Ernest L. Wilkinson and the BYU tithing police fiasco

In a 2011 issue of Sunstone magazine, Gary James Bergera has a very interesting article, “The Monitoring of BYU Faculty Tithing Payments, 1957-1963,” that involves yet another historical nugget of mirth created by the university’s late president, Ernest D. Wilkinson. Wilkinson, upon assuming the presidency of BYU in the 1950s, was outraged that some BYU professors paid only a partial tithing, and some paid none at all.

(I digress here to admit that I too, was surprised that there were/are tithing shortfalls among BYU professors. I would have that “giving the Lord 10 percent” was something that one wouldn’t have to worry about at the Lord’s University. But it was, and had been for most of the 20th Century. Wilkinson was determined “to use an individual’s tithing history to help determine raises, promotions, and even continuing employment,” writes Bergera.

At one point, Wilkinson told LDS Church President David O. McKay that 27 percent of BYU faculty were either part tithing payers or paid no tithing at all. Wilkinson’s efforts, though, to get detailed reports of faculty tithing records descended into J. Edgar Hoover spoof when he encountered opposition from local bishoprics and stake presidencies. They understood better than Wilkinson the ethical aspects of the Law of Tithing, that taught that it was a private matter between a church member and his ecclesiastical leader. Eventually, Wilkinson was able to get the names of partial and non-tithe payers, but was stymied in his efforts to get specific details.

Wilkinson also received considerable opposition from faculty at BYU, who balked at having their academic credentials be determined by how much tithing they paid. Many faculty members, including department heads, resigned over the rule. At one point Wilkinson groused in his journal that it was primarily “English, political science and history” departments that were in opposition.

One faculty member who found himself in Wilkinson’s aim was Kent Fielding, a BYU instructor who had admitted he no longer had “a testimony of the Gospel.” When asked how he been approved to teach at BYU, Fielding replied that in his interview, apostle (and future LDS President) Harold B. Lee had asked only two questions: “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?; and, “Have you ever been unfaithful to your wife?”

Wilkinson confronted Lee on Fielding’s claim that his testimony had not been probed during his interview, and Bergera reports, using Wilkinson’s own notes, that it led fiery words between the BYU president and the LDS apostle.

Wilkinson wrote, “… I had told Brother Lee about this at the time, and Brother Lee, whose main weakness as far as I can see is that he cannot accept criticism, had interpreted it as serious criticism on my part of him…” Lee, according to Wilkinson’s recollections, sneered that the BYU president was “naive” if he was unaware that many BYU faculty did not have testimonies of the Gospel. Wilkinson further wrote, “He (Lee) was smarting very much under what I thought was my criticism of him for not having properly interrogated Brother Fielding.”

Fielding, after refusing to pay tithing and answer questions as a protest against Wilkinson’s policy, eventually had his employment terminated.

The policy that Wilkinson eventually crafted and tried to follow was that partial tithe payers would have their raises decreased by the amount they owed on a full tithing. For example, if Wilkinson determined that a professor had robbed the Lord of $600 in his tithing payments, a $1,000 raise for said professor would be decreased to $400. Professors not paying any tithing would be in danger of losing their employment at BYU. Wilkinson insisted more than once that no one was “forced” to pay tithing, while also insisting that any BYU professor who wanted to teach there would pay his tithing.

The policy prompted panicky attempts by some BYU faculty to try to turn back the clock. As Bergera reports, Wilkinson noted in his writings that one professor insisted in his interview that he had paid a full tithing.

When Wilkinson had the matter looked at, he discovered that the professor had gone to his bishop after the New Year and — much to the Bishop’s confusion — had begged that his tithe payment be applied retroactively.

Bergera estimates that over eight years, at least “two dozen (probably more) teachers were dismissed or resigned” due to church problems that had their genesis with Wilkinson’s tithing crackdown.

The BYU leader left the university in 1963 to run a failed U.S. Senate campaign. When he returned, he discovered a church leadership more resistant to the tactics he had advocated during his first term at BYU. As Bergera notes, “current BYU policy strictly prohibits the release of faculty tithing information to university administrators.”

Although I oppose any Wilkinsonian efforts to force tithing payments on any faculty, I am, I confess, surprised that anyone employed by the LDS Church (and that is the employer of BYU faculty) does not pay a full tithe. Maybe it’s because I’m a “born in the baptismal font member,” but before I read Bergera’s piece, I just assumed BYU workers were tithe payers the LDS Church Presiding Bishopric didn’t have to worry about.

-- Doug Gibson

-- Originally published at StandardBlogs.

A weekly bath was part of the spiritual cleansing of 1856 Utah

I wanted to share this list of questions that Mormon Church leaders — in the middle of the Mormon Reformation — asked Utah members. The information comes from historian David Bigley’s invaluable book, “Forgotten Kingdom: The Mormon Theocracy in the American West, 1847-1896.”

Bishops were instructed by the LDS church hierarchy to ask the following questions in every home. Apostle Jedediah Grant, the firebrand who was a fervent initiator of the Reformation, told bishops that any unsatisfactory answers from members must lead to “their names be written down and let the offence and place of residence be written against the name, that we may know who are living in sin, where they live and what their offenses are.”

The questions are as follows. Except for a few, and the fact that answers were not private, they’re not much different — except for the times differences– from questions members get today. From Bigler’s book:

Have you committed adultery?

Have you ever spoken evil of Authorities or anointed of the Lord?

Have you ever betrayed your brethren?

Have you ever stolen or taken anything that was not your own?

Have you ever took (sic) the name of God in vain?

Have you ever been drunk?

Have you ever taken any poles from the big field or fences or taken your brothers hay?

Have you ever picked up anything that did not belong to you and kept it without seeking to find the owner?

Have you made promises and not performed them?

Do you pay all your Tithing?

Do you labor Faithfully and diligently for your employer?

Do you preside over your Family as a servant of God or are they subject to you?

Do you teach your children the gospel?

Do you attend your Ward meetings?

Do you pray in your families night and morning?

Do you pray in Secret?

Do you wash your bodies once a week?

In a humorous sidenote, Brigham Young, Bigler recounts, had a problem with washing his body once a week. He did admit he had tried it, but “was well aware that this was not for everybody.”

-- Doug Gibson

-- Originally published at StandardBlogs

Mormon Doctrine enjoyed a long, controversial history

This article was originally published at StandardBlogs in 2010.

“Mormon Doctrine” is finally going out of print. The late apostle Bruce R. McConkie’s interpretation of LDS theology was a common sight in the homes of active Mormons for decades. Even today, it’s often seen in the homes of older Mormons. In fact, it will likely be decades before the book becomes difficult to find in used bookstores or ebay, etc.

Peggy Fletcher Stack of the Salt Lake Tribune wrote an excellent article about the “popular but polarizing” “Mormon Doctrine.” McConkie’s book was written as an authoritative index of beliefs, but in truth it caused much controversy; in fact as much from outside critics as within the hierarchy of the Mormon Church. The first edition of “Mormon Doctrine” — and a copy of that must be considered rare — prompted the LDS leadership to propose more than 1,000 changes. Eventually, in the early 1960s, McConkie revised “Mormon Doctrine” and it was re-published with the clear idea that it was just McConkie’s opinion.

Nevertheless, as an active Mormon who grew up in the 1960s, 70s and early 80s, I can attest that the many times I or others had a dispute on theology, “Mormon Doctrine” was the first place we went to check and see who was “right.”

According to Fletcher Stack’s article, a key problem with the first edition was severe attacks on the Roman Catholic Church. Later problems with the book were its content regarding blacks. In early editions, McConkie had stated a reversal of denying the priesthood to blacks would never occur. And “even in the most recent edition … McConkie wrote that God cursed Cain with ‘a mark of dark skin, and he became the ancestor of the black race,’” writes Fletcher Stack.

In recent years, the Mormon Church has become public relations conscious. Although McConkie is regarded as a beloved late apostle, — his last public address, as he was dying, has been sold for years and he wrote chapter headings in LDS scripture — once-popular books such as “Mormon Doctrine” are being phased out, particularly those that say politically incorrect things about blacks.

The recent battle over Proposition 8 in California has made the need for a more enlightened church more necessary. This is a simple reality, and it is not meant to imply that official church doctrines are changing today, only that a softer stick is preferred and more care has been taken between what the church believes and what one man’s specific opinions are.

“Mormon Doctrine” was to many 20th century Mormons what Parley P. Pratt’s “The Key to Science of Theology” was to late 19th century Mormons, a book on many coffee tables. No doubt another LDS book will one day rise in this century and enjoy decades of influence.

-- Doug Gibson

American Polygamy history focuses on fundamentalist Mormons

Review by Doug Gibson

I wonder how many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are aware of a statement in 1886, preserved in writing, from LDS Prophet John Taylor. In part it reads, "Thus sayeth the Lord: All commandments that I give must be obeyed by those calling themselves by my name unless they are revoked by me or by my authority, and how can I revoke an everlasting covenant, for I the Lord am everlasting and my everlasting covenants cannot be abrogated nor done away with, but they stand forever."

I had never heard of that statement by Taylor before reading "American Polygamy: A History of Fundamentalist Mormon Faith," by Craig L. Foster and Marianne T. Watson, The History Press, 2019. (Buy it here or via Amazon here.) The authors have diverse backgrounds. Foster is an LDS historian. Watson, also an historian, is wife in a polygamous family. With others plural marriage wives, she was a contributor to the book, "Voices In Harmony."

Taylor's words, uttered 134 years ago in Centerville, Utah, is a foundation of polygamists' argument for maintaining an earthly belief long shed by the LDS Church. Within polygamous circles it's regarded as a revelation. To the LDS Church it's not a revelation. To the owner of the home where it occurred, John Woolley, it was a revelation. Both he and his son, Lorin, were prominent leaders and advocates of polygamy, an ordinance believers regard as essential to achieve the highest glory in the afterlife. As Foster and Watson note, the Woolleys claimed that both Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ were with Taylor when he was given that counsel.

Just before John Woolley died in 1928, his son Lorin claimed that both he and his father met with resurrected beings Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith Sr., Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, John Taylor and Joseph F. Smith. Shortly after that event, a "Priesthood Council" was formed of prominent polygamists, designed to preside over continuation of the movement. As the others note, these presiding councils oversaw polygamous groups lived and tried to keep the safe from law enforcement.

American Polygamy covers a lot of ground in -- allowing for photos and footnotes -- about 200 pages of text. I recommend it. It is a fascinating -- and often sympathetic -- account of roughly 130 years of fundamentalist polygamy. Despite the 1890 Manifesto, polygamy continued for at least a generation within the LDS Church, with opposition to the practice slowly getting more serious by church leaders. Foster and Watson include accounts of patriarchs and apostles eventually being kicked out of the church for continuing to participate in plural marriage ordinances after its became a liability within the LDS Church. By the time of President Heber J. Grant's leadership, LDS church officials actively assisted law enforcement in tracking down polygamists.

The 1944 law enforcement raids on polygamous groups in Utah and Short Creek, Arizona (1944) and Short Creek in 1953, are covered in detail by the authors. Whatever revulsion readers may personally feel for polygamy, those affected were badly mistreated, having their constitutional rights abused. Families were forced apart. On anecdote recalls how trauma over the raids led to the death of an 84-year-old fundamentalist.

The raids, coordinated for maximum press coverage, boomeranged for law enforcement. Even 50 years later, the authors note, the Texas raids on a polygamous community was also predicated on incorrect intelligence, although later information uncovered resulted in FLDS leader Warren Jeffs being convicted of child sex crimes that will keep him in prison for life.

There's sadness in the history of fundamentalist Mormonism. The personal accounts of their suffering, both social and legal, men thrown in jail and prison, children separated from parents, one can't read these accounts without being affected. We should regret the institutional efforts against modern polygamists as much as we do those same efforts against early members of the LDS Church.

Yet, fundamentalist Mormonism also has a history of dysfunction, exploitation and other criminal behavior. The authors devote considerable space to the crimes and continued poisoned legacies of mass murderer Ervil LeBaron and pedophile and sadist Warren Jeffs. They are the two main "villains" of the book. But they are also extreme examples of significant problems that still plague fundamentalist Mormonism..

Polygamy by necessity has been isolated, with its followers pursued by law enforcement and forced to rely to a fault on either a council of leaders, or a sole leader. Foster and Watson note that disagreement within modern polygamous movements often focused on the amount of control male leaders, or a single male leader, had over the agency of followers. Control can be so pervasive that marriages are arranged. That's another debate that can occur in polygamy -- are spouses allowed to find each other? In some instances they are not allowed any say in marriage, or forced into marriage as children. This leads to tragic, criminal actions where, as noted in the book, 13-year-old girls are raped and another teenager is beaten by her father because she doesn't want to be forced to marry her uncle and have regular sex with him. One can't help wondering how much of this type of abuse still goes unpunished.

Not surprisingly, the movement has split into different factions, some with thousands, some with large single-family units. Today there is polygamy mass entertainment in the form of reality shows, talk shows, or fictionalized television. In recent years, the authors note the irony of same-sex marriage acceptance helping polygamy become less of a taboo and more accepted. Consenting adults should not be denied the right to live within polygamy. Society is moving that way.

The biggest strength of American Polygamy is it provides a human face to the sacrifices, suffering, and re-appraisals of those who sincerely believe in what is often called "The Principle." And it addresses openly some of the dysfunction of polygamy. More important than the histories of major families, Woolley, Barlow, Johnson, Allred, Jessop, Jeffs, Kingston, etc., are the personal accounts of followers, including woman and children. One may never accept polygamy as a principle but still respect the faith and commitment of those who live a still-shunned lifestyle with humility and charity.

It's interesting to wonder if fundamentalist Mormonism will stay at consistent numbers through this century or dissipate to near extinction by 2100. Author Watson provides optimistic anecdotal evidence that young polygamist women will stay in the faith. But I think all religions face skepticism from large percentages of young adults. Fundamentalist Mormonism, still tethered to 19th century mores and doctrines, has its work cut out to remain attractive to ensuing generations.

'Dark Watch' an above-average collection of Mormon stories

“Dark Watch, and Other Mormon-American Stories," published several years ago, is a strong fiction collection. Author William Morris is a well-known name in Mormon-themed literature and has published in “Dialogue” and other journals.

There are two genres explored in “Dark Watch.” The first takes regular, often-mundane tasks within Mormonism, such as home teaching, priesthood visits, missionary work, and delves inside the minds, reads the thoughts and conclusions that players feel during these experiences. Other stories are more science fiction, and deal with Mormonism, and religion, as a secret motivation kept under wraps, deeply hidden within adherents, some of whom can go through long stretches of existence without realizing their theological beliefs. “Dark Watch,” the titular story, is in this mode, describing a future society of various colonies, with distinct yet also faint similarities, struggling to stay in some sort of harmony.

In the stories related to home teaching and priesthood visits; there are tales, some narrated by teens, that take home teachers — ward priesthood holders — into the homes of dysfunctional families. One visit is to a father moving into political radicalism. Another to parents losing control of their children. Another to a parent who has written off his child. Morris’ prose reflects the uncomfortable situations, the struggling to find the right words to persuade, the inclination to rely on a convenient Scripture to try to sway, and the realization from most of those talking that they won’t change the minds of those listening to them. There is a story, “Invitation,” where the situation is reversed. “Brother Johnson,” the home teacher, has embraced fundamentalist Mormonism and is slowly hinting to the uncomfortable couple, Michael and Shari, he home teaches, his odd beliefs, including polygamy.

The missionary stories include a recently returned missionary finding it difficult to move smoothly from the mission life to the expected next step, a college education. Another story, “Conference,” involves Sara, a returned missionary, single and moving into a career in academia, inviting two missionaries in northern California for a night chat while she evades an academic colleague who married her roommate. The missionary-themed story I enjoyed the most was “Lost Icon,” which follows a missionary’s experiences with a European academic who regards the church as something to be studied. The professor eventually becomes obsessed with some icons that he believes parallel early Mormon history; he becomes sick, and eventually leaves his research with the missionary, who returns home to the U.S.

The story ends with the missionary following up on the academic, and learning to his surprise that the professor became a convert and is now a regular, albeit eccentric, church member. What I find interesting is that the news of the baptism surprises the narrator, who had envisioned the academic as someone too smart to become a convert. It underscores how we can see people in distinct manners than others and how discernment affects our relationships and actions. It’s telling that earlier in the stories, other missionaries see the professor differently, one chuckling condescendingly about how he likes that “little dude.”

I’m not a Mormon intellectual; I don’t do well at finding specific subtexts in literature. However, I can relate to the interactions, the awkwardness, the communications in Morris’ contemporary stories. That doesn’t make me unique; I suspect that many of my LDS peers would have the same reactions from these tales.

Other enjoyable stories, such as “Reactivator,” describe a priesthood counselor’s discomfort with his super-motivated quorum president, and “Pass Along” is an interesting tale about a lonely LDS woman who can’t stop collecting, and keeping, church pass along cards she finds in distinct locations. As mentioned, other stories deal more in science fiction, presenting a future hidden gospel; one involves a church historian who uses futuristic methods to study the faith’s history.

“Dark Watch” is published by A Motley Vision, which is the name of Morris' blog. It can be purchased for $2.99 via Kindle. These are stories with often spare, matter-of-fact prose that can produce empathy. The contemporary tales usually have sentiments or situations that Mormons can identify with, with endings that ask us to interpret honestly the routine, yet complex, tasks within our church.

-- Doug Gibson

-- Originally published at StandardNET.

Slim book ‘Talking with Mormons’ makes a lot of sense

On page 38 of theologian Richard J. Mouw’s book, “Talking with Mormons: An Invitation to Evangelicals” (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.), the author recounts a telephone call from an LDS man who, 10 years after his baptism, was questioning whether he was a Christian.

Mouw asked the following questions , quoted from the book:

How many Gods are there, I asked.

Well, there is one Godhead, made up from three divine Persons — Father, Son and Holy Spirit, he responded.

Will you ever become a god like them?

Oh no. I hope I’m becoming more Christ-like, but only the three Persons of Godhood are worthy of worship. More like God — yes. To be a God — no way!

What is the basis for your salvation? Do you earn it by your good works?

No, my good works can’t save me. I’m saved by grace, through the atoning work of Christ on the Cross. My good works — those I perform in gratitude to what He has done for me.

Mouw assured the caller he was a Christian, and he also told the man to remain a Mormon, so long as he can give those answers without reproach to his LDS leaders. That anecdote, delivered in this slim, valuable volume, shows the wisdom of the author. There is nothing untruthful in what that man told Mouw.

There are Latter-day Saints who would chastise the man for choosing to become more like God rather than deciding to be like God. And there are evangelicals who will jump all over the man’s statement that the Godhood is comprised of three divine persons. Mouw offers the rational response — why diminish that man’s beautiful testimony of Christ’s atonement?

Mouw, who has angered some evangelicals, is not an apologist for Mormon doctrines that he disagrees with. the book contains, for example, his strong defense of the Nicene Creed. Mormonism’s rejection of that, and its substitution of three separate personages, two with limited form, comprising a Godhood, is the foundation of claims that Mormons are not Christians. Mouw tosses aside this contention by quoting the 19th century scholar Charles Hodge, a prominent Calvinist. Hodge disagreed fervently with an earlier scholar, Friedrich Schleiermacher, who rejected the Bible as infallible and divine. Nevertheless, and this is the important point, Hodge was convinced that the deceased Schleiermacher, who in his lifetime had admired and adored Christ, was with the Savior. Mouw writes: And then Hodge adds this tribute to Schleiermacher: “Can we doubt that he is singing those praises now? To whomever Christ is God, St. John assures us, Christ is a Savior.”

The idea, from any religion that believes in Christ, that one persons’ faith in Christ’s atonement is invalid due to doctrinal disputes, is noxious. Mouw understands that. He’s a remarkable example of religious tolerance, willing to debate long-disputed doctrinal points with Latter-day Saints but willing to concede spiritual equanimity.

Frankly, “Talking with Mormons” should be required reading for LDS missionaries, both full-time and local.

Moux easily dismisses the LDS-is-a-cult argument by pointing out the wide variety of organizations and media that daily engage in debate over Mormon doctrine, as well as the many efforts by LDS leadership to engage in dialogues, whether with other religions or the media. The book contains an account of evangelical apologist Ravi Zacharias, and Mouw, speaking in the Salt Lake City tabernacle, the result of a 2004 invitation from LDS church leaders.

The author takes the time to find related ground between doctrines, such as a latter-day prophet and latter-day scriptures, that are usually points of dispute. This effort to look toward similarities, rather than easily leap to long-repeated, well-rehearsed attacks, is admirable and should be reciprocated by Latter-day Saints when talking with people of other faith.

On the Joseph Smith question, Mouw compares him to other prophets who have allegedly spoke to God and provided scripture. His example is Mohammed. Also, Mouw invites evangelicals to think about Mormons, and others, not as “‘How do we keep them from taking over the world?’ to one that emerges when we ask ‘What is it about their teachings that speaks to what they understand to be their deepest human needs and yearnings?”

Framing the question in that manner invites shared knowledge and increased empathy, rather than the sour faux triumph of hurling a negative. However, it must be again stressed that Mouw’s advice is as much for Mormons and others as it is for evangelicals.

-- Doug Gibson

-- Originally published at StandardBlogs

Review: Life and Times of John Pierce Hawley ...

Historian Melvin C. Johnson's new book, Life and Times of John Pierce Hawley: A Mormon Ulysses of the American West," Greg Kofford Books, 2019, is a very interesting account of a man's life through various episodes of early Mormonism. Hawley was a not a major figure in the faith's history; he was mostly limited to regional prominence. However, his life traveled through significant eras of Mormon history.

Hawley's parents were baptized in the first half of the 1830s; Hawley was baptized in the midst of the Missouri turmoil and was part of the forced exodus from the state. His family ended in Wisconsin and his father served under church leader Lyman Wight. After Joseph Smith's murder, the family followed Wight's splinter group to Texas. After a short, unsuccessful marriage, Hawley had a successful lifetime marriage with Sylvia Johnson. He also helped build the Zodiac Temple and lived and served in the Cherokee Nation.

The decline of Wight's colony prompted Hawley's family, and his brother George's family, to cross the plains to Utah and join the "Brighamites." He and his family eventually helped to start the town of Pine Valley and build the church in Southern Utah. Hawley was a major figure there, serving as presiding elder, settling disputes, leading efforts at building, road creation and other initiatives. He rubbed both ecclesiastical and social shoulders with church leaders, including Apostle Erastus Snow and even President Brigham Young.

However, after serving an LDS Church mission in the late 1860s, Hawley slowly reconsidered his faith decisions, and he and his family left the "Brighamites" to join the "Josephites," or the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints (now Church of Christ). He remained a faithful member for the rest of his life.

Modern church may regard Hawley's actions as an apostasy but I'm sure he did not. Johnson's account underscores the animus between the two major LDS factions in the late middle 19th century but also notes both faiths' strong reliance on the teachings of Joseph Smith and belief in new scripture, such as the Book of Mormon. Also, Hawley reconnected with family members, most notably his mother, during his mission to the RLDS, as well as old friends. He must have felt a strong pull.

Hawley's was a hard life. He and Sylvia buried several small children during the years in Pine Valley. Johnson notes how dangerous life was for youngsters, and women, in that era, particularly when a family did not have a secure house-like living arrangement. He also notes the terrifying, adverse affects that colonization had on the Native Americans, particularly in Southern Utah. The loss of land and traditional ways of living killed many, and reduced them to a begging existence, which generally led to scorn, rather than compassion, from settlers. Johnson notes that Hawley's autobiography virtually ignores the Native Americans, despite his and others' impact on their lives.

Hawley's autobiography is very sparse on details. One manner in which Johnson beefs up his book is to provide additional research on experiences Hawley shared, such as life for pioneers on the trail, the experiences of women in early Mormonism, how colonization affected Native Americans, slavery, and the Mountain Meadows Massacre, etc. The massacre is a central incident in Hawley's life. He claims not to have been involved; indeed, a Johnson reports, he says he nearly lost his life protesting the murderous plans. That may be true; but the possibility also exists that Hawley may have succumbed to the pressure. Many of the victims were shot by revolvers. Hawley was one of only two men in the area who possessed revolvers.

I have neglected to mention that Hawley and family were in Utah during the Mormon Reformation. In the book Johnson provides a list of questions members were asked during the Reformation. An interesting anecdote involves an alleged conversation between Hawley and future LDS Prophet Wilford Woodruff in which the latter tells Hawley that some LDS apostles had confessed to adultery.

Hawley's  work and efforts in Utah were mostly respected. It's interesting he left the faith after a generation of setting roots in Pine Valley. It's possible that his failure to be called as bishop to the Pine Valley ward hurt him. He was called to be first counselor to a relative of the Snow apostles. This may have rankled as he had ruled against the Snows' interests earlier in a timber dispute and might have felt his "demotion" was a form of payback. In any event, after his mission to the RLDS, Johnson recaps Hawley's reassessing of personal religious beliefs, including church leadership lineage, a key dispute between "Brighamites" and "Josephites." Hawley reversed his belief in apostolic succession in family of a familial succession. This was likely prompted by his visits to RLDS prophet Joseph Smith III and his brother Alexander Smith.

Just before he left Mormonism, Hawley, who had always resisted polygamy, went back on his word to take a second wife, an action Erastus Snow had urged him to do. That probably sealed his decision to leave. I suspect his short-lived proposal to a much younger woman may have been a last effort to cling to a faith he was departing. It was doomed, as Johnson makes it clear Hawley and his wife Sylvia shared a lifetime bond that had no room for plural marriage.

As Johnson notes, Hawley's commitment to the RLDS late in life included omissions and fabrications that he had displayed while faithful to his Utah-based faith. For example, in a legal case, Hawley parroted the RLDS pleasant fiction that Joseph Smith had not taught or promulgated polygamy. He clearly knew that was not true.

Although he was conditioned by biases and prejudices that dominated his times, the Hawley depicted by biographer Johnson appears a basically decent, hard-working, loyal family-based man. He was clearly an asset to the various ecclesiastical leaders he swore allegiance to during his life. In fact, as Johnson notes, he received a second endowment during his tenure in Utah, one that guaranteed his exaltation.

We benefit from books such as "Life and Times of John Pierce Hawley." They underscore the uniqueness of the Mormon historical experience, for better or worse. Johnson's commendable effort provides us a looking glass into the daily life of an individual who helped shape that experience.