"I thought candor and openness were healthy; they [the LdS Church Leaders] thought forthright history was dangerous..." (former LdS Church Historian Leonard J. Arrington, "Adventures of a Church Historian", p. 149) Thoughts?
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ANSWERS: 1
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Arrington was one of the great historians of Mormonism. The function and mission of religious history is not unique to Mormonism, and there are conflicting objectives which live in tension - history as an objective report of events as they occurred, history as a moral play with messages and lessons, history as a means of strengthening faith, history as a means of weakening faith, etc. It should come as no surprise there are those within any faith community who prefer their history to be of the "faith promoting" kind. Unfortunately, that is typically accomplished by omission and oversimplification. In approach Arrington is not a religious critic, but neither is he sufficiently apologtic for some people's tastes.
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