Thinking Otherwise: Theological Explorations of Joseph Smith's Revelations

by James E. Faulconer

Author James E. Faulconer understands the challenges of reading scripture in the twenty-first century. He invites Latter-day Saints to approach Restoration scriptures in new ways, seeking a more direct experience with the loving God who revealed them. Part philosophy, part theology, part history, and part testimony, Faulconer's Thinking Otherwise invites us to reconsider our beliefs in light of traditional theology and Western philosophy.

Genres: Religion, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Mormonism, Lds

179 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 2, 2020

About the author

James E. Faulconer is an American philosopher, a Richard L. Evans professor of philosophy at Brigham Young University, the director of BYU's London Centre, a fellow and associate director of the Wheatley Institution, and the former dean of Undergraduate Education and chair of the Philosophy Department at BYU. Brother Faulconer received his BA in English from BYU. He then received master's and PhD degrees in philosophy from Pennsylvania State University. His area of interest in philosophy is contemporary European philosophy, particularly the work of Martin Heidegger and late twentieth- and early twenty-first-century French thinkers.

from https://rsc.byu.edu/authors/faulconer...

Reviews

[Lisa Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book was hard work; it felt like school. But I'm so glad I finished it because I will never see the world the same again: radical paradigm shift. I hadn't realized how much our culture is fixed on the "one and the many" and that Joseph Smith opened up possibilities in so many ways.

[Tyler Critchfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book requires slow, thoughtful reading to understand Faulconer's philosophical and theological motivations for doing the same with scripture - slow, thoughtful reading. Very interesting and gave me much to ponder.

Close readers don't consciously begin with a theory of what the scriptures say. Instead, they pay attention to such things as the order of the facts or Nephi's word choice, the things he omits, what he says little about and what he focuses on, the implicit comparisons he makes to other scripture. Attention to such details isn't the point of close reading. The reason for paying attention to details is that they can help break us out of our habits of reading, interrupting what we think we already know.
. . .
We do performative theology to help us get beyond merely the facts so that we can see - and show - which features of the text tend to invite us to the love of God that is shed abroad in our hearts, the love manifest in his Son, Jesus Christ. To do that we must imitate his love. Doing performative theology, we must invite others to hear that love by what we say of it as we read carefully.

[Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an extremely thought-provoking, paradigm-changing book. I always enjoy reading James Faulconer’s books because they force me to slow down and really think about what I am reading, what it means, and why it should matter to me. His eminently useful book, aptly named “Scripture Study” is one to which I should return more often to help improve the depth of my study. This book builds on the concepts of that book, and shows how a conscientious application of the question-asking approach from the “Scriptures Made Harder” series (published a few years ago from the same author and publisher) can bear invaluable fruits. I also appreciated the author’s discussion of how a deep theological reading of scripture can be profitable, but is definitely not necessary for eternal salvation, and certainly not for everyone (important points!).

The book starts with an extended discussion of the philosophical problem of “the one versus the many.” In these chapters, the author shows how Greek philosophy that was influenced by the thought of Parmenides, had a significant effect in shaping the theological paradigms of the early Christian Church. From this, he questions whether the assumptions the early church made regarding God are consistent with a Latter-day Saint reading of ancient scripture, especially in light of the additional revelations of Joseph Smith that are canonized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today. I am not sure if I fully grasped the entirety of this section, but I definitely discovered that examining the underlying assumptions we make when reading scripture may not be philosophically sound, and that re-examining these assumptions can have a profound effect in how we interpret scripture.

The last half of the book takes a deep dive mainly into two Latter-day revelations (Moses 5-6, and Doctrine & Covenants 121), and examines conclusions that may be drawn in light of the discussion from the first half of the book. Reading these passages of scripture under the “many” and “relational theology” paradigms developed in the first half of the book is very fruitful, and has given me a lot of food for thought. I highly recommend this book to anyone wishing to improve the depth and rigor of their personal scripture study. This is not an easy read, but shown me a glimpse of the bounteous harvest available as I strive to more fully feast upon the words of Christ.

[Dane]

The most important assumption driving this book is that we have seldom thought through Joseph Smith’s teachings without quietly, usually unknowingly, importing large chunks of theology that are incongruent with his teachings. In particular, we have inherited a concept of God that conflicts with the nature of God as he is revealed through Joseph Smith (e.g., as embodied, sexed, and eternally among other beings).

[Liz Busby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed James Faulconer's comparison between the default assumptions of the majority of Christian theology and where Latter-day Saint thought ought to travel. He argues that Christianity inherited of the idea of "the One" and the singularity of God from Greek philosophy and how this led to many of the doctrines not found in the Bible but generally accepted by Christianity that Latter-day Saints reject (eg the trinity, creation ex nihilo). I think it took a lot of courage to stop trying to reconcile LDS belief with this tradition which is associated with respectability, and unapologetically own that we actually believe in a metaphysical plurality.

I was a little more confused about his concept of performative theology. The term is slightly misleading since "performative" is generally used as a synonym for "fake," which is not what Faulconer is trying to say. I believe his goal was to try to make a place for theology in a church that believes in continuing revelation, and therefore can never be bound by careful scholarly study. Instead, he argues that the performative theology of reading the scriptures is actually a way that we can enact our closeness to God by trying to understand his word in a more deep way. I think there are implications here for the humanities crisis and the practical value of literary criticism, but I'm going to think on it more before deciding whether I agree with his approach.

[Russell Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of essays by Jim Faulconer--a long-ago teacher of mine and a great inspiration to me in many ways--is a wonderful read, but is a little too pastoral for my taste. I recognize that such is one way of making Jim's point: he is a philosopher enamored with theology, but is convinced that the only theology which truly makes sense in the Mormon context is a performative one, grounded in responding lovingly and practically to the questions he sees contained in the scriptures and in Joseph Smith's revelations, rather than giving philosophical answers to them. Hence, he has to explain his philosophical reasons for dissenting from philosophical theology, which he does, though always with caveats along the lines of "this really doesn't matter." It undercuts the power of his explorations somewhat, I fear. The best chapter of the book is his (very theological!) exploration of Smith's inspired re-writing of Genesis in the Book of Moses; there, Faulconer's deep, philosophical insights into community, work, and covenant are made powerfully clear. I wish the whole book had been like that.

[conor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is good! Lots of interesting thoughts and ideas here, though the book covers A LOT of ground and does a variety of things that may not all work for folks (and are kinda funky to put all together).

All that said, I think this is worth a read!

I have more detailed thoughts here: http://associationmormonletters.org/b...

[Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting (albeit brief) review of Western philosophy in terms of religion and how it relates to Latter-day saint theology. Faulconer then proposes an alternative theology based more in the moment. He gives some example of how interrupting scripture can be shared to this alternative theology.

[Luke Tielemans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely not an easy ready but the author did a good job of giving examples of how to have more meaningful scripture study and to see past what is written on the page. I would recommend it.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful insights

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF

[Laura Housley · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars for getting me to more closely read scripture.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first couple of chapters are as dense as anything else Faulconer has written. But, the book is as rewarding as anything else Falconer has written. Highly recommend!