A Pilgrim’s Faith

There is one thought on “A Pilgrim’s Faith”.

“… a hardening of attitudes among the Twelve against black members would begin. This came largely because of the apostasy and actions of one man, William McCary, while in Winter Quarters (pp. 40–49). When Ables and his family joined the Saints in the Salt Lake Valley in late 1853, it was a different community than the one he had left (p. 51).”
This seems to state as fact something that seems clearly to be a speculative hypothesis of the author, something I think that Stevenson, himself, tends to engage in all too much for my own tastes.
While it may be true, this episode may also be completely unrelated to the thrust of Stevenson’s claims regarding the origins of the priesthood ban that can be documented no earlier than Brigham Young, where Stevenson clearly sees an errant prophet inserting his own prejudices into the Church and calling it doctrine (a completely separate issue from the fact that virtually all of America clearly held attitudes towards blacks that would, today, be considered racist, just as was true during the Savior’s ministry [and, for a historian not considering inspiration as a possible explanation, a charge that could be leveled against the Savior himself]).
Personally, it’s a place I’m extremely reluctant to go after-the-fact based on presentist assumptions and modern mores, especially if one were to apply it consistently across Church history, ancient and modern.

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John Miles on May 14, 2016 at 1:49 am said:

“… a hardening of attitudes among the Twelve against black members would begin. This came largely because of the apostasy and actions of one man, William McCary, while in Winter Quarters (pp. 40–49). When Ables and his family joined the Saints in the Salt Lake Valley in late 1853, it was a different community than the one he had left (p. 51).”
This seems to state as fact something that seems clearly to be a speculative hypothesis of the author, something I think that Stevenson, himself, tends to engage in all too much for my own tastes.
While it may be true, this episode may also be completely unrelated to the thrust of Stevenson’s claims regarding the origins of the priesthood ban that can be documented no earlier than Brigham Young, where Stevenson clearly sees an errant prophet inserting his own prejudices into the Church and calling it doctrine (a completely separate issue from the fact that virtually all of America clearly held attitudes towards blacks that would, today, be considered racist, just as was true during the Savior’s ministry [and, for a historian not considering inspiration as a possible explanation, a charge that could be leveled against the Savior himself]).
Personally, it’s a place I’m extremely reluctant to go after-the-fact based on presentist assumptions and modern mores, especially if one were to apply it consistently across Church history, ancient and modern.

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There is one thought on “A Pilgrim’s Faith”.

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