Shifting Borders and a Tattered Passport: Intellectual Journeys of a Mormon Academic by Armand L. Mauss

by Armand L. Mauss

The life of a Mormon intellectual in the secular academic community is likely to include some contradictions between belief, scholarship, and the changing times. In his memoir, Armand L. Mauss recounts his personal and intellectual struggles—inside and outside the LDS world—from his childhood to his days as a graduate student at UC Berkeley in the 1960s through his many years as a professor.As an important and influential observer and author in the Mormon intellectual world, Mauss has witnessed how, in attempting to suppress independent and unsponsored scholarship during the final decades of the twentieth century, LDS leaders deliberately marginalized important intellectual support and resources that could have helped, in the twenty-first century, to refurbish the public image of the church. As a sociologist, he notes how the LDS Church, as a large, complex organization, strives to adjust its policies and practices in order to maintain an optimal balance between unique, appealing claims on the one hand and public acceptance on the other. He also discusses national and academic controversies over the New Religious Movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Writing in clear language, Mauss shows how he has navigated the boundaries where his faith and academic life intersect, and reveals why a continuing commitment to the LDS Church must be a product of choice more than of natural or supernatural “proof.”

Genres: Religion, Lds, Biography, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir

Hardcover

First published November 30, 2012

Reviews

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Armand Mauss was one of the pioneers in academic Mormon studies. A sociologist, from Washington State University, he was a founding member of the Mormon History Association and had extensive work on the board of Dialogue and in establishing the Mormon Studies Program at Claremont University. This is his memoir.

Richard Bushman writes in the prologue, "The hardest thing for ordinary Mormons to appreciate is the battle intellectuals fight to make sense of the world. Their effectiveness grows out of their commitment to ideas and evidence. Whereas most people want simple, clear conclusions in harmony with their own preconceptions, scholars have to deal with the evidence. The advice to "forget it" when they come across a troubling idea is precisely what they cannot do. Inevitably, there will be misunderstandings. Scholars seem stubborn and proud, whereas laypeople seem complacent and unaware. Even when both parties act with goodwill, it takes time to achieve mutual understanding."

Mauss lived through a period of intellectual openness to staunch retrenchment. His "passport" became quite tattered moving between the academic halls and the church halls. He was met with suspicions on both sides. Mauss's chief academic contribution to Mormon studies are his work on race, where he constantly condemned the existing teaching defending racist policies. In his Angel and the Beehive he outlined a framework to understand a religion's relevancy. One, it has to be different and unique from the rest of society. Two, it cannot be too unique, for society will not tolerate it. Our ending of polygamy is an example of the latter. Beginning in the early 20th century the Mormon Church strived to assimilate as much as possible into the America society. However, starting in the 1960's and culminating in the early 1990's the Church retrenched. Part of this retrenchment included closing church archives and exercising a "heavy hand" and "official surveillance" on independent scholars.

Mauss was able to avoid a lot of the more severe consequences dolled out on some colleagues, like D. Michael Quinn or Lavina Fielding Anderson. He attributed this to his even temper and "detached emotional" treatment. In addition to these, I think Mauss's conservative politics (thus more closely aligning with the broader culture with the Church), and the fact that he was never writing about active or hot controversies. Much of his work on race was published after 1978. While, many of the "persecuted" scholars were writing on feminism, post manifesto polygamy, and other controversies that had yet to be acknowledge, yet alone worked out, by the institutional church.

In commenting on the decreased intellectual quality and caliber of our meetings, he laments "today's pulpits rarely feature a stack of scriptures for easy resort by the speaker, but the box of tissues is nearly universal. That says it all."

Always even handed, fair, honest, and thoughtful, as an academic I really enjoyed his thoughts and experiences. Today, the church is far less hostile towards scholarship that it does not directly control. Many of the staunchly critical conservative leadership have since passed away (Mark E. Peterson, Ezra Taft Benson, and Boyd K. Packer). Nevertheless, there is still evidence that the "deliciously Orwellian, Committee to Strengthen Church Members" is actively performing surveillance on member's internet activity and publications.

As a side note, he noted that the community surrounding WSU, even though a small college town, did not have the intellectual fire and curiosity one would expect. He attributed this to the large amount of LDS faculty in the College of Agriculture. In my time in Pullman, I think it was due to the large LDS contingent in the Veterinary school.

[Christopher Angulo · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent reflection of an accomplished scholar with lived insights from the Mormon intellectual community. The story is also painful. It is a story of someone who wanted to do so much for a religion he loves, but felt that his life's works were not utilized to their fullest potential, or at all.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Mauss was a smart, deeply thoughtful guy. Not all of the chapters interested me, but the others grabbed my attention and resonated. I try not to keep books laying around. But I will keep this one and open it up to specific sections when feeling reflective and could use some clarity.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the accounts of Mauss's work for the LDS Church, especially his contribution of sociological insight into causes of disaffection. I also found the inside view of the workings of the Dialogue journal and foundation to be revealing of the insular world of Mormon academia. I was somewhat dismayed at the overly professional tone of the book, though, which I mistakenly anticipated to be more like other academic memoirs I have read. As an example, only one of Mauss's children is named, and then only in a footnote (he has eight!) I recall almost nothing about his siblings either, with the exception of a mention of his brother's connection to an LDS general authority. Also missing is the most crucial aspect of any Mormon academic's intellectual journey: how they consider the truth claims of Mormonism in relation to the truth claims of the academy. Mauss says almost nothing about this except to refer the reader to a website where he says he has dealt with all of that in "traditional Mormon language".

I deeply respect the author for his work on the sociology of religion and on the history of racial thinking in the Mormon tradition, exemplified in the Angel and the Beehive and All Abraham's Children, but feel like I hardly know the man at all after having read the book. Learning of his increasing affiliation with the Libertarian Party made some sense for me of the bloodless manner in which he wrote his memoir.

[Kristine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Armand Mauss is among the group of early LDS scholars (think Eugene England) that came of age (intellectually) post-war and (religiously) pre-retrenchment.

The first half of the book gave more of a personal and educational background, which, if you're interested in the development of one of the great minds of Mormon scholarship, is engaging. His (disputed) theoretical framework of understanding the history of the church and it's development from sect to church as one of oscillating swings between assimilation and retrenchment is still a landmark work for any student of mormonism to study.

The whole book is an interesting account of an outside insider, as he's never worked for any church organization but has had access to and worked with a lot of people in the background. I was particularly fascinated with his accounts in the later chapters of the church and it's racial policies; establishment of Dialogue, Sunstone, MHA and the Strengthening the Members committee; as well as his interactions with church leadership.

The whole book speaks to the tensions of how in academic circles his Mormon passport was viewed with suspicion and in Mormon circles his academic passport was viewed with equal hostility. He's by nature conservative with a libertarian bent, and I enjoyed reading this perspective.

[Paul Garns · Rating 4 out of 5]

Armand Mauss, a giant in the Mormon intellectual world, gives an almost maddeningly fair and impartial account of his experience as a Mormon academic. He rarely if ever lets his feelings take too much of the spotlight, remaining a dispassionate and objective commentator on the "shifting borders" that come with being an honest scholar and critic of Mormonism and the LDS Church, while yet continuing to hold to sincere belief in and loyalty to the same. I really liked it.

[Cameron Nielsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent thoughts from one of the greats. I relish both his candor and his balanced and emotionally mature take on what remains a contested field of experience. Unfortunately, the book is rather confusingly organized (more by topic than by time), making it difficult to keep events straight between chapters.

[Stephen Cranney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a big Mauss fan; he hits the balance better than any other LDS academic I've read, giving objective, constructive criticism when it's warranted without becoming a shrill martyrdom seeker. That being said, this book had a tendency to get bogged down in details that I glossed over.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Autobiography of Social Scientist who influenced the LDS church. An inside look at the uneasy alliance between scientists, intellectuals and the church. Brother Mauss concludes that faith is ultimately a matter of choice. I agree.

[Lorna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of it was interesting and then there were parts that were difficult to wade through.