Comments on: The Mormon Reader: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

By: MCQ

MCQ — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 18:34:14 +0000

One of the interesting things that comes out of Huck’s quandary is his resolution to pray, asking for help in strengthening his resolve to turn in his friend. Most of us would conclude that this is the wrong approach, because we have a different perspective on slavery than does Huck, but his experience can be applied to moral conflicts that are more applicable to us.

I can imagine, for example, a California member praying for help in strengthening his resolve to support prop 8, despite reservations based on personal experience with homosexual friends. Huck’s conclusion is equally instructive for us: “You can’t pray a lie.”

This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t pray about such things. It does mean that, when our conscience is telling us one thing, it’s not much use to ask for help in ignoring our conscience.

By: john willis

john willis — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 22:03:01 +0000

Thanks for the correction.

By: queuno

queuno — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:50:45 +0000

Elder Holland received a PhD in American Studies, which is *not* the same thing as English Literature.

(I am in no way attempting to denigrate the value of Elder Holland’s PhD. But if you’re going to attempt to make a point about an apostle’s credentials, please get the credential right.)

By: Norbert

Norbert — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:46:48 +0000

I totally agree. That’s why I think he’s better for raising interesting questions than providing solid answers.

By: Steve Evans

Steve Evans — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:36:32 +0000

Count me in, Norbert!

But I do think that Twain is a problematic author for us if we’re looking for steady rudders. I don’t know that even Huck Finn is consistent.

By: Norbert

Norbert — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:24:40 +0000

TonyD, I don’t quite get you.

By: TonyD

TonyD — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:11:58 +0000

I don’t put much weight on talks by any particular church members — even Quorum members. Like I said, I’m partial to prophets and personal revelation.

And even among prophets, it seems to me that each varies in quality of revelation and quality of interpretation of that revelation.

But that is just my perspective…

By: john willis

john willis — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:03:55 +0000

Jeffrey Holland of the Quorum of the 12 got a Ph.D in English Literature and his doctoral dissertation was on Mark Twain’s religous sense. He gave a BYU devotional on in in 1977.

By: TonyD

TonyD — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 17:33:51 +0000

Well, my first thought is that I don’t really put much value on Twain’s analysis — even if it tends to reflect common perspectives.

Perhaps I’m biased because I attended a Jesuit University, and one of the things I learned is that if you want to understand Catholicism about the last thing you should do is talk to a parish priest or attend a Catholic Church. The people there aren’t theologians — they are administrators — and their analysis may reflect common perspectives, but hardly provide any understanding of the underlying religion.

As to the conflicts that are illuminated, I could probably spend a lot of time discussing values, trade-offs, and goals of this existence, but suffice it to say that I find that both prophets and personal revelation are quite real. I would even suggest that personal revelation includes what is not revealed — some conflicts are purposeful.