Surely, what we need is a clear-eyed assessment of the Church’s weaknesses and failures. I imagine that a certain kind of intellectual is likely to respond by insisting that his or her role is to think critically. This answer will strike some readers as strange. My answer is simple: Finding new language in which to celebrate the Restoration. What is the most important challenge facing Mormonism’s chattering class? In short, I am talking about what might be thought of as the role of the Latter-day Saint clerisy as opposed to academics on one hand and those charged with ecclesiastical authority on the other. These are public discussions of the Gospel, the Church, and the Latter-day Saint tradition that are both explicitly self-reflective and self-consciously religious. Rather, I mean committed Latter-day Saints who for whatever reason feel called on to publicly discuss the course of the Restoration 7 and the place of the Church in the world. Nor do I mean those with ecclesiastical authority, although again the groups may overlap. What is the task of Latter-day Saint intellectuals in this moment? By intellectuals, I don’t mean scholars working in “Mormon studies,” although the groups will overlap. 5 Finally, the Church as a hierarchical religious institution faces increased suspicion and hostility in a society where organized religion no longer commands widespread trust or respect and where the ranks of the “spiritual but not religious” are on the rise. 4 Similarly, the Church’s all-male priesthood increases the distance between Latter-day Saints and the sexually egalitarian societies in which they often live, generating angst and alienation within the Church’s own ranks, particularly among the young. In the wake of the triumph of same-sex marriage and the proliferation of sexual identities in the opening decades of the new millennium, the ideal Latter- day Saint family has gone from being seen as a paragon to being seen by many as reactionary and threatening. For much of the 20th century the saints thought of themselves as within the cultural mainstream, the exemplars of a widely shared commitment to the benignly patriarchal nuclear family. 3 There is also a sense of anxiety over the Church’s place in society, particularly in the United States. More Latter-day Saint youth are abandoning the Church as they make the transition to adulthood. 2 Likewise, the Church’s admirable ability to retain those born into active Latter-day Saint families, long the envy of other denominations, seems to be atrophying. Despite a dramatic increase in the number of serving missionaries, the number of convert baptisms is down. After two generations of exponential growth, the Church’s missionary program has stalled. As it approaches the end of its second century, there is much to be worried about. The present is a difficult moment for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In this moment in the history of the Church, it is the most important project to which Latter-day Saint thinkers can turn their attention.
Pursuing the project of celebrating the Restoration need not involve either usurping the prerogatives of Church leaders nor compromising one’s intellectual integrity. Latter-day Saint intellectuals have an important, albeit subordinate, role in finding such messages. However, over time the Church tends to transform itself in the image of its most successful messages for proclaiming the Gospel. The history of the Church shows a cyclical pattern focused on missionary work, with seasons of harvest giving way to fallow times and seasons of planting. The language which we have used in the past no longer seems to be as compelling as once it was. At this moment, what is the most important task facing Latter-day Saint intellectuals? In contrast to those who argue that faithful thinkers and writers should focus either on defending the faith or providing criticisms of the Church’s failings, this essay argues that the Latter-day Saint clerisy should focus on celebrating the Restoration and finding new language in which to express what makes the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ a compelling and attractive force in people’s lives. Both its efforts at retention and missionary work are less effective than they have been in the past.
Abstract: This is a challenging moment for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints.
Robert Cundick: A Sacred Service of Music.
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