A Mozart or a Milton, like a Moses or the Psalmist, approximates a reality we sense is true, though prophets and artists alike struggle to capture in language just what it is that has been unfolded to their vision' (13). ((See Joseph M. Spencer's remarks about the poetic nature of some prophecy and the prophetic nature of some poetry during a recent roundtable affirming the relevance of scripture here and here.)) 'Wells may be replenished as we drink liberally from the words of poets, writers, theologians, and essayists representing a host of cultures and traditions” (100).II. The Problem of SufferingNot all faith struggles are the result of unsettling historical events. The book also deals with matters of human pain and suffering of the kind that lead to questioning the whole plan. While the gospel offers many people solace in the face of suffering, the authors warn against committing the 'sacrilege of glib consolation' (111) and assert that some evils in the world are enough to make even the stoutest doubt God’s existence, or at least his love: 'But perhaps raging against the universe—even against God—is not the sin some people think it to be. … Surely God is not so fragile, so lacking in empathy, that He would take offense at our incredulity or our anger in the face of the world’s wounds' (114-115). They also speak of the “Fellowship of the desolate,” those who just cannot find God no matter what, and who ache at the evil they see in the world (118). Some people, they acknowledge, will have a harder time believing than others, but such people can add diversity and richness to an otherwise monochromatic religious tradition: 'We have all known our share of broken hearts and silent skies. We pass through our deserts, and we often labor to recall the sweet waters we have tasted along the way. Perhaps, when our faith or our desire to believe is at its lowest ebb, we might consider the meaning of those words, 'blessed is he that believeth…without being brought to know…or even compelled to know, before they will believe.' Perhaps these words are telling us there is a type of flower that can bloom only in the desert of doubt.' (144).III. Faith as Choice, Faith as QuestOne critic of the book (who hasn't read it yet) noted: 'What appears to be missing in the Givens's narrative is an answer to highly pertinent question 'who cares?' Meaning, why should anyone care at all about trying to hold out hope for the truthfulness of the traditional LDS church narrative at all? Why should anyone worry if they have doubts about it?' ((See the comment in response to Julie Smith's review at Times & Seasons.))Of course, the Givens's do provide answers to this question. At the outset they establish the idea that we all have beliefs, values, etc. which, even if not openly articulated, are embodied in the day-to-day actions we all perform, and that this normal way of living can be understood as the “religion” of an atheist, Mormon, or whatever else, and that this religion is always fraught with uncertainties: 'We cannot escape the burden of faith, within or outside the parameters of religious conviction' (137). They explain various aspects of Mormonism they find to be persuasive and worthy of belief and adhering action. ((Chapter three especially lays out what they believe is distinctive and worthy of adherence within the LDS view. The underlying idea is that “Saints are nothing without a community of memory…To be a communion of saints makes saints possible” (39, quoting from another author). But chapter 11 is where they really lay out, very briefly, five main “foundational assertions” of Mormon perspective to which their hopes are tuned.)) As Terryl Givens has articulated before, what we choose to believe and how we choose to live are freely made expressions of what we each value. (('What we choose to embrace, to be responsive to, is the purest reflection of who we are and what we love. That is why faith, the choice to believe, is, in the final analysis, an action that is positively laden with moral significance,' Terryl L. Givens, ''Lightning Out of Heaven': Joseph Smith and the Forging of Community', BYU Speeches of the Year, 29 November 2005. See p. 32 of Crucible for the same idea. Rosalynde Welch has offered an alternative to this view of faith here.))While the Givens's strive hard to avoid blaming doubters (doubt itself, after all, is held by them to be a potentially fruitful catalyst to greater light and knowledge and thus not something worthy of blame), they also invite struggling doubters to look for kinship even with those who express hostility toward them: 'It is important to recognize...that hostility shown toward our doubts is often a sign of fear rather than intolerance' (106).Candidly speaking, the Givens's make some proposals that I don’t find persuasive in the least, a few that I’m undecided about, and some others that I agree with—either because I’d already arrived at them myself or because they articulated something new that struck me in the right way. And to me, this combination is what qualifies something as being one of the 'best books' Latter-day Saints are enjoined to read (D&C 88:118).Moreover, they don’t need to solve my problems for me because they're exhibiting a way of investigation, a wrestling that I can emulate in my own ongoing quest. They expressly declare that maybe the Church doesn’t have all the answers, that Mormon history has been whitewashed (though they offer some interesting context to help alleviate the resentment this has caused, pp. 80-81) but is improving, that we are all likely to feel God’s absence at some point (and for some people, they’ll always feel that absence) but that we might be able to choose to carry on regardless, that we can each find a watering place from other sources because the restoration of God's truths has always transcended the Church, that prophets and scripture aren't perfect, and that the Church offers us something we cannot find elsewhere.In short: Crucible models fruitful engagement as much as it exhibits specific fruits of Terryl and Fiona's particular engagement. Some readers will feel the authors didn't 'indict' the institutional Church enough for its shortcomings while others may feel uncomfortable with some constructive, if candid, criticism they include.For me, it's simply encouraging to see such stimulating work being published by Deseret Book. There's no doubt I'd like to see more, please. Terryl and Fiona Givens, The Crucible of Doubt: Reflection on the Quest for Faith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2014), 168 pp. Available now on Amazon.

Following the release of their new book The God Who Weeps: How Mormonism Makes Sense of Life, Terryl and Fiona Givens embarked on a series of fireside gatherings discussing the navigation of faith crises. Last Saturday the pair, along with Richard Bushman, spoke to a small group in Provo, Utah, on the subject. To get a sense of their presentation, see the notes scribbled at rationalfaiths.com. They spoke about principles restored by Joseph Smith, and efforts by the Church today to provide a better climate for handling questions about our history.Terryl has been in town the past few weeks leading the Mormon Scholars Foundation Summer Seminar, cosponsored by the Maxwell Institute and the Jack and Mary Lois Wheatley Institution. Since 1997, Richard Bushman and Terryl have alternately directed summer seminars on Mormon thought and history with a variety of graduate students. This year’s theme is “Workings of the Spirit and Works of the Priesthood: Gifts and Ordinances in LDS Thought and Practice.”